Ministers being USED.

What a privilege it is to be chosen by God for His holy service!  To be a vessel of usefulness to the Lord is a high honour, indeed, the highest honour that can be given to any man. Forget about all your New Year Birthday honours conferred on individuals by Her Majesty the Queen; these pail into utter insignificance compared with being a minister of God.  No human honour is worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as the honour of being chosen and called by God into His service.

And no minister objects to be 'used' in this holy way.  This is why he is in the ministry in the first place.  He placed himself and all that he has and is at the service if the King of Kings.  His strongest desire is to be used by God in the furtherance of the Kingdom.  He wants to be a tool in the Master's hand - and no more - and to be of service to his Saviour.  This is what it is about.

But, then, there is another side to this, as there is to most good things.  The people to whom we minister study how they can 'use' us, not for the glory of God, but in order for them to get their own selfish desires and needs met. They 'use' the minister in a bid to prevent him being used by God.  He is there to visit you when you're ill, to visit the elderly, to say 'hello' to wee Johnny, to 'christen' the children, and especially the grandchildren, to bury everyone "in the sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life" (and woe betide him if he does something different!); he is there to marry the young people, both of whom are true 'saints,' of course; and so on and on it goes.

One minister told me recently that he had a reasonably good meeting of the eldership the night before, but was wondering what these men are planning to do to him behind the scenes!  And once they get what they want from the minister, they will unceremoniously dump him if the price is right!  They will join up with other Gospel-haters in a bid to harm the faithful minister of the Word to the fullest extent.

Have you found that? Or, do you know a servant of Christ who has had this done to him? You know what another name for that is, don't you?  Prostitution.  Church members 'use' the minister in exactly the same way as a man uses a prostitute - as soon as he gets what he wants from her, he dumps her.  In the church, when members get what they want from the minister, they turn on him like savage beasts, demonstrating that the hatred they now have for him is as strong as they love they once showed him.  They discard his as a man throws away the cigarette packet after he has withdrawn thew last cigarette.  They no longer have any need for him!

And church denominations do this as well! How many wrecked ministries and ministers they are up and down the country; and how many utterly disillusioned minister's wives they are in manses!  And how many manse families have gone right off the rails as a direct result of the church's bullying tactics!

The only hope and consolation Gospel ministers have is that even if and when the church dumps them, that in no way equates with God dumping them!  He chose and called them for His work - which is not always and necessarily the same as the work of the church!  They belong to Him.  They are His.  He redeemed them and they are His prized possession, are under His divine protection, and will one day prosper in the hand of the Lord.

If you are in this position, let these truths penetrate your thinking and warm your heart.  You know, a heart that is warm before God will never lack encouragement.