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PART III: THE MINISTERS

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The Ministers of God are the leaders, communicators and administrators - anyone with any responsibility in the service of God's Church. Throughout the centuries of Church History (see Part V below), there were different descriptions or titles, such as priests, prophets or pastors. The Ministers are held accountable by both God and people. Some of the European kings or tribal leaders elsewhere often thought they have to answer to God alone, seeking a crafty way to bypass accountability to the people they ruled. England eventually changed their monarchy into a constitutional monarchy, yet France had a bloody uprising against the royals and established a republic with the French Revolution (1789).

 

The Church has its own ministers, such that need to imitate the model Jesus Christ Himself left them. They were to be servants, stewards and shepherds, and such that lead God's people in the Spirit of God. Such leadership is rare, yet desirable. Servant-leaders must lead by example and set a moral model to follow; good stewards must be faithful and trustworthy, both towards God and the Message as well as the people entrusted to them; as shepherds, they are to protect and guards, lead and feed according to the heart and purpose of God; they must be spiritual people in terms of both the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit - we need leaders with both charisma and character, Christ-like leaders that are both competent and mature in their dealings with people and their Mission.

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Ministers as Servants

 

Jesus came with a mission to serve - to teach, to heal and, ultimately, to die on the Cross for the salvation of humanity. He didn't come to be served, but to serve and give His life for others (Mark 10:41-45). Although He was the King of Heaven, He came humbly to serve and lay down His life for us, and the same attitude must be in us (Philippians 2:5-11). One the most famous incidents known to many is when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples (see John 13), as task usually assigned to servants. Christ did this because He was a Servant and to express the love of God for humanity, the same love His ministers were to show to the world: by love among His followers the world would recognise the goodness and beauty of God! All believers, but especially the leaders, were to express their 'faith working through love' (Galatians 5:6).

 

As a leader, Jesus lead by example. He was a Jewish Rabbi, that is, a teacher, who had followers, called disciples (students). He was their leader and model to follow. Paul understood that as a leader he was to follow his Leader, Jesus. He would call on the believers to imitate him in relation to him imitating the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:1). In other words, in as much as he was imitating Christ, he set a Christ-like model for the churches to follow. The divine, Christ-like and spiritual things they had learned, received, heard and seen in him, these things the believers were to follow (Philippians 4:9). Leaders must set a godly example for others to follow, especially when it comes to serving. As someone said so brilliantly, 'if serving is below you, leadership is beyond you.' Any claim on followers beyond the Christ-like example given by the leader, can easily lead to abuse of power, which would disqualify the leader.

 

The disciples of Jesus, and later their own disciples, should become ministers as servants or servant-leaders. They were not to lord it over others, but to serve them and lead by example (1 Peter 5:1-5). They were to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) and demonstrate 'faith working through love' (Galatians 5:6). Humility and love are vital aspects of life, especially in leaders. Without humility people will be ruled, often abused, rather than loved and served. Power is easily abused and many bad things can happen when power is abused. Both church leaders and leaders of political ideologies have failed people in this way. Some people are in love with power, rather than promoting the power of love! Our example must be Christ and we must strive for excellence in every way. Being a servant-leader requires purity and humility of heart. It's easy to be ambitiously driven by money and power, yet it requires character and selflessness to serve for the sake of others. Martin Luther King Jr., an advocate of love over hatred, said it in the following words:

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'We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice;

not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity.'

 

When king David ascended the throne of Israel, he was not in love with money or power. His son and successor to the throne, Solomon, didn't want riches, but wisdom to be a king that would pleased God in this function entrusted to him. David realised that God had put him there, and that it was for the sake of God's people (2 Samuel 5:12). He was to 'shepherd the flock,' that is, be a protective and serving leader to the people who were trusted to him. Trust can never be abused by leaders. They must never become arrogant rulers, but must remain humble servants. They carry authority to build up others (2 Corinthians 13:10).

 

One aspect of the authority to build up, is the ability to equip the believers for the works of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12). The result of this service unto the saints is that they will find unity with each other, knowledge of God's Son and grow in maturity (v 13), attain stability in the midst of doctrinal confusion and expose the trickery of deceptive teachers (v 14), grown closer to Christ and stronger in Christ, the Head of the Church (v 15), and that the Body of Christ (the Church) reaches practical functionality by each member service in the capacity given by God that will bring edification in love (v 16). The Ministers are servants to equip the believers.

 

The Ministers must be caring shepherds and faithful stewards of what God has entrusted to them. 

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Ministers as Stewards

 

Paul understood the ministry as stewardship. The Gospel was entrusted to him and others; and they had to faithfully share and transmit it. He was a servant and he was a steward.

