Covert Ministry

But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: (Matthew 6:3)

I want us to look at Mordecai to understand this verse.

I do not think many believers appreciate that the depths of God’s revelation in His word is as deep and unfathomable as God is.

We can mine the truths from God’s word and never exhaust them.

But I want us to go to the Old Testament to get the clearest understanding of what Christ meant when He gave the instruction in this verse.

And we will look at two things that Mordecai did.

He raised Esther as his daughter when she became an orphan.

Imagine he ordered Esther to never mention that fact!

To imagine that even when he was pleading with her to go to the king he never even once reminded her of the fact that he raised her. He simply used other arguments.

He then saved the king’s life from an assassination.

Yet from the reading of the book it appears that he also ‘ordered’ that what he did is never mentioned anywhere. But God ensured that it was recorded.

Otherwise imagine with me that that fact had gone out.

Do you think that he could have continued being just a gate keeper? Do you even imagine Haman imagining about scheming about him? Do you think the king could have allowed him lie wasting at the gate?

Had his intervention for the king become public, the people at the gate would have been the ones prostrating before him, and not through the king’s order.

Haman could have been told something like this when his fellow gatekeepers were reporting his defiance.

‘This guy refuses to bow before you. But he is the one who saved the king from an assassination.’

Do you think Haman could have even thought of laying a hand on him?

Yet this great man buried his good deeds, refusing to exhume them even when his life was in danger yet doing so would have given him immediate relief.

Such giving is the product of great faith in God. It is the product of someone whose walk with God is not subject to any external prompting.

Though Joseph was as great, you remember him telling the cupbearer to remember him to pharaoh, though for God’s purposes to succeed the guy forgot until the right time came.

But Mordecai left the right time completely in God’s hands through his acts.

No wonder the king was shocked when he discovered that the inconspicuous character minding his gate had saved his life, even worse, that he had received nothing in exchange. He was also shocked to later learn that he was his de facto father-in-law.

That is why he was elevated so highly after what he had concealed became public.

Even his fellow gatekeepers looked at him with awe after knowing the kind of person they had been treating as one of them.

Reminds me of this verse

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: (1Peter 5:6)

I can only humble myself when I am completely surrendered to the authority I am submitting to.

That is how Mordecai was.

He gave and gave and completely forgot. Because he had actually given as his worship to the God he knew.

That is how Christ expects us to give, not only of our resources, but of ourselves as well.

Otherwise our giving will fall way below the threshold He can accept.

Further

I want us to look at the application and implications of giving like Mordecai did. That is giving and CHOOSING to completely forget it.

We have Mordecai and Barnabas as examples, one in the OT and the other in the New.

I have used the word choosing intentionally. And it is because it is impossible for the left hand not to know what the right is doing since both are part of the same body.

It is also akin to what God did for our justification.

He paid for our sins and completely forgets them when we choose to accept that sacrifice.

That does not mean He deletes our past or formats the hard disk that is our past.

He simply starts with us afresh from the point at which we accept that sacrifice.

Otherwise tell me why the Bible says that we will give an account of ourselves before God. Or that we will give an account of every idle word we speak.

God chooses to treat us as if we never sinned due to the fact that Jesus paid for our sins.

And like I always like us to never forget, free does not mean without cost. It simply means that somebody else bore the cost of what we are enjoying for free.

Again, look at verses like these

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. (Hebrews 10: 26, 27)

Playing with grace means that we are trashing the sacrifice that paid for the salvation we received free. Meaning that we have disqualified ourselves from the payment of our redemption.

This in effect means that our relationship with God is reset to the point at which we were before accepting that sacrifice, only that this time we have no option of accessing that forgiveness, more like it happened with the evil one.

Mordecai’s giving is a giving that has zero expectation of reward. It is a complete release of the gift.

One does not hold the recipient of the gift to account for its reception.

And that is why the word choosing is so significant.

Human nature says that nothing is free. Someone must return the hand (a direct translation from Kiswahili) to be a receiver, and that from the giver.

But grace says otherwise.

What are the rewards of such giving? I know someone is wondering.

It releases the giver to focus on their assignment without distractions.

You see, had Mordecai not released his giving, he could have very easily sunk to depression with disappointment.

He could have thought something like this.

Imagine this girl I raised and she is giving reasons instead of jumping to my defence! Or, how can this king whose life I saved not concerned to even know who saved his life?

Releasing the gift released him to fight for the whole nation of Israel instead on focusing on his self preservation. It allowed him to rally the whole nation to a common cause, something he could not have done had he focused on an expectation of reward for his giving.

