And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea... and going from them, he saw other two brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, ... mending their nets and he called them. Matthew 4:19-21
As we look at those that God called and used for His purposes, we will find no one that was idle. All of them were busy at one work or the other. It is very sad to see people, today, who come into ministry because there is nothing else to do. Yet they gather people to themselves, claiming that Jesus called them, and when they are accosted, they say you are judging them, and that only Jesus who called them can do so. True, no one should judge them, but they cannot stop us from judging what they are doing in the name of the Lord. From what we know of Jesus, and how He called His disciples, we have no record of Him calling anyone because such a person had nothing else to do with his life.
People looking for places of worship will be safe if they will ask, "Before God called you, what were you doing?" This is not just a New Testament phenomena, it has its root in the Old Testament. Men like Moses, David, Elisha, and Joshua, were all met doing some form of work or the other. According to Jesus, if one is faithful with a little, more will be given to him. But to come from doing nothing into the ministry of Jesus is unlike any record that we have of those He called into ministry before us.
Idle men coming into ministry have caused more problems in the church than any other group of people. Most of the 'money in the mouth' ministries have arisen from men who came into ministry because they had nothing else to do. For them, ministry is all about 'making it'. When you see what they do in the name of ministry, you will wonder if this is all ministry is about. Someone once said that if this was all he saw before he gave his life to Christ, he would have preferred to remain unsaved. How sad? But can we do anything about this? I believe that in our little corners we can make our voices heard against what we know to be biblically incorrect that people are doing.
Toni
