The
New Humanity. . .
THE
NEW MINISTRY
It
was one of the greatest prophets ever who said: “I am no
prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet. I am a herdsman and a dresser
of sycamore-figs” (Amos 7:14).
The
thesis of this article is that in the new ministry in Christ every
child of God is a minister, even though he is not, and perhaps should
not be, a professional “Minister” in any sense that
separates him from other Christians. Amos was certainly one of the
great prophets, and yet he denies being a prophet. Since he goes on
to describe how God called him to prophesy, we must understand his
denial to be a repudiation of a ministry that would separate him from
the common herd. He was but a farmer who was called to speak for God.
It
is true that prophecy was a function in the old dispensation that was
ordained of God, and there were those, like Samuel, who were
“confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.” Even in the
Christian congregations God’s gifts included that some should
be prophets (Eph. 4:11). And yet the implication is clear, even in
the Old Testament, that God wants all his children to be
ministers for him. Moses saw the spiritual potential of this, for,
when two men of The Seventy became ecstatic due to the Spirit’s
influence, he says; “I wish that all the Lord’s people
were prophets and that the Lord would confer his spirit on them all!”
(Num. 11:29) We commend this attitude to our brethren who are so
wrought up over those among us who are ecstatic with the Spirit.
Tongue-speaking, or whatever it was, didn’t bother Moses. If it
meant that God’s Spirit was working on them, he was for it!
Exodus
19 makes it clear that God’s intention was that the people he
had called out of Egypt would become “a kingdom of ministers”:
“If only you will now listen to me and keep my covenant, then
out of all peoples you shall become my special possession; for the
whole earth is mine. You shall be my kingdom of priests, my holy
nation.”
Something obviously went
wrong, for it isn’t long until a special priesthood is formed,
and so the Levitical priesthood is a familiar subject to readers of
the Old Testament. But it is an intrusion upon what God intended,
allowed only because Israel rejected what God offered them. They
would have all been their own priest and priests to each other, for
God would have dealt with them directly, without any kind of
mediation of man, had they not rejected it. Once they see the thunder
and lightning, the mountain smoking, and hear the sound of the
trumpet, they withdraw from God’s presence, and say to Moses:
“Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but if God speaks to
us we shall die.”
The
divine intention is supposedly realized in the Christian
dispensation, for 1 Pet. 2:5 reads: “Come, and let yourselves
be built, as living stones, into a spiritual temple; become a holy
priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus
Christ.” He goes on to identify the Christians as “a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, and a people
claimed by God for his own.”
Thus
the concept of the priesthood of every believer became an important
principle in every major reformatory effort in Christian history. The
reformer has realized that the church has been negligent in its
responsibility as “a royal priesthood” and has been
willing to sell its blessing for a mess of porridge. Tyndale and
Wycliffe endeavored to restore the Bible to every man’s living
room in his own language, so that the man who drives the plow will be
as versed in the scriptures as a gentleman of the cloth. Luther made
the priesthood of every believer the hallmark of his reformation.
Campbell challenged the prerogatives of the clergy, insisting that
they arrogate to themselves functions that God decreed for all
believers.
The
new humanity has a new ministry, one that speaks to the needs of our
generation, for it is a ministry of the people, by the people, and
for the people. It is a ministry based on love more than on
knowledge. Another can effectively minister to my needs when it is
evident to me that he loves me and is truly concerned for my welfare.
Whether he knows more or less than I is not so important. We can all
learn from any man who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, for the
Lord promises that such a one will be filled, and in his filling we
are all edified. There is something refreshing in being around a
brother who longs for truth as the hart pants for the water-brook.
Any system that stymies such longing or obstructs others from sharing
in it is a denial of the priesthood of all believers.
This
is not to say that the new ministry is mostly a matter of enthusiasm
and spontaneity. As important as these are, a place must always be
made for knowledge. The Bible insists that we are to “Try your
hardest to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge.”
And Paul could write to the Romans: “You yourselves are quite
full of goodness and equipped with knowledge of every kind, well able
to give advice to one another.” Again and again the scriptures
speak of our “exhorting one another” and “edifying
each other,” which of course infers knowledge on our part.
As
priests of God we are therefore people who have our homework to do.