Releasing a gift thus simply means that one is releasing it to God and allowing God to use it as He wills.

 

Shifting Sands

I was praying and this thought crossed my head.

It is a very rude thought and for some could be extremely offensive.

But allow me to have a verse to get us into spiritual thinking

Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. (1Corinthians 7:20)

Have you wondered how some people, especially ministers, live?

Has it occurred to you that the only situation you can assess is your own? And even that you are not even clear about many aspects?

Allow me to introduce another verse

Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)

Has it occurred to you that God will never consult you before calling anybody into His service? Do you know that each and every minister in the whole world is only accountable to that calling Authority? That even when you are entrusted with oversight it is only as a supervisor of sorts to make the servant be more effective to the One who called him?

Why am I using all these words to say a very simple thing?

In my decades of ministry, I have clashed severally with ministers because they have made themselves God’s prefects, wanting to micromanage or even determine others’ calling and ministry.

Some have blatantly said that what God has ordered one to do or how He has ordered them to do it is wrong because it does not agree with their calling or methods.

Some will go as far as saying that what a minister is doing borders on sin and rebellion because it does not fit into their rudder of ministry and calling.

There are some ministers (many times senior ministry or church operatives) who will trash you because you do not fit into their support structures.

Some will blatantly tell you that they cannot partner with you because you think and get support ambiguously (wrongly according to them).

But allow me to ask some questions

Are you the one who called them? Are they serving you? Are they accountable to you as per their calling? Do you feed them? Do you open ministry doors for them?

You see, we will all stand (individually) at the judgment seat of Christ.

It is therefore wise to view everything in that context.

Even that pittance you use to intimidate God’s ministers into serving you really does not come from you. You only give, however grudgingly, what you have also received.

The fact that you have been given the oversight role (and we might even question by who) does not make you the final authority in all things ministry. The fact that God used you into His calling someone into ministry does not make you the determinant of every detail of that ministry.

Let us get to the Bible for context.

Barnabas rescued Paul from rejection and discipled him into ministry. Yet we do not make this great man making any demands on his disciple.

He then takes Mark.

But Paul will have none of that, trashing this deserter and in a way disqualifying Barnabas’ ministry because he did not think Mark deserved a second chance.

But Barnabas knew what he was called to and separated with this success he had made to continue functioning in his calling.

We later see the same Paul, not only commending Mark, but pleading to have him, calling him useful for ministry.

The fact that Paul succeeded in ministry does not mean that Barnabas’ ministry was not of God. It just means that God holds someone accountable to what He has called him to.

And the fact that we have the book of Mark and Paul’s plea for Mark to be brought is proof that Barnabas was right in disagreeing with Paul to be able to walk in his calling.

I can only understand my ministry and calling. I am unable to understand even my children’s callings though I brought them up because they really belong to God and I was just a steward to guide them to hear God for themselves.

But allow me to be rude for you who think that because someone is calling you dad or mom (whatever that means) you are the ultimate in wisdom concerning their ministry, calling, support and so on.

Do you feed them? Do you give them peace? Do you give them fulfilment as they serve God?

Thou fool

Just because someone has chosen to serve God different from the way God clearly spoke to you about the way you do, are they not still serving?

Are those you trashed not having an impact for God?

Do those you trashed the way they raise (or refuse) to raise support live off your gifts after you threw them under the bus for rejecting your wisdom?

Are those whose Bible training you refused because they had used a different method or received a different order not even better educated than you?

Are those you kicked out of ministry or church not still ministering?

Are those support you cut without notice starving?

Are the children of those you kicked out of ‘your’ church starving as you had thought?

I will repeat again and again.

God is the ONLY ONE who calls people to HIS MINISTRY.

It is His calling and His ministry and we better remove ourselves from that.

We will be judged very harshly by taking that singular mandate just because He has made us under shepherds.

And for emphasis let me get us to a few crazy situations in the scriptures.

What would you have done if you were Isaiah’s bishop when he walked naked for three years?

What would you have said if Hosea was in your congregation when he chose to marry a known harlot, twice?

What would you have said to Philip when he left a revival meeting to run to the desert?

What would you have done to Jeremiah for refusing to get married among many other crazy things he did?

What would you have done to Elijah for staying with a heathen widow for years?

What would you have said to Elisha when he destroyed his source of livelihood to prepare a farewell party to join a prophet that nobody knew how he operated or even where he lived?

What would you have said to Amos who left his going concern farm to take a message to a far-off enemy land?

Could you have been Jonah’s advisor when he ran off instead of taking on the crazy assignment God was giving him?

