Ministry is what you Do.

 As I read Acts and the NT letters, I see a lot about what believers did, and what they were called to do. 

On the other hand, when I read about prominent ministers or missionaries, I very often see no mention of what a particular person’s ministry title was or what rank or position that person held.

When I look at the churches of today, I see an enormous emphasis placed on titles, offices, positions, and degrees of authority.

One church says the pastor is the supreme authority and final decision maker. The pastor also appoints the elders.

Another church is governed by elders and the elders hire or fire the pastor.
Both churches claim to have a government based on the NT. Who is right?

The NT is so imprecise about ministry offices and systems of church government. Some of the most prominent ministers in the NT are identified by name but neither Luke nor Paul tells us what their ministry titles or offices were.

Paul often refers to both men and women by name and tells us they were co-workers in the work of the Gospel, but that does not tell us what ministry title they had, if any.

Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus.
They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. Ro 16:3–4 NIV

Clearly they were both very prominent ministers of the Gospel with a very fruitful ministry to many churches in different places. They are both mentioned 6 times by name. No other couple in the NT is named repeatedly.

Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.

He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervour and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. Ac 18:24–26 NIV

What ministry titles or offices did this man and woman hold? Neither Luke, nor Paul nor the Holy Spirit considered it important to tell us.

When Paul wrote his letters to the church in Corinth, he addressed his letters to the believers, not to the pastors, not to the elders.

We have got it all wrong. We focus on titles, offices, church government structures, hierarchies …

Are we biblically correct? Absolutely not. We need organisational structures, but good theology is not just determined by a list of doctrinal statements, but by our priorities and what we emphasise.

In the Jewish religion at the time of Jesus, only the testimony of men had legal standing, but God chose Mary Magdalene to be the first official witness to the resurrection of Jesus.

What ministry rank or title did Mary Magdalene have, if any? God did not consider it important to tell us.

If you are a believer, whether male or female, you are called to do something, not be a somebody.

Don't misunderstand me. You are a somebody because you are a son or daughter of God, but your ministry title must not be the main thing in your life.

We Need the Holy Spirit

I was listening to classical music on the radio this morning. I love this music and the presenter was excellent. 

This presenter was born female, but is a now a man married to a woman. He had surgery and has ongoing male hormone therapy.

When I first heard this presenter, she was a woman, and I later learned, a lesbian. 

When I heard his voice on the radio this morning, my reaction was to pray earnestly for him, for blessing, mercy and salvation.

In the past, I have sometimes enjoyed her (or more recently his) musical commentary and sometimes felt uncomfortable about his or her gender identity, but I did not pray earnestly.
How should we respond to people like this?

Many Christians respond as moral crusaders or culture warriors, but I doubt if this is effective. 

Jesus said: I am the way, the truth and the life. John 14.6

But in John’s gospel, we read that Jesus is full of grace and truth.

From his fullness, we have all received, grace upon grace.

The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  Jn 1:16–17 NRSV

Jesus is the embodiment of truth, but grace comes before truth. Jesus also died for homosexuals and transsexual people.

If I was a pastor and I had to minister to a person like this, how would I respond? I have no idea.

If you think the bible gives you precise instructions about this, I think you need to think again. 

I think we need to prayerfully seek guidance in each situation. Traditional bible based evangelical thinking is just not fit for purpose in these confusing times.

Supposing a Muslim man with two or three wives is converted to faith in Jesus Christ. How would you counsel him and his wives?

We need the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit on how to apply biblical principles.

We also often need to step back, pray, and let the Holy Spirit deal directly with the person we are trying to reach. Only God himself is able to deal with situations like these.

Jesus is Perfect Theology

 My father was once invited to join an anti-communist association. He refused. He was certainly not sympathetic to Communism, but he did not want to base his life on a negative, to be focused on what he was against.

The people who invited my father were refugees from Russian oppression in post-war Hungary, so their anti-communist preoccupation was easy to understand.

Many Christian women are struggling to get free of oppressive religious patriarchy. That is necessary and good.

But it is important to focus on God Himself. One famous preacher said: “Jesus is perfect theology.” Jesus was the great liberator of men and especially also women.

I am currently reading an excellent book by Dan Kimball. “How Not to Read the Bible.”
In spite of the negative word NOT, he focuses on how God is positive towards women.

A lot of the ideas are familiar to moderate Christian feminists or egalitarians, but he approaches gender issues from a different point of view.

He is not addressing evangelicals wrestling with patriarchy. He is appealing more to people who may be rejecting the bible and God himself because of the way God seems to be endorsing oppressive patriarchy. 

He is showing readers how to understand the Bible in historical context.

When Joshua was leading the Hebrews into the Promised Land, he had a visitation from God, the Commander of the Army of the Lord.

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. Jos 5:13–15 NIV

The heavenly commander must have been Jesus, because Joshua worshipped him. Angels do not allow you to worship them.

God had told Joshua to kill all the idol worshippers in the Promised Land, but one of them was Rahab, a prostitute who repented and helped the Hebrews. She married a Hebrew leader and became an ancestor of Jesus.

