May 13, 2010
Proselytizing in the Church
When it comes to trying to get others involved in his particular ministry, I know a man who tries to beg, borrow and steal volunteers away from other ministries. His zeal can border on obnoxious. From his perspective it’s always about the needs and successes of what he is doing, it’s never about anyone else’s ministry. Although I’m sure it’s not intentional, he leaves you thinking that the only place the Lord is working is in his ministry and you really should sign on. I can’t help but wonder if he is in fact hindering the Lord’s work by trying to draw folks away from other ministries.“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,…” (Eph 4:11 NIV)
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Gail;
-----Some people don’t get it. Each of us are an addition to the Lord’s body. That’s all. Paul told the Romans not to think too much of themselves because of the unique gift God has given to each one. (Rom 12:3-4) He told the Corinthians not to think too little of themselves because one doesn’t have a gift given to another. (I Cor 12:14-16) But each of us brings something to the body according to the perspectives and abilities God has built into each life. And those abilities are given to build up others, not to be the loci of associations, the points of pride and ambition, or the measures of spirituality.
-----John wrote “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another...By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren...Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before Him whenever our hearts condemn us.” (I John 3:11, 16, 18-19) Paul told the Philippians, “Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself...” (Philippians 2:3-7a) There are two ways of laying down your life for another. The quickest to mind is by actually dying. But the more common (and just as meaningful) way is by laying down the things of your life, whether they be possessions, positions, or ideas when they obstruct the good of others. And why do we lay them down? Because we actually take interest in the interest of the other. That is at the heart of what it is to love.
-----It is important for the ambitious brother to also take interest in the godly ambitions of those around him. For the ways in which another is driven to serve the Lord are as important to that other as one’s own drives are important to his own self. In fact, this all becomes very clear when a person honestly views himself as only an other to another. For truly, that is all any of us are. So if a person can not honor the drives of others, counting them as important as his own, is he not unwittingly elevating his self above others, refusing to be just another? Sure, he may rightfully claim that his drives are very necessary service for the Lord, but he can not honestly deny that they are indeed just his own gift. Nor that yours are just yours. Nor that even though they all be different they all work to same common good for everyone. This was the very problem at the heart of ABC Church. Therefore, let those join his service who share interest in his service. And let him lay his interests down enough to honor the service of others‘ interests so that the body might have its different services through its different members. In this is the unity of love.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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