Both of those New Testament scriptures find their source in Proverbs 3:34: "Though He scoffs at the scoffers. / Yet He gives grace to the afflicted."
Charles Bridges, a fine nineteenth-century student of the Old Testament, writes: "On no point is the mind of God more fully declared than against pride. ... A lowly spirit—a deep conviction of utter nothingness . . . is a most adorning grace. Nor is it an occasional or temporary feeling . . . but a habit, 'clothing'the man . . . 'from the sole of the foot to the head.' . . . He pours it [grace] out plentifully upon humble hearts." 10
Few qualities are more stubbornly persistent within us than pride. It is ever present! I find it absolutely amazing that we who deserve to have been left as aborted fetuses and not given life (as Paul put it earlier) should have anything to feel proud about. Nevertheless, pride is always there, ever ready to defend itself. It is also clever. It has the ability to go underground and mask its ugliness in subtle, quiet ways. Because it doesn't fit the Christian life for anyone to be overtly proud, we find our pride in other ways: our work, our salaries, our prestige, the power and influence we wield, our titles, our clothing, our approach to people, our tendency to manipulate. It is all so unattractive, so inappropriate. As powerful as any influence, pride is a classic grace killer.
Grace: Up Close and Personal
But let it be understood that God will not bless what springs from pride. As Scripture repeatedly reminds us, He brings His mighty hand down over our lives and presses His sovereign fingers into areas where it hurts. We sigh, we squirm, we struggle, and (hopefully) we lay hold of grace and finally submit. What blessed submission! It is in those hurting areas where we cannot handle it on our own that God does His very best work.
George Matheson of Scotland echoes the discipline of his personal despair in his book Thoughts for Life's Journey when he writes:
My soul, reject not the place of thy prostration! It has ever been the robing room for royalty. Ask the great ones of the past what has been the spot of their prosperity; they will say, "It was the cold ground on which I once was laying." Ask Abraham; he will point you to the sacrifice of Moriah. Ask Joseph; he will direct you to his dungeon. Ask Moses; he will date his fortune from his danger in the Nile. Ask Ruth; she will bid you build her monument on the field of her toil. Ask David; he will tell you that his songs came from the night. Ask Job; he will remind you that God answered him out of the whirlwind. Ask Peter; he will extol his submission in the sea. Ask John; he will give the palm to Patmos. Ask Paul he will attribute his inspiration to the light that struck him blind. Ask one more—the Son of Man. Ask Him whence has come His rule over the world. He will answer, "From the cold ground on which I was lying—the Gethsemane ground; I received my sceptre there." Thou too, my soul, shalt be garlanded by Gethsemane. The cup thou fain wouldst pass from thee will be thy coronet in the sweet by-and-by. The hour of thy loneliness will crown thee. The day of thy depression will regale thee. It is the desert that will break forth into singing; it is the trees of thy silent forest that will clasp their hands." 11
My fellow pilgrim, is the progress more painful than you expected? Thinking you were in for a Disneyland experience, have you been surprised to find yourself on cold, barren
Grace: Up Close and Personal
ground—lonely, depressed, and broken? Are you beginning to wonder if you are on the wrong road? Trust me, you are not. God is at work in you. His "mighty hand" is above you. His love is around you. His grace is available to you. Awake and claim it.
George Matheson and John Bunyan both would agree: You are in the "robing room for royalty." 12 The tailor's name is Grace . . . and when you are perfectly fitted, the process will end.
11
Are You Really a Minister of Grace?
f
T
Xhi:
.his chapter is dedicated to all who are in ministry.
I realize that statement prompts most of you to think, Well, that leaves me out. I'm not a preacher, I'm not an evangelist or a missionary . . . I don't work for a church. Let me clarify that my opening comment has to do with all who are in ministry, not just those in vocational Christian service. By "ministry" I am including anyone who serves some segment of the body of Christ on a consistent basis.
Perhaps you are a teacher of a class, an elected officer in a church, or maybe you're a counselor, a Christian speaker, a musician. Maybe you are involved in Christian education or camping . . . whatever. You may or may not earn your living from this source of activity, but you are deliberately and regularly engaged in some form of ministry-related involvement that influences others, most of whom are believers in Jesus Christ. You are the target of my thoughts throughout this eleventh chapter.
Now that I have your attention, I want to ask you a crucial question, which only you can answer: Are you really a minister of grace? This could be asked in a variety of other ways:
• When you do what you do, do you dispense grace?
• Are the people you serve given the freedom to be who they are, or who you expect them to be?
Are You Really a Minister of Grace?
• Do you let others go or do you smother them . . . control them?
• Would folks feel intimidated or relieved in your presence?
• Are you cultivating spontaneous, creative celebrants, or fearful captives?
• Do you encourage, build up, and affirm those to whom you minister?