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'Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.' 1 Corinthians 4:1-2

 

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Christ was entrusted with the mission to reveal God to man and equip leaders to share the Gospel of God to others. They in turn need to be faithful and trustworthy. Stewardship is the administration of something valuable that belongs to another. Abuse in this areas leads to evil. Faithfulness in stewardship leads to blessing and rewards. Faithfully and accurately passing on the Gospel was of highest importance in the Church. As the Gospel spread among the pagan nations, the need of doctrinal accuracy became even more important as the Church was confronted with all sorts of strange teachings. The mysteries of God that was entrusted to the stewards was primarily the Gospel - it is the foundation of the Church (Ephesians 2:11-21). The Gospel of Christ was the mystery previously hidden, but now revealed in Christ and the Good News (3:1-7). Their Message was the revelation of Christ, the mystery revealed. This was the doctrinal authority, now inscripturated in the New Testament as inspired by God. The stewards were to accurately and faithfully transmit this Message, the faith once and for all delivered (Jude 3). Any vision, dream or prophecy that came to men and women, young and old, through the Spirit of God (Acts 2), would be for divine guidance (e.g., Acts 10:1-48; 13:1-4; 16:6-10; 18:9-10; 26:14-18), the apostles held doctrinal authority (Ephesians 2:20; 3:5) and it was the Gospel. All prophecy and any vision must be subjected to the truth of Scripture; it is not for men to make up stuff according to their own interpretation (2 Peter 1:19-21). Stewards must be faithful to God and His Word. 

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Ministers as Shepherds

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One of the ancient Hebrew analogies of the relationship of God and His people is the of a shepherd and his sheep. The idea is one of care and protection. God is like a Shepherd and He cares for His people. In the same way, His ministers are to be shepherds, caring for God's people, the Church, and the world around them. King David, Israel's most beloved king (like the JFK of ancient Israel), was a shepherd as leader. He even was a real shepherd boy when he grew up (2 Samuel 7:8). He was a servant leader (2 Samuel 5:12), a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22) who would serve his generation according to God's purpose (v 36) and shepherd God's people with 'the integrity of his heart' and 'skilfulness of his hands' (Psalm 78:70-72). Skill is necessary; leaders must be competent. But they must also have integrity and right motives.

 

One of the ancient prophets foretold that there would come a time when shepherd after God's own heart would feed His sheep with knowledge and understanding (Jeremiah 3:15), perhaps referring back to the model king David had set in Israel years earlier. Jesus would tell His main leaders to feed His sheep and tend his lambs (John 21). There is much suffering in the world and many people are hurting. We need compassionate leaders who extend a helping hand with a loving heart. We need leaders, as Martin Luther King said, in love with justice and humanity.

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By 'sheep' we don't mean it in the way it is presently used by some, as in 'sheepish': mindlessly following anything. The biblical idea is very different. Sheep are humble and faithful animals; in contrast, goats are self-willed and rebellious. Only he sheep follow the Shepherd; Christ is the good Shepherd (see John 10; cf., Psalm 23; for false shepherds see Jeremiah 23; Ezekiel 34). The 'sheep' of Christ, His ambassadors spreading His Message, are 'sheep among wolves' (Matthew 10:16), that is, they are in a dangerous environment. This requires wisdom and caution, hence the exhortation to be 'shrewd as serpents,' yet keeping purity of heart like 'doves.' The world can be a dangerous place - we must not be naive. 

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Ministers of the Spirit 

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Paul spoke of ministry as servanthood and stewardship (1 Corinthians 4:1-2). He also spoke of himself and his associates as 'servants of a new covenant' and servants 'of the Spirit' (2 Corinthians 3:6). The context here is highly interesting. Paul's confidence was based on Christ and the adequacy he received from God; the power of this adequacy, or ability or competency, was in the fact that God empowers His ministers with His Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:4-6; cf., Acts 1:8). The 'new covenant' was the one established through Christ, His blood and His death on the Cross. Holy Communion commemorates this sacrifice (1 Corinthians 11:23ff). The apostles understood this with the backdrop of the Jewish Passover and the Exodus from Egypt (Matthew 26:17-30). A lamb was sacrificed to protect the Israelites from the judgement of God. Christ's blood protects us from the punishment as the consequences of sin. Jesus was the Passover Lamb that was sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7), the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), through whose blood we are redeemed and saved, such as of a 'lamb unblemished and spotless' (1 Peter 1:18-19). The just One died for the unjust so we could save us. Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant that brought eternal redemption, being both the sinless High Priest and the spotless Lamb as perfect sacrifice in one (Hebrews 9:11-15). Believers, forgiven by the blood of Christ, can draw near to God in full assurance, the Messiah having opened 'a new and living way' through His blood: access to God and forgiveness by God through Christ and His sacrifice (Hebrews 10:19-23). 

