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TOWARD AN EFFECTIVE MINISTRY
Chapter 3
THE FINGER OF GOD
"...Every
kingdom divided against itself is laid waste,
and
a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided
against
himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say
that
I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out
demons
by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them
out?
Therefore they shall be your fudges. But if it is by the
finger
of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of
God
has come upon you...."
Luke
11:17‑20
When
Jesus talks about casting out demons by the finger of God, he's describing his
ministry and ours. Every one reading these words who is now a follower of Jesus
is called to that kind of ministry ...a ministry that could best be described as
one in which the finger of God is operative. Most of us have a watered down and
weak idea of the ministry to which we've been called. Even our modern day
Christian heroes are often weak specimens of the ministry to which every single
one of us has been called. Who do we think of as a successful Christian worker?
So often, it's somebody who starts a church which quickly grows to a thousand
members ...or somebody who begins a new movement or opens a new mission field.
Then they write a book about his life.
We've
been called to minister with the finger of God and as we do we move in a realm
which is not visible to the human eye ...which abhors human glory. In
this realm we are driven by one desire: to be so alive to God that we are able
to fit in with the mysterious movements of his kingdom. Again and again we
find ourselves in the right place at the right time ....able to touch some life
with God's mercy or visit it with healing or to drive away evil with God's
finger.
This
is the kind of ministry our Lord had. It was not flashy even though healings
took place in abundance. Jesus was so sensitive to his Father that he always was
at the right place at the right time making the most of every opportunity that
came his way ...right up to the cross. To the apostles he gave the same
authority. They likewise fit in with God's movements so that in the ordinary
daily round these men and women did supernatural things. But the whole view of
these things is so bent out of shape by modern slick Christianity that it's very
difficult for us to even grasp the concept of ministering with the finger of
God.
Perhaps
people who had the clearest sense of what this is were the Hassidic Jews of two
hundred years ago. These people were living under oppression, (from nominal
Christians). As they sought refuge in a relationship with God the Hassidim,
(pious ones), they would cluster around a Tzadik, (a righteous one). It was
believed that the Tzadik was so single‑mindedly devoted to God that it
mattered little whether people admired him or what happened in the world around
him. Wherever this man went angels opened the way. He could read hearts and heal
and drive away evil. The Hassidim tended to draw their strength from the Tzadik.
Conversely the Hassidim gave their strength back to the Tzadik and ministered
through him. It was as if only the Tzadik worked the works of God while the
Hassidim stood apart as spectators.
But
suppose that instead of having one worker of wonders surrounded by a
congregation of Hassidim who watch and admire, we have one Hassid, (merciful
one), who somehow transforms every life that touches his into a worker of divine
wonders ...a vine sustaining many branches which bear fruit that abides forever.
This is precisely what Jesus does to those lives that truly unite themselves to
his ...he transforms each one into a Tzadik, (a righteous one), and send us
forth to touch human lives with the finger of God.
You did not choose me, I chose you and ordained
you
that you should go and bring forth fruit.
We
have been ordained by Jesus to accomplish much more than what we have thought of
as our normal Christian life. We have been sent to perform the redemptive work
of the Lord in the time that is left. We are to do exactly what the legendary
Tzadik was to do: to be in the right place at the right time ...to so touch
human lives that the broken image of God in their hearts is restored.
And these signs will accompany those who believe:
in
my name they will cast out demons; they will
speak
in new tongues ...they will lay their hands
on
the sick and they will recover.
And
so we begin to understand that God has indeed given us a grace that brings light
to people and that conveys peace wherever it goes. And once we taste that we
turn our backs on slick churchianity and get on with the work of a ministry
hidden by the hand of God but shining with the true glory.
The
same Jesus who calls us to the ministry of the finger of God also warns us that
there are certain things which will threaten this ministry. There are areas
where we have to be on our guard. If we flounder in any of these areas we may
still build churches and draw crowds and write books, but we will no longer be
able to touch human lives with God's finger.
1.
The relationship between woman and man. Before you came into the
Kingdom of God and were given this ministry you may have been married five
times. Perhaps you lived in the gay bars. You may have been a porno addict or
read True Romance every night before you went to bed. But now that you've come
into the kingdom and have been given this ministry, your relationship with the
opposite sex must be not only morally pure but absolutely right. When Jesus
talks about marriage and divorce, or when Jesus warns of the danger of lust,
he's not putting his finger in a condemning way on your past...your past is
under the blood. He is talking about your present. Each of us is either a eunuch
for the Kingdom of God, (you're living a single life in all purity, sustained by
God's grace), or you are married ...or on your way to marriage.
If you're married or on your way to marriage then your relationship
with your mate must be sanctified by the love of God in you, so that in your
relationship with your mate, (or the one who will ultimately be your mate),
God comes first. And you are careful to love your mate with the same
merciful, forgiving, self‑giving love that has been shown to you in the
Lord. And your relationship with your mate is absolutely pure. You are true to
your mate not only in your actions but in your imagination and your thought. If
we allow ourselves leeway in this area then our ministries are going to be
infected. And if we don't quickly remove the infection they will be destroyed.
2.
