The Overwhelming Needs of the World
There are intriguing descriptions of Jesus’ ministry sprinkled throughout the gospels. For one example look at Matthew 4:23-25 (NIV). "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him."
Consider for a moment, the comprehensive, holistic scope of Jesus’ ministry.
There was a spiritual dimension in his ministry. Jesus taught in their synagogues. He preached the good news of the kingdom of God. His preaching and teaching was refreshingly creative and insightful. The way he used stories and parables. The way he exposed the heart and quickened the conscience. The way he communicated the truth with grace. Good-bye Billy Graham. The people were captivated by Jesus.
Then there was a physical dimension to his ministry. Jesus healed every disease and sickness. He healed those suffering severe pain, seizures, and paralysis at a time when there were no hospitals, specialized medical clinics, or twenty-four hour Walgreen's Pharmacies. At home we have this gigantic medical guide. Whenever I have some ache or pain, my lovely wife, Doctor Lara Morrissette, whips that medical guide open and picks out the most graphic and incurable illness she can find. She says, "It sounds like you have this viral infection that slowly erodes the inner lining of your stomach before it spreads to other major organs, rendering you incapacitated and unable to receive nourishment, even intravenously." I love her so much. When I finally go to the doctor, trembling, I always get better news than what I expected. He says, "No, I think you just had some bad chili." Jesus healed people from their bad news. Cancer. Tumors. Diabetes. Strokes. Fever. Pneumonia. Paralysis. Heart disease. Bleeding. Alzheimer’s. Even leptospirosis.
And then there was the psychological and emotional dimension of Jesus' ministry. Jesus healed the demon-possessed. He freed those who were under the control of evil people and demonic influences. He healed the mentally ill, the abused, the depressed, the confused, the shamed and guilty, and the down and out.
Jesus was the great physician, a one stop cure-all for everyone with any problem. People were so desperate for such healing that they would reach out just to touch a part of Jesus’ clothing in the hope of receiving complete healing. Can you imagine the tremendous pressure people must have put on Jesus? Can you imagine the endless streams of people pouring out of the countryside?
Mothers carrying their babies. Grown men, the elderly, limping, grimacing, crying out, begging, pleading, hoping to receive even a moment of Jesus’ time. "Jesus, please, just one more? Heal my son. Over here Jesus. Jesus, come quickly!" It would have been easy for Jesus to allow the urgent needs and the expectations of the masses to define his ministry. The masses could have defined his complete purpose and identity if he had allowed it.
Last Saturday we went over to the Indianapolis Speedway to watch the qualifying runs for the Brickyard 400. There were tens of thousands of race fans desperately clamoring to catch a glimpse of their favorite NASCAR driver. So there we were, hanging on the fence in the heat of the day, books and pens and cameras in hand hoping to get an autograph or even a glimpse of driver number 8. Some lady marveled at the scene and said to me, "How long are you going to stand here?" What could I say? "Until my wife tells me I can leave," I said.
Finally driver number 8 emerged from the privacy of his mobile home. Screams erupted, "Junior! Junior! Over here!" But everyone’s hope quickly turned into resentment as he waved, turned his back, and walked away without signing one autograph. "What a punk. We just want a picture. Can’t he take even a moment for his fans? We’ve been out here for hours. Can’t he give just one autograph?"
People didn’t want Jesus’ autograph. They wanted complete healing. Could you imagine how infinitely more desperately they must have clamored to get Jesus’ attention? Mark 3:10 (NIV) says of Jesus, "For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him." In Luke 4:42 (NIV) it says the people, "tried to keep him (Jesus) from leaving them." His job was never finished. There was always one more child standing there, not wanting just an autograph, but wanting complete healing.
The Tyranny of Urgent and Overwhelming
But an interesting thing would happen. With the gall of a Winston Cup race driver, Jesus would turn away from such crowds and walk away. For example, in Mark 1:32-34 (NIV) it says, "That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons." Jesus must have been up all night! The very next morning while it was still dark, Jesus slipped out to a solitary place to pray and be alone with God. But the disciples tracked him down and shouted in Mark 1:37 (NIV), "Everyone is looking for you!" In Mark 1:38 (NIV) Jesus says, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."
Later on in the book of Mark a similar situation unfolds. Mark 4:36 says Jesus left the crowd behind. At other times, when the crowds were pushing on Jesus he would order his disciples to ready a boat and to push him off shore. Sometimes Jesus and his disciples would just float away to the other side of the lake. This stuff didn’t just happen once. Jesus did this repeatedly. He withdrew. He left.
Based on my NASCAR experiences, I can tell you what people said when Jesus withdrew. "Hey! We’ve been out here all day. We're burnt to a crisp. Wait, where you going? Don’t you care? You can’t be God! God would never turn his back on a sick child! Explicative! Explicative! Explicative! Come back to us." And yet, Jesus went out from them.
How could Jesus in good conscience turn away from such real and pressing needs? Where is the love? Where is the compassion? What could be more important? In Mark 1:38 (NIV) Jesus actually gives a reason. "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."
In Luke 4:43 (NIV) he says almost the same thing. "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." The crowd’s expectation was that Jesus should be this twenty-four hour a day, seven days-a-week miracle-maker. They probably could have cared less about his preaching. They’d probably just as soon that he shut up and not preach at all and just get on with the healing. They wanted their lives to be better. Now!
But Jesus did not allow himself to be defined by that expectation. "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns also. I must maximize the contribution God wants me to make in his world. I must obey God’s call on my life. I must please God even if it incites your hostility and resentment. I must go and do that for which I was sent."