We are to study. Some will be better at this than others, and of
course some will be better teachers than others. But surely there is
more than one man in a congregation with the ability to
encourage the community when it is assembled. One of the great
principles of scripture is that the Christian, like his Lord, is in
this world to minister, not to be ministered to. The vast majority of
our people assemble in their congregations with no plans whatever of
encouraging their fellows with some vital, relevant truth that they
have gleaned from the Bible that week. Instead they assemble to be
“preached to” by a professional minister, which reflects
a system that is a total stranger to scripture.
The
new ministry is not only scriptural but also sound. By sound I
mean it is wholesome and effective. We should be willing to do
something just because it pleases God, but in the case of the royal
priesthood we can see that there is much to be said for it, apart
from being scriptural. Perhaps that is why it is scriptural, because
it is right! Like the injunction not to steal. God enjoined against
it because it was wrong!
1.
It is pragmatically right. Think of the trouble the new
ministry saves us. Nearly all our difficulties in some way involve
“the minister,” who is of course the man in the
congregation. Remove him from the scene (out among the unevangelized
where as an evangelist he belongs) and a whole cluster of
problems go with him. Then perhaps the community can be nourished by
elders and other qualified persons. After all the Bible does say,
“Whatever gift each of you may have received, use it in service
to one another, like good stewards dispensing the grace of God”
(1 Pet. 4:10). This is pragmatically possible when the pulpit is not
virtually owned and monopolized by one man.
2.
It is economically right. Those who are attracted to the
penniless carpenter of Nazareth, who had no place to lay his head,
are likely to be suspicious of anything in religion that has a high
price tag on it. This includes million dollar buildings and the
expensive system that demands them. A large part of a congregation’s
budget goes for what has the odd name of “home evangelism,”
which is a euphemism for preaching to the same folk week after week,
year after year. If the budget for “home evangelism”
means that the money is being spent to tell the neighborhood about
Christ, it would be different. It means that the congregation is
spending the money on itself, so it can be “preached to”
to its liking.
It
is sobering to stop and think about the way we are spending God’s
money. Poor stewards we are when a large part of every dollar goes
for our churchly comfort. Think of the cows we could buy for Korea,
wheat for India, or gift pacs for Vietnam. Or the missionaries we
could support around the world. One resolution that is ever so
Christian and scriptural that would transform us from a mediocre sect
into a dynamic community of saints is this: Never will we spend
any money on preaching for ourselves, but we will generously support
those who will carry the gospel to others.
And
while we are resolving it would be well to vow that we will never
again build another church house. That too would make a difference!
3.
It is psychologically right. Some of my discerning friends who
are observant of our congregations insist that our people do not
listen in church. The sermon may serve as background “music”
for some constructive meditation, but no one to speak of really
listens. Often it is boring. Only a very few speakers are gifted
enough to attract and hold attention. In terms of pedagogy the
pulpit-pew arrangement is the worst possible teaching situation.
While even a sharing ministry, with various ones participating, would
be difficult in a huge assembly, it would be more interesting. It is
psychologically sound when one man is sharing with another, drawing
from his experiences in everyday life or telling about his victories
of faith. We all need to express ourselves, sharing our faith,
telling others what God has done through us. If the assembly fails to
provide for this need in some way, it is psychologically as well as
scripturally unsound.
The
new ministry includes more than teaching and sharing, for it embraces
all service that is implied by the new humanity. Jesus was
ministering when he washed feet and cooked fish. Our greatest
ministry may be in writing a letter to a lonely prisoner, visiting a
shut-in, hauling the neighbor’s kids to school, cleaning house
for the sick, or taking someone’s shift at the factory so that
he can take a needed rest.
The new ministry is always motivated by love rather than by fear or even by a sense of obligation. Paul speaks of the “love that binds everything together in perfect harmony,” and it is this love that gives vitality and significance to the new ministry. Just as we love because Christ first loved, so we serve because he first served. We seek no applause or reward. We seek only to be like him.
And in the end when he says, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” that will be too much, for we are so un-deserving. Only his goodness can make it so.—the Editor
ON
BAPTISM
I hope I am not being unkind, but I should reckon it highly probable that most of us who are baptized are ignorant of the fact that we are baptized into Christ’s death.
The church baptizes in order to make possible a response to the love of God in Christ for us all.
—D.
W. C. Ford, College
of Preachers, London