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Why Not to Be Proud Of Our Ministries

The 72 Return and Rejoice

Luke 17:1 And he said to his disciples: “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to one through whom they come, it would be better for him if a millstone hung around his neck and cast into the sea that he should cause one of these little ones to sin, pay attention to yourselves, if your brother sins rebuke him, and if he repents forgive him, if he turns to you seven times in a day, saying ‘I repent’ seven times you must forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord ‘increase our faith’ And the Lord said, “if you had faith like a grain of the mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree ‘be uprooted and planted in the sea’, and it would obey you”. Will any of you who have a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him, when he has come in from the field, come and once and recline at table, will he not rather say to him, ‘prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink and afterward you will eat and drink’, does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also when you have done all that you were commanded, say ‘we are unworthy servants, we have only done what was our duty.’”

This passage of scripture between Jesus and his disciples is fascinating me.

They said ‘increase our faith’ this request, is a loaded request in at least two ways.

A Loaded Question

“I saw Satan fall like lighting from heaven…, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice that your name is written in heaven.”

Jesus Christ in Luke 10
  1. It supposes in error, that the largeness of Jesus’ faith was the key to his ministry and his power.
  2. It showed that they wanted to be great like him and believed it was something great about him that accomplished it.

But Jesus’ response completely destroyed and undercut the assumptions of this loaded question. He seemed to say it’s not about the amount of faith that we have, its about attitude in obedience. Instead of rejoicing over our power and our faith we should say ‘we are unworthy servants just doing our duty.’ Miracle working, teaching the kingdom, healing the sick, driving out demons was viewed by him as only his duty as he served his heavenly father and was led by the Holy Spirit. The biggest demonstration of power and life and authority of God on earth, the duty of the follower of Christ.

Jesus implied that the key to his ministry was him doing his duty as an unworthy servant/ slave of the father. Not in being a ‘powerful man of the faith and power.’ Be certain that Jesus is a wonderful man of faith without sin and with great power, however that is not what he relied on as the source of his ministry. And he wanted his disciples to do the same as they entered ministry.

In my younger years, over the course of several years, I bounced around to a few churches in our area. Experiencing many different types of protestant pastors. Pentecostal, charismatic, Baptist, Christian missionary alliance, Word of Faith, and some flavors in between. Among some of these circles there was a strong teaching about being a ‘man of faith and power’ or talk like ‘he is a really powerful man of God’. Pew sitting groupies and pastors exchanging flattery along these lines. There is not necessarily always wrong in talking like this, but often there is. Talk like this, appeals to the pride of life. It assumes that the power displayed, which is usually just in fervent preaching, is a result of the great faith of the man himself. Ministry prowess then becomes a display of the pride of their life. A church ministry-obsessed version of the pride of life.

And I think that Jesus heard this assumption about him in his disciples request and the pride of life that was undergirding the request. So, he shut it down with teaching ‘if you only have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can uproot trees and throw them into the sea’. Faith then becomes simply a positive reponse to the will of God. Faith is not a license to do anything one wishes for or hopes for.

Being spiritually powerful is not about the amount of our faith, its about our responsiveness and obedience to the Father. Which assumes firstly that we are able to hear him and respond to him. For us it is a hearing of the Holy Spirit and a cooperative response to it. Whether that is a command to go teach, to heal the blind, to raise the dead, to drive out demons. To talk to a new friend about a topic you’d prefer to not talk about. Or even to sit and do nothing, not pursuing some twisted idea of ministry, without sensing the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Ministry Is Not

Ministry is not something we manage like a portfolio of good works for God. Impressing ourselves, others, and finally imagining and hoping that God is sitting back with his feet up and feeling impressed with us.

Similarly, ministry is not primarily an effort in persuasion, using logic and argument to get people to think like we do. It is not some form of eloquence and strong peer pressure. Getting people to behave a certain way or to think like the great man with the mic thinks. That is not ministry and neither is that discipleship.

