When A Ministry Is Being Maligned
(A Right Response to Rancor in the Ranks)
The Psalmist sang, “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes!” (Ps. 118:23) When God’s work is made evident by the gathering together of likeminded constituents, the construction of facilities, and lives being changed, God’s people ought to say, “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”
When we really recognize the work of God in and through a ministry, we have an obligation to the ministry. God’s marvelous works should never be maligned. I Corinthians 3:17 warns, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye (plural) are.” While New Testament believers are well-aware of the fact that their bodies are the “temple of the Holy Spirit,” (I Cor. 6:15) few seem to realize that when the corporate body, the church gathers, it too is the Spirit’s Temple (I Cor. 3:16-17). Just as we must be careful not to defile our bodies, we ought to be careful not to defile the corporate work of God. While the principle of I Corinthians 3 is specific to the local church we ought to respect a wider application of the principle to God’s work being done through God’s people everywhere.
The Corinthian church was divided. Some followed Paul, some followed Peter, and some followed Apollos (I Cor. 3:1-6). The Spirit of God confronts partisan divisions over ministerial personalities in I Corinthians 3:3 asking, “Whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” When a ministry is maligned by those who support one personality over another or one faction over another such a division may be well-founded and appear to be based on principle but when there is envy and strife it is carnal! Remember, personalities espouse principles which lead to party divisions. Seldom do people argue that they simply like one person more than another. Most scandalous divisions start with policy discussions.
The grievances that God’s people have with each other are to be carefully guarded. I Corinthians 6:1 asks, “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?” The application of this question is obvious for the times in which we are living. With ready access to all forms of information on your mobile device the dirty laundry of the saints is often displayed for all to see. How sad!
Every Christian needs to be warned. The ministries of God that are marvelous should not be maligned. Those who spend their time maligning God’s work may put themselves at risk (I Cor. 3:17) and only add to the shame of the ministries that let their dirty laundry be aired in the public domain.
Many of God’s marvelous ministries are currently being maligned. Churches, Schools, Colleges, and Universities. Because we live in a sin-saturated world we should not be surprised when Satan sows tares among us. Yet, it is essential that we respond rightly when ministries do wrong. Several questions need to be asked:
- Do I have all the facts (Prov. 18:13)?
- Am I sharing my thoughts graciously (Col. 4:6)?
- Am I attacking a problem or a person (Eph. 4:31-32)?
Every electronically connected Christian needs to pray before they post and listen more to the Spirit than to the gossip. When God’s work is no longer marvelous it will always be marred.
For a similar approach to issues like this, we commend the sermon by Dr. Mark Minnick, “Unity Around the Lord’s Table,” also available as a podcast here.
Dr. Charles Phelps is the pastor of Colonial Hills Baptist Church, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Photo by Sushil Nash on Unsplash
Good article.