Manna for Ministers 8
Is
it easy to heal the sick?
The
Age of the Nameless, Faceless Believer
A
New Look: the Authority to Heal
vs. the Gift of Healing
Is
having a large church always the
evidence of God’s blessing?
Our
Fascination with Financial Miracles
How
to have a "Happy and Successful" Evangelistic Ministry
Is it Easy to Heal the Sick?
The Lord has called me to equip the body of Christ around the world to heal the sick as Jesus did to demonstrate to the world that He is the only way to the Father. Jesus commanded his disciples to heal the sick in Matthew 10:8, in Luke 9:2 and Luke 10:9 as they proclaimed the kingdom of God. As part of the teaching I always pose the question to the people: which is easier, to pray for the sick or to heal the sick?
If one understands the question and its ramifications, the answer is obviously praying for the sick. When we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus to heal an infirm person, it is God’s decision and responsibility to heal or not to heal. We ourselves do not perform the healing and are thus not responsible for the outcome. All we do is ask. Therefore if the person is not healed, we have not failed and need not feel embarrassed.
In contrast, healing the sick means doing exactly what Jesus did; for example, miraculously opening the ears of the deaf such that the deaf person can actually hear. When we heal the sick, we have a measure of responsibility to perform the healing in Jesus’ name. Attempting to do this, especially in public view, would appear to be fraught with the risk of failure---that is, when nothing happens---and subsequent embarrassment.
But I was surprised time and time again to hear some believers, especially in Third World countries, reply that healing the sick is easier than praying for the sick. I was puzzled, but eventually came to understand this reasoning. The basis for it is Mark 11:24.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Some believers have applied this verse to receiving supernatural healing from the Lord. The infirm person asks the Lord to heal him. He believes that he has received his healing, that is, that he is already healed regardless of what his body may tell him. In this way the healing will materialize.
One can also apply this same verse to healing the sick. This is how it is done: we tell the infirm person that in the name of Jesus Christ he is healed “by faith.” Whether or not the person is actually healed in reality is immaterial. The infirm person must truly believe that he is already healed. If he truly believes and does not doubt in his heart, he will receive his healing in due time. The person cannot rely on what his senses tell him---for example, that the pain is still there---by his faith he is already healed.
This is the reasoning by which some believers say it is easier to heal the sick than to pray for the sick. To heal the sick, we simply say to the infirm person, “In the name of Jesus Christ you are healed by faith” and then we believe that the person is healed. That is the end of our responsibility; it is settled. If we say it a second time to the infirm person it means we doubt that he is already healed. Whether or not the person is really healed is now up to the faith of the infirm person.
Without a doubt people have been healed by this approach. However, there are some matters that should be raised at this point. The first is that the great majority of miraculous healings done by Jesus Christ as recorded in Scripture does not follow this pattern. Jesus generally did not heal people “by faith.” No, he actually and really healed them on the spot. People were actually healed when he ministered to them. The blind did see and the deaf did hear when he healed them. Only in a few instances as recorded in Scripture were people healed afterwards by their own faith. Yet in today’s church hardly anyone heals the sick as Jesus did. Most believers and ministers, especially in Pentecostal circles, heal the sick “by faith.” And by that we mean primarily the faith of the infirm person. By this definition, healing the sick is very easy indeed.
It is convenient but unscriptural to throw the greater burden of the responsibility for the healing on the infirm person. Whether or not he is healed depends on his faith. The minister gets off practically scot-free. But Jesus was balanced. He would praise certain infirm people whose faith had healed them, but he also taught the responsibility of his disciples to exercise their authority over diseases and demons with mountain-moving faith (Matthew 17:19-20). Many of the instant miraculous healings as recorded in Acts were performed in this manner. But today’s believers are afraid to take the risk of using their mountain-moving faith to heal the sick instantly as Jesus did because of the risk of possible failure and embarrassment. It’s safer to shift the responsibility to the sick person. But this is the very spirit of fear which has brought significant paralysis to the Church in the area of healing.
