I had my requirements. Often, I realize I still do.
Something heroic. I was going to save many souls—win a people group for the Lord and be killed moving on to the next one.
Other days it would be a well-known evangelist. Anything that was glorified by others… that’s what I wanted.
I never would have said that, of course. It was all in the name of “living sold-out for God.” It was not going to be an arrogant thing at all.
But then I moved to the city.
I realized, living “sold-out” meant following His Spirit. His Spirit leads us to minister to the souls that God wants to share His life with, not souls that make us feel good about saving.
It wasn’t according to my standards. Drunkards, homeless, socially awkward people are embarrassing to “hang-out” with. What will people think if I reach out to those kinds of people?
God isn’t concerned about the glory I want to get out of it.
It wasn’t in my timing—I wanted converts immediately. And a rapidly growing church ta ‘boot.
God has a better strategy. One that makes Him look good, not me.
Much of my ministry dreams have been of something great and glorious. I don’t know where I got such a warped view of serving God. But there’s no place in Scripture where ministry was glorious then, and there’s no such thing as glorious ministry today.
Whenever God’s work is getting done, it’s glorious—most certainly. But we often head out into “ministry” with selfish mindsets: “I’m going to change the world. . . and get the credit I deserve for it.”
He’s not concerned about us getting credit.
God doesn’t ask us to “change the world,” or “do ministry” or “save souls.” Look it up. No where in Scripture is that God’s idea for us. He asks us to “follow Him,” “give Him glory,” “Go… to all people.” In other words, “go where I tell you to go, not where you want to go and feel comfortable going. Not to the people that will make you feel significant. Go to the one’s that I want.”
His design for us in ministry is to bring us to our knee’s in such frustration out of realizing that we can’t do this on our own—it’s a mess!—so that HE is able to begin saving souls and changing the world; using us as His vessels, not as glory thieves.
When it gets down to the nitty gritty of ministry, it’s messy. Some people are weird. Other’s have twisted family histories. It’s not all nice and pretty like where many of us come from.
I’ve watched my father do it for years. There’s always been a drunk or homeless or psychologically tweaked person that he’s cared for. He’s never been ashamed to minister to them. And he’s good at it.
Why is it we gravitate to cultures that seem “normal,” yet, adventurous, and neglect our very own because there’s so much sticky, messed up situations to deal with? Have we forgotten about all the messed up people Jesus ministered to?
I did. Until I saw an old lady digging around in a dumpster today behind the Big Saver I was servicing. . . dirty. . . in the garbage. . . pulling out all the recently tossed produce. She’s somebody’s daughter. Probably somebody’s sister—maybe even someone’s Mom.
People in the city don’t have the same kind of family structures they do in our churches. Brothers and sisters and parents and children don’t necessarily keep up with each other after they leave home. Do you understand?
Don’t mock the guy that looks dazed standing in the parking lot with a ripped t-shirt. He may have been neglected by his family at the age of five years old. He never had a Dad to teach him how to ride a bike, or drive a car. . . or work.
It’s not that they’re lazy—they don’t know how to do it.
They’re hurting. Any normal man wants to know how to take care of himself. And all of us who have been blessed enough to learn these things, know how humiliating it feels when you’re required to do something you have no clue how to do.
Daily, these men are required to do something they were never taught how to do: live life.
What are we doing about it?
“Oh, well. That’s their problem. They have to learn how to get a job and keep it.”
How will they learn, if nobody teaches them? And how will anybody teach them if all the one’s that know how to teach them to learn don’t go… into the cities… right here in America?
It’s ugly ministry.
But who called us? Or have we forgotten we are called and instead we’re driven to do ministry (one we choose, by the way) in order to make ourselves feel better spiritually.
Many of you will read this and congratulate our family for being out here and a part of such a work. That’s not why I wrote this. I wrote this to say that our family and the others that are out here can’t do it all. There’s SIXTEEN million to thirty.
There’s other workers in different cities too. They need help. We get one or two families in a city and think there’s enough and all the rest congregate in the country where there aren’t people. The cities are where the “fish” are. We need fishermen.
What are you doing? Why can’t you come?
Is it because it’s ugly? Because it is…
But what does “sold-out” really mean? (Sold-out to a ministry that makes me feel good). . . . . . . . . . .
I still want to die serving the Lord, it’s just that “serving the Lord” is slowly changing to something I never realized before now. I don’t write this post to try and place a guilt on you—that’s not my intent. It’s just my deepest desire that your ideas and plans of “serving the Lord” also change. I hope our hearts become so one with God’s heart that there are no requirements on who or where or when or how we serve God and make His name know, but we simply do it.
We do great at reading interesting posts… and agreeing with them. We do great at talking about all that needs done and strategizing how we’re going to get it done. But we could greatly improve on actually doing it and getting it done.
I suggest beginning on our knees. If we start any other way, we’re already off on the wrong foot.
And then! Just imagine for a moment. What would happen if all of us Christians—the world around—would begin following God wherever He asked us to go. . .even if it meant the little old grandma’s digging in the dumpsters?
Would it not be one of the most beautiful things to see the homeless, the unreached, the elite—all kinds of psychologically tweaked—come to know the Lord and be set free, where there is bondage; and made whole, where there is brokenness; and given joy and satisfaction where there’s emptiness and sorrow? So that all men of all nations praise His name.
That’s what Christ wants to do. Through us! Will we let Him?
Question: What’s an experience where God asked you to do something that wasn’t on your agenda? Share about it in the comments below.
Recommendation: A read that will stretch you out of your comfort zone and cause you to rethink life and relating with poor people is Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America. I highly recommend it!
