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TOWARD AN EFFECTIVE MINISTRY
Chapter 7
SOWING BESIDE ALL WATERS
Until
the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness
be
a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then
judgment
shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in
the
fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and
the
effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. And
my
people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings,
and
in quiet resting places. When it shall hail, coming down on the
forest;
and the city shall be low in a low place. Blessed are ye that sow
beside
all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
Isaiah
32:15‑20
The
above passage describes what happens when the Spirit of God descends upon his
people. The wilderness becomes a fruitful field. First, the Spirit of God brings
water into the desert. People who have been hard and unreceptive and closed,
under the refreshing presence of the Spirit, begin to soften ...their eyes open
and they see the working of God for the first time ...then they begin to sow.
They take advantage of the Spirit's presence in the land and "sow beside
all waters."
Has
this not been our experience? For a long time it seemed as though we were
farming a wilderness. You go out and try to get a response, and nobody's
interested. You talk about Jesus and they want to push you away. Then the rain
falls, the Spirit of God descends, and the whole situation changes. Suddenly
people become receptive ...no longer are we beating our heads against the wall
wondering, "What shall I do?" ..."Where can I go that I might get
a response?" Now our problem is ..."How are we going to adequately
handle the cries that come to us?"
In
the places where we work, the neighborhoods where we live, perhaps among our
relatives, we're beginning to see a response that we did not see some years back
...or even a few months ago. Never have so many people from so many backgrounds
found their way into our fellowships. The same Spirit that creates the fruitful
field and causes this response is also about the business of raising up laborers
to handle it all. Many of us are hearing the Lord calling us out of our
marketplace of spiritual idleness to labor in this fruitful field ...he is
fitting us together to get the job done.
Now
you are the body of Christ and individually
members of it.
And
God has appointed in the church first
apostles, second
prophets,
third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers,
helpers,
administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues.
Are
all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work
miracles?
Do all possess gifts of healing? Do
all speak with tongues?
Do
all interpret? But earnestly desire
the higher gifts.
Having
gifts that differ according to the grace given
to us, let us
use
them: if prophecy, in proportion to
our faith; if service, in our
serving;
he who teaches, in his teaching; he
who exhorts, in his
exhortation;
he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid,
with
zeal; he who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.
But
the only way we're going to find out exactly what our function is in the Body is
to begin by sowing beside all waters, to grasp the opportunities that are in
front of us.
We
don't wait until we get our degree from seminary ...we don't wake up one morning
and decide, "I'm a prophet and I'm not going to do anything else in the
Body of Christ but prophesy." Or, "I'm an evangelist, don't be asking
me to run errands or drive people to the store, visit the sick in the hospitals.
I'm called to be an evangelist and that's all I'm going to do." Or,
"I'm a teacher, don't ask me to waste my time listening to people's
problems. I'm going to concern myself ...and I'm not going to be sidetracked
...with teaching the living word." But didn't the apostles say in Acts,
"Look
ye out from among you seven men of honest report whom
we
may appoint over this business of serving tables, but we will
devote
ourselves to the ministry of the word and to prayer."
True,
but there is sufficient evidence in the book of Acts to assure us that this was
not a rigid law ...as if the apostles never helped to distribute what was needed
to the widows ...or the seven deacons who were appointed thereby did nothing
else than serve tables. Stephen, one of the deacons who was called to serve
tables, was the first one to be martyred for preaching the word. Philip, another
one of them...what's he doing up there in Samaria preaching and healing the
sick? He's not supposed to do that he's a deacon! Now we find him down on the
Gaza Road speaking to the Ethiopian eunuch. What's he doing, he's not supposed
to be an evangelist ...he's a deacon! These men and women in the Body began to
find where they fit and what they were to do by faithfully sowing beside all
waters, using all the opportunities that came their way. And we have to learn to
do the same.
Blessed
are they that sow beside all waters ....
Imagine
what it would have been like if Philip had said to the Ethiopian eunuch,
"I'm
sorry, I can't explain Isaiah 53 to you, I'm a deacon. Now
if
you need a hamburger and a coke, I'll help you out. But you're
going
to have to wait until you find an evangelist who will open
the
scripture to you."
