Releasing
into Ministry
By Stephen
Terry
Commentary
for June 2, 2012 Sabbath School Lesson
“Now
the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
2 Corinthians 3:17, NIV
Strange as it may seem, during the Dark Ages, Bibles
were rare and more often than not the few Bibles that were available were chained
to reading desks in churches. There are two competing explanations for this.
One which is often offered by those who have
conspiratorial axes to grind is that the Bibles were chained to prevent the lay
people from having access to the Bible for fear that they might discover how
unbiblical the practices of the clergy were. Fearing rebellion by the common
lay people, the church leaders, who were usually nobles, suppressed their
knowledge of God’s Word. After all there were many words about freedom and also
words about meek people inheriting the Earth.
Those who hold to this view can point to circumstances
in the early 16th Century in Germany for an example of what the
clergy feared. Martin Luther worked to have the Bible made available for the
people to read in German as opposed to Greek, Hebrew or Latin. He published his
German New Testament in 1522 and only two years later, the people rebelled in
what has come to be called the Peasant’s Revolt of 1524. If the clergy feared
the laity and the possibility of revolt if they could read the Bible, this
would certainly bolster that fear.
However, this could simply be the logical fallacy known
as Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc. In
other words, one cannot assume because one event follows another, the first
event caused the second. The difficulty in determining causation in this
circumstance is due to the tangled web of inter-relationships between the
clergy and the ruling nobility. The revolt was not simply a case of people
demanding freedom of religious exercise. Issues relating more to serfdom and
needed land reform were probably more incendiary than religious freedom. Of
course, since both sides of the conflict believed that God backed them and
their cause, there was an abundance of religious rhetoric woven into the fabric
of events as they unfolded. Yes, Catholic churches were desecrated and
religious objects were stolen, destroyed or defiled. But how much of this was because
the church was oppressing the peasants in exactly the same way as the secular
rulers, and how much was because of theological positioning is not easily separated
out. There were few, if any, Protestant cathedrals to plunder, so naturally it
was Catholic churches that were damaged. One might better say that these attacks
were against the church than that they were against Catholicism as opposed to
Protestantism.
In any event, some have chosen to see this rebellion in
strictly religious terms. This view bolsters their belief in conspiracies
perpetrated by one religion against another. While this has certainly happened
in the past, to link every conflict in history involving churches as part of an
overarching conspiracy might be over reaching. In the end the fear of
conspiracies may induce the fearful to become that which they fear most. Their
fear may lead them to attempt to exercise absolute control over the faith of
others in order to prevent it from happening to them. We see this in secular
events when a society which feels threatened curtails civil liberties in order
to contain the perceived threat.
That’s enough about that. I stated at the beginning that there was
another viewpoint as to why the Bibles were chained. Prior to the advent of the
printing press, all books were copied by hand. Because of the labor involved,
they were costly items. The common people had few books because they could not
afford them. Since books were so rare and valuable, it only made sense not to
leave such a valuable item unsecured in an unattended vestry.
Poverty induced starvation could drive the poor to theft
in order to feed themselves and their families. Because there was an inadequate
social safety net, the problem was so widespread that extreme punishments were
invoked to try to control it. In some cases, stealing a loaf of bread was a
capital offense. One can see from this that Bibles which were rare and valuable
might be chained without any intent to deprive people of the opportunity to
read them. Common sense would have dictated protecting something valuable from
being stolen.
No matter the reason for the chaining, the result was
the same. While it is so easy to own and read a Bible, today, so easy that we
too often don’t even bother, it was difficult to read one in the Middle Ages.
That difficulty naturally made it harder for knowledge of what it contained to
be widespread. There are, of course, other contributing factors such as the
literacy level of the people. Even the nobility were not entirely literate. But
even with a 100% literacy rate, the people would not have had easy access to
scripture. The first chapter of the Gospel of John equates the Word with light
that has come into the world. Of course the opposite would be true as well. As
the Word was chained and access controlled, the Dark Ages could only become
darker.