What I am saying that you should leave God to deal with His servants.

Assist when you can. Counsel when opportunity comes your way. Empower when it is in your power.

But never forget this simple fact.

Each one of those people are directly called by God, even those you think are not called.

And I am speaking from some experience.

There are people who from my view were not called looking at the circumstances around that calling and even their testimony and claim of that calling.

But that did not stop them from doing wonders in the ministry they in my view had called themselves into.

Please stop pretending to be God’s prefect because He has none that he has given that job.

Spiritualised Corruption

And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper. (2Chronicles 13:12)

Many Christian nations are reeling with disappointment and dismay at the way they have been played by the political class.

They wonder how easily they were duped into trusting the untrustworthy, believing the lies of perennial liars.

The sad part is that the spiritual leaders are groaning as much, if not more loudly, than the flock.

Allow me to look at some politicians in the scriptures, the first being this character Abijah, or Abijam in 1 Kings. It would be wise if you read the whole chapter.

The Bible plainly says that he was a wicked king.

Yet he was able to apparently bring God into his side in a war against a superior army.

How was he able to do it?

I know to some that is the million-dollar question.

He was able to do that by basically preaching God to Jeroboam. He was able to do that by painting God’s nature accurately to everybody listening. He was able to do it by broadcasting God’s word and attributes to his audience.

I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. (Psalm 138:2)

And God is activated by His word accurately quoted. He responds to His revelation when it is quoted, irrespective of who is quoting it.

I want us to look at another politician in the scriptures, this time the son of Ahab, the most wicked king Israel had.

And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab! (2Kings 3:10)

This king quoted God wrongly, ascribing to Him a scheme to finish His people, and this in the presence of a worshipful king.

That activated God to act since it really was His name that was on the block as He had done with Abijah.

Simply speaking, God is bound to His word and will not allow it to lose its power at any time.

That is why, even when it is accurately proclaimed by the wicked, it must have effect.

Then said Yahweh to me, You have well seen: for I watch over my word to perform it. (Jeremiah 1:12, WEB)

Looking at the last campaigns in Kenya, most of the politicians became very devout at the mouth level.

But after they were elected, they became just like their fellow politician Abijah. They then had nothing to conceal since they had got what they were looking for. I remember a classmate who got ‘saved’ to be made a prefect and ‘backslid’ when his term ended. And I say it because he had informed me of his plot.

They had simply used God and His word to further their ambitions.

But they are not to blame, though they will one time stand before God to give an account for their conduct.

There is one group fully to blame for misleading Kenyans, and that is the spiritual leaders; the prophets, bishops, pastors and their ilk.

Why do I say so?

You can not blame the chameleon for changing its colours since that is its nature. It is being true to the way it was created.

But a spiritual leader is different since he must prepare the people he leads for whatever their choices will release.

And an example is in order.

Remember when Israel asked for a king? In our times we might say that they voted unanimously for a king.

Yet what did Samuel do?

He said something like this.

It is fine that this is the way you are exercising your democratic right.

Yet listen to what heaven is saying.

That vote will bring about these consequences.

They could not therefore feign ignorance when the consequences caught up with them.

But look at our prophets!

They joined the campaign team and endorsed the chameleon, implying that it had changed into something else just because it used the scriptures accurately.

And that is why we have a verse like this in the scriptures

Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment. (James 3:1)

Leading has its cost because of the trust it attracts.

I remember once trying to expose a pyramid scheme making rounds in a church and was met with this response

‘Do you think you hear God better than our pastors who are in it?’

But that did not prevent them from being swindled

That is why the culprits in this deception are the spiritual leaders because they abused the trust vested in them to look for those envelopes at the expense of telling their flock what heaven was saying, not only about their choices, but especially about the consequences of those choices.

I am not absolving the politicians for chamelioning. But they were simply playing in their league, for which they will also give an account.

It is the prophet who allowed them to do it on their pulpits and even went ahead to advise their flock that they were God-ordained without any caveat. This has no excuse.

Again I am not saying that they could have campaigned for the alternative since even that was as chameleonic as any other.

They simply ought to have used their pulpits to share God’s word as revealed and leave politics to the politicians. And if they must speak about politics and politicians, a thing that many times accompanies the proclamation of God’s word, they share only what God is saying and not their opinions on this or the other. Because God must have a word in season even for such times.

Taking sides in politics is against the high calling God’s ministry aspires. It is not much different from leaving the pulpit for a political seat.

Incidentally I am writing this as a spiritual leader just asking that we search our hearts and return to what God has called us to.

Incidentally the judgment of that conduct is loading