Okay, Brandon has made some good points, but my thoughts need another post. I'll be organized, with three parts to my thoughts. (What a pastor!)
1) Brandon is correct that all Christians are called to ministry. Regardless of our particular vocation, each of us has a responsibility to live a life worthy of the call to faith. That doesn't mean our ministry stops with our lifestyles. Rather, we must also testify about the Lord, actively seeking to bring others into God's Kingdom. Our evangelical testimonies are the thing that separates us from being a "good person" and being a "good Christian person." (Yes, I do think it's a cop-out to say, "I'll just evangelize by living a life that people want to know more about why I'm different." I'm not saying that each person will evangelize five people daily, but I'm saying that the Lord will lead us into the right place at the right time with people.)
2) While all Christians are called to be ministers, I still think this is a cop-out for some people who are afraid to go into a full-time vocation of ministry. I do think there is a difference between the every-Christian-minister and the full-time-Christian-minister. It may be hard to deal with, but God really does call people apart from the norm. He always has. After being led out of Egypt, Abraham's descendents were given a life code. This wasn't meant to make the people "better" than everyone; they were being called from the normal people to be separate for God. Even among those called out people, God set apart the Levites even further. They received no land inheritance, and their entire lives were to be wrapped up in doing God's ministry. If you don't see the connection for today's world, here it is. God still calls people out to be separate for His ministry. When we're Christians, God calls us apart from the world. This doesn't make us better than everyone else; it makes us separate. (God loves all people and wills that none should perish, remember?) He calls some Christians (like Brandon and me) to a life of full-time vocational ministry, making us even more separate but not "better." Basically, I believe God calls people apart, not above. We're on a level plane in the eyes of the Lord, regardless of what we do, how we do it, or the length of time we've spent doing it. When I say that the honor of a full-time vocational calling is being ignored, I am not talking about one person being better than another. I'm talking about the honor of being called apart from the norm by God. That's cool.
3) Brandon never would have had to warn me not to make others feel badly about themselves if we ministers weren't so corrupt. What is our problem, anyway? People have perverted the fact that we're called apart for Him, making ministry something about us being above others. So many ministers have lived lives in which we seem better than others, sometimes even treating Christians in our care like they don't measure up to our level of spirituality or our knowledge of God. If we weren't so busy making ministry about us, then no one would feel put down by our unique callings. Rather, they would celebrate and encourage others who felt that call. Ministry has become about money, talent, and comfort, three things that dominate many pastoral meetings, conversations, and interviews. These things are important, but we need to let go of ourselves and minister in God's name and in His power. Then the truth of God will prevail, and we won't have to worry about inferiority complexes in other Christians. (I'll save my many thoughts about inferiority complexes also being too much about us.)
6 comments:
i hear what you're saying lynn, and i mostly agree...
thanks, by the way, for responding to my comment.
i think i have trouble, however, with the idea of being called apart for vocational ministry being called an honour. to me it still feels like you are saying that being called to this specific thing is somehow more worthy or holy than some other vocation. i know that's not what you're meaning to say, but that's how it sounds...the logical result of the words you use. now i'm going off the top of my head here, but i think a good comparison could be the levites who were set apart to serve the rest of israel through taking care of the temple and the religious duties. you referred to them yourself. they were the "clergy" of sorts. it was narrowed down to a certain family line that held the priestly duties of standing between the people and God. from one perspective these people had the honour of being called...but really it was an odd system of "calling" when you just do it because you were born into it. it was the same as every other vocation in israel. sons did what they learned from their fathers. i have a hard time seeing joe the levite as being more honored than john the blacksmith - he just serves a different role in God's kingdom. indeed, several tradesmen were honored by being chosen to craft the tabernacle and the religious articles for worship, and were actually filled with the holy spirit to enable them to work their craft to their best ability. why then would we consider a call to clergy more honoured than a call to carpentry or goldsmithing or rug-weaving? in the practical world people put positions of leadership like the priesthood in a higher place of honour, but if God sees it all as equally honourable (an equal plane as you say) then shouldn't we see ourselves and others from the same perspective?
