‘Authority’ vs. ministry

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

—   Mark 9:35

Have you noticed that, with all the money and connections that the “religious right” has maintained within the halls of power, it has precious little influence around the nation? Outside of it supporters, it has no real power to speak of.

There’s a reason for that.

See, it thought, erroneously, that focusing on “authority” — that is to say, passing laws and getting courts to agree with those supposedly biblical injunctions — was the key to spiritual renewal. Thing is, it never had any chance of doing so, for one simple reason: Seeking authority for its own sake is ruinous, not to mention futile.

In this case, Jesus is saying that any authority actually is derived from ministry — in fact, it’s a by-product.

My church, which I’ve attended for 22 years, has a great reputation in the immediate “at-risk” neighborhood where it’s located, not to mention the city at large and even around the country. It didn’t always, however, because just over 30 years ago it was a drive-in congregation disconnected from the community.

But under different pastoral leadership it committed to reaching out, even adjusting its culture to welcome those on the outside; over time, it grew from 400 to over 3,000 attendees. Most “church growth” experts were likely scratching their heads because trying to build a church that way didn’t, and still doesn’t, fit the model.

They miss the point, however — the church became, and remains, a place of service. One unusual thing about us is that a good two-thirds of adults, myself included, participates in some sort of ministry.

Even at its founding at the turn of the last century, that focus on service existed. When the founding pastor was asked to “superintend the work,” he responded that he couldn’t do so, “but if the Holy Spirit [would], I would gladly run errands for Him.”

The same goes for marriage, which as a newlywed I’m experiencing now. As the husband I have “authority” in the home but prefer to use whatever authority I’m under to serve my wife, not to push her around — whenever I do or say something that warms her heart I occasionally say, “That’s part of the job description,” in which I take great delight.

This is also why I believe that an administration headed by Joe Biden will prove to be more effective than that of Donald Trump, and it won’t take long for that to show itself. From what I see, Biden has always been more of a servant, seeking the best possible solutions to benefit the greatest number of people and working with those who might not agree with him, while Trump from the start was filled with braggadocio, thinking he could simply throw his weight around and get things done. (And he cared about getting the credit.)

Basically, the issue here is humility. A lot of these parachurch ministries claim to speak for God when He has not truly spoken, so when things don’t go their way they have a hard time trying to justify their pronouncements. Their heads wanted to be regarded as leaders, so they hyped up their campaigns and focused on defeating enemies, which raised a ton of money but got precious little accomplished — and I would say that their days are numbered because they not only forgot to serve the LORD but never really encouraged His people to do so.