It is easy to become so committed to a political party, or a Christian cause, that we assume Jesus is a member of our party. Jesus also loves your adversaries. Your theological or political opponents may not be entirely in the wrong in every way.

Today, we see Christians divided between Conservative and Progressive factions. So many of us define ourselves by what we are against. There are rights and wrongs on both sides.

Billy Graham was mostly conservative, although he insisted that black and white Christians should not be segregated in his meetings. He also ministered to US presidents on both sides of politics.

Martin Luther King Jr was opposed by many conservative Christians because his civil rights cause was considered to be rebellion against divine order.

 

Factions and Party Spirit

 My father was once invited to join an anti-communist association. He refused. He was certainly not sympathetic to Communism, but he did not want to base his life on a negative, to be focused on what he was against.

The people who invited my father were refugees from Russian oppression in post-war Hungary, so their anti-communist preoccupation was easy to understand.

Many Christian women are struggling to get free of oppressive religious patriarchy. That is necessary and good.

But it is important to focus on God Himself. One famous preacher said: “Jesus is perfect theology.” Jesus was the great liberator of men and especially also women.

I am currently reading an excellent book by Dan Kimball. “How Not to Read the Bible.”
In spite of the negative word NOT, he focuses on how God is positive towards women.

A lot of the ideas are familiar to moderate Christian feminists or egalitarians, but he approaches gender issues from a different point of view.

He is not addressing evangelicals wrestling with patriarchy. He is appealing more to people who may be rejecting the bible and God himself because of the way God seems to be endorsing oppressive patriarchy. 

He is showing readers how to understand the Bible in historical context.

When Joshua was leading the Hebrews into the Promised Land, he had a visitation from God, the Commander of the Army of the Lord.

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. Jos 5:13–15 NIV

The heavenly commander must have been Jesus, because Joshua worshipped him. Angels do not allow you to worship them.

God had told Joshua to kill all the idol worshippers in the Promised Land, but one of them was Rahab, a prostitute who repented and helped the Hebrews. She married a Hebrew leader and became an ancestor of Jesus.

It is easy to become so committed to a political party, or a Christian cause, that we assume Jesus is a member of our party. Jesus also loves your adversaries. Your theological or political opponents may not be entirely in the wrong in every way.

Today, we see Christians divided between Conservative and Progressive factions. So many of us define ourselves by what we are against. There are rights and wrongs on both sides.

Billy Graham was mostly conservative, although he insisted that black and white Christians should not be segregated in his meetings. He also ministered to US presidents on both sides of politics.

Martin Luther King Jr was opposed by many conservative Christians because his civil rights cause was considered to be rebellion against divine order.

Priesthood of All Believers, also Women.

 In the Old Testament, priests were mediators between the Hebrew believers and God. This means they were intercessors. Jews also brought sacrificial animals to the priests, who then offered the animals to God on behalf of the people.

As Christians, we are all called, men and women, to pray for each other. God hears our prayers because of the blood sacrifice of His Son Jesus on the cross.

Priests were also spiritual teachers. They studied the scriptures and taught the people how to please God. Since Christian men and also women are appointed as priests in the New Testament, Christian men and women are appointed to study and teach the Bible.

However, some will object that Paul instructed women to learn quietly and submissively. 

This does not mean that women cannot be teachers. It means that women must learn before they are qualified to teach. Of course, men must also not start teaching before they have been trained as disciples.

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.
I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 1 Ti 2:11–12 NIV

Here Paul was addressing a situation in Ephesus, where people, including certain women, were teaching false doctrine. They were new converts who had previously worshipped the pagan Goddess Artemis, a virgin Goddess who was supposedly a source of wisdom and magic power.

There were many unmarried virgin women who served in the temple of Artemis and were respected as spiritual teachers. When they became Christians, apparently some of them continued to dispense spiritual teaching, but their doctrine was mixed with the pagan ideas they had believed before their conversion. Paul wrote to Timothy, telling him to correct this situation.

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk.
They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. 1 Ti 1:3–7 NIV

What were some of the false teachings that Paul wanted to correct?

Pagans in Ephesus believed that Artemis came down from heaven, and that women were created first. So Paul summarises the Genesis creation story, in which Adam was created before Eve.

For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 1 Ti 2:13–14 NIV

So does this mean that all women are more easily deceived than men? That is reading a lot into a few words, and the bible repeatedly tells us about both men and women who are deceived.

But didn’t Paul also specifically say that mature women should teach younger women?

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.
Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, Tt 2:3–4 NIV

If women should teach women, this does not mean that they must only teach women.

Since women, as well as men are called to be priests, then women must also study to equip themselves to teach the Bible. 

Paul sent Phoebe to deliver his famous letter to the church in Rome. Part of this assignment was to read the letter to the church and answer questions. This was a priestly teaching ministry.

Paul tells the Roman church that Phoebe is a deacon, not a deaconess. This indicates that Phoebe was a minister of the Gospel. The Greek word DIAKONOS is masculine. In the Gospels, it can refer to household servants, but in Paul’s writings it always refers to a minister of the Gospel.