Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 4 November 2004 — Page 43

The Muncie Times • November 4, 2004 • Page 43

RELIGION

The Ministerial Curse

Acts 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

“Cursed is he that keep back his sword from blood” Jeremiah 48:10 This should call every minister to a sacred and holy attention to his heavenly calling Hebrews 3:1. It should renew his devotion to his personal calling, and reveal one sincere purpose for his being in the ministry. In the last clause of this sacred text in this tear dripping lamentation, there is a powerful divine curse wrapped up in penetrating language. I humbly believe that the Prophet Jeremiah solemnly and boldly directed his message relentlessly toward the ministry. This divinely given curse should cause a holy examination of one’s ministry as he considers his ways. While penning these words, the weight and responsibility of the ministry seems to have renewed spiritual values in a greater sense. The ministry means life or death; life to ministers of truth, death to ministers of falsehood. The Minister One of our ministers struck a note of truth when e said. “The minister is a representative of another world.” The God called minister represents heaven. He has received a heavenly calling. The lord has delegated to him heavenly truths. He interprets, through divine wisdom and knowledge, heavenly laws. The minister is divinely appointed to fill the greatest position man has ever been

known to occupy. The minister’s life should revolve around one sole purpose; to reconcile men to God. The Lord has committed into his trust the ministry of reconciliation. The ministry deals with souls. God has “built and constructed” in every man a soul, and then touched it with a part of His eternal existence. This part of man that will never die is known as the immortal soul. And this first is the part that God has entrusted into the hands of the ministry. The Minister and His Sword When God calls a minister, He issues him a sword and, “he bears not the sword in vain” Romans 13:4. The word of God is the minister’s sword. It is the sword of the spirit Eph 6:17. In the Epistles to the Hebrews we read “for the word of God is quick, powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 The minister must bear this sword, to the extent of sometimes taking blood. The sword of the Spirit has a way of uncovering the secret recesses of the soul. The book of Proverbs reveals interesting evidence and wisdom concerning the sword, “There is that speak like the piercing of a sword...” proverbs 12:18. The word of God answers the description. God’s word is much like a sword in action. When it speaks, it

pierces the very soul. There is a close connection between a sword and the written Word. The ministers who wields the sword must be clean. Bearing vessels of the Lord Demands clean living. God’s commandment for ministerial cleanness is, “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord” Isaiah 52:11. The Apostle Paul solemnly charged Timothy, “keep thyself pure” I Timothy 5:22. Holiness preaching must originate from pure lives. There is an old adage, “Cleanliness is next to godliness,” Spiritually speaking, cleanness in the ministry is of supreme importance. The clean ministry is the godly ministry. Cleanness is a noble and superb attribute. I have digresses to some degree from the text concerning the minister and his sword. God through divine judgment has pronounced a curse upon every minister who withdraws the Word of God from the souls of men. The complicated, socalled gospels and messages of our day are drowning ministers and souls in perdition. These “peace at any price,” preachers deal with men a personalities, and not as souls. They institute the method of psychology, which will treat the personality of man’s mind. We need more Bible -ology, in the pulpit, which will treat men’s hearts. Some ministers have forgotten the worth of a soul and its eternal existence, and have deliberately held back the Word of God. They have, therefore fearlessly repudiated the ministry and disowned God’s word. There are

certain reason why ministers would keep back the sword. These are selfish unsound and unholy reasons. Here are three of the main reasons: 1) The popularity and fame of this would will press a minister to hold back the sword. 2) Filthy lucre is a danger signal is not wielding the sword 3) Friendship and family ties can cause a minister to be dragged to swift defeat. The Apostle Paul, writing of his own personal ministry, describes his clean and principled character. The apostle to the Gentiles phrases his words like this, “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves in the sight of God” II Cor. 4:1-2 This is the true example of God’s minister. The ministry is a very susceptible place for hidden things of dishonesty,

and Apostle Paul recognized this fact. The clerical cloak has been worn many times through the centuries to cover up sin in the minister’s life, the minister can hide his sins from the laity, as Achan, but god knows of the “wedge of gold” in his life. The apostle is revealing his opportunity to walk in dishonesty and craftiness, but emphatically exclaims that he has renounced these hidden deceitful elements. He further denies his handling of the Word of God in a deceitful manner. He portrays vividly his staunch position relative to the ministry. He esteemed the ministry too highly to ever blot this sacred calling. This apostolic trailblazer was even then fearful of being a castaway. Jeremiah, like the great Apostle Paul, viewed the compromising trends of his day. This prophet lamented of the deadly prescription of compromise. His message is echoing even today, “he that keep back his sword from blood.” This is the spirit of compromise. All ministers must shun the spirit of compromise. The continued form page 43. continue on page 44.