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Accredited Ministry
by T. Austin-Sparks
(An Abbreviated Message)
"And I was with you in weakness, and in
fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were
not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the
wisdom of men, but in the power of God... Let a man so account
of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries
of God." (1 Cor. 2:3-5; 4:1).
"For we would not have you ignorant,
brethren, concerning our affliction which befell us in Asia,
that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power,
insomuch that we despaired even of life: yea, we ourselves have
had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not
trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead." (2 Cor.
1:8-9).
"Therefore seeing we have this ministry,
even as we obtained mercy, we faint not... always bearing about
in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may
be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered
unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be
manifested in our mortal flesh. Are we beginning again to
commend ourselves? or need we, as do some, epistles of
commendation to you or from you?" (2 Cor. 4:1,10-11; 3:1).
Paul is speaking concerning the ministry being
accredited, and links this accrediting with his sufferings.
Before writing 2 Corinthians he went through a very deep
experience in Asia: "...weighed down exceedingly, beyond our
power... we despaired even of life". God "who raiseth the dead"
became his only way out, and from that deep experience this
second letter sprang.
Ministry is that of the Church. Apostles,
prophets, pastors, teachers were given as gifts for perfecting
the saints unto the work of ministering; the ministry,
therefore, belongs to all.
Truly accredited ministry is through
suffering. Accredited ministry represents a tremendous victory,
set in a background of great conflict.
A determined effort is made through the age to
discredit spiritual ministry, and to do so through the one
engaged in that ministry.
In the case of the Lord, there was a
persistent effort to discredit Him, and thereby discredit His
ministry. It drew forth the words: "No prophet is acceptable in
his own country" (Luke 4:24).
In the case of Paul, the Judaisers sought to
discredit him, and thereby discredit his ministry. At Corinth a
great battle raged over his position as an Apostle, and 2
Corinthians is much taken up with the establishment of his own
position, and therefore his authority in ministry.
One who counts for the Lord, is a joint of
supply, who can be of value in any way to the Lord's people, and
stand in His testimony, will know the enemy's effort to render
those spiritual values nil by discrediting. The enemy will give
a strong sense of unworthiness, unfitness, uselessness to the
Lord, or he will cause something to be associated with the
vessel for the discrediting of the ministry; he may even
patronize in order to compromise, as when the demons cried:
"These men are servants of the Most High God, which proclaim
unto you the way of salvation". Sometimes he will cause to
associate with a pure thing people who are unsaved, to bring
discredit.
The Lord's answer to that is to keep the
vessel of ministry in weakness, dependence upon Himself; so that
all is kept spiritual, and all is of the Lord alone.
The essence of the second letter to the
Corinthians is that here there was a wholesale discrediting of
the Apostle and his ministry. He will not be accredited by
asserting his rights. God will take him into death itself, where
there is no way out, and then as from the dead bring him back,
and pour through him a new stream of life for the Lord's people.
In the realm of spiritual intelligences, where all is known and
understood, there is a clear recognition that the effort to
discredit has broken down, that this ministry is of God, and
cannot be overthrown.
Such ministry may be personal or through those
who constitute the assembly, or of a home.
Resurrection becomes the hallmark of that
which is accredited of God.
Metal is passed through the crucible and
refined then the stamp is put upon it to show its calibre.
So God brings through the fires of Satanic
antagonism, allows the thing to reach a point where He alone is
its life, and then brings it up out of the conflict, and puts
the stamp of resurrection life on it, so that it has in it the
power of an indestructible life - that only comes through death.
All ministry that is to be accredited will be
bound up with suffering; a decision we have to make is as to the
object of our ministry. A good many things can be taken into
consideration, but there comes a point where all other things
have to be ranged on one side, and one thing on the other side -
the real spiritual value, without alloy: that which is wholly of
God and not at all of man. In the measure in which that is true
there will be suffering. To stand utterly for what is spiritual
is a costly thing.
There must be a willingness to be dealt with
by the Lord, in such a way as to keep the ministry living and
pure. All ministry which issues from such suffering is going to
count. It may not be welcomed or desired by the mass, but where
there is need and a call for that which we have gained through
suffering there will be response.
Two tragedies today amongst the Lord's people:
(1). So many have no knowledge of the truth in
any adequate way, and are therefore spiritually immature.
(2). So many have a great deal of truth, and
are dead. The Lord needs a vessel to meet these conditions - a
vessel that has gone through the fire, and is living in the
power of resurrection.
Such a vessel is going to be a suffering
vessel, which has come to the place where God Himself meets the
situation.
This may explain much; it may be a challenge;
it may be a call.
"Seeing we have this ministry... we obtained
mercy" - we have received grace to help - and so "we faint not".
But the treasure is in vessels of fragile clay, the vessel is
being broken day by day. To stand in the power of God, the
revelation of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ, represents cost. Are we prepared for
that? That is the way of the accredited ministry.
God has accredited the ministry of His Son,
yet there was a universal combination to set Him at naught.
God has accredited the ministry of His servant
Paul, but he was taken through depths of suffering.
So for us; ministry accredited of God is
linked with suffering, but the suffering produces that which is
wholly of God and cannot be destroyed.
First published in "A Witness and A Testimony"
magazine, Sep-Oct 1946, Vol 24-5
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