This morning, my focus has been on this claim from Paul: “We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry”.[1]
I can get how Paul could say that even though people found fault with his ministry (the super-apostles were maligning him all the time, as were brothers who were envious of the success of his ministry).
The question is, can I say this?
I think I can answer that, as far as I know, I have not objectively put an obstacle in front of anyone regarding the gospel of the kingdom of God. I will leave it at that since I can’t prove anything. But I imagine there are many pastors who have faced things similar to Paul’s experience and know in their hearts they have not done anything to cause people to stumble even if some claim that they have. Or they know that if anything has come up as an obstacle, they have been very quick to remove it and reconcile.
What is so clear is that the ministry Paul was always concerned about was “the gospel of the kingdom” because, if people believed what he later called, “another Jesus,” “a different spirit,” and, “a different gospel,”[2] it meant they were not saved. People had to believe the gospel Paul taught, the gospel all the apostles taught, because it was the only one that revealed the finished work of Christ in the “by grace through faith without works” purity.[3] The false gospel of the super-apostles was leading people to hell because it did not provide the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God.
I did present my heart to God about specific scenarios to assess whether I could say I have a clear conscience as Paul did. At the very least, my willingness to, “practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress”[4] has been a way of life for me, and hearing people out when I do something to trigger their Enemy Mode or trip their Relational Circuit breaker has been my practice.[5]
I have taken great comfort many times in Nehemiah’s declaration, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.”[6] That is exactly how I have felt on many occasions.
Anyway, I say this simply because it feels like God is speaking to me about the integrity of my ministry because I need to be bold in continuing to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom as given by Jesus and the apostles, and to lead the church of Jesus Christ that meets in our home. It is “the favorable time” and “the day of salvation”, so we must make Jesus known to everyone without wavering just because our world (and so many church-folk) is so easily offended.
I can see that joining God in his work involves being “strong and courageous” in ministry of the “no matter what it takes” kind of way, perhaps after the pattern of Joseph who was unjustly enslaved and falsely accused. And so, I share this in the hope that it encourages others to persevere in the ministry of the gospel handed down from the apostles, to constantly examine ourselves to see that we are pursuing the agapè-love of the kingdom with all our hearts, and to receive the counsel of other believers when there is need to work through the “multitude of sins” God says we will find in every congregation.[7]
Bottom line:
“preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”[8]
If Paul was dealing with that already in his day, we can be sure we need to be true to this with all our hearts in our day.
Added note: Because readers may not know me in person, I
understand that this could just as easily come across as a narcissistic-pastor-in-denial
kind of way as a genuine encouragement from Paul’s testimony for someone who
has been faithful in keeping short-accounts with God about everything. I am not
sharing this to prove I am right about anything or everything, nor is it a
claim that I haven’t had to apologize for making mistakes or unintentionally
hurting someone. Rather, Paul’s testimony is just what I came across in God’s
word this morning, it was a huge comfort to my heart in an area of so much
heartache and sorrow, and maybe there is someone reading this who has taken quite
a beating in ministry but knows in his heart that he has proclaimed the gospel
without fail, has sought to hear people out when there are conflicts, and wants
to continue doing so with the boldness of a “more than conqueror” kind of faith and the humility of knowing
that no one in the church is fully like Jesus.
© 2023
Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the
English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text
Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.)
[1]
II Corinthians 6:3
[2]
II Corinthians 11:4
[3]
Summarizing what Paul wrote in
Ephesians 2:8-10
[4]
I Timothy 4:15
[5]
I have been learning about the
“Relational Circuits” God designed into our brains to match the relational
realities of our souls, and also the “Enemy Mode” brain reactions that reflect
what sin has done to corrupt our “in the image of God” creation. I recommend “The
Joy Switch” by Chris Coursey, and “Escaping Enemy Mode” by Jim Wilder. They do
a good job of showing how our brains struggle through relational conflicts, and
how the church is uniquely equipped with the agapè-love that enables us to love
our enemies, and so to agapè-love those in the church who go into Enemy Mode
against us.
[6]
Nehemiah 6:8
[7]
I Peter 4:8, hence the need to
“keep agapè-loving one another earnestly”!
[8]
II Timothy 4:2-4
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