Within the walls of the Church before believers who understand, one might practice the concept of healing the sick “by faith.” But in the gospels and Acts, miraculous healings were performed instantly so that the lost would put their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Would healing the sick “by faith” as practiced by some today impress non-believers and draw them to Jesus? They would certainly not accept such “healings” as genuine miracles. For the Church to use miraculous healings as a means of drawing the lost to the Kingdom of God, we must learn to heal the sick as Jesus did, not simply “by faith.”
It is time for balance to be restored to the Church in the area of healing. Because of the spirit of fear and some unbalanced teaching, miraculous healings are rare in today’s Church compared to their frequency in the gospels and Acts. Once we study the Scriptures and understand how Jesus and his early disciples healed the sick, we discover that indeed it is not as difficult and risky as we think it is. Sometimes it is downright easy.
The Age of the Nameless, Faceless Believer
In March 2006 a world-famous evangelist came to Jakarta, Indonesia for a historic Crusade. During one of the evenings, a crowd estimated at 400,000 people---the largest in the history of Indonesia---gathered to hear him speak. Great miracles of healing were witnessed, giving glory to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in Muslim Indonesia. As great as this event was, it signaled perhaps the end of an era and the beginning of an even greater one.
At the 2006 Resurrection Day service at Abbalove, one of Jakarta’s most vibrant and thriving megachurches, Pastor Eddy Leo brought up a significant point. Crusade sponsors calculated that about 400 people were healed at the historic meeting. Percentage-wise, we could conclude that one-tenth of one percent of the people who attended the meeting received a miraculous healing. (Of course it is understood that not everyone who attended the meeting was infirm.) These are the results achieved at an evangelistic meeting where one person does all or most of the ministry. I call this type of ministry one-man-show, superstar evangelism.
God has begun to do something new and better which involves the body of Christ ministering instead of just one individual. This takes the focus away from the celebrity evangelist and puts the spotlight on the body of Christ---alone the true representative of Christ on earth. When no one person or ministry can “take the credit” for the miracles, God receives more glory.
For example, at an evangelistic healing service I witnessed in April 2006 in Manado, Indonesia where the gospel was shared, there were approximately 2,000 people present. After the gospel was proclaimed, trained believers representing the body of Christ came forward to minister healing to the infirm according to Luke 9:1-2 and 10:1, 9. The purpose of this was to demonstrate to the lost that the gospel of the Kingdom of God is indeed true. The number of people who immediately afterwards came forward to give public testimonies of their healing was estimated to be at least fifty. About a half dozen of these involved tumors and growths that shrank and disappeared. A simple calculation shows that the percentage of people attending the meeting who were healed (and testified) was at least 2.5%. Comparing this to the 0.1% of the people who were healed at the historic meeting in Jakarta, we see that the percentage of people healed in Manado as seen in this light was at least twenty-five times greater than the number healed in Jakarta.
Now God is certainly glorified whether 0.1% or 2.5% of the people are healed. But when far more people are healed, God certainly receives more glory. And when the body of Christ is involved in healing the sick in Jesus’ name instead of simply one individual evangelist, God receives more glory. The “superstar” is Jesus Christ instead of the renowned evangelist. (Great fame and the often accompanying lifestyle of the wealthy can be a personal stumbling block to the “unworthy servant” of God.)
In a much smaller evangelistic Crusade later the same month in predominantly Hindu North India, there were a bit over 100 people present. Those who gave testimonies of their healing after the trained believers ministered to them exceeded twenty in number. Thus in this case up to perhaps 20% of those attending were healed in Christ’s name. The miracles along with the preaching of the gospel resulted in at least 50 Hindu people (comprising nearly all of the Hindus who were present at the meeting) deciding to follow Christ as their Lord and Savior that evening.
These are not isolated incidents. Whenever believers are taught to heal the sick the way Jesus and His disciples did in the Scriptures, similar results are witnessed when these believers are actively involved in ministering to the sick at evangelistic events.
