A very important group in any United Methodist Church is the Committee on Pastor-Parish Relations. The Book of Discipline of our denomination says that one of the primary functions of that body is "to counsel with the minister and staff pertaining to their relationship with the congregation, including priorities to be given in the use of their time and skill in relation to the goals and objectives set for the congregation’s mission and demands upon the ministry." When this sentence was read to the newly-elected Pastor-Parish Relations Committee of a small church, the elderly farmer chosen as chairman commented dryly: "What all them words mean, folks, is that we’uns are them who decides what to do with our preacher!"
That old gentleman greatly oversimplified that committee’s responsibilities but unintentionally came close to focusing his fellow Christians’ attention upon one of the burning questions before the church of our time. A great concern of all genuinely aware Christian people today is not so much, "What shall we do with our preacher (or minister)?" but rather, "What shall we do with our ministry?"
Paul, writing to the Roman Christians in our text, says that he intended to magnify his ministry to the Gentiles. Since all who will hear this sermon today are Gentiles (that is, people who are not Jews or followers of Judaism), and because as Protestants we believe in the priesthood of all believers, Paul’s affirmation ought to be an admonition to us. As Christians who want to see Christ’s church grow in numbers and influence, we know that this will happen only if all Christians magnify their ministry. The Greek word which Paul used, doxazo, translated as "magnify" in the RSV, is more accurately rendered as "glorify." To magnify our ministry means that we are willing to make it glorious for Christ’s sake, that we want the gospel preached and taught and lived out before more and more people so that even greater numbers will accept him as Savior and follow him as Lord. It is reported that there are 26,000 ordained ministers in the United Methodist Church serving some ten million members. But if every United Methodist Christian were to magnify his or her ministry as St. Paul said, this means the influence of our chUrch for Christ would he magnified 384 times. Ten million United Methodists (not to mention Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians ...) magnifying their ministry would soon make this a Christian nation in fact as well as in name. We would be like the seed which Jesus said fell upon fertile ground, yielding fruit thirty, sixty, and even a hundredfold.
"But why should those of us in the pews magnify our ministry?" some might ask. "After all, the ministry is what those who are ordained are trained to do. Why should we do what you are paid to do?"
St. Paul would respond by saying that we should magnify our ministry because it is our apostolic responsibility. He said of himself, "Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles ..." An apostle is one who is sent out by the Lord Jesus to proclaim his kingdom and share the good news of God’s love. Originally, it was meant to apply only to those who had seen or accompanied Jesus during his life on earth. However, very early in the New Testament it took on a wider meaning. Paul himself never saw Jesus in the flesh, yet he himself said, "I am not at all inferior to these superlative apostles" (2 Corinthians 12:11) - meaning the original twelve. He named Andronicus and Junias to the Romans as apostles (Romans 167), Epaphroditus to the Philippians (Philippians 2:25), and Timothy to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 3:2). He even referred to two anonymous messengers to the Corinthians as apostles (2 Corinthians 8:23). The risen Christ went so far as to say that the 120 gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost would be sent as his witnesses to "Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Surely if Jesus and Paul referred to ordinary Christians in such apostolic terms, we modern Christians are under the same responsibility.
The day has long passed when the preacher in the pulpit is seen as the only minister in the congregation. Most Christians now understand that the homemaker in the home, the farmer in the field, the businessman in his office, and teachers and students in the classroom are all ministers of Jesus Christ equally with the one who preaches in the pulpit on Sunday. Yet many Christians still do not know the best way to do their ministry, to put their faith into action. In an adult Sunday school class I attended some time ago, a woman said, "It seems each lesson always ends at the same place. We always wind up wanting to know how to put what we believe into what we do."
If we Christians are under apostolic responsibility to magnify our ministry, we must realize that our task is to glorify God through the image we project of him. We can do this only as we have an indelible image of God implanted on our hearts and in our minds. The problem, however, is that we often do not seem to know who or what God looks like. We are like the apostle Philip who asked of Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied." Jesus was deeply disappointed by Philip’s request and said, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:8-9). Jesus thought Philip would surely recognize the image of God in him after three years of association; and the world surely expects those who have been reading about Jesus and hearing about Jesus and praying to Jesus in church to project Jesus in their lives. Yet all too often the very opposite is true. A college student working as a waitress in a fashionable restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky, told me, "I enjoy my work every day except Sunday. That’s when the churchgoers come to lunch, and I dread them. They are always rude, noisy, impatient, and stingy. If the Sunday lunch crowd are Christians, then I don’t want anything to do with their Jesus!"
That is a terrible condemnation because Christians are supposed to be people in whom the true image of Christ may be seen. In fact, the word "Christian" literally means "little Christ." Christians can do more to magnify their ministry for Christ by projecting him as a loving, forgiving Presence in their words and deeds.