On
the contrary, Philip took the opportunity that was there. He got up into the
man's chariot, opened the scripture to him by the light that Philip had. By the
time we get to Acts 21, Philip, one of the seven, is now called Philip the
Evangelist. This is not to say that evangelist is higher than deacon. The point
is that along the line that you function you will find the ministry that God has
given you.
We
can take the entire ministry of the Body, everything that has to be done, and
break it down into seven areas. If we are faithful sowing beside all waters in
all of these seven areas, we will begin to find exactly what it is that God
wants us to do. There may be one particular area that is our speciality.
But don't say; "I'm not going to do anything else." Be faithful
...sow beside all waters ...and you will find what God wants you to do ...how
you fit into the Body.
The
first area in which we are all called to minister, without any exceptions, is prayer.
The
basic ministry to which you and I are called is to pray. First we minister to
the Lord before we ever minister, to men. And we minister to him in worship and
thanksgiving and praise. And as we do this we discover that this is not some
little extra frill; this is our joy and our life ...it is the source of all our
strength. And as we learn to worship God alone in prayer, we then come to the
place where we start indeed to intercede effectively for others. We begin to
lift people up before the Throne of God and call down God's blessing upon them.
We plead the blood, over them ...we minister healing and light to them in our
prayers by interceding. Mothers and fathers do this for their children by name,
every single day. And if we pray for our children, our mates, our parents, our
brothers and sisters, why do we stop there? God has set us in some assembly or
congregation so we pray for our brothers and sisters in the Body ...by name
...day after day. Now we pray for that person on the job, that neighbor across
the street, or that person who's forever giving us a hard time. And as we begin
to exercise a ministry, faithfully in prayer, sowing beside that water, we begin
to experience life coming into us that we never knew before.
The
second area into which all of us are called to minister, and it's the second in
importance to prayer, is simple serving of other people.
We
get the idea sometimes that there are certain Christian peons ...the little
one‑talent people ...who are supposed to run the errands, go to the
grocery store for others, drive hither and yon, carry things, while others of us
are committed to more weighty responsibilities. We're too busy with the
important matters of the kingdom to serve in such lowly ways. A dangerous
thought! A lie from Satan! Every one of us is called to run errands, to serve in
simple ordinary down‑to‑earth ways all the time.
We're
to serve unobtrusively, simply, naturally. If you're too busy to drive people to
the doctor, to visit the sick, to help the weak, to put yourself at the disposal
of the elderly, if you're too busy doing "more important" things, then
you're too important to even get through the door of the Kingdom of God.
The
third area where every single one of us ...without any exception ...is called to
sow beside all waters, is in evangelizing.
As
soon as the word "evangelizing" Is mentioned people think of an
"evangelist" standing at a microphone
before 20,000 people. But that's not evangelism at its best. Evangelism at its
best is one person dealing directly, faithfully, wooing a soul to the cross of
Jesus. Mass evangelism may have its place, but it is not nearly as important to
God as it seems to be to so many Christians. The essential evangelism is
one‑to‑one. It can be done anywhere ...to assure the person on the
street corner while you're waiting for the bus, or the one who's crying on the
telephone, that the Lord has something good for them. To call them to turn
around and let God direct their lives. To
point them to Jesus and cause them to hear his merciful voice.
This is basic evangelism.
The
fourth area where every one of us is called to minister is in the area of healing.
God
didn't give the ministry of healing to celebrities, he gave it to his church
...to every believer.
These
signs shall follow them that believe ....
They
shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover....
"You
believe in healing? Oh, praise God, I want to take you to the healer." No, you,
minister healing! Just as surely as
you're called to proclaim the good news concerning Jesus to people you meet
along the way, you are also called to believe that the word that you will speak
will be confirmed with signs following as God pleases in the lives of those who
in any way respond to the truth of what you said.
