I feel for men and
women of God who are faithful with what's viewed in the religious
world's eye as little. In society influenced by marketed sensation,
judged by large crowds and big steeples, they don't seem too
important to some.
Over and over I read or watch in Christian media the remarkable
feats of great evangelists who are “taking nations” and “impacting
the world for Christ.” Images of the masses, tightly crowed together
in stadiums waiting for God’s man of faith and power, are
transmitted.
Some evangelists are dropped off behind the platform by white
limousines with police escorts, others are delivered by helicopter
and surrounded by bodyguards. Skyscrapers of speakers stacked atop
each other, rumble the message for all who dare to come within miles
of the “main event.”
For some reason, however, I don’t feel the same today as I once did.
There was a time when the main event really excited me. It was
awesome to see so many people gathered in one place. Today I feel
confused. I keep getting a cankered message in my spirit. There is
something in me that says, “It’s terrific that so many people are
gathering to hear the Gospel message” yet something grieves me while
witnessing the presentation.
Could it be possible that the Holy Spirit is trying to show me
something? Am I the only one who feels like something is wrong with
this picture? After all, what could possibly be wrong with great
events like this where so many gather to hear the Gospel?
I will never forget the time I was ministering in a jungle in
Central America. To get to where we were going required the use of a
small plane that landed in a cattle pasture followed by an hour long
boat ride down a blackened river. Once out of the boat it was a
short walk on a jungle trail to a small wood-framed building with no
windows bleached by the scorching hot sun.
At night a single light bulb hung from the rafters, drawing
countless creatures for a peak at the visiting preacher. Looking
around at those present and the conditions of the building offered
my mind a clear definition of the word “primitive.” There were no
stained glass windows, large screen projectors, ushers, greeters or
catchers. There wasn’t even a platform, just a dirt swept floor with
hungry believers atop wooden planks with clapping hands as the
dominant musical instruments of the evening.
The young man translating for me was an American who was receiving
monthly support from his home church back in the States. I remember
him telling me that his pastor was raising money to purchase a new
jet airplane. Airplanes! “Awesome,” I thought, since I too am a
pilot. Then it struck me that we were at least 500 miles away from
anywhere a jet could safely land. I asked the young man if his
pastor had ever been with him to this part of the jungle. He said
his pastor had never come to anything. That floored me. “How could
that be?” I asked. He said that his pastor was just too busy back in
the States with the “main event.”
It seemed that the few people we would minister to paled in
comparison to the more significant events back home. That really
bugged me. Here I was on my fourth trip with this young man working
in the clammy hot jungle, eating things I won’t tell you about, and
I had to purchase a coach ticket with my own money just to do that.
Sometimes, after hearing these things I feel like we should just all
quit pioneering and go to the conference centers of the world, phone
in our $1,000 seed faith vow to the guy on TV, and leave the Gospel
to those special people who seem to be more anointed than us.
Isn’t it terrible to feel like this? Maybe it’s just me, but some
things just make me feel like saying, “What’s the use?” But wait a
minute! You know what folks? I’ve discovered that thousands of other
people feel the same way. There are some highly anointed people in
this world who are giving their lives on the warring frontiers of
ministry to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ that will never own a
jet airplane or be able to buy the city’s arena and turn it into a
church. There are others who will never have 50,000 attend their
crusades. There will be some that never get on Christian television
or on Christ Power FM whatever, but they still have value; they are
still important to Jesus, and they are still significant in the Body
of Christ.
I feel for men and women of God who are faithful with what’s viewed
in the religious world’s eyes as little. In a society influenced by
marketed sensation, judged by large crowds and big steeples, they
don’t seem too important to some. We all know that it’s not
appropriate, but everyone in ministry is judged by numbers.
Countless times people have asked me how many people attend my
church and since we don’t fill even the tiniest football
stadium…well you get the point.
Could it be possible that the apostolic reformation is challenging
the one-man-only “main event” paradigm? Is there some balance that
we can find in all of this? What about the little guy, the regular
Joes from Nowhere USA, those who love Jesus and faithfully attend
church each Sunday morning? Shouldn’t they be involved in the work
of the ministry, too?
I recently watched on Christian television a discussion about
healing, miracles and full-time office gift ministries. Evidently
these men were having awesome healings and miracles in their
meetings. The gist as to why such profound miracles occurred in the
ministry of these gentlemen was because of their calling as an
“office gift.”
In my opinion we need to break away from that type of thinking. The
way I read the Scripture is, “And he gave some, apostles; and some,
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry”
(Ephesians 4:11-12). Perhaps we should do a word study on the Greek
word “for.” In my understanding that Scripture makes it clear that
all five “office gifts” are called to equip believers to do the work
of ministry. This is clearly different that the one-man-does all
pattern of ministry that pervades our Christian culture.
Maybe this is why the “main event” doesn’t sit well with me anymore.
Where is the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry
in that pattern? If the one who is called to equip others for the
work is doing all the work, then it appears to me that we are
outside the biblical pattern. It seems that there are too many
people who think that the ministry belongs solely to “office gifts.”
With that kind of thinking, the believer’s responsibility is reduced
to Sunday morning spectator status. That kind of sounds like what we
have throughout the Church today. After all, just find the man with
the five-fold office gift and pay him to do the ministry.
It’s amazing to me that Ephesians 4:11 never came up in the mind of
the show’s host. It just proves that no matter how many times we
read Ephesians 4 we still don’t get it – every believer is important
to God and called into ministry. I am not saying that full-time
office gift ministry doesn’t have a place, it certainly does. And
yes, God does manifest Himself mightily in certain individuals
according to His will, but I don’t think that is His ultimate goal.
I believe that the Holy Spirit wants to use everybody. Scripture
declares, “The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do
exploits” (Daniel 11:32).
Folks, I am not trying to come against anybody because these guys
did have some great things to say. Please understand that the Holy
Spirit needs all of us involved, them too, in the work of the
ministry. I do not believe that the ministry belongs to the
five-fold ascension gifts alone. One man or one “office gift” cannot
complete the great cause of Christ, reaching the world with the
Gospel and making disciples of all nations. I believe this is why
the Lord is restoring the apostolic model, paradigm, order,
government or whatever word best describes it to you. The bottom
line is that the priesthood and kingship of every believer is being
restored (1 Peter 2:9).
In the Book of Acts we see great power to give witness of the
resurrection of the Lord and great grace on all the believers (Acts
4:33). They were invading cities with the Gospel of Christ and doing
mighty exploits for God. I am sure there were many awesome healings
and miracles taking place and there were no television cameras to
capture the event, snap the photos of the masses, and market the
newest Christian fad.
Yes, there is an apostolic order being restored in the Body of
Christ. My prayer is that we will break free from the
one-man-does-all pattern of ministry and enter the apostolic
dimension of equipping every believer for destiny and significance.
In fact, I am convinced that it is God’s intent that we move from
the one-man “main event” to the Body of Christ being equipped in the
local church and sent out to impact the world for Him.
Friend, I know that you are called to do something mighty for Jesus.
It doesn’t matter if you stand behind a pulpit on Sunday morning,
get on television or have your photo taken in front of a massive
crowd or not. The point is that God wants to put His anointing and
grace on you and I, everyday believers, as we invade the earth with
the Gospel of the Kingdom.
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