James 3:1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. (NKJV)

I apologize for the lack of activity in this blog lately. In my personal devotions, I feel as if the Lord has been speaking to me about this scripture I posted above. Of course I knew this was in the bible and have read it many times. For some reason the Lord really seemed to "quicken" this verse to me last week. I must admit that it brought about a solemn feeling of conviction to my own heart. I began to examine my own motivations for ministry as well as evaluate the way I am conducting the work of ministry.

Paul told Timothy to "make full proof of thy ministry." Another translation renders it "discharge all the duties of your ministry." Honestly and admittedly, there are certain aspects of ministry that I find more appealing than others. I don't particularly enjoy long counseling sessions, hospital visits, or administrative meetings. They are however, a necessary component to the work of ministry. On the other hand, I love to teach, to write, and to preach. These are also necessary aspects of ministerial work. But what about prayer? The disciples appointed 7 men full of the Holy Ghost to "serve tables" in the book of Acts so that they could dedicate themselves to ministry of the Word and to prayer. I believe that out of all the necessary disciplines of ministry- prayer is perhaps the most important. The one common denominator in both the apostles' and Jesus' ministry was prayer. We see that God did many miraculous wonderful things by the hands of the apostles, but we would be dishonest if we didn't see the obvious link between the power of God and the consistency and fervency of their prayer life.

James warns that those of us who enter the teaching and ministry put ourselves under a stricter category of judgement. Of course we realize that this calling must come from a Divine mandate. The scriptures declare "how shall they preach except they be sent." Paul says that necessity was laid upon him and "woe be unto him" if he preached not the gospel. There is no doubt that there must first be a calling from God-then and only then can we say "here am I Lord send me." But we should never enter and embrace this calling without understanding the accountability that comes along with it. We read in Matthew 7 that there are a group of individuals who will stand before the Lord and say "we have done many wonderful works in your name" and yet Christ will say to them "depart from me worker of iniquity....I never knew you." One thing that has always startled me about this passage is that these individuals seem genuinely surprised that they had failed the test!

Christ says that there will be a stricter judgement for those who know their Lord's will but do not do it. Merely hearing the Word isn't enough.....teaching the Word isn't enough....preaching the Word isn't enough...we must DO it! Paul told Timothy to watch his life and his doctrine carefully, for in doing so he would save both himself and his hearers! It is easier to keep a watch on one's public life. Most of us have mastered the ability to look holy in public. But I wonder how many of us can say with the Psalmist "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart, I will set no evil thing before my eyes." I often wonder how many gospel preachers can "bring the house down" with a fiery exegesis and homiletic style- only to go home to his family and let his temper run rampant in a house filled with clamor and evil speaking?

There are no easy answers, and I'm not writing today as one who has arrived. But one thing I can say for sure is that I'm thinking about my accountability factor a lot more lately. There will come a day when that which is whispered in the closet will be proclaimed upon the rooftops. At that day the "first will be last and the last will be first." Some will hear "well done thou good and faithful servant"....others "depart from me...I never knew you." My denomination has a program called the MAP which stands for Ministerial Affirmation Program. This program is designed to help men affirm their calling to the ministry. Ideally, it will weed out those who only have the desire to sign their paperwork with "Rev." in front of their names (yes, as silly as it sounds- there are some who have such a trifling view of ministry). Perhaps we should include a course on the stricter judgement awaiting those who do the work of ministry (especially teaching and preaching).

These are my random thoughts today- feel free to add your own.

God bless,
Henry

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