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These study notes are designed to be a guide for those wishing
to get involved in ‘Christian ministry’, whether it be washing
up cups after the service or travelling to China to preach the
gospel! In addition, much of the following will be valuable for
those already in ministry, especially those who have become
run-down by the constant pressures that are often experienced.
Whilst on the
surface, we may think that the subject of ‘ministry’ affects
those who have a particular ‘calling’, it will be seen that this
is an area that affects (or should affect!) all those who would
profess to serve and follow Jesus Christ.
What is ‘Ministry’?
Christians are
particularly good at speaking in ‘Christianese’! We use words
that no one in the world has a clue about in our attempts to
successfully communicate the gospel. So before we look any
further, it would be helpful to explain what we mean by the term
‘ministry’.
The dictionary
defines ‘Minister’ as ‘someone who attends to people’s needs’,
so therefore it follows that a ministry is the carrying-out of
Jobs that we do
in order to attend to those needs. More specifically, ‘Christian
ministry’ is the jobs that we do in, or for, the church in order
to meet the needs of both those inside, and those outside the
church.
What is the purpose of ministry?
The main purpose
of all Christian ministries is to bring those ‘outside the
church’ into a relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord and
Saviour. Then, once this is achieved, the objective is to teach
and equip these people to build and live their lives based on
God’s Word - The Bible. As a result, we then nurture these
people so that they too may get involved in ministry; and so it
continues until the time when Jesus returns for His church.
This is summarised in the famous passage found at the end of
Matthew’s gospel that has become known as the ‘great
commission’. Jesus says: "All
authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you;
and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
(Matt 28:18-20)
We are to: 1)
make disciples, 2) baptise them into the faith, and 3) teach
them.
Who is eligible for ministry?
The following
passage, also from Matthew, makes it clear that anyone who
professes to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, should be
involved in some form of ministry.
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.
And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of
Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is
not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he
who loses his life for My sake will find it”. (Matt
10:37-39)
The apostle Paul
explained this yet further in his letter to the Ephesian church:
“And He Himself (Jesus) gave some to
be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors
and teachers, FOR THE... equipping of the saints for the work
of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we
all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children,
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine,
by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful
plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all
things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole
body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies,
according to the effective working by which every part does its
share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself
in love”. (Eph 4:11-16)
Emphasis added!
So it is clear,
every part of the body of Christ, the church, should ‘do
its share’.
At this point the
objections start rolling in: ‘but I’m not able to stand up and
preach, that’s not my gift!’ – ‘but I’m not musical, I can’t
help with the worship!’ – ‘I don’t know enough yet, I’m not
ready to lead others’, – ‘I’m not good with young people’, – ‘I
can’t stay and help after the service because we’ve got friends
coming to lunch’ etc, etc, etc! Again, Jesus said:
“And he who does not take his cross and
follow after Me is not worthy of Me”.
A rich man once
went up to Jesus and asked how he could inherit eternal life (Mark
10:17). Jesus answered him by saying that he should go
and sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. The
man walked away. Jesus let him go. The point that Jesus made is
that there is a sacrifice required when someone wants to become
His disciple. It will cost us everything. You cannot serve two
masters (Luke 16:13).
The rich young
man had become entangled in the things of this life and was
unwilling to lay them down for the sake of the kingdom of God.
He did not want a ministry, just the reward that comes from it
(see Matt 10:42 /
1 Cor 3:8 /
1 Cor 3:14 /
Col 3:23-24 /
2 John 8).
Paul said to Timothy: “No one
engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this
life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”
(2 Tim 2:4-5)
Commenting on
this verse the respected Bible scholar J Vernon McGee said:
Imagine a soldier in the midst of
battle going to his sergeant or his lieutenant and saying, “Sir,
I’m sorry to have to leave, but I have to go over into the city
to see about some business; and then I have a date with a local
girl, and I just won’t be able to be here for the battle
tonight!” A great many Christians are trying to fight like that
today! 1
Again, Jesus said
there would be a cost if we want to be His disciples; we will
not be able to carry on our ‘old lives’ along side.
The good news is
that when it comes to ministry there are many different ‘jobs’
to be done within the church, not everyone needs to preach or
play an instrument.
