Ministry to the saints
Job Anbalagan
Beloved
of Christ, of all the ministries in the Vineyard of God, I consider the
ministry to the saints as greater than any other ministry. Paul in his epistle
to Corinthians writes that the house of Stephenas had "addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints" (I Cor.16:15). Paul went
all the way to
Of late, the Lord enabled me to extend my hands of fellowship to some servants
of God, especially in my own nation, who are sincerely serving God in His
Vineyard, though not popular in the Christian world. Though they themselves
suffer wants in diverse ways, they make others rich by their tearful prayers.
One of them is a dear pastor in
This dear servant of God, though himself in a penury, has taken upon himself
the ministry to the poor servants of God/poor saints and widows.
Joy and
suffering in the Body of Christ
The
other day I was watching certain video programs made by some servants of God in
While watching the above programs, the Holy Spirit drew my attention to a
magazine in Tamil language sent by a dear servant of God, namely D.Packiaraj,
in the state of Tamil Nadu,
When I looked unto the Holy Spirit with a broken heart,
"Lord, what do you want me to do and I feel unworthy to do Thy ministry,
when I compare myself to these precious servants of God who undergo untold
sufferings due to penury and sicknesses in their bodies". The Holy
Spirit reminded me, "Tell my people about My true
and faithful servants who toil in My Vineyard".
As I started writing on the ministry of one Pastor Paul who served the Lord in
a village called "Kottur" in Tamil Nadu, I received a telephonic call
from the servant of God concerned that Pastor Paul entered into glory on
Pastor Paul, who was earlier a staunch Hindu, accepted the Lord as his Savior
and ministered to a particular group of people who are considered as
"untouchables" by the other upper caste Hindus. He brought many
Hindus and Roman Catholic people to Christ. Since his kidneys ceased to
function, he was put on dialysis once a month. All his savings were spent on
his treatment. In the meantime, the husband of his eldest daughter became
mentally deranged within two months of marriage. His daughter then returned
home and started living with him. In the midst of great sufferings in his body
and mental agonies concerning the fate of his daughter, Pastor Paul ministered
to the Lord in his church. Our Lord could have healed His dear servant. But it
pleased Him to make him suffer so that he could fill up "which is behind
of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh for His body's sake"..
It is very easy to serve our God if we are financially prosperous and enjoy
good health. It is very easy to preach the gospel through TV programs. But can
we serve the Lord as pioneer missionaries in those places where the people have
not even heard the Name of Jesus and where we do not have enough resources to
do His ministry? Can we serve the Lord when we are afflicted with diseases in
our bodies?
My ministry pales into significance as I mediate on the ministries of many
servants of God like Paul, who are anonymous in the Christian world.
"Whether one member suffer, all the members
suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with
it" (I Cor.12:26). As members of the Body of Christ, let us weep with
those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.
Who is
an apostle? Apostles are a spectacle to us!
I
have heard some people of God say that there are some apostles in their midst.
I am not denying their statements at all. However, we should identify such true
apostles by the manner they live in our midst. Let us study from the Pauline
epistles to know more about apostles. We should know the qualifications of
being an apostle. According to Paul, the qualification
for being an apostle is not oratory to preach sermons from the pulpits or from
the television or from the evangelical daises reaching out to the thousands in
an auditorium. Nor is his ministry through the spiritual gifts or the
"anointing" – the over emphasized terminology in our Christian
circles today.
Paul writes in I Cor.4:9-13 as follows:
"For I think that God hath set forth the apostles last, as it were
appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels
and to men….
Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are
buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place"
First of all, an apostle is one who is commissioned by God and who is appointed
in the first place in the Body of Christ, to preach the gospel in a place where
Christ is not named. An apostle is one who goes to a place as led by the
Spirit, works there as a pioneer missionary and plants churches in that place.
You cannot see an apostle always preach from the church pulpits. You cannot see
an apostle live with all the life's comforts and luxuries when the poor saints
in the Body of Christ suffer wants. He is the first person who collects
donations from the materially prosperous people of God and reaches the poor
saints with this precious gift. He loves the Body of Christ more than himself.
Though God hath set the apostles in the first place in the Body of Christ, Paul
writes in this passage that the same God hath set forth them last, as it were
appointed to death. An apostle is made a spectacle unto the world, and to
angels and to men. A spectacle means a public show which is viewed by all. At
times, we in the Christian world read the biographies of missionaries like John
Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, Praying Hyde of India, etc. and would end up saying,
"It is wonderful to know about them". For many of us, the life of a
missionary or an apostle would look like a show or a spectacular film because
we do not identify ourselves with such apostles.
God has set them forth last. An apostle is one who seeks neither recognition
nor popularity in the Christian world. He does not seek the uppermost place in
a local church. Though he is in the first place in the universal Body of
Christ, he is the least in a local church because his vision is for the whole
Body of Christ, and not for a particular local or a denominational church.
According to Paul, the apostles suffer hunger and thirst, and are naked; they
are buffeted. They have no certain dwelling place.
The preachers of the prosperity gospel shun the word "want" or
"poverty" and dub it as the curse of God. An apostle, going as a
pioneer missionary, to an unknown place does suffer hunger and thirst. Of
course, he cannot afford to wear costly apparels like us because he has to lead
a simple life in his mission fields by identifying himself with the people
living there. He has to follow their culture, to learn their language and to live
amongst them so that he can win them for Christ.
An apostle, for the sake of the glorious gospel, moves from place to place. He
cannot live in a fixed place so as to have a certain dwelling place. You cannot
easily reach a true apostle through his email id or through his postal address
because he works as a pioneer missionary in such a place which does not have
the modern communication facilities.
An apostle is buffeted by the people to whom he ministers, and also by his own
people due to misunderstanding. Through persecution and sufferings, he bears on
his body the marks of an apostle like Paul. An apostle cannot be said to suffer
persecution so long as he seeks to minister to the same Christian population
who have already heard the gospel. The moment he enters a region where the
non-Christian population live, he faces persecution.
I give below my testimony concerning an apostle who lives in our midst. After
reading the following brief account of his biography, it is for you to judge
whether he is a true apostle or not.
His name is Ebenezer Selvam. He is not a very educated person but can read and
write in his mother tongue, Tamil language. He lives in a small Indian village
called, "Charuthupatti" in the district of Periakulam, Tamil Nadu,
This minister of God serves God in one of such villages in
These people of God cannot afford education to their wards. They stop their
children going to high schools, not to talk of colleges. Instead, they prefer
to send their children to perform menial jobs to eke out a living. Their
children work as shepherds tending cattle, or as laborers in paddy fields.
The pastor of these people is neither materially well off (not to talk of
material prosperity) nor in good health. Pastor Selvam suffers from diabetics
and asthma. He cannot afford to go to doctors for treatment. He stopped
approaching the doctors because they wanted him to undergo many clinical tests,
and to take costly medicines and to eat dietary food.
He has his wife, two sons and one daughter. Since he could not afford to spend
more money on the higher education of his two sons, he preferred to send them
to a bicycle workshop in his village to earn a monthly income of Rs.300
(equivalent to US Dollars 7). His daughter stopped studying after passing out
8th standard.
Though Pastor Selvam passes through such fiery furnaces of afflictions in his
life, yet he ministers to the people of God in his church and brings the Hindus
to Christ.
Indeed, the life and ministry of Pastor Selvam are a spectacle to us