The Ministry of the Church
2 Thessalonians 2:
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
Power given to the church
The average Christian may not realize it, but God has placed the power in the hands of the church to preserve our culture and prevent the decay of sin. God has clearly stated that even in the end times, the man of sin cannot be revealed until the church has fallen away. Darkness cannot overcome the light and sin cannot overcome godliness. Sin reigns only because the godly man has ceased to fulfill his call. Darkness is not a force that has power to cast a shadow; no, darkness is the void left behind when the light has been removed.
I often hear it said that the republicans must win this election to save the country. While I believe it is important to let our voices be heard, have we also forgotten that God raises up rulers to judge His people or bless His people? Have we forgotten the scripture that says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength”? If your trust is in any leader, you are placing your confidence in the flesh and walking in the curse rather than the promise. Even with people in office that claim to have conservative values, the culture continues to decline and a quickening pace and the church continues to lose its influence on the culture. No political leader can save us and no political leader can destroy us. We should not fear the outcome of elections; instead we should fear God.
The heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord. Like the course of a river, God can turn it wherever He desires. The real question to ask is, “Why is the hearts of our leaders turning away from truth”? The church alone has been given the power over the culture. We have been given the Spirit of God and the power to be salt which adds flavor and is a preservative, and light which dispels darkness and reveals truth. We have the promise that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church. However, we must understand that our efforts cannot break down the gates by our own strength. Look at Revelation 3:
7 " And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ’ These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens":
8 "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
Only Jesus Christ can open the door and provide the opportunity to the church to preach the gospel of good news. If the door is closed, no man can open it. All the efforts, programs, ministries and the greatest leaders in the church cannot open the doors to our culture. Jesus alone has the power and He states that the faithfulness of the church determines how He will use the church. If we are faithful, have kept His word and honored His name, He has promised to open the door and no power in heaven, hell or on the earth can shut that door. We want to be faithful in our involvement in our culture, but politics and activism cannot save us or the culture.
Whatever you Ask
Asking of God is probably the most misunderstood doctrine in scripture. Let’s begin our examination of asking by first looking at one of the foundational principles of scripture. Look at Luke 9:
23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
24 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
The word Christian simply means to be a follower of Christ. It is often misused and many who claim this title will never follow Christ. However, if we are truly a follower of Christ, this basic principle must be true – we must deny ourselves and lose our life for His sake. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Without faith, we cannot inherit salvation and we cannot obtain the promises of God. Faith requires that I make a step out of believing God before I receive from God. It takes no faith to wait for God to reveal His will to me or to provide my wants and desires prior to letting go of what I have. No, God says, if we desire to follow, we must first deny ourselves. So when it comes to asking, we must first trust God’s promises and ask – not for ourselves, but for God’s purposes. The reason that most Christians never find the will of God or ever fully mature spiritually is because we are unwilling to deny ourselves. We read about the promises, but we see the things of the world around us. Only by faith can I obey God when it cost me.
I firmly believe that I never have to ask God for my benefits or blessings. In fact, when I ask for myself, I am self-focused and seeking my own good. In scripture, we are told to ask for our needs so that we acknowledge our dependence on God, intercede for others, and ask for God’s will or the things we need to accomplish His will. When it comes to ourselves, we are told to be thankful for what we have and to be content with what God has given us. I do believe that God desires to please us just as I desire to give good gifts to my children. However, my role in receiving is to give thanks, not petition for more. Examine these passages on asking:
John 15:
4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
9 " As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
We often hear the phrase quoted, “you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you”, but rarely is it examined in context. This passage teaches us that we first abide in Christ and walk in our love for Him by keeping His commandments. We abide by obedience out of love. We then ask with the purpose of glorifying the Father. The focus of asking is to seek God’s kingdom. We already know that God seeks our good and will satisfy us because of His promises. By faith, we know we don’t need to seek our own; therefore our entire focus is seeking and asking so that we glorify God. This is explained also in John 14
12 " Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
15 " If you love Me, keep My commandments.
Did Jesus promise that we would perform greater miracles than He did? No. He said we would do greater works. Works is the labor for the kingdom of God. Once again, we are told that we ask so that the Father may be glorified through the son and once again it is stressed that we abide in His love by keeping His word. Without a foundation on scripture and a desire for God, we will miss the whole goal of asking. Why do we want to seek things that will one day pass away or pleasures that will disappear as our activities fade? Look now at 1 John 3:
22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Asking is reiterated again with the principle that we abide by keeping His commandments and ask according to what is pleasing to Christ. Again and again scripture reiterates the principle of asking is that we ask according to His will and ask for the purpose of pleasing God. We don’t need to ask for our pleasures because these have already been promised by obedience. The Bible is filled with promises. The promises of God are to encourage us and make it clear that God desires to bless us and give us pleasure. If I believe the promises of God, I can deny myself and seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Our Reward is not for Works
Many believe in error that the more you do for God the greater your reward will be in heaven. This is a false and dangerous assumption. I am rewarded based on faithfulness and obedience that comes from a heart that loves God. The Bible states that all our righteous acts are filthy rags in God’s sight. The Bible also states that the plowing (or labor) of the wicked is sin. Good deeds do not produce righteousness or the favor of God. Look at these two passages in Hebrews:
Hebrews 10:
35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
37 "For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him."
