Every Member Ministry

By Stephen Terry

 

Commentary for the April 14, 2012 Sabbath School Lesson

 

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:45-51, NIV

Our lesson this week exposes a paradox common to much of Christendom. On the one hand we say we believe that all are ministers of the gospel and say that it is a Biblical concept supported by texts like, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9, NIV The reality exposes a disconnection with that concept, however. Clearly, only some are truly ministers. The demarcation between those who are and those who are not is a ceremony called “ordination.” Whether outwardly signified by a clerical collar, special vestments, or simply through special privileges granted to the recipient, ordination establishes a wall of separation between clergy and laity.

Far too often, that wall of separation is used to exclude those who do not enjoy special status conferred by birth. In the past, this exclusion has been based on the accident of race. Those who were unfortunate enough to be born the wrong color or in the wrong culture could not hope to cross the divide to obtain universally accepted ordination. While that bridge has been crossed to some degree, there remains exclusion based on gender and to a lesser degree relationship. In many denominations, women are excluded from full ordination. This is in spite of the majority of the membership being female, and also in spite of some denominations having been founded by women. While women can rise to become Chief Executive Officers of major multi-national corporations, they are seen as inferior when it comes to the spiritual realm. If they have any doubt about their place in that realm, it is reinforced weekly in many Christian congregations around the world.

Women are often excluded not only on the basis of gender but on the basis of relationship as well. The path to ordination can be well lubricated by having forebears who have already traveled the path before. This is especially true if those predecessors have achieved higher levels of administrative placement in the denomination. Since women have been excluded, those who have gone before are naturally going to be male. They may be less likely to see the importance of female ordination, in part because advancement often comes by supporting the existing paradigm and in part because it may simply not be on their radar. If their position is an elected one, it can be quite risky to ordain a woman if they know that the church members are not supportive of that action, even if they know it is the right thing to do.

So how can we promote the ministry of all believers when, by word or action, we demonstrate we do not practice it. In practice we carry the taint of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” where in chapter 10 we are told “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” In spiritual language, we might say this as “All Christians are equally ministers, but some are more ministers than others.” If that doesn’t make sense to you, I am also befuddled by that logic.

This problem may have arisen as a result of usurping the prerogative of the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we do this all the time. Should we? No. But we do. For example, we feel that Brother Jones does not listen to the right kind of music, and we readily point out to him that the music we prefer is the music God also prefers. We might see Sister Smith with her unruly brood of children in church and point out to her that they are a disturbance to the sanctity of God’s house as we are sure He is just as upset by their antics as we are. In each case we assume that God’s will agrees with our own, and we are quick to make sure others know it. We do not believe that the Holy Spirit can handle the task, and even if the Spirit could, it would not be quickly enough for us. So we step into the breach with the spear of Phinehas (See Numbers 25) and take care of the matter ourselves. The problem with this is that as humans we are often mistaken. We err. But once the spear has stricken the offender, it cannot be undone. We would do better to leave things in God’s hands and not our own as He does not err as we are prone to do.

The same principles apply to ministry. God calls whom He will. That calling is not based on our preconceived notions about who does or does not deserve ordination. The Jews excluded Gentiles, yet God clearly felt differently as He demonstrated in Acts, chapter 10. He revealed His will regarding the family of Cornelius, first in vision to Peter and second with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on these Gentiles. Peter, like the other disciples, was resistant to the idea of an inclusive gospel, but God worked to overcome that resistance. On the other hand, Paul, who was also raised with the idea of Jewish exclusiveness, had no problem seeing the need to make the gospel inclusive. Peter’s reticence continued to hinder his ministry (See Galatians 2). But Paul who was open to an inclusive message became a major influence on the church both then and now. Much of our theology today is Pauline as opposed to Petrine in large part due to the willingness of Paul to “go with the flow” of the Holy Spirit. Even when Jesus walked with the disciples, Peter had a tendency to think that his way was God’s way, even when Jesus pointed out to him that it wasn’t. (See Matthew 26:33-34)

The strange conundrum we deal with today, though, is that in spite of Paul’s inclusiveness, we often cite his writings as a basis for an exclusive approach to ministry. We take statements that Paul wrote about some women and hold them to be a rule for all women for all time. We do not even know clearly what circumstances were behind his writing those words, yet because they support our desire to be in control of who does and who does not get to respond to the Holy Spirit’s calling, we cite those passages and exclude over half of the fellowship of believers from equal access to ministry. The amazing thing is the willingness of those who are excluded in this way to continue to work in avenues left open to them in spite of the trivialization of their calling.  In this, they demonstrate their Christian deportment to a greater extent than do those who exclude them and demean their calling.

We might well ask whether or not one who demeans another in this way is a good and faithful servant or is one who is oppressing his fellow servants in his Master’s absence. While many made a case for the continuation of the institution of slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was wrong. In the United States, over 750,000 people had to die as the result of a great Civil War before that wrong was righted. Even then the struggle continued for over a century more to achieve recognition of the full civil rights of those who had been enslaved because of the color of their skin. While it will most probably not come to such a pass, the issue of inclusive ordination is also fought against with those who oppose it believing that God is on their side. They are wrong as the slaveholders were wrong. God does not endorse oppression no matter what we might want to believe. Isaiah, chapter 58, along with many other citations throughout the Bible makes that clear. Jesus also made it clear when He said, “If you do it to my children, you do it to Me.” (See Matthew 25:40) If we would not exclude Jesus from full ministry, how can we possibly justify excluding any of His followers. He did not say “If you do it to my male children.” How can we act as though He did? If we want to have “Every Member Ministry,” it’s about time we made that truly possible.

 

 

 

This Commentary is a Service of Still Waters Ministry

www.visitstillwaters.com

 

 

Scripture marked (NIV) taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

 

 

 

 

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