Ministry--In a New Way

Romans 12:6-8

Even though I’ve been in Ohio for more than a decade I still receive a newsletter from the Amarillo Baptist Association.  More and more it mentions names I don’t recognize.  But recently the name of one church caught my attention.  Under the heading “Pray for Our Pastorless Churches” was Temple Baptist Church, Hereford. 

That could only mean that H. W. (this was Texas, he was known by his initials)  had, at long last, retired.  H. W. was a fixture in Hereford and over the years while I served in a neighboring community we had the opportunity to become friends.  H. W., who had stayed at the church long after he could have retired, once told me that he wanted to leave the church on a high note.  I hope he did.

But right now I’m want to tell you about another experience he related to me.  In the early 1990’s he called on a young couple who had visited Temple on a Sunday morning.  After a brief conversation the wife asked, “We didn’t see a family life center or a gymnasium, do you have one?”  H. W. said, “No, we don’t have one.”  Incredulous, the husband asked, “Then, where do you play?”

Some people still come to churches asking, “What’s in it for me?  What will this church do for me?” Even though I believe such people have got it all wrong I do understand why they might ask such questions.  You see, we ought to expect to get something out of being part of the church since the church is filled with gifted people.

Gifts of a Gracious God

Using the illustration of the parts of the human body, Paul affirmed our interdependence as believers:  We need each other.  And why do we need each other?  We need each other because believers are specially gifted to minister to one another.

Paul discusses spiritual gifts three times in his letters, here in Romans 12, in I Corinthians 12-14, and in Ephesians 4.  Each time he stresses the source of these gifts, abilities, or faculties;  they are given to believers by a gracious God.  They are called “spiritual gifts”  because they are the result of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.  The word translated as “gifts” is “charisma”.  Unfortunately we use charisma to describe a persons innate attractiveness.  That loses sight of the fact the word has the same root as the word “grace”.  We do not receive a charisma because of any worth of our own, we receive a charisma solely because of the benevolence of the Giver.  Forget that and all sorts of trouble will follow—just ask the Corinthians.

Still, any mention of spiritual gifts or “charismatic” gifts will cause some Christians to hold their breath.  They know there’s a lot of controversy swirling around this topic.  Those who hold the extreme views in this controversy may be called “the charismatics” and “the ceasationists”.  

The charismatics claim that all the gifts listed in the New Testament (and some not listed) are normative and to be expected in the church today.  In fact, if the more spectacular gifts, like speaking in tongues, aren’t part of the believer’s life, that believer is somehow spiritually deprived.  In fairness, not all charismatics nor all Pentecostals hold such an extreme view, but unless their emphasis on receiving the Spirit as a “second blessing” is very carefully stated, it’s easy to conclude that they see the ordinary Christian as a kind of spiritual second-class citizen of the Kingdom.

The ceasationists, on the other hand, claim that spiritual gifts—especially the more spectacular gifts—ceased to be given about the time of the last apostle’s death or about the time the New Testament was completed.  They would argue that phenomena like “speaking in tongues” are, at best, psychological aberrations or, at worst, works of the demonic.  The beloved Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan held the ceasationist position so strongly that he once described Pentecostalism as “the last vomit of hell.”

Both perspectives are wrong.  In I Corinthians Paul argues that the gifts do not necessarily denote spirituality.  At the same time, nothing in Scripture suggests that such gifts are signs of spiritual immaturity.  And, when cooler heads prevail, New Testament students admit that there are no grounds for arguing that the gifts were to cease at the end of the first century.

Craig Blomberg addresses the issue of the “reappearance” of spiritual gifts in a very persuasive way.  He argues that such gifts seemed to disappear from the church due to “a growing, unscriptural institutionalization of the church and an overreaction to the abuse of the gifts in heretical …circles.”  At the same time, he argues that “the twentieth century resurgence of the gifts cannot be attributed to the arrival of the last days, since for the New Testament ‘the last days’ refers to the entire church age.  They may, however, reflect a recovery of more Biblical, spontaneous, and all-inclusive worship and ministry.” 

Does this mean that charismatic and Pentecostal churches should stop speaking in tongues?  No, it does mean that they should stop claiming spiritual superiority to their fellow Christians and, just as important, stop placing God in a box by claiming to know how He must act in each believer’s life.  Does this mean Baptists and others should start speaking in tongues?  No, it does mean that they should stop looking with disdain on their fellow Christians who happen to disagree with them and, just as important, stop placing God in a box by claiming to know how He would never act in a believer’s life.

 A more balanced view of the New Testament materials underscores a couple important principles to keep in mind regarding the gifts of the Spirit.