When Christians truly live up to the glorious title they bear, the image of God can readily be seen in them. Years ago a minister’s wife noticed a small boy selling newspapers. He stood in his bare feet over the grating of a hot air vent outside a bakery to stay warm. Moved by pity, she asked him, "Where are your shoes?" He replied, "Lady, I ain’t got no shoes." She took him to a department store and bought him new socks and shoes. The lad ran off without a word of thanks, and at first, she was a bit disappointed. Suddenly he burst back into the store and exclaimed, "Lady, I forgot to thank you for these socks and shoes, and I do thank you. But, lady, I wanna ask you a question. Are you God’s wife?" Taken aback, she stammered, "Why--ah-no I’m just one of his children." The boy replied, "Well, I knowed you must be some kin to him." Whenever Christians magnify their ministry as that lady did, whenever we take our apostolic responsibility seriously, we project an image of God as he was revealed in Jesus Christ and everyone recognizes our kinship with him.
Still another reason for magnifying our ministry as St. Paul did is because we believe in what we are doing. "Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry," said Paul. "Ministry" as St Paul used the word here is synonymous with "service." We might paraphrase Paul’s words to say, "As long as I’m an apostle to the Gentiles, I will take pride in my service to others because I believe in what I am doing for Christ’s sake." In fact, Paul actually said this to the Corinthians when he wrote, "Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake" (2 Corinthians 4:1, 5) Paul wanted to magnify his ministry because he believed in what he was doing for others for Christ’s sake. He wanted to magnify Jesus Christ, not Paul of Tarsus. He wanted to magnify his service to others so that some of his fellow Jews might be saved, as well as some of the Gentiles. Paul passionately believed in what he was doing, and he wanted to communicate that passion to others
Charles H. Spurgeon, the great English preacher, once advised his son, "If God calls you to he a preacher, never condescend to become prime minister." Obviously, Charles Spurgeon believed in what he was called to do. He believed in it because he was obviously convinced that preaching was service rendered for and in the name of Jesus Christ. Too often today, however, many preachers and other Christian servants have lost the sense of the glory of serving. Many people today consider their callings only as jobs, as ways to make a living. There is no thought of glory or honor in what they do.
Recently, I was asked to address a high school student body. While waiting for the students to assemble, I overheard two teachers talking. One was complaining about the long hours, low pay, and disrespectful students. "Yeah," his colleague responded, "there must he an easier way to make a living." Many nurses go through the motions of waiting on the sick as if theirs was only a profession. Some doctors look forward to the day when their annual income exceeds $100,000. This attitude affects young men and women interested in the ministry. Dr. Charles Allen tells of a young man who came into his office seeking a career. He asked, "What does the ministry have to offer me?" Dr. Allen replied, "You asked the wrong question. Perhaps you should consider another vocation." Only as we believe that what we are doing for others is for the glory of Jesus Christ and his kingdom can we magnify our ministry, and only as we magnify our ministry are we worthy of the name of Christian apostles.
Do you remember that peculiar creature in Greek mythology called the griffon? Supposedly it was half-eagle and half-lion, half-bird and half-beast. Of course, intelligent people know such a creature never existed. The odd thing, however, is that there are some Christians who try to live lives every bit as unbelievable as that of the mythological griffon. There are church members who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior but who refuse to serve him as Lord. There are Christians who believe in what the Bible says as long as they don’t have to do as it says. There are hundreds who jog and work out in the gym daily but who refuse to believe that regular Bible study and church school attendance and worship are necessary if they are to keep their spiritual muscles in shape. There are women who would not think of coming to church without a purse but who think nothing of leaving their Bibles at home. There are young people like the college co-ed I met recently who will plead with God to spare the life of a friend injured in an automobile accident, but who will never thank him for their food when they sit down to eat.
People like this are like the man whom Jesus healed of an unclean spirit in the land of the Gerasenes. Their name is Legion because there are many of them. They live lives that are half-Christian and half-pagan, and their ministries as Christians are largely ineffective. They are not far from the kingdom of God, but neither are they in it. They never have quite enough time to serve, never enough income to tithe, never are quite ready to make the unqualified surrender which Jesus requires for discipleship. They want to serve Jesus but only if that service does not require bearing a cross; and crossless Christianity is not Christianity at all.
A number of years ago in eastern Kentucky, a small, one-room church was re-opened after having been closed for many years. During the idle period, a swarm of yellowjackets built their nest under the floor near the pulpit area. No one knew about this condition, and when the preacher began his sermon on that grand day of reactivation, he was quite vigorous in his pulpit gymnastics. He paced back and forth over the ancient floor, occasionally stomping his foot for emphasis. All this commotion aroused the yellowjackets, and they swarmed through the cracks of the floor and up the preacher’s trousers and began stinging him. At first, the preacher was able to restrain himself but finally the pain became too intense "Brethren!" he shouted at the top of his voice, "I know I’ve got Jesus in my heart but somehow the devil has gotten into my britches!"
