"Sarge"
Director NCFP
12 posts
Feb 16, 2009
6:36 AM
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Cleansing always precedes ministry in the Bible. Here's what I mean. In both the Old and New Testament God's people were required to be clean before they could serve Him in ministry. Consider the laver, one of the six pieces of furniture in the Old Testament tabernacle. The laver looked like a giant circular birdbath lined with mirrors (Exodus 38:8). Why was it lined with mirrors? So that when the priests went to wash themselves they saw their reflections and were prompted to cleanse both the outer and inner man. Listen to Moses' words from Exodus 40:30-32, "And he placed the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing. And from it Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. When they entered the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, just as the Lord had commanded Moses." Before Aaron and his sons could minister before the Lord they had to wash their hands and feet. For the priests, cleansing always preceded ministry.
In the New Testament we see that Christians are called God's holy nation, a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). Every believer is a believer-priest in the service of God. Believers are exhorted to "present their bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is their spiritual service of worship" (Romans 12:1, italics mine). Like the priests of old, all believer-priests are to be cleansed before they serve the Lord God in ministry. What cleanses a New Testament saint? Not the water of a laver. Christ Jesus has become our Laver. His blood is the water that cleanses sin (Hebrews 9:14, 1 John 1:7). His blood is powerful enough to cleanse all sin, past, present, and future. As theologians would say, His blood affords us sanctification in both our standing and our state.
Why am I telling you all this? Because it is imperative that the people of God walk in purity prior to entering into ministry. So often we get it backwards. Churches put men and women into positions of ministry as teachers, leaders, elders, etc. who are not walking in purity. They are still struggling with sexual sins in their personal lives and haven't found freedom. Yet, churches, in a desperate attempt to gain workers and fill slots, put the unclean in positions of ministry. That's backwards. They first need to be cleansed in their walk and then put into ministry. God wants to dispense the pure water of the Word through clean cups
Even in many men's ministries, men are encouraged to begin discipleship and Bible study programs without first becoming cleansed. Men need to go through Every Man's Battle For Purity before they sign up for Bible Study Fellowship, Iron Man, Men's Fraternity, Promisekeepers, or any other men's ministry program. All of those are excellent programs and serve men well, but unless men come into them sexually pure, we are putting the cart before the horse. The number one issue facing Christian men today is not lack of knowing what to do. It is sexual immorality. Unless we get that right, everything else is secondary. Cleansing precedes ministry.
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