1.     The Spirit is sovereign in bestowing the gifts.  He is not obliged to give gifts according to the formula prescribed by any group.

2.     The Spirit is concerned about the unity of God’s people.  When one of his gifts creates disunity, you may be sure that that gift is being abused and misused.

3.     The Spirit is purposeful in the bestowal of gifts.  On the one hand, He gives his gifts “for the common good.” (I Cor. 12:7)  No gift is to be used for selfish purposes;  gifted Christians ought to seek to use their gifts to minister to others.  And, the Spirit gives his gifts to help the church accomplish its task in the world, including the task of evangelism (Acts).

With this in mind let’s look briefly at the gifts Paul mentions here and then see how what he says applies to us.

The Spirit gives the gift of prophecy.  A careful look at the New Testament should keep us from holding the once popular view that this is just another name for preaching.  Something else is involved here.  This seems to be a spontaneous utterance of the Spirit through a believer.  Such expressions will never contradict Scripture but they may be more specific than Scripture.  In particular, prophecy seems to have played a role in helping congregations discern God’s will.

Paul adds a cautionary note:  He tells the prophet to exercise the gift “in proportion to your faith.”  Some believe Paul is telling the Roman Christians that prophets must measure their words by the standard of orthodox faith.  That’s not a bad idea but it’s probably not what Paul has in mind.  I think it’s more likely he means the prophet shouldn’t present, as a word from God, anything that the prophet isn’t ready to believe.  It may also suggest that if the prophet has any doubt about the origin of the prophecy then it would be best to keep quiet.

The Spirit gives the gift of service.  The word translated here has to do with giving practical aid.  It has the same root as the word “deacon” but there’s no reason to believe that the gift of service was limited to those who held that office.  While all Christians are called upon to respond to the material needs of others, some seem to have a special capacity to understand the nature, cause, and solution to  problems others face.  Many of those who regularly exercise this gift have a kind of godly toughness.  They can smell a scam a mile away;  while you and I are reaching for our wallets, they tell the con artist to move on.  At the same time, they are able to help those in genuine need without either humiliating them or enabling them to become comfortable in a lifestyle which makes them dependent on others.

The Spirit gives the gift of teaching.  If prophecy is marked by spontaneity, teaching seems to be a gift given to those who have prepared.  The gift of teaching enables those prepared to communicate and explain the Scripture. 

The Spirit gives the gift of exhortation.  Someone once said the goal of preaching should be to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.  The word “exhort” has that twofold thrust.  It can mean admonition, which includes the notion of warning or censure;  and it can mean encouragement, which  includes the notion of comfort or giving solace.  The gift can be exercised both publicly and privately.  In fact, the very word means “a calling near” as if you were calling someone over to speak to them  privately.  At the same time, it was used to describe a powerful address to a group.

The Spirit gives the gift of giving.   When we were in Tumut, NSW, Australia, on a Partnership Mission we met a man known in his church as “Old Peter.”  Peter was a retired opal miner.  He was extremely shy, barely speaking a word when we greeted him. As we were saying our good-byes the last night there he handed Pat a wadded up tissue.  Inside were several small stones, uncut opals.  The pastor, who told us what they were, explained that they probably had little commercial value but they did represent Peter’s affection for us.  Then he went on to tell us that Peter lived in a simple one-room apartment, that he had no car, that he never traveled.  All the money he had beyond what he needed for his simple lifestyle was given to missions.

Old Peter seems to have possessed the gift of giving.  The fact that the church has such gifted members doesn’t relieve anyone from their stewardship responsibilities but it does challenge us to appreciate how some choose to live simply in order to give more to God’s work.  Not everyone can do  without a car or put a family into a one-room apartment but some can.  The word “generously” should probably be translated as “in simplicity.”  Perhaps this  gift exists to remind us that the ongoing work of the church has probably benefited more from the gifts of the widows with two mites and the “Old Peters” than it has from the millionaire wanting to have the family name engraved on a plaque in the church.

The Spirit gives the gift of leadership.  Every congregation has leaders, some of those leaders have titles, others have no titles but people still look to them when the time comes to make decisions or to determine a course of action.  Sometimes those leaders are leaders because they’ve been around for a while, or because their check makes the loudest noise when dropped into the offering plate, or because they possess personalities which dominate others.  None of these should be confused with those leaders who possess this spiritual gift.

The one who possesses the gift of leadership is enabled by the Spirit to lead without trampling people underfoot.  This leader does not lord it over others;  instead this leader leads by example.  The words translated “govern diligently” in the NIV carry the notion of “singleness of mind” or “zeal.”  Such a leader possesses a God-given vision for the church, a vision consistent with the Biblical purpose of the church.  Such a leader enthusiastically promotes—not their own agenda—but God’s agenda.