In a January 2004 Crusade in Eastern Rivers State, Nigeria, the host pastor reported to me that 2,000 infirm people had been healed over four nights of meetings. He said the attendance was 5,000 people.
Only when the Church wakes up and stops depending on the one-man-show evangelists will she fulfill the Great Commission. Jesus Christ has already given to every believer authority to heal the sick and cast out demons for proclaiming the Kingdom of God (John 14:12; Mark 16:15-18). At this time the Church can in fact be taught how to use this authority to heal the infirm as Jesus did. The age of the superstar evangelist is fading away; the age of the nameless, faceless believer has begun.
A New Look: the Authority to Heal
vs. the Gift of Healing
In Scripture we find different ways by which the Lord heals infirmities through His people. Two of these ways can be classified as the authority to heal on the one hand, and the gift of healing on the other hand. These two have different functions. Luke 9 describes the function of the authority to heal.
Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
The power and authority to heal and to drive out demons is given specifically for the context of preaching the kingdom of God to the lost. For those who do not yet believe, seeing miracles can be an aid to faith in Christ. In contrast, the gift of healing is given primarily to build up the body of Christ, that is, those who already believe in Christ. The Apostle Paul, referring to the function of the gifts of the Spirit for the body of Christ, taught:
1 Corinthians 12:7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,
In Chapter 14, continuing to teach on the purpose of spiritual gifts, Paul adds:
1 Corinthians 14:26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
It would appear that the primary venue for the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit is in gatherings of believers. In such meetings believers are ministered to, strengthened, and blessed in various ways. Among other benefits, believers can be healed from their infirmities as the gift of healing is manifested. For example, as believers worship the Lord in a gathering, the presence of the Lord may appear and the sick are miraculously healed.
How can we better understand the difference between the authority to heal and the gift of healing?
Let’s take the analogy of the United States of America. When America is threatened by foreign enemies, she sends out her armies to fight. The American military has unparalleled power. Through displays of “shock and awe” it defeats the enemy. This is analogous to the Church sending out believers to proclaim the Kingdom of God to the lost, heal the sick, and cast out demons. Awesome power is released as they exercise their authority over disease and demons by rebuking them and commanding them to go in Jesus’ name. The sick are instantly healed and testify of God’s healing grace. The message of the gospel is confirmed by the miraculous signs and precious souls enter the Kingdom of God by putting their faith in Jesus Christ. The Church is indeed capable of putting on such displays of “shock and awe”---that is, signs and wonders---to defeat the enemy. We have seen this happen time and time again after disciples of Jesus are taught to exercise their authority to heal the sick.
The picture back home in America contrasts sharply. Soldiers and tanks and incredibly destructive weapons are not seen in the streets. There are no displays of military might or “shock and awe” in our communities. Rather we enjoy our peace and prosperity. We celebrate our blessings at various holidays throughout the year. We like to give one another gifts, especially around Christmas time, to bless and encourage one another. This can be analogous to believers blessing one another with gifts and manifestations of the Spirit during their gatherings.
Nevertheless, throughout the larger body of Christ, there is not yet a healthy balance between “military” and “civilian” activities. (Writers in the past referred to these as sodalities and modalities, respectively.) Most of the activity of the Church today consists of “civilian” gatherings of believers where they are built up through the word of God and manifestations of spiritual gifts. Rarely does the Church send out believers as a well-trained and well-equipped “military” force to engage the enemy kingdom. Rarely do we hear of armies of believers going out to the lost to heal the sick, cast out demons, and save souls through the preaching of the gospel. The awesome “signs and wonders” that the Church is capable of displaying against the enemy kingdom is yet to be seen.