None
of us is to be afraid to lay our hands on somebody who's sick and pray ...or to
point them to the great physician who is Jesus. A healing ministry is imparted
to every follower of the Lord. Granted, certain ones are gifted ...certain ones
are called to a ministry of healing in the Body that becomes special ...but they
will do it the way Jesus does. They will heal and they will say, "Be quiet
about it." And if we find ourselves lead in that direction, may God give us
the wisdom not to make a production out of it.
The
fifth area to which every single one of us is called to minister is in the area
of preaching and teaching.
Go
ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature ....
Go
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all
things whatsoever I have commanded you...
Does
that only apply to the twelve? Obviously the Body of Christ has to do teaching
all the time ...and that includes all of us.
Now
a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came
to
Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in
scripture.
He had been instructed in the way of the
Lord;
and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught
accurately
the things concerning Jesus, though he knew
only
the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly,
in
the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard
him,
they took him and expounded to him the way of God
more
accurately.
Here's
a beautiful illustration of some people sowing beside all waters. Apollos is
doing the very best he can by the light he has. He doesn't say, "I'm not
going to do any preaching and teaching until I graduate from Union
Seminary." He sows beside all waters with the light he has. Priscilla and
Aquila did not demoralize Apollos by saying, "What are you doing preaching?
Who called you to preach? Why you don't even know the gospel right!"
No...they took him aside and encouraged him. What wonderful encouragement they
gave him because he was faithfully doing what he could do by the light he had.
In
no way did they pour cold water on what Apollos was doing. But they expounded to
him the way of God more perfectly. On his side ...notice also ...Apollos doesn't
say, "I'll listen to Aquila but I refuse to listen to Priscilla ...she's a
woman. Doesn't she know that it says in scripture that women aren't supposed to
teach men?" There are occasions when you and I are called to teach, to
expound. And if we're faithful and God has something more for us in that area,
he'll open doors. It can take place on a jet plane, a street corner, in your
living room, in the lunch room at work, or in a hospital ward. If we'll sow
beside all waters God will open more doors for us.
The
sixth area where every one of us is called to sow beside all waters is in the
area of counseling.
Now
the term "counseling" as we think of it is not used in scripture that
way. Yet, wherever you read in scripture about exhorting or encouraging or
rebuking people, listening to one another's problems, you have counseling going
on. It went on then as it goes on today. And the equipment we need to be
effective in counseling is not the mouth so much as the ear. God will give us
the strength to let this ear stretch way out and truly listen to the cry of the
heart that's underneath the words that are being spoken to us ...and let the
other ear go up toward the Throne for whatever guidance the Lord would have for
us. God help us to learn to listen!
Truly
to listen to each other and take time with each other and pay attention ...some
who draw near to be listened to will be believers and some will be outside the
kingdom entirely ...They have a problem. Perhaps it's a marriage problem, a
financial problem, a physical problem, a mental hassle ...they desperately need
someone to listen. It may well be that the Lord has appointed you to be his
listener. And when you have listened well, he may also give you a few words of
counsel.
Finally,
all of us are called into the awesome labor of binding and loosing.
Truly
I say to you whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven
and
whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again
I say to you that if two of you agree on earth about anything they
ask,
it will be done for them by my father who is in heaven. For where
two
or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
This
is normally done in company with another brother, or sister or 'two' or 'three'.
We don't usually do this by ourselves. There are spirits that are harassing and
afflicting and condemning and tearing to shreds the minds and hearts of many
people. And these spirits are to be bound in the same way that our Lord bound
them. And we are, at the same time in his name, to loose and set free these
souls who are so imprisoned and so inhibited and so paralyzed by their fears and
their resentments and their anxieties and their self‑consciousness. We all
know what that's like ...from inside.
We
are called by the Lord to loose them. There can be no other reason why so many
troubled and afflicted and hassled spirits are being drawn to our fellowships
these days. There is no other reason why so many are coming to us except that
God would have his people in the name of his Son and by the power of his Spirit,
set the captives free ...bind the spirits of evil and loose the children who
have been in bondage. Surely he's calling us all today.
"Blessed
are ye that sow beside all waters."
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