Ministering
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (Eph 4)
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Col 3)
According to the word of God PRIVATE Christians are to MINISTER and to TEACH. I rejoice in this FACT, because God put in me a desire to do so. He gifted me with things I am to share. He does not give gifts to keep to oneself. The parable of the talents teaches us that. So I will now share, minister, teach…etc. I have many times confessed that I am not an ordained minister or elder or deacon, but I do not need to be ordained to teach. PRIVATE Christians are told by God in his word to teach. We teach in various ways. Some of us are more learned than others. Some of us are more suited to teach in particular areas. I just saw a mentoring program online and the mentor said, “Is he teaching me or am I teaching him?” He was confessing it’s a dynamic and exciting interaction led by the Holy Spirit.
Let me re-focus. This paper was about ministering.
Some think you need to go through a period of time after you have sinned, to minister or teach. There seems to be a ring of truth to that, and I am open to discussion on the matter…but I want to share a few thoughts on the matter. William Gouge said, “It is good advice that no man be guilty of that which he reproveth in his wife, but is no good rule to say, no man ought to reprove his wife of that whereof he is guilty.” (William Gouge, Domestical Duties, SWRB facsimile copy, p 382). God’s people sin. That sin is in greater or lesser measure hypocritical, because they claim to follow Jesus but daily fail, in greater or lesser measure. There is a difference between a hypocrite who is hellbound and the hypocrisy in all true believers. I believe it is true that when a Christian is walking in deeper depths of sin, that he will have fears that he is a hell-bound hypocrite, even though he is not in truth. True believers CAN lack assurance. In fact, a lack of assurance is more common among Christians than having assurance we are one with Jesus. I learned that from John Brown of Wamphray in his book CHRIST THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. Brown said it is often the case that those who boast they have assurance are often not right with God. In other words, they are not saved. This is not to promote the Papist teaching that we cannot know if we are saved. We can know that we are saved (Rom 8:16), and we should diligently pursue that assurance. We should beg Jesus to save us and let us know he loves us personally.
William Gouge was promoting that a husband teach his wife of what is wrong. I know he would approve of me adding this caveat…that husbands reprove wives of a sin that cannot be covered in love. If Noah got drunk, do you think it is possible that his wife may have gotten drunk too, at least once in her life? Noah lived 950 years! His wife likely lived close to that long as well. If she got drunk, he would be a good husband to reprove his wife in love, even though he got drunk too…because he loves his wife he would seek to curb that sin that he fell into as well. Nooh would have been MINISTERING to his wife then. Gouge didn’t say husbands should wait 5 months before they reprove a sin his wife commits that he committed. In fact, he says he IS guilty…PRESENT TENSE!
Samson regained his strength when his hair BEGAN to grow back. It does not say how long his hair was. In fact, the KJV says when it BEGAN to grow back.
Jonah was turned around by God in THREE DAYS when he turned from his sin to do God’s will!
Both Johah and Samson TURNED from their sin. That is the main key thing. So we need to plead with God that he would enable us to turn from our sins! We need to BEG God, and be SERIOUS! We must also confess that we need him to even be able to turn because God is the Potter and we are the clay. Apart from Jesus the vine, we can do NOTHING…including repent.
“Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” (Acts 5:31)
God’s people, when they stand up for him, become a target for the enemy. Every one of God’s people have sinned. When they come under heavy spiritual fire, they sadly succumb to sin at times. It happened with Samson. He was on the front lines of battling God’s enemies and his own brethren handed him over to the enemy. So he was isolated. Gideon also stood up high for God and he goofed up by making an idol out of an ephod. Paul made believers blaspheme (Acts 26:11).
Satan is out to shut the voice of truth, and so he labors hard to draw them into sin. It’s part of the battle the Christian soldier faces. I long to be free of temptations in this life to sin. I love when I am kept free from sin in greater measure for years.
I want to make clear hear that I am not lowering the bar. Matt 5:48 says be ye perfect as I am perfect. That means we are to STRIVE for perfection! We need to have an attitude of fearing losing the race. I imagine that when the men try out for the Navy Seals there is a lot of anxiety that has a big part in driving the men who are determined to push through the arduous tests they are put through. That’s how we have to be. But we must also remember, if it was not for God’s grace, no one would reach the finish line. Olympic sprinters muscle through it. Christian soldiers grace through it. We depend totally on God’s grace. When we fall we get back up again, and keep running…and by God’s grace, we can reach the finish line too just like the gold medal runner.