However, there is now in some quarters of the Church an awareness of the necessity of going out to engage the enemy. For some reason it does not consist of the visible “shock and awe” of miraculously healing the sick and proclaiming the Kingdom boldly in public as commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ. So far it consists of spiritual warfare “in the heavenlies” through prayer gatherings in public places and during prayerwalks. (We may note in passing that there is little agreement within the larger body of Christ whether or not such activities are strongly supported by Scripture.) But it must not end there. We must obey what Jesus commanded us to do in the earthly realm:
Luke 10:9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’
As the recent war in Lebanon clearly showed, air bombardment alone cannot win a war. Ground troops must be committed. During these last days the Lord has revealed to us how to train and equip foot soldiers to win the war on the ground and take actual territory for the Kingdom. We are now able to equip believers to heal the sick the way Jesus and his disciples did to demonstrate to the world that the Kingdom is near. Souls actually escape from darkness and enter the Kingdom of God by putting their faith in Christ. It can no longer be simply theoretical; the victories must seen here on earth.
John 14:12 Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes on Me, the works that I do he shall do also, and greater works than these he shall do, because I go to My Father.
Is having a large church always the
evidence of God’s blessing?
Today there are churches around the world which have become very large and prosperous. We are impressed when we see such numbers, but size and wealth are not necessarily the evidence of God’s blessing upon a church. When in the Fourth Century Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and subsidized it lavishly with state funds, it became fashionable to become a Christian. Some have estimated that the Church grew ten times as quickly as before when the Church faced official persecution. However, that church eventually offered little more than dead institutional religion. While we are not comparing today's Church with the church of that era, we do know that the size of a church is not necessarily correlated with success in God's eyes.
Thus although we all like to see our churches grow, there are matters which are more important than simply how big our church can get. One of these is preaching the gospel according to the word of God. When we do this it is more likely that the resulting growth can be equated to increase in the Kingdom of God on earth. With regard to preaching the gospel, the apostle Paul prescribed the following in the second chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians:
"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power."
Paul preached only Jesus Christ and him crucified with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power. In most quarters of the Church today, one or both of these two ingredients are missing when the gospel is preached.
Preaching Jesus Christ crucified to bear our sins and save us from punishment in hell are not considered in sync with today’s culture. Some preachers have concluded that people do not want to hear about sin and hell and will respond better to a more positive and encouraging message more in tune with contemporary mentality. But this is contextualizing the gospel in an unscriptural way. The very essence of the gospel is Jesus Christ crucified and his blood shed for our sins. What might be the origin of this unscriptural approach?
Perhaps simply preaching Jesus Christ crucified was not very effective in the past. People did not respond and our churches did not grow as we would have liked. Why did people not respond? They did not because the gospel was not preached with a supernatural demonstration of the Spirit’s power to prove its validity. The word “demonstration” in Greek means “manifestation.” There was no actual and visible manifestation of God’s power. When the early disciples preached the gospel, we know it was often accompanied by miraculous signs and healings. But this is not the case today. The miraculous signs, generally speaking---although there are exceptions---have disappeared. They are but a distant, nearly forgotten memory from the apostolic church of two millennia ago.
This is true even of today’s “Spirit-filled” and Pentecostal churches which do mostly lip service to signs and wonders. People hear the gospel, but are not at that time presented with a supernatural demonstration which proves that Jesus Christ is the only way to escape from condemnation in hell and to enter the Kingdom of God. Thus we do not see the Acts-like results that we want. I have heard Christian leaders in Southeast Asia being quoted as saying in so many words that in order to grow their churches they cannot rely on proclaiming the gospel with miraculous signs and healings as taught in Scripture. This is because such miracles are rare. Their noticeable absence is likely one of the factors that has given rise to alternative ways of presenting the gospel which may appear to be outwardly "effective."
Alternative approaches to sharing the gospel can include the “seeker-sensitive” model as well as the “prosperity gospel,” neither of which was emphasized by the apostle Paul. One author who has studied it concludes that the “seeker-sensitive” approach may even contain elements reminiscent of New Age practices. Some megachurches emphasize high-level, corporate-style management techniques to stay on top. One such church in Australia has been described as being "a mile wide and an inch deep." This is what could happen when people's faith rests not on God's power, but on men's wisdom (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:5 above).