For many I do realize ministry is exactly as I just described and has been perhaps for an entire lifetime. However, that is not from the Lord, the Lord is not asking them of that. They are just doing it for whatever reasons they have. And the Lord will be the final judge of those ministries and whether their works burn and are overturned.

I confess I have gotten bored with what I know the Lord has asked of me, as if it should be more impressive.

“Whoever is least among you is the greatest.”

Jesus Christ in Luke 9

We ought not trust in ourselves as mighty ministers of God. In our great faith and great works, we ought to pattern ourselves as yielded, obedient, children-slaves. Slaves who are simply blessed to have names that are written in heaven. To the only one who is good, the Father.

I think …‘that’s it?’, just a conversation or two sharing the kingdom of God with a friend? Just a thousand or so blog posts with mediocre stats? Just a couple books that I don’t really know how to distribute? No conversions? No miracles? no invitations to preach? No groups of Christians wanting my help to gather like they did in the New Testament? As if the conversations, friendships, the blog, and the books are not impressive enough. As if that which he has asked of me is little and meaningless. However, nothing that Jesus asks of us is little or meaningless. Over time to think like this is to begin to overlook what I know he has asked from me and to fail to even respond to the little. Unimpressive, as if it is nothing. That is a major mistake that I believe the Lord is showing me even now as I write this. But particularly thanks to the Luke 17 passage above.

Ministry Is

Ministry is a sharing in the eternal life of God himself, the authority over all the power of the enemy, the eternal joy of God, the extreme power of God to work miracles. But to keep the attitude of a slave doing only what we are required to do. Not doing any of those things with the attitude of a privileged first born child. Because when we take that attitude we embrace pride, and we exclude Jesus Christ from our lives, then the entire plan of God for us begins to break down..

Ministry is listening to the Spirit of Christ and responding. Then even more important, it is cooperation with Him. Diligently cooperating with thorough, pedantic, fervent meticulousness attending to even the littlest of commands. Discipleship is teaching others to hear the Spirit of Christ and responding to only that. Ministry is a slave-master relationship, a doing of one’s duty as we stay close to the Lord. It is a one-way loyalty (as far as we are concerned), expecting no special treatment, no special assignments. No grand glorious accolades, no expectations of commanding respect from Gods people. There is no unionized contract work attitude allowed. No glory or fame to be expected, not demanding our rights to have leisure or ease.

Ministry is slavery to Jesus Christ, and it involves faith in the life of Jesus Christ within. Realizing it is a very big deal whatever we hear from him and is top priority for us to respond and cooperate with. If Jesus tells us to get a glass of water for a unknown child, or to preach a challenging rebuke to the leaders of the UN countries.

Both are very big deals; both are worthy of our prompt reply and diligent response. Both are to happen but only happen in response to the Spirit of Christ. Its just as wrong to ignore the leading of the spirit as it is to pretend and proclaim your works are in response to the Holy Spirit when they are not. There is no autopilot ministry, doing what we think is probably good, while ignoring the Holy Spirit. Not even attempting to seek him because our ministries are so popular and established. People like that are in grave danger of hearing from our Lord, ‘get away from me I never knew you’. ()

Real Spirit-led ministry is such an utter work of God that Jesus promises we don’t even need to worry about what to say when taken before courts of law to stand before rulers. Even that, is on him, we are not his representatives primarily we are his living channels and our fates are in his hands. Jesus said in Luke 12:11- “when they bring you before the rulers and authorities, do not be anxious about how to defend yourselves, or what you should say for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

So dear Christian let us not take pride in our ministry, our miracle working, or our demon casting. Those things, whether we do them or someone else does them reflect God not us. So dont feel like you are something if you do them and don’t look at those who do them as something special. Look at God who uses people. Because whenever we do those things we are only just expressing a tiny bit of faith.

