Certainly our ministry titles have a place in helping the church understand the ministry we have. However, the overuse and misuse of spiritual titles has terribly devalued our spiritual currency in recent times. It is hard not to meet anyone in ministry now who does not claim to be an apostle, bishop, or prophet. It has become so outlandish that when I see those whom just call themselves “pastor,” I immediately have respect and trust for them just because of their modesty.
Even so, we are in a time when these ministries are being restored to the church, and we would be missing the purposes of the Lord to not expect them. We should seek to recognize and receive them. If we receive a prophet in the name of a prophet, we will receive a prophet’s reward, but if we receive a prophet as just a teacher, then we will only get teaching. The same is true of all ministries. If we receive an apostle as just a teacher, we will only get teaching. However, if we receive a teacher as an apostle, we are likely to get wrong or bad leadership. Because of this, there is a responsibility on the part of leadership to “know those who labor among you.”
Again, there is a place, and even a need for using ministry titles, as even the Apostle Paul resolutely defended his apostleship. Even so, he was doing it for the people, not just for himself. There was no self-promotion or bombast in his defense, but rather the spirit of a father instructing his children. It has grace, dignity, and high wisdom that we come to know as a hallmark of the true messengers who have been sent by the King.
Likewise, the revelations, dreams, or visions, which come from Him have this same grace and dignity. In this age, the Lord leads by calling more than commanding. He has the authority to do what He wants, but, as we see in Revelation 3:20, He is standing outside of His own church and knocking to see if anyone will hear and open up to Him. The reason for this is because we are in the age when He is seeking out those who will be joint heirs with Him, who will obey because they love the truth, not just under compulsion. For this reason, we should never feel pressured into action by a true prophetic revelation, but rather called. There have been times when we can receive a warning about something that requires action, but even those should come in the dignity and grace of the Lord, calling for a response, not pressuring, as we read in James 3.
I have learned that whenever I was compelled to do something fast, it was not from the Lord, and the action was usually a big mistake. The Lord, who sees the end from the beginning, is not going to be caught off guard so that He will have to rush us into something. I know of a number of biblical exhortations to wait on the Lord and to be patient, but I do not know of a single one that compels us to hurry. After much experience and many mistakes, I’ve learned certain things about the way He speaks and leads.
Now here’s an important principle that is essential for true ministry, but does fly in the face of what many perceive to be the way we should operate. The Holy Spirit is “The Helper,” not “The Doer.” When people say that none of them are mixed into the ministry, they are mistaken if it is true ministry. This “mixture” is not only okay, it is necessary. If the Lord had wanted all ministry to be 100 percent Him, with none of us mixed in, then He would never have left, and He would not have let anyone else do anything.
As we have discussed before, in Luke 10 we see the Lord sending His disciples out two by two to preach the gospel, heal the sick, and cast out demons. They were so successful that when they returned, Jesus said that He saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. However, it is not until the next chapter, Luke 11, that the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. They did all of this and did not even know how to pray yet!
These disciples were obviously far from perfect, or even mature, when the Lord trusted them with extraordinary authority. Yet, I doubt anyone who was healed, set free, or who heard the good news of the coming kingdom through them, complained. Even just before Jesus was crucified, the disciples were arguing over who was the greatest, and they were to be the leaders of the church through its most delicate formative times just a few weeks later. Many years afterward, some of them were still making extraordinary mistakes, such as Peter, who had to be rebuked by the youngest apostle at Antioch because “he stood condemned.”
We are foolish if we look for perfection in ministry or in leadership, regardless of how mature they are. Our hope should not be in the vessels, but in the treasure that is in the vessels—the Holy Spirit. If we keep our trust rightly placed in Him, we will not be overly dependent or disappointed by people. If the ministries and leaders are true servants, they will not be seeking to build people’s trust in them, but in the Lord. Jesus, Himself, is the only foundation that can be built upon that will last. If we build people’s trust in ourselves instead of the Lord, we have failed, and that foundation will fail too, because no one but the Lord can carry that kind of burden.
This is important because it is the perfectionist mentality that is based more in a trust in ourselves than in the Lord, which hinders most from stepping out into their calling and ministry. We do not get perfected so that we can be used by the Lord; we get perfected by being used by Him.