Obviously such a minister could not be very effective; and neither can our ministry as Christians be effective unless we believe in what we are doing for others and believe in them as well. When the first twelve apostles selected their first helpers as recorded in The Acts of the Apostles, they chose "seven men of good repute, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom" (6:3). If we Christians are to magnify our ministry today, that description must fit us as well. We must be full of the Holy Spirit and full of the knowledge of God, fully committed to Christ, full of zeal, full of love, fully dedicated to the task of ministry in which we serve God and our fellow human beings.
Finally, we must magnify our ministry as Christians because it is OUR ministry. "Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry ..." said Paul. Paul recognized that the ministry with which he was entrusted was his task, his personal responsibility. I am sure that St. Paul appreciated the fact that he had co-workers in his task of sharing the good news of God’s love to a largely pagan world, men like Silas and Timothy and Epaphroditus and women like Lydia and Priscilla and Phoebe. Nevertheless, he never forgot that his own ministry was his own responsibility. Ralph Sockman once declared, "Whatever the forces be that play upon us, there is some point where a man must stand up and say, ‘Here I am responsible.’ " Even so, Paul recognized that Christ had saved him and Christ had called him and Christ expected him to be his witness "in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). It was he whom Christ had sent as an apostle to the Gentiles, it was the world in which he lived that was his stewardship responsibility - and he never forgot it.
We might characterize St. Paul as a cross-bearing Christian. He himself told the Galatians: "Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ..." (6:14). Like Jesus, Paul saw his ministry as his cross to bear and he bore it gladly. He took Jesus’ words personally and seriously. "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Paul’s attitude of personal responsibility must he a pointer for all of us who would follow in his footsteps. We Christians are called to be modern counterparts of Simon of Cyrene, who was compelled to help carry Jesus’ cross to Calvary. The only difference is that we are compelled to carry our crosses by our love for Jesus rather than by the commands of Roman soldiers. The cross is a symbol of service gladly endured for the sake of others.
Ralph Dessem, a United Methodist pastor in Ohio, tells of a man who had once been an active churchman, but for some reason drifted away from the church and his faith. After a few years, he returned and became a faithful Christian again. His pastor was pleased to have him back and asked what had influenced his return. The man told how a certain neighbor passed his front door on his way to church every Sunday morning and evening. No matter how foul the weather, nothing deterred him from attending his church. He discovered that this Christian walked eight blocks from his home to his church. He invariably extended an invitation to his neighbor to attend with him by saying, "This is a good day for you to go to church with me." He did not seem discouraged when the invitation was refused, time after time.
As the reactivated member related his story, he told his pastor, "While I never accepted his invitation to go with him to church, his passing by twice each Sunday made me feel dissatisfied. I learned of his illness by his failure to go to prayer meeting on Wednesday night. I thought someone ought to take his place. I know I can’t, but I do want to sit in his pew."
He concluded his conversation by saying, "That man’s steps in the snow made me want to come back to church. He had something that I need, and after many years away from the church, I am now ready to serve my Lord Jesus again."
Ralph Dessem did not reveal the name of the faithful Christian, nor of the one who was reawakened to Christian discipleship, but whether they know them or not, the words from St. Patrick’s breastplate are engraved on their hearts:
Christ he with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
Like it or not, ready or not, whether we possess ten talents or only one, the ministry we have as individual Christians is our ministry. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels ..." St. Paul reminded the Corinthians and us. God might have chosen supermen and superwomen to carry his Word of love and grace, but he didn’t. He chose us, with our tangled theologies and hesitancy in witnessing. He could speak again from the fire and the cloud as he did in the days of Moses, but he won’t. Rather, he chose to speak through us with our Southern drawls and Yankee accents. He might have made us all doctrinal giants like Luther and Calvin, but he didn’t. He chose me, a man who has to struggle to preach an intelligible sermon, and he chose you, who have to struggle to stay awake during my preaching. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels," and it is our ministry, our responsibility. No one else will do it for us. If the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ is to be made known to others, it is up to us to magnify our ministry right here, right now, in our time. The Sunday school song by C. Austin Miles was once brushed aside as poor theology and worse methodology, but both St. Paul and time have proved Miles’ lyrics to be both right and effective:
If to Christ our only king men redeemed we strive to bring,
Just one way may this be done - we must win them one by one.
So, you bring the one next to you, and I’ll bring the one next to me;
In all kinds of weather we’ll all work together, and see what can be done.
In no time at all, we’ll have them all,
So win them, win them one by one.
That’s what St. Paul did when he magnified his ministry. It worked for him, and it will work for us as well. But we have to do it.
Will we?