The Spirit gives the gift of mercy.  Most commentators imagine those exercising this gift as ministering to those who are sick, aged, or disables.  While the gift of service seems to be directed to practical needs, this gift seems to be directed to emotional or spiritual needs.  Paul says this gift is to be exercised with “cheerfulness.”  To put it simply, a sick person feels better after the visit of one possessing this gift of mercy.  I can’t imagine one possessing this gift telling a sick person about all the people with this same problem who died despite the doctors’ best efforts. 

This mercy extends to those who are emotionally and spiritually beaten down.  There are many such people in every congregation.  We need those gifted in getting them back on their feet.

This is not an exhaustive list of the spiritual gifts.  Paul mentions others elsewhere and even those lists may not include all the ways the Spirit gifts people.  Paul’s discussion of gifts shows us we need a new way of thinking about ministry.

A New Way of Thinking About Ministry

The couple H. W.  talked to understood that you should get something out of being part of a church, but they still had it all wrong.  The proper understanding of the church and ministry expects us to be concerned not so much about how we might be ministered to as we are concerned about how we might minister.

Spiritual gifts are other directed.  That was what Paul took such pains to communicate to the Corinthians.  They were selfishly devoted to what made them feel good about themselves, instead of thinking about others.  To this self-centered church Paul wrote one of his most forceful letters.  He tell them there are “different kinds of service,” reminding them that the exercise of spiritual gifts should demands we be concerned about others.

At the same time, Paul reminded the Corinthians that all the gifts have value.  In fact, Christians should neither be  proud because they possess a particular gift which places them in the spotlight or be disappointed because they possess a gift which does not command as much attention.

When a church has a proper way of thinking about ministry it will encourage ministry in all its forms.

We should encourage those who minister to practical needs.  Two of the  gifts Paul allow this type of ministry:  the gift of service and the gift of giving.  Elton Trueblood once wrote that Christianity was the most materialistic  religion in the world.  By that he meant that the Christian world view recognizes the goodness of the body and the propriety of meeting our physical needs.  Unlike some practitioners of other less-worldly religions, we look at a needy person and say, “It’s just their karma.”  As a church we need to encourage those who are gifted in practical ministry.

We should encourage those whose ministry  helps keep others on the pilgrim path.  When someone strays off the path, they need a strong voice to show them their error and call them back.  When someone faces a difficult challenge on that path, they need someone with strong arms to keep them from falling.

We should encourage those whose ministry leads us to be more and do more than we imagined.  Paul’s word to those with the gift of leadership can be translated this way, “if your gift is leading, lead enthusiastically.”  That’s so needed today.  I admit it’s tempting to join those who continually tell us that the world is going to perdition in a hand basket while a compromised church is tying a ribbon on the handle. We all need those leaders who remind us of God’s faithfulness and the power of the gospel, leaders who inspire.

Such leaders not only inspire us, they keep us focused.  They help us keep our eyes on the prize.  They don’t endorse every idea that comes along but only those that are part of God’s agenda.  Yet when they’re convinced a plan is on God’s agenda, they become its cheerleaders.

We should encourage those whose ministry helps us apply God’s truth to the realities of our age.  A few years I heard a father say he was concerned about sending his son to college because of all the “hippies” there.  This was well after the sixties and seventies, during a time when many campuses were populated with those whose goal in life was not peace and love but a corner office and a fat portfolio.  We need those who can help us see how God’s word applies to our particular needs in our particular time.  We need those who are open to God-given insight into the Word and into the world.

We should  encourage those whose ministry opens God’s Word to the church.  George Barna, an insightful student of today’s church, has concluded that one of the gravest problems facing the American church is an ignorance of the very rudiments of the Christian world-view.  He believes we need to make sure our churches are teaching believers how to think Christianly.  I agree with him.

Whether the teaching comes from the pulpit or in the Sunday school class, we need to encourage teachers.  We need to stand by those gifted teachers who are struggling resist the all-too-common call to dumb-down the message to make it more acceptable.  History shows it’s the only way for the church to remain healthy.

Conclusion

The thoughtfully committed Christian will engage in a new way of thinking about himself or herself.  Such Christians will see that they are part of a community in which they have a role, a community which is a key component in their spiritual support system.

Such Christians will understand that mutual ministry is the key to that community doing the work of the Kingdom.  And such mutual ministry is possible only because each member is gifted by God’s Spirit to do God’s work in God’s way.  While the Biblical view of this mutual ministry does assure me that God has not forgotten my needs—whether spiritual, emotional, or physical—it also challenges me to look beyond God meeting my needs to the vision of God meeting needs through me.