“Good Ministry, as Opposed to the Other Kind”

Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:1-16

Dr. E. Max Case, director of the Indiana Office for Campus Ministries, calls the campus ministers to “Third Pig Thinking”. And his words are as appropriate to a church setting as they are to a campus setting.
It is easy, Case admits, for us to perceive ourselves as three poor, little pigs about ready to be gobbled by the Big Bad Wolf (government, church bureaucracy, or life in general). Furthermore, Case also admits that there are legitimate reasons to cry “Wolf!” in churches today. But the only way the church will survive is to shift from simplistic first and second pig thinking to innovative third pig thinking. It requires that we make a radical shift, a leap of faith, trying something no pigs have tried before; and that shift requires a clearer grasp of the wolf as our teacher.
The basic shift from first and second pig thinking to third pig thinking is the Easter shift from being victims of forces beyond our control (first and second pig thinkers) to stepping up and taking on the wolves in our midst (third pig thinkers) through the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.
--E. Max Case, A Modern Adaptation of a Fairy Tale: The Wolf as Teacher, unpublished manuscript.

I might also add to Mr. Case’s thoughts that, in addition to being more innovative, the third pig was more securely grounded and far better prepared than the other 2 when the wolf showed up on his doorstep!
And the wolf is only too happy to hang out at our doors, too – checking out the condition of our spiritual house, and if it turns out to be too strong to knock down, he will just wait to see if we open the door for him.

The church and her ministries are truly symbolized by this fairy tale, so let’s review the story, just in case it’s been a few years since you read it.

The 3 young pigs leave their Mother and the safety of their home, and strike out into the world to make their own way. They realize that they each need to construct a new home for themselves, and the first 2 pigs decide to take the easy way out – the first builds his home out of straw and the second builds his out of sticks. It was easier to work with these materials, and it took much less time to build.
But the third pig took the more involved way – he built his home out of bricks. Bricks were heavier and required a lot more exertion and a lot more time to compete the project. And yet, bricks were his chosen material, and the decision proved to be most fortunate.

It wasn’t long before the wolf heard about the new comers in the neighborhood, and he decided to pay them a “visit”. The first 2 didn’t last long, and the homes of each quickly fell apart at the wolf’s attacks. But the house that the third pig built was too strong for the wolf’s normal approach, so he tried some very devious means. He would invite the pig to join him to search for food, or to go out and have some fun, but each time, the pig was wary of the wolf’s invitations to join him, and he got the better of the deal every time.
Eventually, the wolf became angry at the pig for always seeing through his deceptions, so he decided to attack the house from its most vulnerable position – the chimney. But even though the 3rd little pig was very frightened over this new assault, he hit upon an ingenious way to defeat the wolf, and it became the permanent solution.

Read 1 Timothy 4:1-5

The church and her people need to begin with a firm foundation – knowing what is God’s truth and what is not. And that’s not always easy to discover! That’s why we have Bible studies and Sunday School and worship and other gatherings to sort through the possible interpretations of a passage, and to discover the truth of scripture and it’s meaning for our lives.
The truth can easily be misrepresented and distorted, if we take the easy way. Verse 4 tells us that “everything God created is good”, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be misused, misstated, misinterpreted, or rendered totally indistinguishable from its original meaning.
- The wolf invites the 3rd little pig to go dig turnips and pick fruit, and while those would normally be honorable pastimes, the wolf only had one meal on his mind, and it wasn’t vegetarian! He fully intended to use these invitations to ensure that his next meal was pork!
- When this approach fails, the wolf then invites the pig to join him in a relaxing time at the fair, but the invitation was only one more cover story that would have no relation whatsoever to his real intent.
All the wolf really wanted from the pig was for him to open the door so that his evil plan could play out.
All Satan wants from us to think is that the easy way is quite satisfactory. And if we take a different tact, he will work to get us to open the door of our hearts. For ultimately, his only desire is that we allow him access to the life that is growing within us, so that he can steal it away.

Read 1 Timothy 4:6-10

If we stay close to Christ, and give serious study to His teaching, we will see the world’s wily ways for what they truly are – lies and deceptions. Verse 6 tells us that we will be good ministers of Jesus Christ if we expose these lies and half truths to our brothers and sisters. But even then, we must be very careful that we aren’t pulled into the dark web. The closer we get to evil, the greater the chance that we might fall, but we can never forget that our ministry, in order to give glory God’s plan, will always take us into those trying places. The only way to stay strong is by putting on the armor of God, but that‘s a whole other topic for another day.

As an example of this issue of being lead astray from the way of the Lord, I would offer the following story:

Criminologist Byron Johnson of Lamar University in Texas complains that government will endorse everything from pet therapy to acupuncture for prisoners, but you'd better not mention God.
As an example of this, U. S. News & World Report, in [a 1996] cover article on “The Faith Factor”, illustrated the degree of government paranoia about religion by citing the sad case of Detroit's “Joy of Jesus” ministry. Here was a social program that offered job training along with Bible lessons, prayer and faith-centered discussions about the problems of life. Michigan officials, impressed with the ministry's success rate, offered state funding with one condition -- give up the prayers and Bible study.
The ministry reluctantly agreed.
The result? Where once the program had placed 60 percent of its students in jobs, the program's success rate, after state backing, began to approach zero. Eventually the ministry returned the state money and got back to its original mission.
-- U. S. News & World Report, 121, September 9, 1996, 46-53.

Enough said?

Read 1 Timothy 4:11-16

These last few verses give us some very important instructions, and we need to listen very closely.
1) We are to be diligent in the ministry that we are called to, and in all things, whatever, whenever, and wherever the Lord leads us, we are to teach that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and that He is the only Hope of the world.
2) We will, in all probability, have some misgivings about who we witness to, but we can never let our fears deter us. Paul uses the example of being younger than those we are called to minister to, but it could just as easily be “They are smarter”, or “richer”, or “more highly educated”, or “hold a higher position”, or some other major worldly distinction.
But if we feel strongly that God wants us to say or do something, then we are to do it, and not worry about the consequences.
3) In all things, we are to use the gifts that God has given us, and to use them to His glory and in His way. We may be tempted to advance our own personal agenda or to gain some glory for ourselves, but if we do, our efforts are going to fail miserably. Know for certain that God is calling you to some particular purpose, and then go and do it!

The little pig knew who the wolf was, and knew what he was up to, and knew how he operated. This, along with the excellent preparations he had made, is what saved his life. He saw the lies for what they were, and he stayed in the truth that he knew to be sure. He didn’t stop eating – he simply found a better time to gather his food. He didn’t shut himself up in the house – he went out and had fun at a time when the wolf wasn’t around. And when the direct attack happened, he used innovative means to defeat his enemy.

Can we do any less in our service for Jesus Christ? Do we know the truth about both our Lord and the enemy? We had better know - they both are knocking on our door – do we know which one is which? Will we see through the cunning lies that may seem to ring with the truth, but in reality, are nothing less than methods designed to lure us to our death? And are we willing to try a new approach to ministry – one that will address a specific concern or need, or one that will speak to someone in a way that they will be able to understand?

May our ministries always be based in “third pig thinking”, to borrow the phrase from Max Case. And come to think about it, is being a pig any worse than being a sheep? Jesus will love us, regardless!