The Apostle Paul
elaborates in 1 Corinthians chapter 12:4
“There are diversities of gifts, but
the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the
same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is
the same God who works all in all”.
In the Bible, the
church is represented as a body with Christ as our ‘head’. Each
individual Christian makes up a part of the body and is
therefore necessary if the body is to function properly. You
will no doubt agree that if your arm chose not to work because
it was too busy doing other things, you would not be very
impressed!
“And if one member suffers, all the members
suffer with it; or if one member is honoured, all the members
rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members
individually.”
(1 Cor 12:26-28)
“For as the body
is one and has many members, but all the members of that one
body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.” (1
Cor 12:12)
So, in answer to
the question, all Christians are not only eligible, but
according to the Bible, are also expected to be involved in some
form of ministry. Regardless of how mundane or glamorous a job
may appear on the surface, all are vital and depend on each
other in order to have a fully functional church.
It has been said
many times that Christianity is not a spectator sport, and why
should it be? The Bible tells us that we were bought at a price,
we now belong to God, we owe Him everything. We are supposed to
have died to our old lives, counting all the things that we once
thought important as rubbish (see Phil
3:7-11). Let’s face it, in return we have not only been
given a second chance, but eternal life as well – something that
we could never have earned!
(See 1 Cor
6:19-20 / Eph 2:8)
Having now dealt
with the basic questions, let us consider what ministry entails,
what our attitudes should be, how we should approach our
ministries, and what the dangers and pitfalls are.
God First
Jesus said that
the first and most important commandment is
‘You shall love the LORD your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
(Matt 22:37-38). This cannot be
over emphasised. So many ministries fall down because people
take their eyes of God. He must be first in our thoughts, in our
affections and in our entire life. Make sure that your ministry,
the work you do, is a distant second. God must be number one on
a list of one. Never let what you are doing for God come before
your own personal relationship with Him; if you do, both will
suffer.
Jesus Himself
understood the necessity of relying on God in regard to His
earthly ministry when He said: “I
can of Myself do nothing.” (John
5:30), and again,
"Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do
nothing of Himself,”
(John
5:19)
“I say to you, a servant is not greater than his
master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.”
(John 13:16)
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who
abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you
can do nothing.”
(John 15:5)
“Seek First the kingdom of God and His
righteousness”.
(Matt 6:33)
So the
foundation of all ministry is to continually abide in Jesus.
“ You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind
is stayed on You, “
(Isaiah 26:3)
Walk humbly with your God
Secondly, you
must be humble. Far too many Christians adopt a worldly ‘muscle
their way to the top’ approach. Jesus told the parable about the
wedding guest who came in and sat at the top of the table. He
was shamed and told to take the lowest place.
“For whoever exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
(Luke 14:11)
Pride is the
oldest sin in the Book! The attitude that ‘I’m better than this’
– ‘No one appreciates me’ – ‘I’ll show them’ – ‘Why do I always
get the bad jobs’ - is straight from the Devil.
Pride has a
tendency to make people want to have, what is in their eyes, the
‘best jobs’ and the most recognition. This has created no end of
friction and problems throughout the history of the church.
However, Paul’s teaching on this point is again very clear:
“If the foot should say, "Because I am not a
hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?
And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of
the body," is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body
were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were
hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the
members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And
if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now
indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot
say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to
the feet, "I have no need of you." No, much rather, those
members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary”
(1
Cor 12:15-22).
Acts chapter 6:1-4
shows a practical example of how each part of the body is
important. The apostles arranged for seven people to be
appointed who would be able to take care of the daily
distribution of food, so that the apostles could concentrate on
preaching the Word of God. As a result, we read in verse 7:
“Then the word of God spread, and the
number of the disciples multiplied greatly”. Without
the willingness of the seven to take on, what we would call
‘menial tasks’ – waiting on tables etc, the apostles would not
have been able to preach without hindrance, and the word of God
would not have been able to spread, and hence the number of
disciples would not have increased.
One objection
that people sometimes have in regard to taking on so called
‘menial tasks’ is that they feel they will not be able to be as
effective for the Lord. On this point just look at the impact
that Stephen, one of the seven ‘table waiters’ had! (See
Acts 6:8 – 7:60)
Without question,
you will be most effective if you are where God wants you to be!
Understand that your ways are not God’s ways and God’s ways are
above your ways (see Isaiah 55:8-9).
