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THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY by Harold Smith |
"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints so that they (the saints) might do the work of the ministry" (Ephesians 4:11, 12) |
So, then, just what is the work of the ministry that you and I as saints in the Body of Christ are supposed to be doing? And what are we supposed to be equipped with in order to do that work?
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)
I had long been acquainted with this passage in the gospel of Mark and had considered it to be the answer to the question "what is the Work of the ministry." But, upon further examination, I was intrigued by the wording "these signs will FOLLOW (or, come after) those who believe." Now, to me, the connotation of work implies labor - sweat, toil, pain and tears - and, it is something that I purposefully set out to do. Here, the connotation derived from "follow" is an implication that we really don't have much to do with its working; that these things emanate more from the Holy Spirit than they do from any forethought on our part. They are more a RESULT of the Spirit flowing out of us than a pre-determination that they will happen. In other words, I turn around from my walking and can see these things in the wake of my being led of the Spirit of God, not in front of me.
Once again, the Lord took me back into scripture to validate these thoughts and urgings I felt coming from Him. He led me back to our example, Jesus, who came and lived a life before us so that we might know and examine what it is to walk in the fullness of the Spirit of God.
"I have glorified You on the earth.
I have finished the work which You have given Me to do." (John 17:4)
Now, if Jesus could quantify that Work for His life (and His life is the template by which my life can be measured), then whatever He said was the Work in His life could also be considered to be the Work used for mine. What was the work He said He had finished? Healing the sick? Casting out demons? Preaching the gospel? Any one of these, in my estimation, would have been an excellent candidate to present to the Father as a qualifier for finishing the work. But, He didn't mention any of those. Instead, this is what He offered up:
"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word." (John 17:6)
(what does it mean to manifest His Name? see, In The Name of Jesus)
He went on to clarify that He wasn't praying for the world, but specifically for these eleven men whom the Father had given Him to equip with the knowledge of the essence of God. Jesus had taken what the Father had given to Him and had given the same to these in such a fashion that they received it, kept it and made it their life as well. He made disciples. The work that Jesus presented to the Father that He had finished was that, out of the world, He had manifested the life of God to eleven men in such a manner that they could see for themselves how to embrace that life and make it their own. In the process, He had not lost one of them.
The Lord is giving you and I a lifetime to accomplish the same work He did in three years - to make eleven disciples who follow after Jesus with the same intensity that Jesus followed after the Father. These men got it. They, in turn, began to make disciples of a few others and the end result was that the world was and is still set on fire with the knowledge of God. Where did Jesus find those men? The Father brought them to Him from among those that He rubbed elbows with as He was walking out his life before God. He did not choose them, the Father chose them. Jesus was just being obedient by embracing them. If you begin to look around your circumstance in life right now and ask the Father to show you, He will reveal those that He has chosen for you to embrace in like manner. Maybe not all at the same time - He might start with just one. Perhaps He would start with just your family. But they are there and they might not be who you would expect them to be.
How did Jesus "manifest" the Name of God? He loved them. He lived with those guys - day and night. He crawled up next to them, put His arms around them and walked with them. He lived with them and loved them through their agonies and trials, through their fears and failures, through their hopes and dreams, through their times of accomplishment and through their times of idiot-ness. He took the things He had learned from the Father concerning life and godliness and showed them, hands on, how to apply those things to their own lives and loved them into that same walk. And He did not lose them - He showed them in such a way so as to not alienate them. We are called to do the same: to take what the Lord has given to us in the Spirit and to impart that walk to a few others. This is work (little "w") because it requires of you to be determined to remain with someone until they are able to function in the Spirit and hear His Voice on their own. It requires of you to lay down your life for them. Then, as He did, it becomes time to turn them loose, so that they, in turn, can go make other disciples. Disciples of Jesus - not of ourselves.
The Work of the ministry is begetting sheep. Shepherds do not beget sheep. Sheep beget sheep. Shepherds help the sheep to beget by leading them into pastures where there is good grazing and pure water to sustain them; but, sheep do the begetting. And the place where they do the begetting is not in the shearing house, but out in the pasture where they live and roam. Sheep do not beget in the shearing house. The shearing house (meeting place) is where the sheep come to be sheared - to lighten their load and to be oiled with balm so that they can be encouraged to spend another season out in and enduring the elements so as to beget other sheep. The shearing house is not a conducive place for begetting. Some continue to try and make it one, but this is a call to a more excellent way - the way of Jesus.
The Lord's more excellent way of learning of Him is through a personal relationship with Him via the Holy Spirit. (John 14:26; 1John 2:27) This is what we are to make disciples in - recognizing the Voice of God on a personal level. To accomplish that, we (as Jesus did) must live out to them how we have come to know and hear the Father in our own lives in practical ways that they will be able to see and comprehend. The focus of making disciples is about being a living example to a few of how to hear God so that they are shown how to attend to the needs of others.
In the parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25 the wording is strikingly similar to the words found in Isaiah 58 concerning the type of fast that is acceptable to the Lord. Both passages describe how we should be about exemplifying the nature of God (manifesting His Name). God is the same today as He was then. None of what is described in either passage requires any special gifting or calling to accomplish. You don't have to attend any special schooling or attain any degrees to be able to exercise these attributes. This is what each of us, regardless of our station in life, have been called to do. All that is needed to be able to say to the Father on that day, "I have finished the work you have given me," is to do as Jesus did. We are to live those things listed on a personal level with enough intensity that it becomes evidently visible to all around us. When we do them, we are manifesting His Name. He wants us to then teach that life to a few others who will take it to a few more….and so on, and so on - the Work of the Ministry.