Hebrews 11:
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
God rewards those who seek Him and live by faith. Our confidence in God and His promises have a great reward. There is nothing I can do for God. God must produce His work through me, not me producing good works for God. A Christian does not have the right to suffer from burn out. God has given each person a calling and God gives us work within the church. If I am trying to be all things to all people or keep every task in a local church running, I am out of the will of God and all my labor is in vain. I can work myself to death and never earn a single reward. If I am doing anything that takes me away from God’s calling or hinders me from spending time with God or my family, I should reevaluate what I am doing. If something is not done out of obedience to God by faith, I should drop that task. If God does not raise someone up to do it, it does not need to be done. Works come from God alone. Look again at John 15:
4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
If I abide in Christ and He in me, I will bear much fruit. If my work is not done through abiding in Christ in obedience, it is disobedience. A few verses later, Jesus stated:
16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
Jesus appoints us within the body of Christ for a specific labor and through Him, we bear fruit. Through us, He works and accomplishes His work.
Ministry
John 15:
12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Every ministry within the church must be founded upon love. We love as Jesus Christ loved. He loved His enemies as well as His friends. In fact, we are commanded to minister to those who are not easily loved. Look at Matthew 5:
43 " You have heard that it was said, ’You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
This also applies to the church. We are not permitted to curse our enemies. In error, many think that if you label someone as an enemy of God you are justified in attacking them. This is far from the truth. We are commanded to love enemies of the church and those who have become our enemies. We are told that if our enemy is in need, we give them food, water, or clothing and we are commanded to bless and not to curse our enemies. This is important to understand because when the church begins to reach out to the community, there will be times when good works are met with anger and hostility.
Another thing we should take care to apply is Jesus’ statement that if we do good to those who love us, there is no reward. In Luke 14, Jesus said that if we do good to our friends or to those who can repay, we have no reward. The reward for friendship is friendship. The reward for outreach comes from God. In the American church culture, we minister to ourselves much more than we minister to the world. Children’s, singles, couples and countless other programs are good in their proper place, but they are not the outreach God has commanded for the church. If ministry is for the members, there is no blessing. If ministry stays within the walls of a church, there is no outreach. We are commanded to “go into all the world”, not wait for the world to come to us. We are commanded to go into the highways and byways, not to pick a specific target group that fits our program goals.
When a church plans its ministry goals, we should take time and care to examine what kinds of ministries God has expressed as dear to His heart. Anything beyond is a benefit, but these ministries should never be sidelined in order to please members or build numbers. I use this passage often and will continue to do so because it so clearly defines the heart of God in outreach and the promises of God when we obey. Look at Isaiah 58:
6 " Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
This is the command. Without fulfilling these commands, we have no claim to the promises and no right to question why God isn’t working in our congregations. Our purpose is to go outside of our comfort zone and reach people at the point of their need. Jesus came to set the captives free, therefore we loose the bonds of wickedness by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. We are commanded to lift the burdens and break the yokes that bind people to sin, false religions or anything else that hinders them from a relationship with Jesus Christ. When we do these things, we will inherit the promises of God:
8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ’Here I am.’ "If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
God does not call us to merely give money to outreach organizations or do short mission trips. These things are good and have a purpose, but it is not where our calling ends. Anyone can give a little and remain untouched, but God calls us to extend our souls to those in need and be the grace of God extended to those who hurt. Under the banner of Christianity, many people point the finger and speak wicked words of condemnation, but God calls us to reach out and lift the burden.
It is an error to think we must condemn sinners in order to avoid compromise. This is far from true. If we uphold the banner of truth, God’s Spirit will be the voice of conviction and He will draw all men to Himself. Some will resist, but all will be drawn. Jesus never condemned a sinner in need and He never compromised the truth. It is no accident that sinners were drawn to His compassion and it is no accident that sinners left with repentance in their hearts. We must preach as Jesus did – the acceptable year of the Lord. God has passed over the sins that were previously committed but now calls for repentance (Romans 3:23-26, Acts 17:30).
If you do these things, God has promised that your righteousness will break like the morning sun, He will satisfy you continually and that you will be like a watered garden – even in seasons of drought. God will raise up those to rebuild what has been broken down in the church and in our culture. When you go out into the world, God will have already made a way for your righteousness (which God invested within you) will go before you and His glory will guard you from behind. I love the description in Isaiah 30:
21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.
Do you hear the voice of God? You will if you do the things God has made clear. Look at the calling God has given to the believer and the church throughout scripture:
Meeting the needs of fellow believers even if it requires sacrifice
Visit widows and orphans in their trouble
Care for and house the homeless
Share the good news and set free those bound by wickedness
Feed the hungry
Extend ourselves to those afflicted
Visit the sick
Visit those in prison
Clothe those in need
Go out into the highways and byways to present the good news of Jesus Christ
This is the ministry of the church. Our culture is reached at the point of need while at the same time we must preach repentance through Christ. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance and the church’s ministry is to share that goodness with the world around us. Instead of conforming to the culture to reach the culture, the calling of Christ is to draw the culture to the Cross. Our goal is not to be accepted by the culture but to become salt and light into the culture. Obedience to Christ is the only way to be salt and light to the world around us. Instead of conforming to a decaying culture, we are empowered to preserve our culture by Jesus Christ working through us when we abide in Him. Let us shine the light of the gospel into the world and remain salted to preserve those who will respond to the truth.
