People in Ministry (1)
Then all the craftsmen who were doing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work he was doing, and they spoke to Moses, saying, “The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the LORD commanded us to do.” Exodus 36.4, 5
No time for complacency
As we have seen, a primary function of local church leadership is to equip the people of God for works of ministry. For the most part, those “works of ministry” will be simple daily acts of grace-spreading (2 Cor. 4.15) to the people in their Personal Mission Field. But being consistent and effective in such works requires training, discipline, and encouragement for every member of the Body of Christ.
It’s a common complaint among church leaders: Why is it so hard to motivate people to make themselves available to God for the ministry of the church?
Pastors complain that their people don’t give like they should, don’t respond to programs as they’d hoped, are reluctant to step up to leadership roles, and even lay out of worship for the flimsiest of reasons. The people aren’t evangelistic with their neighbors; ministries languish for lack of volunteers, and there just never seem to be enough people or resources to do everything the pastor and church leaders can envision. Pastors have become so used to this problem that they almost despair of seeing things change.
But this is not a situation about which we may lapse into complacency. The Church of our Lord Jesus Christ is the light of the world, the salt of grace fighting against corruption, and the transforming leaven in the loaf of a sinful and desperate world. If the Church fails to grow to her potential as the Body of Christ, it’s certain the world will continue its spiral into relativism, pragmatism, sensuality, and materialism. Jesus is building His Church to point the world to a whole new way of life and community; and churches grow as members become equipped and make themselves available to do the work of ministry (Eph. 4.11-16).
So the persistent difficulty church leaders experience in motivating and enlisting people for ministry is a matter of great concern. We cannot simply shrug our shoulders in the face of this situation and say, “Oh, well!”
Learning from Moses
Many church leaders would love to experience Moses’ difficulty—too many people volunteering, bringing forth more resources than they could possibly use, so much so that they had to be told to stop giving of themselves for the work of the tabernacle (Ex. 36.6).
Wow! What would that be like?
Many church leaders, upon reading this passage, may wonder, “What did Moses know that I don’t? How was he able to motivate these people for ministry like this? What am I doing wrong, or not doing that I should?” These are important questions for church leaders. This story of Moses and Israel building the tabernacle is instructive in many ways as we pursue the work of building our churches according to the vision of Christ.
We’re going to be looking at this situation in the sections that follow. But let’s not miss the obvious, right off the bat, or we will miss the point of the whole.
Beginning with Moses’ instruction to the congregation in Exodus 35.4, right up to the text we have for today, one recurrent theme is declared so many times—seven, in fact (35.5, 21, 22, 26, 29; 36.2)—that it is apparent God wanted to drive this point home conclusively. What moved these people to give, to volunteer, to learn, and to do everything they could to realize the building of the Lord’s house—what motivated the Israelites to ministry was that their “hearts were stirred” within them to the task.
Works of ministry, all sorts of them, begin in the heart, when the heart is shaped and tuned to serve others as a primary expression of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The importance of the heart
As Jonathan Edwards explained in his classic work, A Treatise on the Religious Affections, the heart of a person is the heart of the matter when it comes to loving God and serving our neighbors. Only when our hearts have been properly oriented, nurtured, focused, and sustained will we care anything at all about the Lord’s will, or be available to serve Him.
Seven times Moses records, as if to instruct the generation of God’s leaders to follow, that the people gave and served because their hearts were stirred to the task, so much so, that they had to be told when enough was enough.
In other words, get to the hearts of God’s people in a decisive and compelling way, and you’ll never want for resources or bodies to do the work of the Lord. The heart is the heart of the matter when it comes to people in ministry, so we need to look to Scripture to understand how to nurture the affections essential for readiness in ministry.
For reflection or discussion
1. What is the “heart”? How does it differ from the “mind”? Or the “conscience”?
2. Paul chided the Corinthians because they allowed their affections—their hearts—to become misguided (2 Cor. 6.12). What are some things that can cause your affections to be turned away from the Lord and His plan for your life?
3. What would you say are the keys to keeping your heart set on the Lord and ready to serve as He leads?
Next steps—Preparation: Meditate on Proverbs 4.20-27. What does Solomon say about the heart? How does that line up with your view of your heart?
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Haven’t been to The Ailbe Bookstore lately? There’s a surprise waiting for you.
This week: Our Read Moore podcast begins an extensive look at the Kingdom of God in our book, The Kingdom Turn. In our Crosfigell teaching letter, we are looking at the state of pastors and churches during the period of the Celtic Revival, using contemporary witnesses. And in our Scriptorium column we are studying the sermon on the mount. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter
