THERE are times when man is intensely motivated in a search for personal glory. The acclaim and plaudits of our fellow men are never hard to take. Yet, the Christian minister is never motivated thereby. He is conscious of the fact that his purpose is not to be an object of glory, but in reality a subject who has an object to glorify, and that object must be his Lord. Did not Christ say time and again, "I have glorified thee," referring to His Father, and did not John say this referring to Christ in John 1:26, 27: "John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose." Jesus glorified God. John glorified Christ. It should, therefore, be our purpose to glorify both Father and Son. It has not been given unto man to do any thing greater or more exalting than to simply speak, do and live for the glory of His Lord. To master the art of effectively lifting up Christ is to reach the quintessence of ecstasy in this life.
The Glory of the Ministry
However, one might ask, Is there really any personal glory attached to the role of the ministry? As a boy it was generally a foregone conclusion that the minister's presence was always looked upon and spoken of as almost sacred. To be able to associate with the man of God was in itself somewhat awe inspiring. There was a certain aura that accompanied the minister wherever he went and in whatever he did. I have often thought, Was that the glory of the ministry? Was he one to be considered as possessing a special dispensation of grace that lifted him above his fellows? I now recognize the fact that there is some thing about the glory of the ministry, but it certainly is not what I thought it was.
It is not something that attracts men to the minister. It is rather something that at tracts the minister to His Lord. The glory of the ministry is not at all something that involves what man may say and do for the ministry. It is something that involves what the minister says and does in relation to His Lord. The apostle understood this very well, and indicates the same in his letter to the church at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 1:9 he says, "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." Two tremendous themes are herewith set forth. While both are directed to all, they find a peculiar identity and application to the ministry.
Called by God
We generally concede the fact that the minister is a man who has been uniquely called by God for a very sacred purpose. The apostle makes clear the fact that it is God who has called a man, and not man who has chosen an avocation, a work, or a profession. The fact that God could actually choose a man, whatever his name and background, is something for which that man cannot help but feel extremely grateful and humble. To think that God chose me, among so many thousands of others to be His servant in the ministry is beyond my understanding. Yet, He did choose me. In this I glory, and for this I glorify Him.
Paul also says that we are not only called by a faithful God to do a special work in His providence, but also tells us that we are to fellowship with that God. A man in a factory may work for a certain employer, but it is not likely that he has very much of a personal fellowship with him. On the other hand, the gospel minister is not only set to work for an employer, but that employer has made provision for him to come in unto Him, have ever-present access to Him, and actually enter into a direct, personal fellowship with Him. In other words, God not only wants the minister to work for Him, but He wants the minister to fellowship with Him.
A Call to Fellowship
Paul, therefore, recognized the fact that the call to the ministry was not just a call to a certain work or even a call to a life time of service to a certain cause. The truly significant aspect of the call is that it is a call to the fellowship of the Son. No call is higher than this. In fact, it is this that makes rhyme and reason out of the work of the ministry. There is no justification to anything a minister does without it. How can a man minister the gospel who knows nothing of the joy of fellowship with the Son? How can a man create the atmosphere of Christ's love and goodness who knows nothing of direct personal fellowship with Him? This is basic doctrine in Christian ministry. This puts the horse before the cart and gives meaning to the whole function, role and purpose of the gospel ministry
A Walk and Talk With the Lord
Have you ever noticed or counted the numberless occasions in which the Gospels picture Christ walking and talking with someone? The witness to His life is silent for eighteen years and then what happens? Jesus is at the wedding in Cana, and from there He is constantly in the presence of people, most of the time walking with them or talking to them. Even after His resurrection this pattern continues. He walks with and talks to two men on the way to Emmaus. He appears to His disciples. He walks along the Sea of Tiberias and helps His disciples catch fish. Later He walks with them to the top of the Mount of Olives and suddenly ascends out of sight. He is not yet finished. A few days later, He appears to Saul who is bent upon the destruction of the Christian movement. But Jesus talks to the man, and the greatest thing that ever happened in and for His church since His ascension takes place. A few minutes of walking and talking with Christ radically changes his life. Now, Paul really begins to live. Follow his life from that point to the end. He becomes God's man with a mission, a man on the go. He came to know Christ. He had walked and talked with Him personally.
What was Jesus trying to say for thirty-three years while on this earth? It is ever so simple. Christianity is not so much a matter of trying to figure something out, not so much a matter of systematizing into various conceptual details a set core of theological expletives. Ah, Christianity is an offer to man to come within the circle of His Lord, to live as it were within His sphere, or to simply walk and talk with Him directly and as personally as anybody ever walked and talked with anybody else.
The truly big thing about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the church, the Spirit of Prophecy, et cetera, is that Jesus is openly ours to talk with and walk with any time, anywhere, and under all circumstances. Anybody who does not know, and particularly the minister, what it means to have a dynamic, personal, and intimate relationship with Jesus is missing the whole point set forth in the Christian religion, as well as the philosophy and teaching of the gospel of Christ. It is in this sense that we find the true glory of the ministry. The fact that we as ministers can have a personal walk with our Lord should set us up and off for the privilege of heralding His glory to all men and nations.
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
In sorrow I wander, my spirits opprest,
But now I am happy securely I rest;
From morning till evening glad carols I sing,
And this is the reason I walk with the King.
I walk with the King, Hallelujah!
This is the glory of the ministry.