Why is this important, today? It is important because just
as the chained Bibles restricted access to the good news, there are other ways to
restrict access to the gospel message. For example, one can restrict the
activities of those who are sharing the Bible with others. While Bibles are
widely available today in many countries, and few Christian churches would seek
to restrict access to it, many denominations severely restrict the ability of
lay members to proclaim the good news to others, especially those who do so outside
of official church channels. So called “Independent Ministries” may be restricted
in their ability to use denominational badging, and their access to
denominational resources may be tightly controlled or perhaps not even
condoned, but is this biblical?
Jesus was faced with the challenge of independent ministries.
His disciple, John, reported to Him, “Teacher, we saw a man driving out demons
in your name, and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” Mark
9:38, NIV John did not want the public confusing an independent ministry with
the real thing. He wanted to protect the brand. After all, he and his brother
James had sacrificed their interest in the family business to become investors
in the kingdom of God. Why should they let just anyone go around ministering in
the name of Jesus?
Jesus response was not what John expected. Instead of
seeing independent ministries as a threat or even as something outside of His
ministry, Jesus claimed them as His. “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one
who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me,
for whoever is not against us is for us.” Mark 9:39-40, NIV Jesus was willing
to recognize the working of the Spirit even in those whom He did not personally
send out. Sadly, some denominations do not follow this example as they only
recognize the spiritual qualifications of those they have personally chosen.
They may even see the independent ministries as a threat to their control over
the resources of the church, whether those resources are money, facilities, or
simply the good graces of the official church in blessing the activities of the
independent ministers.
Jesus went on to say to John, “Truly I tell you, anyone
who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will
certainly not lose their reward. If anyone causes one of these little
ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large
millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.” Mark
9:41-42, NIV In other words, God will reward those who do anything in His name,
and He will also reward those who assist them. He also gives a warning for
those who place obstacles in their path to cause them to stumble.
We should not be stumbling blocks. We should be enablers
of ministry. We should readily recognize the Holy Spirit working in the
ministries of those we have not called but the Holy Spirit has. When we refuse
to lay hands of blessing or ordination on those we have not personally chosen,
we are rejecting the Holy Spirit in that person. Like John, by our inaction or
lack of support we are sending the message that we would prefer to forbid that
person from ministering. We become like the Pharisees, challenging the ministry
of others whom God has called, demanding “By what authority do you do these
things?” (see Mark 11:27-33) When we make that challenge we clearly
proclaim that our authority does not come from God but from man. God’s
authority speaks for itself. Man’s authority speaks for others. (See Mark 1:27)
By tightly controlling the permission we grant for
others to represent the gospel, we are just as effective in creating a famine
for the Word of God as those chained Bibles of old. There are already not
enough workers for the harvest, yet we further restrict the labor force by
creating a distinction between those who are “authorized” and those who are
not. We seek to create divisions in the army of the Lord, just as John did,
when we see those who are proclaiming the gospel without the authority granted
by us, even though we are only men. We refuse to recognize that the Holy Spirit
could ever be poured into new wineskins. (Mark 2:22) We seek to restrict the
might agency of the Spirit to the old tried and true channels of our experience
and in so doing we deny others the opportunity to be saved. We do not
understand that by keeping others from entering the Kingdom of Heaven, we
ourselves will not be able to enter. (See Matthew 23:13)
Not only for the salvation of others but for our own as
well, we must release into ministry those who are called by the Holy Spirit. We
cannot so tightly control His working. Any effort to do so will cause our old
wineskins to burst, and we ourselves will be lost. When we cause others to
minister alone who have been called by the Holy Spirit, we are not only missing
the opportunity to be united in work with our Christian brothers and sisters. We
are missing the blessing that Jesus promised in Mark 9:41. In order to receive
favor and blessing in our walk with Jesus, we must pour favor and blessing into
the ministry of others. As Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not
do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” Matthew 25:45, NIV
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Waters Ministry
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