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WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN FOR?
EVERY CHRISTIAN A MINISTER
If I had the power to do it, there are several words which I would
eliminate from the vocabulary of organized Christianity. The first
word I'd get rid of is the word “stewardship." In the
New Testament the idea of being a steward meant something very wonderful...the
apostles thought of themselves as stewards of the mysteries of God.
But today when the word stewardship is used in organized Christendom,
it means only one thing.... money. If there is a stewardship workshop
somewhere, that's a training session on how to get more money. If
a man is given a job in the church called "stewardship secretary,"
we know he will be working on ways to motivate people to give more
money. When the pastor gives a stewardship sermon, he starts out
talking about how a Christian should use his time and talents…
but he invariably ends his homily with an emphasis upon treasure.
There's nothing wrong with talking about money in the church...Jesus
talked about it too ... but it's dishonest to try to soften the
approach by using misleading words like "stewardship."
The second word I'd eliminate is the word "evangelism."
It's a perfectly good word coming right out of the New Testament
... but the New Testament writers wouldn't recognize the way we
use it today. The evangel in the New Testament had to do with giving
people something.... giving them the good news of what God did for
the world in his Son. Today in Christendom the word evangelism simply
means getting people. Evangelism com-mittees in our churches are
concerned with how to get members. Until this covetous connotation
wears off the word "evangelism" won't do so much good.
But if there were only one word that I could strike out of the vocabulary
of organized Christianity, I'd leave "stewardship" and
“evangelism" alone and try to sink the word “layman."
It comes from a good New Testament Greek word, laos, which means
"the people." But today when we use the word "layman"
we mean not just the people, we mean the "untrained people"....
the people who never graduated from a theological seminary.
It's ingrained in the minds of organized Christians that the Church
of Jesus Christ is made up of two groups… the clergy and the
laity. The clergymen, that is, the "ministers", are the
ones who have been trained ... they're in the know. The laymen are
the drones who carry out the plans of the ministers. This concept
of clergy-laity colors every-thing we do in the church. Unconsciously
the ministers feel that they are the top dogs. And the lay people
feel that when it comes to Christianity at least, they are inferior
... they are afraid to take any initiative in the things of God
without receiving approval from the ministers.
When the average churchgoer reads his Bible, he has his clergy--laity
spectacles on. He reads about Jesus and the disciples and sees them
dressed in clerical robes. Jesus is the bishop and the disciples
are the pastors. When Jesus takes his disciples apart by themselves
to rest a while, that's a pastor's retreat. When Jesus sends them
forth to preach the kingdom and heal the sick, that's an ordination
sermon. Then of course there's the multitude sitting on the grass
listening to Jesus preach. These are the laymen... the ordinary
Christians sitting in church.
So the clergymen are the disciples ... the fellows who are really
spending their lives in this thing ... the chaps who are really
close to Jesus...the full-time Christian servants. And the laymen,
why, they're the multitude. They come and listen, but they're only
laymen. They're at this thing on a leisure-time basis.
This is one of the biggest lies the devil has put over on the church.
In the church of Jesus Christ there is no such thing as a clergyman
or a layman. Buddhists have their clergymen …primitive tribal
religions of the jungle have their clergymen ... they're called
medicine men. Churchianity has its clergymen ... but in the church
of Jesus Christ there is no such thing. In the church you are either
a DISCIPLE or you are nothing. And every disciple has some function
in the Body of Christ. He or she may be a teacher or a pastor or
an evangelist or a deacon or something else. But whatever he or
she is, they have a ministry or they are not Christians at all.
And it's never a "lay" ministry.... it's a real full-time
ministry for all.
In the city where I live, it is possible to obtain certain privileges
as a "clergyman." If a policeman pulls a preacher over
for exceeding the speed limit, when he sees the collar he may give
him a break..."After all, the man's a minister." Or if
Pastor Sue goes to certain stores and fills out a few forms, she
may get a "clergy discount." Or when the preacher walks
into the garage the men may stop swearing.... "Sshh….here
comes a preacher." But when the pastor stands before the judgment
seat of Jesus Christ, his funny collar won't be worth a dime....
"But Lord, I'm a man of the cloth ... I spent my life in your
service."
"My service? Did I tell you to wear the cloth? Did I give you
the name Reverend? That backward collar doesn't mean a thing ....
I'm looking at your life."
With the religious establishment in America you may be regarded
as a layman. If you want to get drunk, never mind, it won't create
a scandal ... you're only a layman. If there are people where you
work who seem to be groping after the living God, never mind, you
don't have to disclose to them what you have found ... it's not
expected ... you are only a layman. If you want to cheat on your
income tax or loaf on the job, don't let it trouble your conscience
too much. After all, you're only a layman. But when you stand before
the judgment seat of Christ your layman's cloak won't be worth any
more than the preacher’s clerical collar...."Lord, I
was only a layman."