It's time to take off the gloves, rip off the masks, knock off the rationalizations, and face the truth head-on. Are you one who models and ministers grace or not? Is what you're doing the work of your own flesh energized by your own strength? Are you relying on your charisma to pull it off? Do you often have a hidden agenda? How about your motive? With a captive audience hanging on to your words and following your ministry with unquestioned loyalty, do you exploit them ... do you use your power for your own purposes? Is the enhancement of your image of major importance to you, or can you honestly say that your work is directed and empowered by the Spirit of God. Is yours a "grace awakening" ministry?
STRONG MESSAGE FROM A SPIRIT-DIRECTED PROPHET
To help you appreciate the value of being a minister of grace, I want to introduce you to one of the most obscure men in the Bible. He was a prophet who lived and wrote in the ancient days of the Old Testament. His name is Zechariah. His book is the next to last book of the Old Testament, just before Malachi. Most folks—even church folks—are not at all familiar with this powerful prophet. Therefore, a little background information is necessary before we can appreciate how he ties in to my earlier questions.
Are You Really a Minister of Grace?
Historical Background
Jerusalem lay in ruins. Her wall of protection had been leveled, nothing more than piles of debris, rocks, and stones scattered across the landscape. The Hebrews' houses had been burned and destroyed years earlier, actually decades ago. Equally tragic, the temple of the Lord lay in ruins. The chosen people lived in captivity in the distant land of Babylon. After seventy years of this existence, some began to make their way back to the city of Jerusalem, back to their beloved Zion. Some returned under Nehemiah's leadership and rebuilt the wall. It proved to be quite a task because many of them who had returned earlier were more interested in constructing their own houses than they were in building a wall of defense around the city. But thanks to Nehemiah's persistence and the people's cooperation, that job finally got finished. In the meantime, the temple had only its foundation laid. There it sat in virtual neglect for fifteen or sixteen years; no one seemed to care. After completing the wall, the Jews went back to their own suburbs and returned to the rebuilding of their own houses. The wall was finished, but not the temple.
That need became a burden to a prophet named Haggai. No more single-minded prophet ever wrote in all the Bible than Haggai (his writings appear just before Zechariah). The man comes with strong, severe, and pungent admonitions. With sharp words and stinging rebukes, including a
few sarcastic comments, Haggai communicated that the temple of God needed immediate attention. The late Kyle Yates said that Haggai "tips his arrows with scorn, wings them with sarcasm . . . then speeds them skillfully to the mark. . . . His duty was to take the scattered embers of national pride . . . and kindle the flame anew." 1
That's an appropriate description of Haggai. But the fact is that folks can stand that kind of preaching only so long. After a while you become apathetic. The shouts and the admonitions, the commands and even the sarcasm lose their bite
Are You Really a Minister of Grace?
among the indifferent as apathy returns. So the temple remained unfinished in spite of Haggai's persistent albeit wearisome harassment.
The governor through those tumultuous times was Zerub-babel, who lived with the task of getting the temple project completed. But he relied on the motivation of prophets to stir the citizens into action. Haggai did what he could, but it proved to be not enough. It took another prophet whom God brought on the scene as Haggai departed. That prophet's name was Zechariah; he had the same vision that Haggai had but a much different style of communicating it to the people. His predecessor had been severe and stinging in his reproofs. Not Zechariah. His approach was more colorful and gracious. As we would say today, Zechariah was easier to live with.
Kyle Yates wrote this of Zechariah:
A serious depression, with crop failures and apparent ruin, faced the Jewish people who had responded to the call of Haggai to build the house of God. Under the pressure of discouragement and want that faced them they found it easy to fall out. The blunt, prosaic hammering that Haggai did had its effect, but a new voice was needed to lift them into the kind of enthusiasm that would keep them working to the finish line. Zechariah came to the rescue to supply the needed help. . . .
He does not rebuke or condemn or berate the people. With striking colors and vivid imagination he paints glowing pictures of the presence of God to strengthen and help. Words of inspiration flow from his lips." 2
Zechariah is a book of visions—striking, colorful, and at times mystical. There were occasions when not even the prophet himself understood what he saw, which is what we find in the fourth chapter of his book.
Then the angel who was speaking with me returned, and roused me as a man who is awakened from his sleep. And he said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven
Are You Really a Minister of Grace?
lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it. (Zech. 4:1-3)
As the chapter begins, an angel is speaking to him regarding the vision of a lampstand of gold. It has a bowl on the top and seven lamps on it with seven spouts. Then there are two olive trees, a tree on the right side and another on the left. By now Zechariah is wondering what this was all about. In fact, he asks, ". . . What are these, my lord?" (v. 4). The angel answers, "Don't you know?" To which Zechariah honestly responds, "No, my lord." He had seen what God revealed but he didn't know its meaning, its interpretation.
At this moment we come to a most interesting section of Scripture. We are not left at the mercy of an insightful expositor or some Hebrew scholar to tell us what it means. We get the answer directly from the mouth of the angel. The one who revealed the vision now interprets it for the prophet (and all who would later read this) to understand.