A huge reason for me writing this is that it is important to recognize that the enemy is out to shut down the advance of our Saviour’s Church, and so he wants to shut down individual Christians. We are going to come under fire when we stand up for Jesus. That’s part of the battle we sign up for. Jesus said, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) When it comes to standing up for Jesus, it’s easy to let someone else do it, as Eric Metaxas who wrote LETTER TO THE AMERICAN CHURCH, said. David Brainerd ministered to the American Indians. He suffered serious bouts of depression. Depression is a sin. I have been scolded by insensitive Christians for being depressed at times. They say the Christian should be joyful, all the time is what they imply. But David Brainerd was undergoing serious SERIOUS spiritual battles. The darkness and the depth of paganism among the Native American Indians is a stronghold of satan. Satan is not willing to let go of that prize without a FIGHT! Lo and behold, David Brainerds’ work prevailed in time…but he had to keep ministering while he was struggling with the sin of depression. Why should a missionary be depressed is what the prosperity thinkers ask, with their noses up in the air. But that is the way it goes with Christian soldiers. James Durham died while writing A DYING MAN’S TESTIMONY, which is now called CONCERING SCANDAL. It is a masterpiece on preserving the unity of the Church! I think he died from the sorrow he felt over the divisions in the Scottish Church… because he loved all God’s people and he loved the Church. I am quite sure he was heavily grieved that Rutherford was on one side and Dickson on the other. BOTH men were VERY godly men!!! Durham was an incredible man of God, but it seems he died of sorrow, as I perceive things. I could be wrong, but I actually cherish the thought that Durham originally titled his book A DYING MAN’S TESTIMONY because the divisions in the Church were killing him. That means it mattered to him. The prosperity gospel gurus of our day would condemn Durham though and look down on Durham because they say Christians are to be always joyful and that joy glorifies God. In one sense you can agree, because God is not overcome by the divisions in the Scottish Church of Durham’s day, so Durham did not need to be. But the FACT IS…Durham was human! I think it is completely dishonest nonsense to think to remove sorrow from the Christian life and to expect and pretend to be always joyful…no matter what. Jesus even said, I lamented for you and ye did not mourn. Durham was a real man, not a phony with a plastic smile. I’m not promoting that Christians are to have a permanent scowl on their face. In fact, I love to see smiling joyful Christians who make an effort to be positive and bring joy to others who need comfort and encouragement. I would applaud those who promote the duty to spark joy in folks driven by fears during the recent CONVID-1984 PLANDEMIC. People were dying just from the STRESS satan was casting on society during the PLANDEMIC. It was unbelievable! It was indeed Satanic!
Satan’s goal is to stifle the truth! He is not willing that Jonah be schooled only in 3 days before he goes back to his duty. He would have Jonah be schooled 3 years!…3 DECADES! Let us acknowledge that at least! And with William Gouge, let us recognize that one guilty can and should still teach, though it is not good that he be guilty of sin…any sin…when he teaches. In other words, we are all to be in unison in apposing sin…no matter where it comes from…and we should fight it even though we be guilty of it. Isn’t it true that the enemy tempts us to continue on in sin, because we sinned and so we may as well keep on sinning? He doesn’t want us to fight sin. He wants us to stay in our sin as helpless slaves. But the Christian is not a helpless slave. He can get back up again and fight sin, and he is even COMMANDED to do so!
“For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” (Prov 24:16)
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Another important point. This is not lowering the bar as I said already but specifically is not lowering the bar for the qualifications of an elder (1 Tim 3). But I do fear we expect overseers to me God all too often. They will fail too…just like I cited with David Brainerd.
Another element of this subject is the fact that so many of the critics don’t see the three fingers pointing back at them when they point the finger. Can you imagine the Church of Galatia reproving the Church of Corinth because they don’t embrace their gnosticism? Imagine the Galatian churches reproving the Corinthian churches for tolerating that incestuous man, as the Galatian Christians carry on with their Gnostic fornications… And then the Galatian Christians tell the Corinthian Christians they need to keep from ministering for months and maybe years. It’s the same case with all the denominations of our day who claim to have the right of conscience even when conscience goes contrary to the law of God.
RAIN MAKER (1Kings 8:35, 36) 