The way we handle money. Jesus puts much emphasis on the fact that we
must handle mammon in such a way that it is clear that we are serving not
mammon, but God.
He
who is faithful in very little is faithful
also
in much. And he who is dishonest in a very
little,
is dishonest also in much. If then you
have
not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon
who
will entrust to you the true riches? And if
you
have not been faithful in that which is anothers,
who
will give you that which is your own? No servant
can
serve two masters, for either he will hate the
one
and love the other, or he will be devoted to one
and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammon.
The
Pharisees who were lovers of money heard all this and scoffed. But he said to
them,
"You
are those who justify yourselves before men
but
God knows your hearts... For what is exalted
among
men is an abomination in the sight of God."
We
see Jesus watching the widow putting her two pence in the treasury of
institutional Israel and he did not condemn her for it ...he honored her. In his
parable of the good Samaritan Jesus makes clear that the Samaritan not only
spent time on that wounded Jew, but money...the equivalent of two days wages.
"And if you spend more," he says to the innkeeper, "when I come
back I will repay you." He keeps his commitment.
How
many ministries are stunted because we are irresponsible? .... unfaithful to God
in our use of money. And how many ministries suffer because we allow ourselves
to be deceived by money? ....we think that money is the answer. "If we have
more money we can do more good." We start to beg for it, we worry about it,
we put stock in it ....we think that money is our security. We will not minister
effectively with the finger of God my friends, if we are irresponsible in our
use of money or if we are lured by money and begin to lust after it.
3.
Anxiety about tomorrow. There are two ways that you can face
tomorrow ....with anxiety, which is natural to us, or with faith in God. When
we're anxious about tomorrow then we start to worry about what we shall eat,
what we shall drink, what we're going to put on, or what's going to happen to
us. "Maybe I'll get sick ...perhaps I'll have an automobile accident
...what if I am caught in one of those tornadoes... what if there's a
war?"...who knows...maybe all these things will happen. The Lord doesn't
promise us specific things about tomorrow except that he will be there ...if we
walk with him. Whatever you're going to need to face tomorrow, (if we have that
long), you're going to have tomorrow...not now. But tomorrow you will have what
you need if you walk with Jesus.
If
we face tomorrow with anxiety, if we don't see this as sin and repent of it,
then our ministry evaporates. But if we face tomorrow with the help of the Lord,
admitting our anxieties to him, crying, "Lord, I believe, help my
unbelief,"...if we walk into tomorrow trusting him and throwing these
anxieties upon him we go from strength to strength.
4.
A critical attitude. The Lord who says, "Judge not and you will
not be judged, condemn not and you will not be condemned," means what he
says. We can't possibly minister effectively if we're full of judging. We love
to think of ourselves as Jesus' disciples. But when we indulge in the habit of
being cynical and critical and sour about, everything we see that isn't
connected with our own ego we put ourselves out of the ranks of disciples and in
the ranks of the scribes and Pharisees.
"Why
do you see the speck that is in your brother's
eye
and fail to behold the log that is in your own eye?"
For
many of us it's almost a compulsion. Every time we go to another fellowship we
just have no peace until we find a flaw. For some of us it's simply a habit
...such a habit that we almost think that there's nothing to talk about at the
dinner table unless we can find somebody to make fun of or tear apart or
complain about. For many of us it's a habit of thought in our inner
conversations with ourselves ...we're not happy until we can find somebody we
can belittle or something we can laugh at in a derogatory way. But if we're
going to minister with the finger of God this must change so that the mercy of
the Lord which was shown to us begins to color our attitude in this area toward
all people ...believers and unbelievers.
5.
The unforgiving heart.
Forgive
us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass
against us ...Forgive and you shall be forgiven ....
"If
you don't forgive men their trespasses," says Jesus,
"neither
will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses."
What
is this gospel that we have but a gospel of forgiveness? What is the finger of
God but the finger that lifts the guilt away from us and puts it on himself. How
in this world can we effectively minister with that finger if we have closed the
door of our own hearts to God's mercy by refusing to be forgiving toward one
other soul? No doubt this is the main reason why God throws us together in
fellowship with people of different backgrounds, in order that we might learn to
be forgiving. Of course we are going to irritate each other and rub each other
the wrong way and try one another's patience...so we are compelled to learn to
forgive. God doesn't send us off on all the roads of this world like lonely
Tzadiks...he sends us forth as part of a specific congregation where we are
continuously learning to forgive. The more effective we become at forgiving one
another the wrongs that are done to us ...or that we think have been done to us
...the more freely and mightily the grace of God flows forth to the world. If
we're walking around with a chip on our shoulder how can we turn around and
bring life to the world?
"If
I cast out demons by Beelzebul by whom do your
sons
cast them out? Therefore shall they be your
judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out
demons,
then the kingdom of God has come upon you."
These
signs shall accompany those who believe: in
my
name they will cast out demons; they will speak
in
new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they
drink
any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will
lay
their hands on the sick, and they will recover.
So
then the Lord Jesus after he had spoken to them
was
taken up into heaven and sat down at the right
hand
of God and they went forth and preached every-
where
while the Lord worked with them and confirmed
the
message with signs that attended it. |
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