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Paul contrasts the old and new covenants (2 Corinthians 3:6, 14) and he contrasts God's Law being written not with ink, but by the Spirit, not on stone tables like Moses did, but on human hearts through Christ and God's Spirit (vv 2-3). Paul does not degrade the old covenant from the time of Moses, rather he points to the greater glory of the new covenant through Christ (vv 7-11). It's not that 'the old was bad' and 'the new is good,' but rather, the old was good yet imperfect and therefore temporal, but the new is perfect and therefore eternal; the old carried glory, but compared to the glory of the new, the old simply fades away. The old covenant was temporal, the new is eternal, as foretold by Jeremiah (Hebrews 8:7ff). The new covenant was not something new as in 'never before heard of,' but it was foretold in Scripture (Jeremiah 31:31ff). Because of the perfect sacrifice of Christ, the sacrificial side of the old covenant, the Mosaic, has become obsolete, but it would be a mistake to nullify all of the Old Testament and discard it. It would also be a mistake to reject the Mosaic Law entirely. Jesus didn't come to abolish, but to fulfil (Matthew 5:17ff), emphasising the moral Law which is eternal. The many quotations of it in the New Testament are witness to that. The way Christ interpreted and applied the Law is the right way - the Lex Christi, the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). His words are the truth that sets people free (John 8:31-36), the words we must obey as believers if we want wisdom and stability in life (Matthew 7:24-27) and the very words we should be teaching disciples to obey (Matthew 28:18-20).

 

For Paul, the Law was good, holy, righteous and spiritual (Romans 7:12, 14). The Law is good if one uses it lawfully (2 Timothy 1:8), that is, according to its original intention. Neither Jesus nor His apostles said anything negative about the Law, but they had a lot to say about false interpretations of it and set out to formulate sound doctrine. The Law reveals the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20; 7:7) so we can know what's right and wrong. Those with the Law should be guides to the blind, correcting the simple, teaching the immature and shine light into the darkness (Roman 2:19-20) of moral confusion and bring moral clarity instead. The Law points and leads to Christ (Galatians 3:23-24). Christ was the goal of the Law (Romans 10:4). But because of human weakness, the Law didn't achieve God's ultimate aim: perfecting the human being internally - only living in the law of the Spirit of life can make that happen on the basis of Christ's sacrifice (Romans 8:1-4). The weakness of human nature and the power of sin required something more than the old covenant had to offer; that's why there was a need for the new covenant and that's why the old was fading out. Christ established this new covenant, and His ministers were to minister this new covenant in the power and newness of the Spirit who gives life, and not in the oldness of the Law wrongly applied, because the letter of the Law kills (2 Corinthians 3:6). The Law has a condemning power of sin, but it is not in itself the letter that kills. Confusing the whole Law with its function of clarifying what sin is and God's righteous judgment on sin, would be leading astray. The Law is good and contains life. But seeking life apart from Christ is futile (John 5:39-40), as eternal life is in Him alone (v 24). Those who seek life apart from Christ have a veiled mind, yet in Christ that veil is removed (2 Corinthians 3:16). The person who turns (repents) to Christ by faith receives the Spirit of life (v 17; cf., Galatians 4:6-7) and enters a powerful process of transformation by the Spirit of God (v 18). We start to see God for who He really is and that glorious transformation shapes us more and more into God's very likeness (v 18). Christ's words are Spirit and life (John 6:63) and must be imparted into our hearts - the true disciples understood that only Christ had the 'words of eternal life' and they needed them (v 68). 

 

God's ministers are to preach the new covenant in the power of the Spirit to bring people into the life of Christ and the transformation process in a real relationship with the living God. It's more than knowing the commandments; it's having them written in our hearts and obeying them from our hearts. Paul's centre of preaching was Christ and Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2), and he did so in the demonstration of the power of God by the Spirit of God so that the faith of the believers would rest not on human wisdom or persuasion but on the power of God (vv 4-5). The quality of preaching will determine the quality of the believers. The covenant that God wanted to establish with His people was that His Word and His Spirit would remain in them (Isaiah 59:21). The Word and the Spirt of God cannot be separated. They give revelation und understanding so God's people will walk in His ways (Jeremiah 31:33-34). The Ministers of the Spirit must preach the Word of the Gospel/New Covenant in the power of the Spirit. The Ministers are not to abolish or replace the word of God, but proclaim it as Jesus taught it and the apostles transmitted it. His words will not pass away, it's eternal (Matthew 24:35; 1 Peter 1:24-25). In the words of the German Reformer Martin Luther, 'whoever wants to worship God or serve him without the Word is serving, not the true God but, as Paul says, "one who by nature is no god"' (Reader, 97). The Ministers of God must serve according to the Word of God. Paul said that 'we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord' (2 Corinthians 4:5). True Ministers proclaim not their own teachings or ideas, but faithfully transmit the true Gospel of their Lord, Jesus Christ.

 

This is the new covenant in Christ and His ministers must administer that as servant-leaders, as faithful stewards, as caring shepherds and as those who minister the Word through the Spirit of God. The eternal Word of God must be written on the hearts of believers so they can walk in God's ways and keep His covenant (2 Corinthians 6:15--7:1).

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