The good news is that during these last days the Lord is restoring the apostle Paul’s model of evangelism to the Church. It is now possible for churches and believers to be trained and equipped to heal the sick as Jesus and Paul did to demonstrate the truth of the gospel to the lost. We can once again preach Jesus Christ and him crucified for our sins with a visible demonstration of the Spirit’s power. Unfortunately, the alternative approaches to preaching the gospel have become so successful in terms of contemporary "church growth" that we have become intoxicated with them. It may be difficult for the Church to change direction anytime soon. It’s hard to argue with the outward “success” of an alternative model and to overcome its considerable inertia.
Nevertheless, let it be known that the Church can now be equipped to preach the gospel according to Paul's model. When we are so equipped, we do witness a satisfying harvest of souls. We will trust the Lord to speak to His Church:
Revelation 3:14-21 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne."
The headlong rush for size and crowds
Actual reports of preaching the gospel according to Paul's Model:
Liberia
Democratic Republic of Congo
Others
Our Fascination with Financial Miracles
As we travel around the world equipping the body of Christ for the work of the ministry, we find in many churches a definite emphasis on receiving financial miracles from God. In Brazil there is a thriving denomination with some very large churches whose success in drawing people could be attributed to this emphasis. Humanly speaking this type of focus might appear necessary in countries where poverty is endemic. However, what does Scripture have to say about this trend?
Before we address this issue, let me state that we ourselves have seen financial miracles in the ministry the Lord has entrusted to us. Plainly speaking, it costs money to travel around the world for the gospel. We realize that without the generous support of those who have given to us out of the financial blessings they have received from the Lord, we could not do what we have done. May the Lord greatly multiply the seed they have sown. Having said that, let us now see what Scripture says about money. Here is the very first instance in the New Testament (New International Version) of the word money:
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Money is such an important consideration to human beings that Jesus compared it to Almighty God Himself. In our hearts, it will compete with Him for our love. We can choose only to love one of the two; we will hate the other. No believer can fail to understand the strong polarization involved in the choice Jesus calls us to make.
The problem is that when we focus on financial miracles, it is possible to deceive ourselves. Instead of loving God, we can end up loving Money and the comfortable if not luxurious lifestyle it can afford us.
Of course poverty is an extremely serious problem in some countries and the Church should not ignore it (James 2:16). Yet the poor were also present in the time of Jesus, and the miracles he did were not primarily financial in nature for helping the poor get on their feet. Rather, his miracles as recorded in the gospels were overwhelmingly healing the sick and driving out demons. In Matthew 26:11 Jesus told his disciples, “the poor you will always have with you.” The same can be said today about the poor. So what is the scriptural justification for our fascination with and emphasis on financial miracles? There would appear to be none. The apostle Paul tells us:
1 Timothy 6:3 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
We know that we must love God instead of Money. We insist that despite our emphasis on financial miracles we still love God instead of Money. But only God knows whether or not this is true. Jeremiah warned, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?“
It is entirely possible that some in the Church have unwittingly crossed the line and believe in the Lord primarily to secure His financial blessings. God has become the means and the blessings have become the end. These people are no longer serving God. They have slid down the slippery slope, however slowly and imperceptibly, and have become servants of Money.
One could ask why God appears to perform financial miracles for such people. The miracles can happen simply because of the principle of sowing and reaping which works for anyone who applies it, even the unbelieving. The sun shines on both the righteous and unrighteous.
In the gospels and Acts the miracles are predominantly healing the sick and casting out demons. But in today’s Church few know how to heal the sick and cast out demons in the same way. Lacking these kinds of miracles, we have turned to alternative ways of drawing the lost to the Kingdom of God. Many churches, especially in poorer countries, have turned to preaching the gospel accompanied by financial miracles instead of the healing of the sick and the casting out of demons. We ought to consider what kind of believers might result from this kind of evangelistic approach which has now spread through much of the world.