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What Jesus Said About Himself
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Why Sunday Sermons are Inadequate

The institution, the tradition of the Sunday sermon is incapable of and is not qualified to communicate the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. I know that’s a strong statement and could be offensive to those who earn their livings by their sermons and actually I love sermons. But they just are not a tool that Jesus gave us to accomplish ministry, he gave us much more effective tools to do what he calls us to than the Sunday sermon.

The man or woman of God who feels called to serve Christ. Should not attempt to delegate the sharing of the gospel of the kingdom, to the Sunday sermon. And whosoever is called to preach the gospel of the kingdom, they discard their obligation to preach the gospel IF they try to fulfill that calling using the Sunday sermon or homily.

Neither Jesus Christ, nor John the Baptist, nor the apostles preached sermons. And when I say sermons I mean the sermon as defined by most seminaries and or public speaking courses. An intro, 3-5 main points, a conclusion, a funny story, a call to action and make it no longer than 30-45 minutes.

If we really feel pressured to preach sermons may they be for discipleship and when the time is up for the sermon, let them end and move on to something else. Don’t make it go on in perpetuity for every single meeting just because that is what is always done or that is what the people think they need.

The “sermon” on the mount was not a sermon

Even the “sermon on the mount” would not be considered to be a modern sermon. It was about 12 – 13 minutes of teaching. It did not have a intro, nor three points, nor conclusion and neither a call to action. Nor did it last 30 minutes to an hour. The sermon on the mount was not even called a sermon until the 1800s by bible translators who were categorizing the ministry of Jesus Christ. No doubt their intentions were good but the fact remains, the sermon on the mount is not what any seminary would define as a sermon nor how it would teach its students to prepare and preach a sermon. Therefore calling it a sermon is misleading, especially for people who base and center an entire church on the modern concept of a sermon.

I see pastors trying to make the sermon the centerpiece of their Sunday gathering, and therefore the centerpiece of their ministry and their church. But in so doing they disqualify that part of their ministry, from the very thing most want to be the purpose of their church…evangelism. The sermon forces the pastor to make the gospel the conclusion of every Sunday sermon. the only place it fits is at the weekly conclusion or call to action. And only a small portion of the gospel fits into that conclusion. The part about becoming a Christian, converting, getting into heaven. The real gospel of the kingdom and all its implications and the Christian communities that it establishes when fully preached takes at least 80 hours to communicate. Bare minimum, and ideally it should be taught in about 6 months of daily teaching meetings that establish a community of Christians who are left mesmerized and in intense pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ together and who are sharing his life in a face to face community. It is such a radical community of world changers they probably get persecuted or killed off in most societies, but they advanced into the kingdom of Christ anyhow, loving, healing and giving and defeating Satan at every step.

The gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ sets a community of Christians up to gather without a need for a king-like clergyman. To control their every move when they gather. It sets them up with the ability to be led by the Holy Spirit together in a loving community.

Only teams of men or women of God can adequately communicate the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Teams, not lone superstar clergymen. Please don’t get angry at me for writing that, I don’t say it out of a criticism of pastors, I love pastors, they are wonderful gifts to the body of Christ. But their job descriptions still need much reform back to what we see in scripture.

Paul seemed to be the most like an independent preacher, but if you read closely you can see he was approved by the apostles in Jerusalem. He was also sent out and chosen by other members of the body of Christ. Paul had companions and helpers and partners in his ministry. He was not a lone wolf, off alone preaching. He specifically and intentionally sought out the approval of his gospel by the Jerusalem church before he started preaching. He was able to submit and live with other men and women of God in community.

Don’t Bother With The Sermon

My point, if you are called to ministry don’t major on sermons, instead major on loving the other members of the body of Christ. Major on the ministry of Jesus Christ. Major on being led of the Holy Spirit and not ministry-logic taught in seminary (the supremacy of the sermon). There is a massive place for preaching and teaching in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I don’t see how the modern sermon has much of any place in it.

It takes a good deal of leadership to lead a congregation away from the entrenched tradition of sermons. And toward the Holy Spirit, but someone, somewhere, at sometime will read this and know what the Lord is calling you to do.

