What’s in a name? More than you can bargain for especially if God said it, for to dispute one biblical fact is to trash the Word of God in its entirety.
Revelation 22:19 warns against such action. Let me get into the subject for this week, which departs from the usual interviews we do. There is an aura around certain terms in Christian circles to the extent that some have become buzzwords.Some of these terms are from the Bible while others are not. They are used to inspire. Take, for instance, “God is good! All the time, God is good!” There is nowhere in the Bible that this statement appears, but believers understand that when they say this, they are acknowledging and professing God’s goodness, and taking different parts of Scripture to do so.
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| The reality of men of God |
Similarly, there are biblical terms that some congregants in certain churches use. They might understand what they mean and know the biblical references, but not all of them might have that level of understanding.
And neither do they really know why they are using them.
But they still use them.
This week, we examine one of these terms and ask the body of Christ what they know or understand about it. Are they competent to explain to others why they use it?
When you call your pastor, prophet, apostle, teacher or evangelist “man of God”, what are you saying to them and what is it communicating to you?
Are you saying so because every member of the congregation is calling them that?
Our intent is not to stir up controversy that does not have the backing of the Word of God because we strongly believe that the Word has ALL the answers to all the issues that we might be at variance with.
Many a time, some people might misinterpret the Word of God, but that does not mean the Lord is confused for He clearly sets out the goals and objectives of “all Scripture” in 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
So, how do you, as a believer, define “man of God” or what does it mean or imply to you?
How about your local assembly?
How about outsiders?
True, it is a biblical term, but is it being used to advance personal agendas?
Who is a man and/or woman of God and why? Are there true and false men of God? Why are there divisions in the body of Christ at that top level of men and women of God despite them serving in the biblically instituted five-fold ministry?
For in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, it says: “So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13, NIV)
The views in this piece are based on research material and personal experiences in churches the writer has visited.
So, how do we define men of God?
Alan Redpath in “The Making of a Man of God: Lessons From the Life of David” says, “Man of God is the description given to a man that follows God in every way, who obeys His commands with joy, who does not live for the things of this life but for the things of eternity, who willingly serves his God in giving freely of all his resources yet gladly suffers as a consequence of his faith.
“Perhaps Micah 6:8 sums up the man of God in one neat verse, ‘He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’”
Another social commentator says a “man of God” is “someone who has a close and personal relationship with God. He is working to honour the will of God in all facets of his life through thought, action and speech relationship.”
Perfection, holiness and purity are an issue and Redpath adds, “The man of God understands that when our Lord commanded him to ‘be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect’ (Matthew 5:48), he is only able to accomplish that because God enables him to be ‘holy and blameless in his sight’ (Ephesians 1:4) through His power and the indwelling of His Spirit. On our own, we are incapable of holiness and perfection, but through Christ who strengthens us, we can ‘do all things.’” (Philippians 4:13)
Redpath concludes that the bedrock to a successful life as a man or woman of God is Micah 6:8. It is “the principle that the man of God must follow: act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”
Mike Murdoch, in his book “The Law of Recognition”, gives important perspectives on men and women of God, which include:
1. True men of God are necessarily different because their assignments are different. Prophet Elijah’s assignment was different from that of Apostle Peter. In the local context, we can equally say Archbishop Ezekiel Guti of Zaoga FIF has a different assignment from that of Apostle Florence Kanyati of Glory Unlimited Ministries. God uses their differences in background, personality, gender, age and viewpoint to achieve His desired result.
2. Men of God do not always understand each other. Job says, “Great men are not always wise.” (Job 32:9) The mushrooming of churches is partly due to that, but sermons from men and women of God are testimony that they do not agree with each other and neither are some of them willing to submit one to another “as unto Christ”.
3. Men and women of God sometimes experience failure, too. If they had 100 percent success rate all the time, the need for people to move from one church to another, seeking solutions would be non-existent. Murdoch further says, “The man of God is a barometer for those to whom he is assigned. He feels their pain. He has tasted disappointment.”
Many of them testify to this during their sermons and in their autobiographies, for those that write.
4. Men and women of God sometimes rebel against their assignment. (Jonah 1-4) Ask most true men of God how easy it was for them to walk away from their lives of comfort in order to do God’s work.
5. Men and women of God often exude the authority of God that intimidates some while invigorating others. Peter and Paul were like that many times. Could this be the reason why some people think that the men and women of God they see or read about are arrogant?
6. Men of God may not be packaged as you anticipate. John the Baptist could never have passed out as a man of God. Are the apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists that shepherd you what you anticipated or you would rather move to another church because the packaging there is more appealing?
7. Men of God do not always have comfortable and enjoyable personalities. The way they handle themselves in church could be very different from the way they act when they are doing their worldly jobs, especially for those that are employed full time because the key result areas are different.
8. Men of God do not always recognise when God has spoken to another man of God. They simply must respect the fact that they, too, are men of God. (2 Chronicles 20:20)
We have seen our men and women of God undermining each other, but this does not disqualify their calling to be men and women of God.
9. Murdoch also warns that, “The price paid for ignoring a man of God is often devastating. Ignoring the man of God who fuels your faith can create a lifetime of losses. When you disrespect or disdain a man of God, tragedy may result. Disrespect of a man of God will create a loss of relationship with him.”
There are countless testimonies from people who failed to obey these parents in the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1)
10. And, recognition of a man of God creates access to him. (Read the Saul and David saga)
Murdoch also lists a number of hindrances to recognising a man of God:
1. Pride, guilt, jealousy can blind you to a man of God.
2. Wrong voices of influence can blind you to a man of God.
3. Prejudiced mentors can blind you to worthy men and women of God.
4. Arrogance can blind you to a man of God.
5. Your personal agenda can blind you to a man of God.
6. Familiarity often blinds you to men and women of God.
Feedback: tendai.manzvanzvike@zimpapers.co.zw
