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CSC: WELS Topical Q&A: The Church and Its Ministry: Divine Call: Feedback on a Call to Serve as Missionary

I read the posting today with the heading of QUESTION ABOUT THE CALL TO SERVE AS MISSIONARY. This is purely a question. I do not have any personal agenda in this regard. Mark ch9 reads 38 ‘‘Teacher,” said John, ‘‘we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”
39 ‘‘Do not stop him,” Jesus said. ‘‘No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us." (NIV)
It appears the apostles also struggled with the call.htmlects of public ministry, if I read these passages correctly. It appears (correct my misconception) that Jesus is saying that if someone is carrying out a "public ministry" without a call from the visible church and is doing it in full accord with His Word that we should not judge it as invalid or somehow inferior. I have seen what appears to be boastful pride among a few called workers in WELS regarding their call rather than the humble servitude that such a call requires. I think the apostles also struggled with this ( from Mark 10 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. ‘‘Teacher,” they said, ‘‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
36 ‘‘What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
37 They replied, ‘‘Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
38 ‘‘You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. ‘‘Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
39 ‘‘We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, ‘‘You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, ‘‘You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (NIV)

Thanks and God' Blessings

Thanks for writing. The attitude and activities you are addressing are not the same of the original question or answer, but there's nothing wrong with expanding our focus.

There is nothing that tells us the disciples' concern, expressed in Mark 9:38 or Luke 9:49 was centered in any "call to do public ministry." It seems more likely they had concerns about "quality control" or perhaps it was simply a parochial spirit that was slow to acknowledge the work of anyone beyond their own small group.

Nothing indicates that the person driving out demons in Jesus' name was doing "public ministry" and there is no hint of anyone calling him to do this (other than God or the Holy Spirit, of course). The safest assumption is that the unnamed believer was simply serving his Savior and other people in what we may call "personal ministry" or as an expression of his being a part of the "universal priesthood of all believers." And Jesus clearly reminds everyone that Christian ministry is to be a cause for joy anywhere and everywhere we see it.

You mention that you have observed or perceived what appears to be boasting or sinful pride--and perhaps a lack of a servant attitude--in some public ministers. I hope that you did just what Christ did--rebuke the bad attitude and serve to replace it with a better one, one that seeks to serve in humility. The Bible verses you cite are useful for this, as are quite a few others.

But, again, the focus on these weaknesses in the disciples really was not centered specifically in "public ministry" carried out on behalf of fellow believers. It applies to all ministry, all service carried out in Christ's name and by all believers who have the privilege of serving others.

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