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How to Spot Toxic Ministry

If you’re a Christian like me you have experienced negative things at churches. It’s normal and expected if we are to actually fellowship with other human beings. In this world there will be trouble. I think Frank Viola once said “where two or more are gathered together…there will be trouble.”

In the past I’ve been blindsided by pastors and other powerful people at churches unexpectedly. But I could have seen it coming had I been paying attention or listening to the Holy Spirit.

I share this post for the young and inexperienced Christian. The advice most people receive when becoming a Christian is to “start attending a bible believing church, attend every service and start giving 10% to it.” This advice I believe is vague and incomplete and can open up the young Christian to abuse. Depending on where they decide to attend. This post is my replacement for that advice to the young Christian.

Church can be wonderful experience but be careful, when we begin to love a particular church, that love can exist for unhealthy reasons. The church could be satisfying something in us that should not be satisfied at all. It could be teaching deception that we normally would be letting go of, if you were listening to the Spirit.

It could have people we might want to, or are getting into inappropriate relationships with (I’ve seen this happen, even with pastors.)

All of the above can exist in places we call church, and we’d be far better off avoiding.

Our emotions about a particular church or ministry or as in most cases, a particular pastor. Should not be a factor in deciding to fellowship intimately with a group of Christians. Being led by emotion is immature and unnecessary.

There are objective qualities about a ministry that can be useful to see quickly. Not necessarily as justification for breaking fellowship but to be used as a red flag. Perhaps a warning to protect ourselves and our families from a particular dysfunctional or toxic man or leader or ministry.

Three major red flags about a Christian ministry:

  • One person as the supreme influencer of a group of Christians. Other alpha males need not apply. In fact only beta males are welcome, alphas can send their wives and children but they are encouraged to stifle themselves if they come. I don’t care how wonderful this supreme person is, only Jesus Christ is qualified to occupy this position in a Christian fellowship. The one person can be the pastor or some behind the scenes person, either way …RUN away. Even if you think you want that in your life, meet that need elsewhere because it’s the number one sign that a Christian fellowship is not actually following Jesus Christ. But are instead bored with him and want some powerful personalities to give them a social experience they crave.
  • Everyone’s rank and status in a ministry or church is defined and measured by their relationship to one or two holders of power. Not a healthy place.
  • Gossip occurs during the sermons, the preacher thinks if I have mic I have license to say anything (very common).
  • Jesus Christ is rarely mentioned, only at the ends of prayers. Instead teachings about self-help, getting money, making the world a better place and all the like, justified with proof-texted bible verses, dominate the speaking. Watch out, if you need or want all that, get it at the library or online. There are people who specialize at this and don’t try to mix it with pretend spiritually.

To reiterate, don’t necessarily leave or break fellowship with a place like this if you are already there. Maybe you can help them, but at least protect yourself and your family from the psychological abuse that can happen in a place like this.

If you have to leave to protect yourself then look for ministries and churches with the following traits.

  • Obsession with knowing Jesus Christ.
  • Healthy non-hierarchical power structures.
  • Friendships supported during meetings.
  • No gossip occurs during the sermon.
  • Frequent and a varied types of meetings.
  • Meetings where everyone and anyone are taught to and expected to share with one another.
  • Money flows to the needy in the congregation and out of the congregation, (doesn’t just flow up to the elites or supreme one on top.)

Look for these traits and don’t care about numbers of people or the quality of the building they gather in. Don’t care about powerful personalities to mesmerize you in a weekly sermon. It’s just not necessary, that is mostly just religious entertainment.

You as a child of God can do better, Jesus has better for you, don’t settle.

If you absolutely cannot find this, look harder, or relocate to where you can. Or prayerfully wait for the Lord to bring you this type of fellowship of Christians. Maybe he’ll even use you to help plant one like this in your town. But be sure to wait on him for that, everyone does not have permission from God to plant churches. And Christians do need one another, we should gather together often in a healthy way.

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