Fanning the Flame of our Calling in the face of Carnality

Many promising ministers begin their Christian life and career with such a big bang that the ripples emanating from the noise continue to have effects to the distant shores long after the center has returned to a standing still.  For some time, they continue to impress people in the ministry with the claims of supernatural encounters, jaw dropping prophecies, divine healing, miraculous deliverance, amazing provisions, and spectacular dreams and visions.  When they share their testimony, they can keep their audiences captivated with their artistic ways of testifying (exaggerating) the work God began in their lives. 

For people who began their life and walk with God quietly as opposed to such a noisy beginning, in hearing these amazing story tellers, begin to feel as if there is something lacking in their life.  People who never heard audible voice of God, never really experienced such spectacular miracles where the blind see, deaf hear and lame walk, never entered the world of dreams and visions where heavenly realities become so common, and neither did they come face to face with Jesus Christ in encountering him, they begin to suspect themselves of lacking something; when they heard the gospel, they were simply griped by their sinfulness and God’s goodness in forgiving their sins and saving their souls; never really paid attention to this miraculous side of Christianity.  But hearing these firebrand preachers who appear to have descended from the third heaven, such a noisy Christian life touches the taste buds of the spiritually hungry; they would also like to hear God’s audible voice, experience a miracle in one thing or the other, have a dream or see a vision like these amazing story tellers boast about. 

To make things more complicated for the spiritually hungry, these spectacular preachers promise immediate solution to all the problems in their life if the hungry would come with their financial contributions, sit under their preaching, stand in line to be prayed for, and allow the Holy Spirit to knock them down on the floor as soon as these super anointed lay hand or blow on them.  In sincere obedience, some offer everything they have, some do fall on the ground, some roll around, some scream and jump, and others go around doing everything they had seen others doing in hope of receiving what they think is lacking in their spiritual life. 

At the same time, when these promising preachers see the spiritually hungry souls fall to the ground as they lay hands on or blow, they feel gratified for being used by the Holy Spirit to knock that person down and go on creating the condition in which such behavior can be imitated by others en mass.  Repetitive singing and music for hours, forceful and inspiring testimonies and prophetic utterances bring the crowd under such a spell that whatever happens there happens because the Holy Spirit is moving in and among the people.  This goes on for some time. 

Alas!  In a matter of few years, such ministers are no longer in the ministry!  Some fall victim to sexual immorality, some to financial corruption, and others to pride and all sorts of criminal activities.  The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life become much more appealing to these noisy preachers who began their ministry with the big bang.  Their beginning might have been genuine, but they failed to take the time to really see how sinful and wicked the human heart is.  In fact, they really did not even recognize how sinful they were in the first place.  The miraculous aspect of the gospel captivated them so much that the atoning sacrifice of Jesus only made sense for them to perform some kind of miracles; Jesus became a magician for them instead of a savior.  When they saw seemingly supernatural phenomena in their ministry, they began to justify their immorality and unethical behaviors and continue to deceive people.  While living in blatant disobedience to the word of God, they continue to pretend to be spiritually anointed and powerful until their sin is publicly exposed. 

When the news of such falling away hits to their faithful followers; these people begin to wonder if the knocking down, rolling around, and jumping up was really the work of the Holy Spirit after all!  Christian life begins to ebb away from such naïve and deceived bunch of Christians; they wonder if there is God after all.

These noisy ministers who disgrace the name of Christ and deceive people also cause the genuine ministers to be discouraged.  A genuine minister looks at these noisy preachers filled with the lust of the flesh occupying prominent places in leadership until and even after their sin is exposed begins to wonder if it is worth serving the Lord faithfully!  Suffering for Christ appears to be a stupid thing to do.  Particularly in the context of developing nations, financial suffering is a given fact for those who would faithfully serve the Lord.  But these lust filled preachers make such a noise that all the donors from the developed nations become captivated by their artificial testimonies of God’s work; all the money is channeled into the bank accounts of these preachers who take contract for the whole of mission work in that particular nation if not the whole continent.  When these noisy preachers cannot fool the local people with the claims of supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, they start controlling them with the power of foreign money that flows into their accounts.  In such a context, a genuine minister is absolutely isolated and if not silenced forever by these whoremongers. 

In a situation like this, if you are one of the faithful ministers of the gospel, what should you do?  How can you continue doing what the Lord has called you to do?  Apostle Paul’s words to Timothy can be a great comfort for those of us who find ourselves sandwiched between the call of God and the noise of such carnal preachers.  In 2 Timothy 1:6-9, 12 Paul says;

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.  12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.”

You need to fan the flames of God’s calling in your life constantly and ask the Lord to fill you with the Spirit of power, love and self-discipline.  Don’t be afraid of these carnal preachers who threaten you.  Don’t be envious of their material success because you don’t know how their guilty conscience is tormenting them while they are here on earth and the matter is so different when they will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  You should know and be convinced that this life is but just for a moment; we have eternity waiting for us and if you lack some material comfort in this fleeting world, it’s not a big deal.  Listen what Paul says to Timothy, “12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” 

Suffering for Christ is not a matter of shame but of pride.  All the apostles died for the gospel and when they were persecuted, they were grateful that God counted them worthy to suffer for him.  Therefore, friends; suffering for the gospel is a matter of dignity and pride before the Lord!  Paul tells us that God is able to keep that which we have committed to him for that day.  There is a day in which we shall stand before the Lord who will look into our eyes to see if we have been faithful.  When he finds us faithful, he will say “well done thou good and faithful servant, you were faithful in little, come now and inherit…”! 

For such an inheritance, we need to fan the flame of our calling and not let it diminish in anyway.  We need to have the spirit of discipline so that we will not fall victim to the lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life.  We need to see how sinful and wicked our heart is and fall on our faces before the Cross of Christ in grateful attitude for saving sinners like us.  We need to preach the gospel first and always to ourselves before we dare to take it to others and the flames of our calling will begin to catch the fire of the Holy Spirit in such a way that we become the witnesses of resurrected Christ in the face of all hardships and sufferings.  Even when no one notices us here on earth, the life and the ministry lived and done in the shadow of the Cross of Christ will shine in God’s glory for all eternity.