A framework for ministry.
(As found in Isaiah chapter 35)
Text: Hebrew’s 12:24 "You have come to Jesus"
Address delivered at Aberystwyth Theological College, Preaching Service, 20th November 1987
Why have I come tonight? Why have you come tonight? Why have we’ve been doing all this singing and praying and what have we been reading God’s word for? One answer may be found in the words of our text in Hebrew’s chapter 12:24. It is these words on to which I will be hanging everything else I will be saying; the first part of the verse as it reads in the Good News Bible, "You have come to Jesus".
What I would like to share with you is some thoughts upon "A framework for ministry", as found in Isaiah chapter 35. This won’t be an all embracing framework as it is focusing upon only one book from one of the great prophets. But, God willing, it will give us some pointers and directions in which to meditate.
Now if you’re not training to be an ordained minister, please don’t switch off. All who have come to Jesus have a ministry. Whoever you are, whatever you will be doing, who ever you will be meeting, tonight, tomorrow , next week, whatever:- that is your ministry. Peter writes "You are a royal priesthood". All Christians are called the serve their Lord. One of the most basic meanings of "minister" is simply to serve. We all need a framework for ministry.
Like the Presbyterian I am, I naturally have three points to raise.
Firstly - the context of our ministry.
Secondly - the content of our ministry.
Thirdly - the centrality of Christ to ministry.
The context of our ministry
The context of our ministry is people.
Simply that... People.
Some, who have come to Jesus.
Some who are coming to Jesus.
Some who have come to Jesus and gone away again.
Many who have never, and may never, come to him.
Ministry is primarily about people. Does that sound like stating the obvious? Well, actions speak louder than words. You could get the impression that ministry is about all sorts of things. Some act as though local church ministry was primarily about maintenance. I heard one lady in a church threatened with closure speak in defiance, saying "I swore to my father that whilst I lived on this earth the doors of this church would never close".
The church was costing a fortune to keep open. One hundred and fifty yards down the road was a Methodist church whose pattern of worship differed hardly an iota. The church had no plans for outreach, it just wanted to maintain itself against the odds. Why? Certainly not for the sake of those outside its walls. They had lost sight of the ideal that the church should exist primarily for those who are not its members.
Ministry can so easily become maintenance; keep the old thing ticking over as long as we can. We must keep in sight that people are more important than traditions or buildings or denominations or many other things we associate with the word church. You have come to Jesus. He came to be a saviour, not to be a caretaker. Ministry is not about maintenance.
Neither is ministry primarily about personalities. We all need role models and heroes. It is part of the discipleship program instituted by Jesus who said "Follow me", and of Paul who said "Imitate me " . But some people get fixed on an idea or a person to such an extent that they have to be this or have to be that. They find a preacher they admire and set themselves up as the next Billy Graham or Luis Palau or whoever. If our imitation of another, other than Christ, goes beyond our concern for others, then we are on shaky ground.
It is very important to know who we are in Christ, but if in the process of self discovery, we obscure the fact that ministry is about people over than just ourselves, then we cannot minister in the way Christ would wish us to. Jesus said " Whoever wants to find himself, most lose himself". You have come to Jesus.
Ministry isn’t about miracles. Personally, I take the charismatic movement seriously despite some of its excesses and eccentricities. As a denomination we need to re-discover the revival power of the Holy Spirit to heal and deliver, to convict and recreate.
I have a few people in one of my churches, who I’m sure would not mind me sticking the label "charismatic" on them. They go off to meetings all over the place and come back with tremendous testimony’s of God’s healing power. But occasionally they have become so wrapped up in the spectacular that they have to been reminded that Jesus said "Seek ye first the kingdom..."
God gives the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit to serve each other with, primarily within the context of the local church. Ministry isn’t about miracles at far away conferences.. Neither is it about many other things...., The academic pursuit, for instance, can be a selfish one, unless it be subject to the Lordship of Christ. It’s can be knowledge for knowledge’s sake or arts for arts sake. Surely we should do all for Christ’s sake! Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and suggested that to truly minister to others we must follow his example. So I maintain that the context of our ministry is people.
What sort of people? What sort of world? Isaiah 35 offers some pictures.
A wilderness, a desert, a place of burning sand inhabited by those who cannot see, can not hear, nor walk, nor sing... A place of sorrow and sighing, an abandoned wilderness, an unclean, unredeemed, fearful environment.
Is that a fair description of today’s unredeemed, world? Let me throw out a few phrases. "The Third world", "The rich North", "Chernobyl", "Hiroshima", "apartheid", "child abuse". What images do they create? I’m simply trying to endorse the picture of Isaiah of the world as a wilderness, unclean and unredeemed.
The context of our ministry is a world that needs salvation.
You have come to Jesus, who came to save.
How do you feel about that?