Let’s examine something even more foundational. Why did Jesus not focus on financial miracles instead of healing the sick and demon-oppressed? Here is the answer.
God told Adam that if he sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, he would surely die. And when Adam ate the fruit and sinned, he did in fact experience spiritual death---his relationship with God was severed. Afterwards the Lord cursed the ground and poverty appeared on the earth. Adam eventually suffered from the physical infirmity we call old age and then died in the physical sense. Death, whether spiritual or physical, is the ultimate wage of sin. In this sense, poverty cannot be equated with death. And physical death is the end result of physical infirmity. From this we understand that sickness and disease ultimately are the prison in which people languish because they have broken God’s law by sinning. Death is the eternal continuation of God's judgment.
When Jesus came to earth he healed the sick, setting them free from the prison of physical infirmities. By freeing these prisoners he proved that he had authority to forgive the sin that had landed them in the prison of sickness in the first place. (Justice, whether divine or human, demands that transgression must be paid for before release from prison.) With this authority to forgive sin through his blood shed on the cross, Jesus had power to deliver sinners from condemnation in hell. Thus his power to heal the sick proved ultimately that he had authority to save from sin and hell.
In such a way we can see that the miraculous healings Jesus did were central to his claim of being the Messiah---the Savior of the world who would take away our sins (Mark 2:10). That is why miraculous healings were far more important to his ministry as the Messiah than miracles of finance and provision. Those who instead focus on earthly blessings have clearly chosen the wrong emphasis and fallen victim to self-deception.
What should we then do?
The Church must go back to the Bible. Instead of emphasizing miracles of money and provision, we must proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified. And we must be equipped to heal the sick as we proclaim the gospel in order to prove that his death on the cross indeed gives him the authority to save sinners from sin and hell, granting them eternal life. Today the resurrected Lord is equipping his Church to heal the sick and cast out demons for this very purpose.
Do allow us a final word. Is it against God’s will for a believer to be rich? The answer is not necessarily. It is true that earthly riches can make it difficult for a person to enter the Kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25). But there will be some born-again believers to whom God will entrust earthly riches. Paul instructs them:1 Timothy 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
What should we therefore conclude?
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
If we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, “all these things” that we need for life on earth will be provided for us as well. We do not focus on financial miracles, but on his kingdom and his righteousness. We must understand what these mean.
What should we do about the poor?
Mark 10:21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. …29 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
As many preachers have taught, we cannot outgive God. Let’s interpret it properly.
How to have a "Happy and Successful" Evangelistic Ministry
I may have stretched the title a bit to get your attention, but nevertheless I would like to share some things I have learned from the Lord during the twenty-nine years of our full-time service for Him. The Lord has graciously blessed the work of our hands beyond what we have asked or imagined since the year 2000. (And we are told this may be just the beginning.) For some years before 2000 we were in the position of Moses, taking care of some sheep on the back side of the Sinai desert; like young David following and watching the flock in his father’s pasture. Perhaps you are in the same position right now. Perhaps what I have to share will be helpful to you.
The apple of God’s eye is His Church (Deuteronomy 32:10). Whatever we are called to be, whether apostle, evangelist, prophet, pastor, or teacher, we should be building up the body of Christ. It pleases the Lord when we expend our efforts to equip His Church for works of service.
Ephesians 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up…
Thus when we minister, it should not be simply as a one-man-show, drawing attention to ourselves and our ministries through our great anointing when we preach. Rather we should spend more of our efforts equipping the Church to do what the Lord has taught and anointed us to do. Many now preach, but few teach and equip. You must decrease and Jesus Christ must increase.
John 3:30 He must become greater; I must become less.
And Jesus is now represented by His body, the Church. In the world we must become less and the Church must become greater. Don’t just preach to the Church, teach and equip the Church so that it will become greater like Jesus. Preaching, on the other hand, is primarily for the lost.