Timeless Reminder
The angel addresses Zerubbabel, the governor whose task it is to see the job to completion. Perhaps Zerubbabel has run low on hope in recent weeks. He has become weary as the building project has lingered unfinished. Maybe it seemed as though it would never be finished, hence the angel's words of hope to the governor:
. . . "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying,'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts. 'What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!"'" (v. 6, 7)
Let's understand what he is saying. The mountain represents the enormous number of obstacles facing those who would take up the task. For example, there is apathy within the Jewish community in and around Jerusalem. There is
Are You Really a Minister of Grace?
opposition from outside the walls of Zion. There is weariness and a fair amount of indifference from those who had lived under the harsh style, the probing, penetrating words of Hag-gai. In addition, the "mountain" would include a new generation of Jews who don't have a desire for building the temple, along with the tired, old generation who believes they've already paid their dues. The governor is caught in the middle of all this, along with an unfinished temple, and out of the blue comes a message from God that promises "The mountain will become as a plain." Good news! "The obstacles will be taken care of." In other words, "You don't have to shout louder or worry any longer. Trust in the Lord, Zerubbabel, God is at work! But before you exhibit all kinds of human ingenuity and creative skills from the flesh, remember, Zerubbabel, it is not by might nor by power." The primary responsibility for completing the temple is God's, not the governor's. It will be done by the Spirit of God as He moves among God's people.
Might and power (v. 6) intrigue me. They are words that describe human effort, another way of saying the energy of the flesh. They ring a familiar bell in the minds of all ministers, for every one of us has been guilty of occasionally doing the work of God in the energy of the flesh.
Theodore Laetsch, in his thorough work on The Minor Prophets says:
The two Hebrew words might and power denote inner strength, . . . inherent power, courageous bravery, fortitude, as well as manpower, large numbers of soldiers, riches, leaders, well-coordinated organizations, good financial systems, etc. The Lord's work, the building of His Temple, the inner growth, the expansion of His Church cannot be carried out by mere external means. Human strength and wisdom alone will fail. My Spirit must do it! 3
Talk about a relevant message for every minister today! It is this one: Human wisdom and fleshly energy alone will fail.
Are You Really a Minister of Grace?
God's best work is not going to be done by human might or by fleshly power. The work of God, if done for His greater glory, must be accomplished through His gifted leaders. When facing the mountainlike obstacles inherent in every ministry, we tend to rely on fleshly tactics to get a big job done: manipulations, guilt-giving methods, verbal force as well. Wrong! says this scripture. No! says the Spirit of God. Much of that is nothing more than a carnal display of human strength. It will backfire. As one hymn-writer put it, "The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own." 4
Our tendency to rely on our own strength is compounded by the very real fact that fleshly power gets results. Human ingenuity works. It raises funds. An excessive amount of energy and manipulation and scheming will cause a large number of people to do more and to work harder and to give money to get a project finished. Overnight results will occur. And there is nothing that feeds our instant-gratification hunger like instant results. Only one major problem: In the final analysis the satisfaction will have a hollow ring to it. It will be empty, a study in futility. The work of the flesh will amount to zilch in light of eternity. The glory will belong to the One who made it happen and the rewards will stop there, too.
God has a better idea. In verse 7 the governor is promised a removal of the obstacles by God's power, and rather than his getting the glory, it will all go to God. And the final capstone of the whole project will be "Grace! Grace!" This temple will be completed . . . this building will be erected because of the grace of God. I appreciate the way Ken Taylor paraphrases this verse in The Living Bible:
"Therefore no mountain, however high, can stand before Zerubbabel! For it will flatten out before him! And Zerubba-bel will finish building this Temple with mighty shouts of thanksgiving for God's mercy, declaring that all was done by grace alone." (v. 7)
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re You Really a Minister of Grace?
In light of those immortal words from an ancient prophet, several questions emerge. Why are you relying on "might and power" rather than the Spirit of God? What is it that keeps you returning to human effort and manipulative schemes? What will it take to bring us back to a "by-grace-alone" style of ministry? How much longer will we continue in our hurry-worry leadership mode?
A Strong Warning
To all who are engaged in ministry, a warning is appropriate. Every project you undertake can be accomplished your way or God's way. The energy source of human strength is impressive and logical and effective. It works! Initially, folks cannot tell the difference. A ministry built by the energy of the flesh looks just like a ministry built by the energy of the Spirit. Externally, I warn you, it looks the same. But internally, spiritually, down deep in the level of motive, you know in your heart God didn't do it; you did it! There is no glory vertically. And equally tragic, there is no grace horizontally.
Let me put it to you straight. Restrain yourself from might and power if you are a minister. Deliberately give the Spirit time and room. Consciously hold yourself back from clever ingenuity and reliance on your own charisma. If you don't, you will live to regret it. You will become a "graceless" minister.
To my pleasant surprise, while reading again Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students, written over a hundred years ago, I came across a grand discourse on the "graceless pastor." Only Spurgeon could say it so well:
A graceless pastor is a blind man elected to a professorship of optics, philosophising upon light and vision, discoursing upon and distinguishing to others the nice shades and delicate blendings of the prismatic colours, while he himself is absolutely in the dark!
He is a dumb man elevated to the chair of music; a deaf man fluent upon symphonies and harmonies! He is a mole
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