Coconut
Member
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2005
- Messages
- 4,663
THE LORD OF THE WORK
"Separate unto Me Barnabas and Saul for the work
whereunto I have called them" (Acts 13:2b).
There is a pressing need in the Body of Christ to
distinguish and discern the difference between the Lord of the Work
and the work of the Lord. How easy it is to confuse these two things
and treat them as one and the same. Yet the difference before God is
quite vast.
This difference was revealed to me several years ago.
I was conducting some meetings in Texas and attended a
ministerial luncheon consisting of local pastors. My presence as a visitor
was acknowledged and I was invited to stand and "share a
few words". What would I say to these pastors?
The Lord had already prepared my heart with a special
word just for them. I said, "Brothers, I came all the way from North
Carolina to remind you of one thing: the work of the Lord is NOT
the most important thing."
I allowed my words to sink into their hearing for a
moment and the silence was deafening. I understand now what Jesus
experienced when the Bible says that "He knew within Himself" that the
people questioned and doubted in their hearts. I could sense
this as these pastors silently wondered what could possibly be more
important than the work of the Lord.
"Brothers, the Lord of the Work is more important than
the work of the Lord," I said. And I sat down.
In my experience, fewer than one person out of one
thousand really understands this, even when they nod and say amen. I
am still growing in this revelation. I am constantly being reminded by
the Lord, "Chip, I am more important that your ministry. I am
your priority. This is My work, not yours. I reserve the right to
separate you for service or place you on the shelf. I reserve the right
to send you forth or keep you at home. The Lord of the Work is
more important than the work of the Lord. You keep saying this, but
you do not always practice it."
According to the Scriptures, the Kingdom of God exists
wherever Christ has the preeminence. To seek first the Kingdom
of God is to seek the preeminence of Jesus over all things. For
many years I assumed that seeking first the Kingdom of God meant to
seek first the work of the Lord - putting the ministry before
everything else, even before the needs of my family.
While my intentions were good, the Scripture does not
say, "Seek first the ministry." It says to seek first the Kingdom
of God. How does this apply to ministry? It means simply this: I
must be governed by the Lord of the Work, not the work of the Lord.
The "work of the Lord" tends to take on a life of its
own if we are not careful. We begin in the Spirit but then we use
fleshly means to perpetuate the ministry. I can say this because I have
been guilty of it. The thought and the intention may be good, but
before we realize it, the work of the Lord becomes preeminent over the
Lord of the Work. In fact, the minister, the pastor, the teacher,
the apostle, or the prophet assumes the position of the Lord of the
Work. How quickly the flesh comes in!
If God's Eternal Purpose is for Jesus to have the
preeminence over all things then this certainly includes the work. The
Lord of the Work does not change, but the work of the Lord is
constantly changing. The Lord of the Work governs the time, the
place, the people, the provision, and the assignment. All these
things may change as the Lord of the Work sees fit. He sets one
up and brings another down. He opens doors and closes them. He leads
us to speak or bids us to remain silent.
In the Book of Acts no one initiates anything. They
are wholly governed by the Holy Spirit. He sets people apart, He
sends them forth, He tells them where to go - forbidding them
from going tocertain places, only to send them later, when the time
is right. We do not find apostles or prophets or pastors "working
their gift" and going about willy-nilly, just doing whatever they feel
like doing.
Watchman Nee observed that God often puts His greatest
ambassadors in chains. Brother Nee himself spent the last twenty
years of his life in the seclusion of a Communist prison. Is this not a
waste? It sometimes appears that the Lord of the Work is not
doing things correctly. We want to go out and the Lord tells us to
stay home. We want to stay home and the Lord tells us to go. He is
the Lord of the Work. I cannot explain everything He does, nor can I
understand. In humility we must bow down and say, "You are the Lord
of the Work, and I am only a worker. You are the Master, and I am the
servant. You know what You want and what You need far more than I
do. I only see a portion, but you see all things. So I submit myself
and my work to you!"
Brothers and sisters, this is the only safe way. Can
we submit ourselves to the Lord of the Work? Can we offer Him
our gifts, our talents, and our abilities on the altar and let Him
direct things? I believe that almost every apostle, prophet, or pastor
that has gotten off track has done so because of this very thing -
making the work of the Lord preeminent over the Lord of the Work. God
gives them a gift, or a calling, or a ministry, and they begin working at
it until they no longer need to be governed by the Holy Spirit. They
have to constantly put out and perform. Really, they are too
gifted. We need a little less giftedness and a lot more brokenness.
This is a painful thing - realizing that you have
labored in the flesh, labored for religion, built a house of straw on
some foundation other than Christ. But if we are so good at
our ministry that we don't need to hear from God and be governed by
His Spirit on a daily basis then we are far gone. We have left our
first love and made the work of the Lord more important than the Lord
of the Work.
We need to repent.
I need a ministry that is so impossible to perform
that apart from the miraculous, divine intervention of God it will be
absolutely nothing! God delights in the impossible because we are
forced to rely upon Him - anything less and we begin to imagine we
can do it. I need a gift from God that requires me to be on my face
before Him in order for it to operate. If I can get up in the morning and
just "work it" without Him and apart from Him then it is a dead
thing. There is no life apart from abiding, and outside of that abiding I
cannot draw upon the Life.
This is the only way the Lord will use something: if He can have the
preeminence. He must retain the first and the final place. He must be
the Head. The Lord of the Work is more important than
the work of the Lord. I pray we will grasp this truth and make the
necessary adjustments before it is too late and we suffer loss.
May this word convict our hearts. Amen.