There are indications of how we can feel in the face of such a world. In verses 3 and 4 of Isaiah 35, we find words such as a "weak, feeble and fearful". This is relevant in the context of ministry, because whatever it may be that God wishes to do in the world, the disturbing thing is that God endeavours to work through humanity, through people like ourselves, you and me, to overturn that wilderness situation.
The context of our ministry is this:
God working through those who have come to Jesus,
to save people from a wilderness like world.
The Content of ministry.
Borrowing from Isaiah 35... to the world in general, we are to bring rejoicing, abundant blossoming, joy and singing, gladness, springs of life giving water, streams through desert’s - a holy way that reveals the glory of the love and majesty of our God.
To the people in the world, we are to open blind eyes, unstop deaf ears, get the lame leaping and the dumb singing, get people (including ourselves) on the road to Zion. We are to walk firmly, take strength in God’s salvation and not be afraid. We are to encourage one another, rejoicing in the fact that God is a mighty God, able to save, a God of justice who will not been mocked, a Lord who sets the captive free and leads his people to his kingdom. You have come to Jesus.
Our reading from Matthew’s gospel concerned John the Baptist’s inquiry as to whether Jesus was truly the one who was going to come and bring in the New Age. You can imagine John, imprisoned, lacking news of events, feeling despondent. Jesus, said to answer him and encourage him, "The blind can say, the lame can walk, the deaf hear, the good news is preached to the poor. How happy are all those who have no doubts about me!”
The content of ministry is "good news". The good news that God has not abandoned this wilderness world, but Christ has been in it and is in it, has died to save it and is resurrected to reign over it.
The good news is that the Holy Spirit can invade our lives, sharpening our consciences to the mind of Christ, giving us the compassion and love to minister to people, bringing to us a new heart that wants to sing and rejoice and praise God.
Without the work of the Holy Spirit we remain fearful and powerless. The word of God remains closed to us. We can not hear or understand it. But in the strength of Christ everything is overturned. New things are revealed.
We can only minister to others, to the extent we allow Jesus to minister to us. We can only help others, to the extent that we help ourselves to a living relationship with Christ.
He said of Himself, that He could only work within the boundaries set by his Father. "Truly, truly, I say to you , the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing." (John 5: 15). Again, "I can do nothing on my own authority.” (John 5:30). If it were true for our Lord, how much more so for us.
The context of our ministry is to bring
that over-turning, good news, kingdom life
we find in Christ,
to the world,
in the power of God’s Spirit.
That requires that the most important dimension of our spiritual life, is our ability to listen to what God is saying and to see what God is doing in different situations. We have come to Jesus. He calls us to be his co-workers. HE calls us to prayerful service. Not apart from Him. Or even far from Him. But with Him. God is not our employer. He is our Father.
The centrality of Christ to ministry.
Remember to whom you have come. You have come to Jesus. One who turns defeats into victories, deaths into resurrection. One who promises to be with you until the end of the age when He will come again. One who goes ahead and leads, yet walks along side you every step of the way. One who has touched the most God forsaken depths of human suffering and abandonment and overcome them. You have come to Jesus.
Remember what He wishes to give. He wishes to give us, the ability, the authority and the power to bring the kingdom of God to the kingdom’s of mankind. That’s not something we can manage outside of what He provides for us. Remember also where you are heading. Isaiah 35 puts it like this;
“It shall be called the Holy way,
the redeemed shall walk there
and the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing.
Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads,
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
The 12th Chapter of Hebrew’s makes the contrast between going to Mount Sinia and to Mount Zion. Mount Sinia is a place of darkness and gloom. Mount Zion is described as the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the assembly of the enrolled in heaven.
Remember where you are heading. As Hebrew’s chapter 12 puts it, again echoing Isaiah 35; "Lift up your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed ".
Christian life is a journey. It’s not a journey from the cradle to the grave, but from before the womb to beyond the tomb. That places everything in a different kind of light.
For ministry to be ministry, the eternal Christ must be central. A framework for ministry must be built around His everlasting purposes..
So to recap;
• The context of our ministry is people. Not maintenance or personality, (or anything else) but people who live in a wilderness- like world, blind and deaf to the love of God, unable to walk in God’s ways or find joy in his provision.
• The content of ministry is the Good News; about God in Christ redeeming the world to Himself. We can do nothing outside of those boundaries. Our responsibility is therefore to be people who listen to and follow Christ in order to bring his love to others.
• The centrality of Christ to ministry. Remember to whom you have come. Remember what He wishes to give. Remember where you are heading. You have come to the mediator of the new covenant. You have come to Jesus and He’s counting on you to let others know about it. You have come to Jesus.
I pray he will teach us more and more how to serve Him and how to worship Him.
We have come to Jesus.
To his name, be all honour, power and glory.
Amen.