"A layman? What's that? You listened to my gospel...you heard
my commands ... did you obey me or didn't you?"
If what has been said so far is true...if, in God's sight I'm not
a clergyman and you're not a layman (we're disciples if anything)
... then Jesus' instructions to the disciples have relevance for
us all. When he sends the disciples forth to proclaim the Kingdom
of God and heal the sick, Jesus is outlining the ministry of every
Christian. When you are a Christian you can sit and listen only
so long. There comes a point when Jesus says to you, “Now
my child, it's time for you to go out into the world and minister.
As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. Preach the kingdom
... heal the sick." If, when that time comes, you don't get
up and go and minister as Jesus commands you, you will begin to
wither… your Christian life will lose its vitality. You may
still enjoy clinging to the company of the disciples. You may still
sit and listen to Jesus, but your light is going out ... your mind
is becoming dark ... because you're not doing what your Lord told
you to do.
In Christendom today there are churchloads of people whose minds
are stagnant, and whose spirits are dead ... ever learning but never
coming to the knowledge of the truth because they are afraid to
be ministers. They are afraid to go out into the world and proclaim
the Kingdom of God and minister to the sick. They just want to sit
and listen endlessly until the bell rings and their life on earth
comes to an end. "I'm saved, so now I'll sit in church and
stay holy until heaven calls."
Why do you think Jesus sent the twelve and commanded them to preach
the Kingdom of God and heal the sick? Why did he send the seventy
to do the same thing? Because this is what it means to be a disciple:
to minister the Kingdom of God in word and in deed to the world.
What else are we here for? If we haven't got a ministry to fulfill,
then why does God keep us on the earth? Why doesn't he take us to
heaven now?
In chapter six of John we see a very simple and beautiful picture
of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. On one side is
a multitude...on the other stands Jesus with bread in his hands.
Between Jesus and that multitude, twelve men keep walking back and
forth with their arms loaded with food ... serving the people ...
ministering to them... satisfying their hunger. That's how you spend
your life when you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.
The bread in their hands stands for two things: the bread is, first
of all, the spoken word of God. Read the entire sixth chapter of
John and notice how the mystery of the bread keeps unfolding until
Jesus explains quite plainly, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth.
The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak to you, they
are Spirit and they are life." If you are to take the bread
from Jesus' hands and give it to the multitudes out in the world,
this means first of all that you take the gospel of the kingdom
that Jesus has been unfolding to you within the church and proclaim
it in the world. "Preach the gospel to every creature.... make
disciples of all nations." Give to world missions indeed…
give with abandon ... but don't believe that this alone will satisfy
God's demands in the matter of discipling the world. You have to
minister this bread too. You have to tell the people of your own
personal world with your own lips about Jesus Christ. Remember,
you're not a layman you're a disciple.
But the bread in the hands of the disciples stands for something
else, something which must always attend the spoken word of God
... it stands for power. This is no ordinary bread ... this is the
power of God that gives life to what is corrupt and makes it pure,
just as when Jesus told the woman to "go and sin no more."
This is the power of God that gives life to what is sick and makes
it whole, so that the lame walk and the blind see and the lepers
are cleansed. This is the power of God that gives life to what is
crooked and makes it straight. It can release a woman who has been
bent over with a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years or a man
whose mind is twisted by demons. When this power comes in, the crooks
and tangles disappear. And this power is to attend your ministry
to the broken world out there.
When Jesus tells you to heal the sick he is not ordering you to
run the doctors out of business any more than he did. He is telling
you to take the power of God which gives life and in his name to
bless people with it. Whenever you do, there will be a healing of
some kind. It may be a healing of the body, mind or spirit it may
heal a family or a neighborhood, or a broken friendship or an ailing
church. "Heal the sick that are therein and say to them, 'the
kingdom of God has come nigh to you.’''
Does this stagger you?...the idea that you, weak as you are, have
been sent out into the world to preach the kingdom and heal the
sick? What else are you here for?
The question is often asked, "What will we be doing in heaven
when we get there?" You can be sure that in heaven we will
not be sitting on cushions of idleness, bored to death. We shall
be serving God. And if we ever hope to be serving God in heaven,
we'd better start serving him here. And there is only one way you
can serve God here ... by serving your neighbor. Take the bread
Jesus has put into your hands and give it to your brothers and sisters
in the world before it gets stale ... and before you get stale.
This bread is the word of God, which creates faith. This bread is
the power of God to give life.
Opportunities are coming your way constantly to speak about the
living God and to bless men in the name of his Christ...use them!
What else are you here for but to preach the gospel and heal the
sick?
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