Productive and not Popular

“And when they had found him, they said unto him, All [men] seek for thee.” (Mr 1:37 AV)

Just because ministry is popular does mean is it productive.  In the first chapter of Mark, three times, the LORD avoids increased ministry.  In the case above, Jesus removes to the open sea.  In the second case, he removes to a mountain top.  In the third case, he tells a man made whole from disease not to tell anyone and because he ignored the LORD’s request, had to go out to the desert.  In today’s pragmatic churches, the more people who come, the more successful you are.  This is not necessarily true.  Had Jesus stayed where He was and catered to the needs of those who thronged Him, He could have conquered a nation.  If all Jesus wanted was to win a popularity contest, He could have waved his hand and solved everyone’s problems.  He could have fed them with manna from heaven.  He could have conquered Rome.  He could have healed everyone’s diseases, rose all the dead from the grave, repaired every broken home, and made sure no one went hungry.  If Jesus wanted to, He could have created a perfect world wherein peace and contentment reigns.  Oh, wait, He will do that for 1,000 years.  The vast majority of the world will reject Him, anyway.

Just because there appears to be ministry, the ministry that appears may not be the ministry that God desires.  Just because people are beating a path to your door does not mean your product is automatically good for them.  Popularity rarely means profitability.  What man wants may not be all that good for them.  When it comes to ministry, changed lives and hearts is what God seeks.  Hunger pains may cease.  The lame may walk and the blind may see.  Wars may cease.  But if man remains the same creature as he always has been, then nothing eternal has transpired.  This is the point of Christ’s pattern of rejecting ministry.  To what end?  Most ministry is geared to gathering the largest crowd possible.  Most ministry is in competition with others to be as outwardly successful as the last.  Changed lives may or may not be a byproduct, but it is not the goal.  Bigger buildings.  More people.  A larger staff.  A famous name.  These are the aspirations of most ministries today.  How do we know?

It is interesting that Mark shows us a side of Christ that is much needed today.  When studying the life of Christ, He stressed smaller ministry over bigger ministry.  He may have preached the sermon on the mount, fed the multitudes, and ministered to whole towns.  But the vast majority of his time was spent with individuals.  From the healing of the Centurions servant to raising a young lady from the dead, Jesus tended to spend His time with individuals.  This is the manner in which ministry is designed.  Ministry was not intended to be a group event.  Ministry is personal.  Ministry is specialized.  Jesus declined to reach the masses, at least in the first chapter of Mark, because to do so would limit His ministry to temporal, and not eternal, needs.  In today’s climate of ministry, we are failing.  Generally, if reaching the masses is our model, the ministry flames out.  It may be popular for the moment, but something else will take its place.  Rather, we need to learn how Jesus did ministry.  He reached Samaria by reaching an adulterous yet humble woman.  He reached the world was spending much time with twelve.  Perhaps if we turn down the popular and stress the individual, that in the long run, we will accomplish more for Christ.