- excerpt from Chip Brogden
http://www.TheSchoolOfChrist.Org
"Separate unto Me Barnabas and Saul for the work
whereunto I have called them" (Acts 13:2b).
There is a pressing need in the Body of Christ to
distinguish and discern the difference between the Lord of the Work
and the work of the Lord. How easy it is to confuse these two things
and treat them as one and the same. Yet the difference before God is
quite vast.
This difference was revealed to me several years ago.
I was conducting some meetings in Texas and attended a
ministerial luncheon consisting of local pastors. My presence as a visitor
was acknowledged and I was invited to stand and "share a
few words". What would I say to these pastors?
The Lord had already prepared my heart with a special
word just for them. I said, "Brothers, I came all the way from North
Carolina to remind you of one thing: the work of the Lord is NOT
the most important thing."
I allowed my words to sink into their hearing for a
moment and the silence was deafening. I understand now what Jesus
experienced when the Bible says that "He knew within Himself" that the
people questioned and doubted in their hearts. I could sense
this as these pastors silently wondered what could possibly be more
important than the work of the Lord.
"Brothers, the Lord of the Work is more important than
the work of the Lord," I said. And I sat down.
In my experience, fewer than one person out of one
thousand really understands this, even when they nod and say amen. I
am still growing in this revelation. I am constantly being reminded by
the Lord, "Chip, I am more important that your ministry. I am
your priority. This is My work, not yours. I reserve the right to
separate you for service or place you on the shelf. I reserve the right
to send you forth or keep you at home. The Lord of the Work is
more important than the work of the Lord. You keep saying this, but
you do not always practice it."
According to the Scriptures, the Kingdom of God exists
wherever Christ has the preeminence. To seek first the Kingdom
of God is to seek the preeminence of Jesus over all things. For
many years I assumed that seeking first the Kingdom of God meant to
seek first the work of the Lord - putting the ministry before
everything else, even before the needs of my family.
While my intentions were good, the Scripture does not
say, "Seek first the ministry." It says to seek first the Kingdom
of God. How does this apply to ministry? It means simply this: I
must be governed by the Lord of the Work, not the work of the Lord.
The "work of the Lord" tends to take on a life of its
own if we are not careful. We begin in the Spirit but then we use
fleshly means to perpetuate the ministry. I can say this because I have
been guilty of it. The thought and the intention may be good, but
before we realize it, the work of the Lord becomes preeminent over the
Lord of the Work. In fact, the minister, the pastor, the teacher,
the apostle, or the prophet assumes the position of the Lord of the
Work. How quickly the flesh comes in!
If God's Eternal Purpose is for Jesus to have the
preeminence over all things then this certainly includes the work. The
Lord of the Work does not change, but the work of the Lord is
constantly changing. The Lord of the Work governs the time, the
place, the people, the provision, and the assignment. All these
things may change as the Lord of the Work sees fit. He sets one
up and brings another down. He opens doors and closes them. He leads
us to speak or bids us to remain silent.
In the Book of Acts no one initiates anything. They
are wholly governed by the Holy Spirit. He sets people apart, He
sends them forth, He tells them where to go - forbidding them
from going tocertain places, only to send them later, when the time
is right. We do not find apostles or prophets or pastors "working
their gift" and going about willy-nilly, just doing whatever they feel
like doing.
Watchman Nee observed that God often puts His greatest
ambassadors in chains. Brother Nee himself spent the last twenty
years of his life in the seclusion of a Communist prison. Is this not a
waste? It sometimes appears that the Lord of the Work is not
doing things correctly. We want to go out and the Lord tells us to
stay home. We want to stay home and the Lord tells us to go. He is
the Lord of the Work. I cannot explain everything He does, nor can I
understand. In humility we must bow down and say, "You are the Lord
of the Work, and I am only a worker. You are the Master, and I am the
servant. You know what You want and what You need far more than I
do. I only see a portion, but you see all things. So I submit myself
and my work to you!"
Brothers and sisters, this is the only safe way. Can
we submit ourselves to the Lord of the Work? Can we offer Him
our gifts, our talents, and our abilities on the altar and let Him
direct things? I believe that almost every apostle, prophet, or pastor
that has gotten off track has done so because of this very thing -
making the work of the Lord preeminent over the Lord of the Work. God
gives them a gift, or a calling, or a ministry, and they begin working at
it until they no longer need to be governed by the Holy Spirit. They
have to constantly put out and perform. Really, they are too
gifted. We need a little less giftedness and a lot more brokenness.
This is a painful thing - realizing that you have
labored in the flesh, labored for religion, built a house of straw on
some foundation other than Christ. But if we are so good at
our ministry that we don't need to hear from God and be governed by
His Spirit on a daily basis then we are far gone. We have left our
first love and made the work of the Lord more important than the Lord
of the Work.
We need to repent.
I need a ministry that is so impossible to perform
that apart from the miraculous, divine intervention of God it will be
absolutely nothing! God delights in the impossible because we are
forced to rely upon Him - anything less and we begin to imagine we
can do it. I need a gift from God that requires me to be on my face
before Him in order for it to operate. If I can get up in the morning and
just "work it" without Him and apart from Him then it is a dead
thing. There is no life apart from abiding, and outside of that abiding I
cannot draw upon the Life.
This is the only way the Lord will use something: if He can have the
preeminence. He must retain the first and the final place. He must be
the Head. The Lord of the Work is more important than
the work of the Lord. I pray we will grasp this truth and make the
necessary adjustments before it is too late and we suffer loss.
May this word convict our hearts. Amen.
- excerpt from Chip Brogden
http://www.TheSchoolOfChrist.Org