Secondly, our ministry and its practices should be centered on that which is strongly supported by the word of God. Let me define what this means to me. There are various practices which appear to be referred to or implied in Scripture, for example the practice of spiritual warfare waged directly against powers and principalities. However, we do not see in Scripture anyone actually doing this. It is not recorded in Scripture that any servant of God actually spoke directly to Satan or demonic principality to rebuke them. (Prayer to God asking Him to war against such spiritual entities is of course a different matter.) When a practice is not explicitly found in Scripture---there is no instance recorded of a believer actually doing it---it would be better not to practice it or at least not to emphasize it. It should be kept on the periphery. Such a practice might actually “work” and appear at the time to bring glory and souls to God. However, outward “success” is not necessarily the stamp of God’s approval and His will. Since it is not found clearly in Scripture, it would be better not to emphasize it or make it a focus of our teaching. There are reasons for this.
When we engage in practices not explicitly supported by Scripture, we might run the risk, however slight, of going “beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6). When we do this, we might be going beyond what we have been authorized by the Lord to do. And when we go beyond our authority, we can be open to eventual counterattack and payback by the enemy. It is as if we step out from the umbrella, however gradually, that the Lord has put over us. It can be a “slippery slope” that we go down without even being aware of it. Now although we are indeed called to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ, none of us wants to suffer unnecessarily. If we go beyond what is written, we might be inviting tribulation not according to the Lord’s will. There are believers who are suffering in this unfortunate way. Thus it is safer to be conservative in our interpretation of Scripture and practices. This does not mean that we cannot live “risky” for the Lord. If we want to be bold and take risks for the kingdom of God, let it be with wisdom and proper understanding of Scripture.
There is yet another reason for taking care not to major in what I call “peripheral” and thus non-essential practices.
The Lord clearly desires unity for His people. What is the basis for this unity? It is the Lord Jesus Christ and the word of God which is the Bible. All born-believers stand in agreement that the word of God should be our rule for doctrine and practice. There are doctrines and practices that are universally (or nearly so) accepted by the body of Christ; these are those that find strong support in Scripture. If in our ministry we emphasize teachings and practices that are not strongly supported in this way, we will run the risk of being rejected by some part of the body of Christ even though we may be embraced by another part. There will be some believers who say that what we are presenting is not scriptural. And we will not be able to answer them satisfactorily from the word of God even though what we teach may actually “work.” When this happens we might in effect be encouraging division in the body of Christ despite our good intentions. This might hurt the Lord. We are all part of His body for whom He suffered and died.
Romans 14:19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. 22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.
Therefore we ought not to focus attention on food or other non-essentials that do not lead to peace and edification to the body of Christ. “Whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.”
Rejection always hurts. We will of course face rejection from the world. But rejection from other sincere, God-fearing disciples of Christ is another matter entirely. If we minister in our own limited circles, we can be free to teach peripheral doctrines and engage in peripheral practices. If you feel this is what the Lord has called you to do, that’s fine. But what if we desire to minister to the greater body of Christ around the world, or if we desire to promote the unity that the Lord so desires for His whole Church? We ought to take care to limit ourselves to those teachings that find strong support in Scripture. In this way, rejection and controversy within the body of Christ will be minimized, and unity in the Church maximized and encouraged.
I am not advocating compromising God’s word. I am saying that we should major on that which is major in God’s word and minor on that which is minor. This healthy balance will result in a healthy church which will advance the Kingdom of God in the world.
• The Lord will be blessed because His body is being built up and united.
• The Church will be blessed because believers of every stripe are being equipped by you for fruitful ministry and no longer chained to a Sunday morning pew. Believers are getting tired of being preached to; they long to step onto the battlefield and to fight the Lord’s battles.
• And you will be blessed because you will be “happy and successful.” When you correctly divide the word and teach it according to the Lord’s highest purpose for His Church, you will prosper in His hand and find favor in the eyes of His people. More opportunities will be opened for you, the Lord’s unworthy servant, to bless the greater body of Christ around the world.
This article is based on the Word of God, the Spirit behind the Word of God, and on our own personal testimony.