DYNAMISM is said to be "the power or quality of imparting energy or of producing action or the operation of force of any kind."—Webster.
Paul's evaluation of the greatest power in the world is a reading must for every minister at least once a week. The New Testament translation by J. B. Phillips is perhaps one of the clearest in modern English. I would have you notice, first of all, the four if's used by Paul as he deals with the desirable characteristics of the professed Christian minister.
The Four Ifs
"If I were to speak with the combined eloquence of men and angels I should stir men like a fanfare of trumpets or the crashing of cymbals, but unless I had love, I should do nothing more.
"If I had the gift of foretelling the future and had in my mind not only all human knowledge but the secrets of God, and
"If, in addition, I had that absolute faith which can move mountains, but had no love, I tell you I should amount to nothing at all.
"If I were to sell all my possessions to feed the hungry and, for my convictions, allowed my body to be burned, and yet had no love, I should achieve precisely nothing" (1 Cor. 13:1-3, Phillips).
And having projected these imponderables, Paul now analyses in simple language, without resorting to definitions of various interpretations of textual material, this great element so necessary in the work of self-sacrificing life and ministry—love.
"This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.
"Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.
"Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen. . . .
"In this life we have three great lasting qualities—faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.
"Follow, then, the way of love, while you set your heart on the gifts of the Spirit" (1 Cor. 13:4-7, 13; 14:1, Phillips).*
Living Principles or Fitful Feeling?
Writing in her book The Acts of the Apostles, Ellen G. White said this about the love principle as it relates to the minister of the gospel:
The love of Christ is not a fitful feeling, but a living principle, which is to be made manifest as an abiding power in the heart. If the character and deportment of the shepherd is an exemplification of the truth he advocates, the Lord will set the seal of His approval to the work. The shepherd and the flock will become one, united by their common hope in Christ.—Page 516.
This paragraph contains a truth every minister needs to understand in its fullness —that successful ministry is based upon the dynamism of love released within the human life in such a way that the shepherd of the flock becomes fully identified with the people—the sheep of God's pasture—and that they too are one in Christ.
That is what Jesus meant when He inspired John to write: "Look what love it is the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the Children of God. And that is what we are. That is why the world does not recognize us because it did not know Him" (1 John 3:1, 2, Authentic New Testament, p. 432).
Christ's Legacy to Peter
The legacy Christ left to Peter might well be the legacy He has left to the ministry today. It was based upon the thrice repeated question, "Lovest thou me?" (John 21:1517).
This great question impregnated itself so deeply into the consciousness of the man Peter that from that day forward he was fully and completely dedicated to follow his beloved Master, even unto death. He was prepared to drink of the cup and to suffer with his Lord in behalf of the church over which God had made him an overseer.
It has to be so with the ministry of the church. The counsel given is clear on this point.
Christ mentioned to Peter only one condition of service—"Lovest thou Me?" This is the essential qualification. Though Peter might possess every other, yet without the love of Christ he could not be a faithful shepherd over the flock of God. Knowledge, benevolence, eloquence, zeal,—all are essential in the good work; but without the love of Christ in the heart, the work of the Christian minister is a failure.—The Acts of the Apostles, p. 515.
More Glamour and Show
What do we consider to be the essentials in our ministry in this present age? Larger financial budgets? More eloquence in oratorical preaching? More ability to analyze and define Scripture texts? More startling advertising to catch the eye of the populous? Better music and singers? Larger pipe organs? More pageantry? More glamour and show? More radio and television? Larger crowds? How do we measure values in our soul-winning service for God
Pause for a long moment and look at the hands of Jesus. What do you see there? Scars! Jagged, deep scars! Watch Him as He goes before the Father and holds out those hands, with palms turned upward, and hear Him say:
"I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands" (Isa. 49:16). Where do you carry the souls for whom you labor, the souls of church members who are in need of your ministry of love? In a notebook? On a slip of paper carelessly tucked inside your Bible or some other book? Where do you carry them when you present their names to the Father through Jesus?
How did Philip the evangelist deal with the Ethiopian treasurer when he overtook him on the road that led to Gaza? What did he talk about?
Why Did God Select Philip?
Philip had left a good interest in the city of. Samaria. He performed miracles, healed the sick, cast out evil spirits, brought "great joy in that city. People who believed his preaching of the kingdom of Christ were baptized and joined the church. The brethren at Jerusalem heard of his success and they sent Peter and John to see what was going on. It seems that Peter took charge of the evangelistic effort in Samaria and the Lord saw two men—Philip, His faithful evangelist, and the treasurer of the Queen of Ethiopia; so He purposed to bring them together. Why did God select Philip? Because He knew Philip, and He knew that Philip would present Christ to that Ethiopian even as he had preached Christ in Samaria.
The record is before us. The dialog between the two men is enlightening and instructive. The main point was that "Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." The results were dramatic out there in that desert place far removed from the haunts of men. Philip, the successful evangelist, went down into the water with that one human being of another race, and "he baptized him." The new convert went his way with gladness in his heart, Philip never saw him again. And the evangelist, going about on God's business with a heart filled with the love of Jesus, continued preaching in other cities.