It’s not that Jesus didn’t love people. It’s not that he was cold and indifferent. It’s not that he lacked a spiritual and moral core or was less than the complete image of God. It was precisely because Jesus did love people that he chose not to conform to their expectations, but instead he chose to fulfill the purpose for which God sent him to them. Jesus understood that his preaching would bring the ultimate cure of salvation. God’s purpose was to offer eternal healing, of which physical healing was just a shadow. Jesus’ desire was to give people that which is eternal and lasting.
But the crowds didn’t want the eternal and lasting. They didn’t want the substance of eternal life. Instead, they would settle for the shadow. They expected Jesus to conform to their expectations, to be the miracle man, to heal for this life. For them, love was giving them what they wanted now instead of what they most needed.
You’ve heard it a thousand times, "You can give a person a fish and feed him for a day or you can teach him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime." Which of the two is the more loving thing to do? Is working a miracle and healing a man for a season of his life the most loving thing? Or is preaching Christ so as to give a man eternal healing and salvation the most loving thing?
Establishing the Priority of Equipping
From a heavenly perspective, the most loving thing to do may very well seem like the least loving thing to do from an earthly perspective. That was certainly true in Jesus’ ministry. Yet he chose to make the greatest, most lasting, eternal contribution to the world that he could possibly make. And that meant refusing to live narrowly within the expectations of those he most loved. Jesus set an example for us. He taught us that fulfilling the purpose for which God sent us is the most loving and substantive contribution we can make to others.
I want to thank Chris for putting that excellent video together. There is so much need in our church and in our world. Lately, I have been wrestling with what my most loving, lasting contribution should be to our congregation at Lakeside. Why did God send me here as a leader? What specifically does he want me to do?
In my last ministry I lived and served according to the expectations of others. I was a first responder to every spiritual, physical, emotional, and psychological need, not just for the church I served, but for the entire community in which I lived. I preached every Sunday. I taught in the church and also from house to house. Whenever a person wanted to receive Christ, I alone shared the gospel and baptized him. I took communion to shut-ins. I made valiant attempts to be at the hospital bed of anyone who had any relationship to our church. I was even there for people who lost their pets. I personally counseled every troubled soul who came to the church for help or who found their way to my parsonage doorstep. I answered every phone call to the church. The phone rang at the church and at my parsonage at all hours of the day and night. I filled the baptistry, organized Vacation Bible School, folded the bulletins, and cleaned up the sanctuary. Whenever an expectation was foisted upon me I said, "Here I am."
But then came this realization that in fulfilling all these spiritual, physical, and emotional expectations, I was missing the purpose for which God sent me to that church. I realized that what seemed like the most loving thing to do for the congregation, fulfilling their immediate expectations, was actually the least loving thing I could do for them in the long run. I realized that by living narrowly within their expectations, I was compromising the very thing God sent me to that church to do!
I wasn’t there to be Jesus Christ Superstar, miracle worker, on call 24/7, fulfilling every expectation, doing all the ministry, or responding to every voice. I was sent there to preach, to be sure. But I discovered God’s purpose for my life as a leader, as a staff person, and as a minister in Ephesians 4:11-12 (NIV). This passage says, "It was he (God) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up."
The congregation expected me to "do" all the ministry. But God sent me there to prepare his people to do works of service. I was there to mobilize an army of people to serve one another, to share the gospel, to become like Christ, and to impact their world.
It's hard to turn your back on people’s expectations in order to embrace God’s purpose. But that is what Jesus Christ did and that is what every Christian is called to do. Our peace is knowing that choosing God’s purpose is the most loving choice for the greatest good of those we're called to serve and love.
Saying 'Yes' More Deeply to People
As all those people pushed against Jesus with their expectations, Jesus realized he needed to "Just Say No!" But in saying "no", Jesus was really saying "yes". As he withdrew from the expectations of the masses, he poured his life into twelve men and a small band of followers. He equipped them to do a spiritual ministry of preaching and teaching. He equipped them to do a physical ministry of healing, of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving drink to the thirsty, visiting those in prison, providing shelter to the homeless, and giving to the poor.
He equipped them to encourage the discouraged, lift up the weak, reach out to those rejects and misfits of society, dispel darkness, and drive out evil. The ultimate "yes" was that long after Jesus ascended into heaven, Christ's body remained on earth and continued Christ’s holistic ministry to hearts, minds, bodies, and souls. Those twelve men and that rag-tag band of followers launched an equipping revolution. They refused to monopolize ministry, but committed themselves fully to empowering others to be Christ to their world. They multiplied ministry. And the Bible says in Acts 4:34 (NIV), "There were no needy persons among them."
The truth is that our expectations stunt the purposes of God and stifle the growth of his kingdom. Our expectations leave people hungry, thirsty, and dissatisfied. Our short-sighted expectations keep Christ’s ministry from touching every need within this church and our community at large. The question is, can we adjust our expectations to allow God’s purposes to advance?
If God’s purpose for church leaders is to prepare his people for works of service, can we learn to receive the ministry of those who have been equipped to serve? Can we sincerely rejoice as the mantle of ministry moves beyond the pulpit and is taken up by an army of people eager to serve God? Can others beside the leaders or staff, preach and teach, visit us in the hospital, present us the gospel, baptize us, marry us, bury us, pray with us, encourage us, counsel us, love us, or touch our lives? Can we define a great church not by what its leaders do, but by what those leaders successfully equip the whole church to do?
Success isn’t me sharing the gospel. Success is all of you learning to share gospel. Success isn’t me showing up at every hospital bed or at every home or prison. Success is all of you going forth daily to touch your world for Christ. This is the goal of Life Groups and Lifestage Ministries.
God’s purpose for leaders in his church is to meet every single need in the church. These needs are met by leaders equipping the whole church to build itself up in love. Let’s see to it that long after we're gone, we have multiplied our ministry in others. Let’s give people the substance of Christ’s ministry and not a shadow of it.