i submit that every vocation is equally honorable, and that the real issue is whether or not we will follow God into whatever adventure he leads us. some people may reject God's call to vocational ministry, but others may reject God's call to become a doctor or carpenter or teacher. is not that rejection just as significant? i think the core issue is about obedience to anything God asks of us. when we are willing to follow God into whatever vocation he has prepared us for, then we are ready to become the ministers, the servants, that he wants us to be to the people we come in contact with.
i think that it is "cool", like you said, to be set apart from the norm by God. i'm struggling, however, to put my finger on what is cool about it. i don't think it is cool because we are more honoured than anyone else. i don't think we are. we are chosen to be leaders among men and women. that is cool, but why? what makes it cool? my own human perception that leadership is somehow better than following? is it cool because we are chosen to work in God's ministry? what is God's ministry? i think it's only cool when i recognize that God's ministry is way bigger than me or my vocation or the church even. God's ministry is as wide as the cosmos and is involved in the lives of all people everywhere, whether or not they have anything to do with the established church and clergy system in which we serve or not. so when i am called to serve as a vocational minister, i am being called to give my life away in service to a cause that is bigger than myself and the world around me - that is cool. but can i not serve that cause as a carpenter or goldsmith or rug-weaver as well? is there not a place in God's ministry for those people?
as i come to the end of this lynn, i feel bad that i have taken space on your blog to ramble so. i apologize if i have merely repeated myself. in short, i agree with you, and yet i don't. i don't have it all figured out in my own mind so i probably shouldn't have said anything. and yet i did. i mostly want to provide a dissenting opinion to make us both think about and rethink how accurate our traditional understandings of being called to vocational ministry are. i hope i am doing that without being annoying.
much love...
Hi, B! I definitely understand where you're coming from, and I appreciate the grace you're giving me. However, I am choosing to stand my ground (at least for now) about ministry being an honor. If we want to keep the Levites theme going, remember that they were the ONLY ones who could perform certain tasks before the Lord and in His name. Were anyone else to touch the ark of the covenant, enter the Holy of Holies, or whatever, they would die. Clearly, there must be an honor to that. Is there honor in any job? YES!!!!! Following God's call is the honor; not the job. HOWEVER, my beef with the "every job's an honor" approach is that people use that as a cop-out not to engage God's call. You know as well as I do that there are some people called to vocational ministry who do not follow that call. There are also those who should leave it alone who choose to train and minister anyway. I doubt either of these people will go to hell or anything, but this confusion around the call is sure leaving the "workers in the harvest" (Matt. 9:37-38) few.
i'm tempted to respond to more you said...but i think it would be better to agree to disagree...
much love.
Wow i feel i have to reply to this one. Lynn found your link on another site, was just looking around. This is an issue that is touchy for me. I have choosen NOT to go to a bible school, not take pastoral ministry,Youth, CE etc. Instead I have choosen to go to a secular University. Now i have gotten some ppl tellign me it was not the thing to do, using the whole full time ministry is more respectable notion. But ya know what, i have to disagree. Why is that u may ask? well it is because God told me too. When i was in the 8th grade i got a CAll from GOD that was so real and so strong that i couldnt ignore it. I know God is asking me to serve in missions. Long or short term, thats not been revealed yet. He is also callin me to be HEAVILY in volved in Ministry as a lay person. He has called me to use my future financial resources to support his works. He has called me to be salt and light in my workplace. So am i less honourable ? NO! Because To do anything else(ie: pastoring a church) would be ignoring the will of God, a deffinate no no! Now if i am misunderstanding your view please feel free to correct me
PS this is not a personal attack on you, i think u are a great person.
Interesting post, Naomi. (I had to check your profile. You said I'm a great person, so I wanted to make sure you knew me.) :) Anyway, please understand that I do NOT think full-time ministry makes a person HIGHER than anyone else. Naomi, full-time ministry is an honor through its responsibility, its burden. If a person is called to full-time ministry, wonderful!! Otherwise, they need to avoid it. I understand why this is personal for you because I almost didn't go into full-time ministry for the same reason. I was a pastor's kid who was "good" and enjoyed doing things at church. Great! I was different than you because I was actually called to full-time ministry. (And now look at me - my ministry's not in a church right now. Go figure.) You're like my good friend Nick Hopkins. He's a PK, good guy, loves ministering, but called to something esle. It's all good. If you read my comments again, see that I think God calls people "apart" NOT "above."
ok thanks for the clarifacation!
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