Devotional - June 17, 2004

Barnabas was indeed a good man. Nothing greater can be said about someone than what Luke the Gentile physician said of him. Barnabas the encourager, as we've come to know him, was indeed fueled by his love for Jesus, fired up by the Holy Spirit who controlled him and faithful to act on what God called him to do.

And what does a good man do when faced with a task too large for one person to accomplish? Why, he goes and gets help, doesn't he? Perhaps nothing is more amazing about the early church than the fact that God put people in the right place to use the equipment he had given them. Barnabas and Saul found a great need in Antioch and the people of the city found two men with ability and desire to do a great work for God.

Today I fear we as Christians have become lethargic when it comes to working for God. Webster puts it this way: "Lethargic adj. Abnormally drowsy or dull, sluggish, etc." Yep, that's a good word to describe what we as members of the church have become.

In a world that's dying, we have seemingly considered the church to be something that Jesus never intended. We act like its little more than a membership club offering isolation from the evil in the world. We've become content with the status quo and patiently wait to die when we'll be given a fine church sendoff where we'll receive eternal reward for being moral and staying current with our membership fee.

Is that picture too harsh? Perhaps, but what prospers such a statement is the way we've learned to conduct "business" in church today. First, we only appoint professional "clergy" to lead us. This term is defined in the dictionary as an ordained person who performs religious service. Next, we regard everyone else as a "layman" whom Webster defines as those who are not clergy. Laymen may or may not perform religious service, but if so, they do so under accountability to the clergy. That may sound right to some, but it's not how the first church worked and it's not how the church is supposed to work in any age.

Are you suffering under the deception that only ordained ministers are to minister to the church? If so, you have the opinion of the majority of Christians today, but would have more than likely been confronted by Saul and Baranbas for spreading manure instead of the word of God.

If you call yourself a Christian and don't minister to others through the special equipping of the Holy Spirit, you're rendering God as optional equipment in your life. Call God what you will, but I don't think you should call His calling optional.

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru ( 1 Ki. 18:1-46 Ac. 11:1-30 Ps. 135:1-21 Pr. 17:12-13 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society