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
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