Three Ministries

3 October 2010

Dear Phyllis,

In the gospels we see that the disciples only asked Jesus to do two things for them. In Luke 11:1 we see one of the disciples (probably John) asking Jesus to teach him how to pray. And in Luke 17:5 the apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith. I wonder if there is anything in life more important than this. Perhaps the two greatest ills in the Body of Christ today are the prayerlessness of Christians and our abysmal anemic faith. When I read those two requests, it was with keen interest that I considered Jesus’ response. I can’t go into what He taught about prayer today, but I do want to share with you some things that the Lord has taught me about increasing faith.

 At a cursorily inspection, the Lord’s response may appears rather odd. At first He said “If you had faith…” you could do amazing things. I have never found that helpful. But then he told the story about a man who had servants out plowing and feeding cattle all day. But then at evening he demanded that they wait on the table for him to eat. When he was finished, then they could eat. And then, after all that commendable service, they were to consider themselves unprofitable servants. But this is the key to increasing our faith.

Watchman Nee suggests that plowing is evangelism and feeding cattle is teaching Christians. I think he is right. It has been expressed that there are three ministries – to sinners, to saints, and to the Savior. You have all three in this parable.

The first step to increase faith is simple – do your duty. Do the task the Lord has granted you. Use the gift that you have. We all are different. Some are better at evangelism and others are more gifted in teaching Christians. But whatever task the Lord has entrusted to us – DO IT. It is pointless to pray for more faith if we don’t use the faith we have in executing the ministry we have. If we want more faith – BE FAITHFUL!  

I feel very strongly about the second point the Lord emphasizes. In our day of labor relations we might think this is a little over the top of the master demanding the servants, who are weary of hard work all day, to first fix supper for him. After he is full, then they can have supper themselves. But here the Lord is teaching us a vital spiritual principle. I fear this is one that is seriously neglected in our teaching today. This neglected ministry is the ministry to the Savior.

In Acts 13:2 we read of the church in Antioch, “As they ministered to the Lord… the Holy Spirit said…” It was as they were engaged in ministering to the Lord that He spoke to them. Perhaps this is one reason why we hear so seldom from Him. If we spent more time waiting before the Lord – ministering unto Him – perhaps we could hear His Voice more often, and a little more clearly.

A common concept of prayer is that it must be a constant stream of verbiage headed towards heaven. To pray for one hour seems like a Herculean task of keeping up a solid hour of verbally expressed requests and praise. Very few can do it. But I have found it more profitable to be swift to hear and slow to speak in prayer. We generally say that we speak to God in prayer, and He speaks to us in Bible reading. But I have found that more often God speaks to me in prayer, and I find my self speaking to God in Bible reading. I find that awed silence is often some of my most spiritual prayer.

Paul told us a very basic truth when he wrote, “faith comes by hearing – and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). There are three vital points in that statement; the first is that faith comes by hearing. If God does not speak, I have no idea what He wants me to trust Him for. It is pure presumption to attempt to trust God for something where He has not spoken to us about it. It is a serious error to try to put words in God’s mouth and then believe Him for it. It won’t work. I can believe God for no further than He has committed Himself to reply. The first step of faith is to hear from God. Faith comes by hearing.

The second point is the nature of God’s Word. In the Greek there are two different words that are translated in English simply as “word” – logos and rhema. Logos is the written word. This can be read. The other is rhema. This is the spoken word. Rhema can only be heard. Faith does not come by the logos of God but by the rhema of God. I would be the last person on earth to down-grade the logos of God. That is the Bible. The Bible certainly is the Word of God. But faith comes by His spoken Word – not His written Word.

For those who are strong on the argument that faith comes by the logos of God, all we need to do is to point to the ones who know the logos of God the best. I believe it is evident that most seminary professors, who are highly knowledgeable of the logos of God, are generally not the ones who are mighty in faith. We don’t see many seminary professors praying down healing, casting out demons, and performing miracles. Many of them know the Word of God but they have a very shallow understanding of the God of the Word.

The third point is that we must be careful that what we hear is God speaking – not our imagination – or occasionally the devil trying to get in the act by presenting himself off as the voice of God.

I have often wondered how do you minister to the Lord? The best example I know in the Bible is Nehemiah. He was the king’s cup bearer. What an experience! His sole responsibility was to stand before the king and hand him his cup when he was thirsty. Nehemiah was closer to the king than most of his ministers.

I can’t imagine a more exalted position than to be Jesus’ cup bearer. How I long to do that! Just to stand in the presence of the Lord, waiting on the Lord, and hand Him His cup when He is thirsty. Oh how wonderful that would be! But how do you do it?

One of the best illustrations I ever heard was a story Amy Carmichael shared. One day she was in prayer, and in her heart, it was like she could see Jesus weeping. She was very surprised and asked, “Lord Jesus, why are you crying?” The Lord replied, “I am weeping for the poor temple slave children of India.” In those days thousands of children were sold as slaves to the Hindu temples. Amy Carmichael said, “Lord Jesus, may I kneel beside You and weep with You?” She was later used to rescue many of these children. There was a woman who knew the Lord, and shared the heart of the Lord like very few ever do.

I believe the best place to be to hear the Voice of the Lord would be standing beside Him while He is seated at His table. It should not be drudgery to wait on the Master after a hard days work. That should be the highlight of the day. We should look forward to coming out of the field where we have been plowing or taking care of cattle and wait on Jesus. Oh that my heart was more concerned about His satisfaction than meeting my own needs! If we want to increase our faith, this is the place that it is done.

In the OT, there is no question but what there is a vast difference between a priest and an ordinary believer. The priests were set apart to stand before the Lord to minister unto Him (Deut. 10:8).                                                                                                   The ordinary believer simply stood outside the temple by the brazen altar where the blood was shed for the forgiveness of sin. But the priest entered in the temple and stood before the Lord. Who was closer to God?

In the NT we see that every believer is called to be a priest (Rev. 1:6. 5:10, 20:6). This is so astonishing that it would be more than offensive in the OT. Saul was rejected for trying to function as a priest when Samuel didn’t show up (1 Sam. 13; 8-14). Uzziah was struck with leprosy because he attempted to offer incense in the temple like the priest (2 Ch. 26:16-21). It would have been unthinkable in the OT for an ordinary believer to function as a priest. But in the NT this is not only a privilege the Lord has extended to us, but a very clear invitation to draw near to minister to the Lord. The central message of the book of Hebrews is an invitation to enter into the Holies of Holies – the very presence of God. Oh my goodness, is such a thing true?!!

 

Of the three things that Jesus told us was the way to increase faith, the first is do your duty, the second is major on devotion, and the third is humility. Gomen nasai, but I out of space and can’t deal with the third point today.

But the theme of our access to God, and the unspeakable possibility, and responsibility, of ministering to the Lord is a subject that has dominated my thinking in recent years. I don’t know if you could say this has increased my faith or not but it certainly has radically altered my view of spiritual truth. Things sure look a whole lot different today than they did twenty years ago.

I just got back from a very interesting trip to the Burma border a few hours ago and I plan to go back again this week. I don’t know, but I might have a different story to tell you next week. But until then, let’s make waiting on Jesus, listening to what He has to say to us, and devoting ourselves to see that He is satisfied; let’s make that our primary goal for this coming week.

Your grateful brother in Christ Jesus – in Thailand,

                                                                                   bill