Firstly, ministry simply means “Service”! The word the NT uses mainly one word both for ministry and service. Scholars will try to tell you that sometimes the word is used “in a technical sense” to refer to church officials, and at other times it means just “service”. That may well be true, but it obscures the simple inescapable point that the same word is used for both – so in the Greek Bible, what church officials do and what ordinary people do, sound the same. It's all ministry. It's all service. So maybe we should abolish “ministry” and simply have service instead.
Everyone has Ministry because everyone has gifts. Did you notice in each of the three readings, that certain words crop up over and over again?
On of these words is “to each”
- to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. (Eph 4. 7)
- to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (1 Cor 12. 7)
- We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. (Rom 12. 6)
- Romans12. 5 “we, though many, form one body”
- 1 Corinthians 12 “we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body”
- Ephesians 4. 4 “There is one body and one Spirit.”
Everyone has gifts – they are diverse, and different in their shape and size and colour and texture. The NT uses different words for these gifts. They are “grace-gifts”, favours from God, ; they are manifestations of the Spirit, signs of God's presence, ; and they are presents or payments. So we can expect these gifts to work in different ways at different times.
- Sometimes God will equip you for something because he is calling you to do it: maybe once only.
- Sometimes God favours us with a gift to use over and over.
- Sometimes we are given gifts that don't fit neatly into one of the categories of the NT. You may not know what to call it but it's a favour from God and a manifestation of his presence when you use your gift.
- Our gifts may be used in public worship, or in private service, inside or outside the Church.
Everyone has gifts because everyone has grace.
Another word that crops up in each of our readings is “Grace”. Gifts, how they are received and what they do in the lives of other people, is all about “Grace”. Sometimes in Bible Churches we think we have the idea of “Grace” all summed up neatly: “God's Riches At Christ's Expense” and all that. But the danger is we have only begun to scratch the surface. “God's redemptive Activity in Christian Experience” is a bit more of a mouthful – but it gets nearer to the breadth and scope of what grace is about: god generously, freely at work in our lives, doing beautiful things, and making beauty out of our ashes, calling from us wonder, joy and gratitude. Gifts are received from a generous, creative father, to make us generous, creative people.
But there is something unique in each of the passages too. Each one has a word for us today.
Reality check
In Romans 12. 3 Paul tells us not to think of ourselves too highly but to have sober judgement about our gifts: literally “to think towards a sound mind”. It's the same word that is used when Jesus drove the legion of demons out of the man in the caves in Mark 5, and then people found him “clothed and in his right mind”. He was no longer screaming and self-harming; he was no longer naked and delusional. The demons were gone and his mental condition was healed. He was now in touch with reality for the first time in years.
In this business of gifts, then, we are to get in touch with reality. If you have gifts, use them. The RSV helpfully supplies the words, although they aren't there in the Greek, the clear point about the list of gifts, is that we are to use exactly what we have been given. Nothing less, nothing more. If you are a teacher, then teach; if you are a server, then serve. Use what you've got. But be realistic: don't use what you haven't got.
That’s the way to emotionally healthy Christian service and to emotionally healthy Church. The other kind of ministry, of service, where do what we're not gifted at, where we think outside of a sound mind, we get further and further awy from a sound mind, because the more committed we get to wrong thinking, the more delusional we become. So whether it's the kind of person who says “Well, I have the gift of prophecy, so everyone ought to listen to me and nobody can ever tell me I'm wrong”; or whether it's the kind of thinkign that says “I'm indispensable, they can't manage without me, the show must go on so I ahvae to keep pushing myself;” we are thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought; we're thinking we are mori important and the stuff we aer doing is more important than it really is. We need to think ourselves towards reality. If we do what we are not gifted at, to fill in the gaps, to be like someone else whom we admire, to impress the congregation with how clever we are or how generous, or efficient or self-sacrificing, is not God's way. It's not healthy. It's not the way that releases the Holy Spirit. It's not the way that builds up the body. Jesus says “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
You are God's gift to the Church!
In Ephesians 4. 11f, the gifts are the people: Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Throughout history, we have assumed that these are “Special people” with a particular calling to ministry in the Church. The AV put a load of commas in v 12 so it reads, “for the perfecting (equipping) of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying (building up) of the body of Christ.” That implies that the special people build up the saints, do ministry and build up the body.
When I was a young Christian I was taught that one of these commas shouldn't be there: it should read “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” That implies that the special people equip the saints (for their ministry or service) and build up the body of Christ. In fact there are no commas, or punctuation of any sort, in the original Greek text. So maybe the special people are meant to equip the saints so the saints can all do works of ministry and all build up the body.
But – remember what I said at the beginning? Everyone has a gift. “To each one grace was given... When Jesus rose he gave gifts to men: and his gifts were that some should be ...”
Apostle – creative, visionary, outward looking people
Prophet – who bring insight and challenge
Evangelists – persuasive, relational, cross-cultural
Pastor – caring, consolidating, relating
Teacher – understanding, presenting, and demonstrating the truth.
And that's it. There's no mention of healing, tongues, administration, or giving aid. So what if – whatever other gifts we may have – everyone is meant to have one of these as the direction of travel in our service for God. That would mean that every one of us is God's gift to the Church – and the purpose is net-mending and body-building. “To equip of the saints” is the same word that is used in Mark 1. 19, where the fishermen were getting their nets in working order. I love the idea that we can all play our part in net-mending – as the church is equipped to reach out – and body-building.
Let the Spirit work through you.
In 1 Corinthians 12. 7-11, Paul reminds us over and over that the source of all the gifts, is the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter what it is – whether it's playing an instrument you learned at School or praying in a language you have never learned – whether we use our hands to apply a bandage or impart God's blessing – we look to the Holy Spirit to come through in what we do. Walking with God, rooting our service in our spirituality, and moving in the costly, and powerful flow of the Holy Spirit, co-operating with him in what he wants to do through us, is a far better option than being busy for God, trying to impress him or others with our dedication or our cleverness. It's a far better option than trying harder and hander to squeeze more out of ourselves. The flesh is a hard taskmaster. But Jesus gives us his Spirit and says “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
And so one of the qualities of a healthy Church is “Gift-based service for Jesus”. We are realistic about what we can and cannot do. We do what we are led to do by the Holy Spirit. And as we are humble and realistic about what God has called us to do, we discover that we are each God's gift to the Church and we are each able to play our part in net-mending and body-building.
© Gilmour Lilly October 2015
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