I have often come against the statement, "I'm not getting fed." I am so perplexed at how a believer can sit in a church with a Bible in hand and say, "I'm not getting fed." Every example of this that I find in scripture is not good. In the Apostle Paul's ministry (which ought to be an anointed, successful ministry) he had the same difficulty. He labored beyond compare feeding the sheep. Yet, continuously he saw little growth. He said the burden of all the churches rested on him like a heavy weight. He cried out to God that they would grow up, that they would understand, and that they would become established in their faith.
Many times he had to teach the same things over and over again. As soon as he would leave one area, false teachers would come in and undo everything he worked so hard to build. The believers seemed to enjoy error and repeatedly rejected the truth.
In today's society the establishing of doctrine rests squarely on the Pastor. If there is anything wrong in the church, the Pastor is to blame. I can see that line of thinking, but that would be like saying Jesus failed in his ministry, as did Paul, Peter, John, and others.
In Acts 22 beginning in verse 17 we read about the testimony that the Apostle Paul gave to the Israelites in Jerusalem about his years of ministry among the Gentiles. He explains how his ministry got started and progressed. As he told them about his Damascus experience, when he met the Lord, he said he then returned to Jerusalem and entered the temple to pray. In verse 17 he states, “17 When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw the Lord speaking. ‘Quick!’ he said to me. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19 “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these men know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. 20 And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ 21 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”” When Paul mentioned his Gentile ministry the crowd he was addressing raised their voices to drown him out and the Romans had to take Paul out of the midst of them.
The reason I mentions this incident in Paul’s life is to note what Jesus said to Paul, “Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.” Even the Lord recognized that no matter how great a man of God Paul may have been, he had to be where people would accept his ministry. Paul struggled for years in his early ministry until he received the Macedonian Call and entered into the Greek nations of his time. Immediately he began to have massive success and entire Greek cities turned to the Lord.
However, whenever Paul tried to minister among Jewish believers, there was always opposition to his message. There were places that Paul actually shook the dust off of his feet and never went back. To some he even said, “Since you... do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.”
Pisidian Antioch
This was the critical turning point in the ministry of Paul. Even though his zeal was for his own people, the Lord had called him to the Gentiles. As long as he stayed with the Gentiles, he was received, but when he turned back to try to reach the Jewish believers, he was rejected. This moment in his ministry is so important, let’s look at it in Acts, when Paul came to the city of Pisidian Antioch and taught in the Jewish synagogue:
“ 42As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. 43 When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. 49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. 51 So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 13:42-52
There is so much going on in this brief passage, but there are also two critical things about Paul’s ministry mentioned here. First, jewish believers would never receive Paul’s ministry. They remained bound up in the Law of Moses. Secondly everywhere Paul ministered the Gentile believers turned out in droves. Even though Paul’s primary interest was to reach his own people, from the very beginning God had called him as an Apostle to the Gentiles. When he first got saved the Lord said, “Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” Even during this uproar in Pisidian Antioch Paul admits, “For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
Paul always struggled with the desire to bring salvation to his fellow Israelites. The great burden on his heart was the fact that he could even see in the Scriptures that they were going to reject their Messiah. Even though he finally admitted this at Pisidian Antioch and shook the dust of of his feet, he never let go of it in his heart. That’s what brought him to his fatal mistake in ministry — going back to Jerusalem and confronting the legalist Jewish believers with the true liberty that is found in Christ.
“Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” were the last words Paul got to say to his own people at Jerusalem. As he watched their reaction, he knew he would never be received by them. After all those years of crying out to God for his countrymen, Paul finally accepted the call of God and turned completely to the Gentiles. God had to take Paul by force, far away from the Jerusalem church, bound in chains, never to return. God’s intent was for Paul to serve in Rome, but when it became obvious, he, like Jonah, went the exact opposite way and returned to Jerusalem.
God Never Fails
We can see that God recovered Paul and his ministry, but he was never free to leave Rome from that time forward. God’s will prevailed over Paul’s love for his own people. Paul’s greatest revelation was the same revelation I want to give you today — you must go where your ministry is received. You must stay within your calling. You cannot let even your desire, even for your own family’s salvation, to lead you off the course God has chosen for your ministry. In short, that day when Paul was arrested, he finally said, “I understand, Lord, you don’t want me here.” Pastor Richard Crisco from Rochester First Assembly in Michigan said this, “I don’t go where I am tolerated, I go where I am celebrated.” Now we know why even Jesus could not do many mighty works in his hometown — he wasn’t celebrated as the Messiah.
This life changing revelation that Paul had shows itself in many of the writings he made to the churches and to Timothy. He gives instructions to fellow ministers not to make the same mistake. Shake the dust off your feet. Don’t strive with people. Go where you are received and believed. Stay within your call, and many other faithful sayings. God is looking to make us successful in ministry. He can only do that when we recognize that some places just won’t receive what you have to say. In 1st Corinthians 9:2 Paul shares this with the Corinthian church, “Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.”
I believe this revelation will also deal with the problem many believers face with “not being fed.” If they know they are where the Lord wants them to be, then they need to begin to learn to receive what their ministry offers, because obviously someone’s getting fed, or there wouldn’t be a ministry. Too often people come to change a ministry, instead of accept the ministry that they are offered.
Acceptance is the seal of where you are called, both for the minister and as one being ministered to. May we have the same understanding that it took Paul many years to learn — don’t be guided by the “need” be guided by the “call.” Therein lies your victory.