Ministry Spells Hard Work: Seven Myths About Full-Time Ministry

Sermon outline

Full-time ministry is God's ordained, hard-working and honourable way of caring for His church, and those in it must serve God out of love, know who they are, and learn both to give and to receive.

1. Seasons of ministry: serve God unconditionally

   Paul learned to be content whether he was abased or abounding, because his focus was God and not his circumstances. Too many people serve God like a slot machine, only for what He will give them. The Bible does not promise a life without difficulties, but it does promise deliverance, so in full-time ministry we must not question God but yield and move with Him.

   Illustration: The pillar of cloud and fire that led Israel: when the cloud moves, you move.

   “We must serve God and run after God because we love him irrespective of our circumstances.”

   • Philippians 4:12
   • Isaiah 54:17
   • Exodus 13:21

2. Don't compare ministries or judge the vessel

   Every minister is called and gifted differently, like Joseph's coat of many colours, so comparing one man or woman of God with another is wrong. Israel prayed for the Messiah yet did not recognise Him, because they expected a lion and He came as a lamb. He believes colonialism, racism and apartheid still lead people to judge the colour or gender of the vessel, or a church's brand and location, rather than the anointing it carries.

   Illustration: People who say they attend a well-known church but do not even know the pastor's name.

   “We must not look at the outward vessel that's carrying the anointing.”

   • Genesis 37:3
   • John 1:11
   • Mark 6:4
   • 2 Corinthians 4:7
   • John 17:14-16

3. Know your identity and forgive in advance

   A child of God is a child of God, washed by the blood of Jesus, and every person of every colour is made in God's image. Be yourself and love yourself, because you can only love and forgive others once you have accepted and forgiven yourself. He has learned to forgive people before they wrong him, so that an offence is already a done deal.

   Illustration: Pastor Wesley recalls his father telling him as a boy that God blesses the original, not a duplicate or a copy.

   “I forgive in advance.”

   • Genesis 1:26-27
   • Matthew 6:15

4. Seven wrong perceptions of full-time ministry

   Like the high priest who carried the names of the tribes on his breast, a pastor carries the people in his heart everywhere. He lists seven wrong perceptions: (1) that there is nothing important to do and pastors are lazy; (2) that ministry is not actually work; (3) that full-time ministry is a step downwards; (4) that full-time workers have a lot of time on their hands; (5) that ministry can wait until retirement; (6) that ministry does not need educated people; and (7) that full-time ministry makes you insignificant. Behind every one-hour service lie hours of study, prayer and preparation, and people are blessed, saved and lifted through those who minister to them.

   Illustration: He worked hard for 20 years in the police but worked even harder in ministry, with ten years of double shifts from six in the morning to late at night.

   “If I would ask you to spell ministry, it will spell hard work.”

   • Exodus 28:29
   • Matthew 10:41
   • John 21:15-17

5. God's ordained method: they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel

   God's Word, not fortune tellers, shows us what is required, and full-time ministry is His ordained way of running His church, with proper banking, accounting and accountability. Tithing is God's commandment and brings an open heaven, and it is more blessed to give than to receive. The worker is worthy of his support, as the Levites lived from the tithe of the people.

   Illustration: In Zambia he watched a pastor separate tithers from non-tithers and pray only for the tithers; when he asked if that was harsh, the pastor's answer took him aback.

   “Full-time ministry is God's ordained method of administering his church.”

   • Micah 6:8
   • James 1:22
   • 1 Corinthians 9:14
   • Malachi 3:9-10
   • Acts 20:35
   • Matthew 10:9-10
   • Hebrews 7:5
   • 1 Samuel 15:22

6. Learn to receive a blessing

   In his early years he struggled to receive gifts, but a minister who refuses a gift can block the blessing meant for the giver. When people bless you, receive it, because in giving they are blessed.

   Illustration: After a New Year's night service, a pastor from Richards Bay gave him his car keys, saying the Lord told him to sow the car. He received it, then blessed the man and handed the keys back; on the way home a drunken driver hit the car and wrote it off.

   “When people bless you, receive the blessing, because that blessing is not for you, the blessing is for them”

7. God is a good God and wants you to prosper

   He names healing, financial blessing and teaching the Word as the main anointings on his life, and says many who sowed into the church saw sudden increase, promotion or financial miracles. The pastor you sit under shapes whether you think in poverty or prosperity, and God blesses people according to their faith.

   Illustration: A woman from Newcastle with no money came for prayer on a Saturday and he gave her 300 rand for her fare home; on Monday she won a brand new car in a Spar competition, and a Spar manager in his own church stood up to say she had made the call.

   “But God is a good God. He wants us prosperous.”

   • 3 John 2
   • Proverbs 10:22