The Psalmist,
King David said that: “I would rather
be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents
of wickedness”. (Psalm 84:10)
Unfortunately, so many Christians want to be seen and rewarded;
doing what they do to impress men, and not in loving service to
a God for whom we could never do enough.
“Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not
sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from
men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when
you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what
your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in
secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward
you openly.”
(Matt 6:2-4)
If God chooses
you to clean the toilets at church, then you have been given a
position far higher than you deserve. We deserve God’s wrath and
judgement, we deserve to go to hell for eternity. The last thing
we should ask for is what we deserve! However, we have been
given eternal life and blessings beyond compare!
“For you were bought at a price;
therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are
God's.” (1 Cor 6:20)
If you feel that
God has something more for you than your present ministry,
follow the example of Joseph and keep serving God where He has
placed you, until He chooses to exalt you. Be patient and allow
God to engineer the circumstances for you. Better that, than to
find yourself at the bottom of the table!
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time”
(1 Peter 5:6).
Oswald Chambers
said: “If we learn to worship God
in the trying circumstances, He will alter them in two seconds
when He chooses”.2
We must learn
from the King of kings who humbled Himself and became a servant,
washed the feet of men He had created (John
13:5) – why? Because His heart’s desire was to do the
will of His Father and bring glory to Him.
“Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being
in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with
God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a
bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found
in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient
to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore
God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is
above every name.”
(Phil 2:5-9)
A servant is not
greater than His master (John 13:16).
“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what
does the LORD require of you; but to do justly, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
(Micah 6:8)
A
servant’s heart
The third
attribute that is a must, is a ‘servant’s heart’. By this we
mean the humility and willingness to serve others, following
Christ’s example. Time and time again Christians ‘leave it for
someone else to do’! Galatians 6 verse 2 & 3 says:
“Bear one another's burdens, and so
fulfil the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be
something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself”
Jesus said:
“But he who is greatest among you shall
be your servant” (Matt 23:11).
And again:
“And He said to them, "The kings of the
Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise
authority over them are called 'benefactors.' But not so among
you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be
as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is
greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not
he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who
serves”. (Luke 22:25-27)
Jesus said that a
servant is not greater than his master, and yet so often in
church environments we see people usurp authority and stamp
their feet if they don’t get their own way - rather than submit
to one another in the fear of the Lord (Eph
5:21)
You may be
familiar with the TV science fiction programme ‘Star Trek’. On
the feature film ‘First Contact’ there is a wonderful example of
the way we should be: The captain makes a decision and then
leaves the ‘bridge’. Although most of the crew disagree with the
decision, when a by-stander asks the question “So what do we do
now”, the reply from the crew is unanimous. “Once the Captain
makes a decision it’s final!”
This is the way
it should be for us. We should support, encourage and pray for
our leaders, not criticise and undermine them! Most ministries
in a church involve working under someone’s leadership;
sometimes the Pastor or maybe a group leader etc. If we believe
that God has anointed leaders and given them the ministries and
positions they have, we must learn to be good servants and
support them, even if at times we don’t agree.
Before your alarm
bells start ringing and you say ‘I’m not sure that I like that
idea’, take a look at the examples in
Exodus (ch32 & ch33) and
Numbers (ch12
& ch16) where the people disputed with Moses because they
didn’t like his leadership or the decisions he made. Observe the
way that God dealt with those who went against Moses’ God-given
authority!
Incidentally, this doesn’t give those in authority a blank
cheque to do what they want, they are still accountable to God,
and James has this warning for them:
“My brethren, let not many of you
become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter
judgement” (James 3:1). And remember that in God’s Kingdom, he who rules should
be as he who serves! Leadership in God’s book simply provides
more opportunities to serve. (See also
1Peter 5:1-3).
Paul said in
Philippians 2 verse 14,
“Do all things without complaining and
disputing”. James says:
“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren” (James
4:11); and again: “Do not
grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned”
(James 5:9). But ultimately, all
of this can be summed up in the words of Paul found in
Ephesians chapter 5:15-21:
“Therefore do not be unwise but understand what the will of the
Lord is………submitting to one another in the fear of the Lord”.
Sub-mitting means to get under one another’s missions or
ministries and support each other.
“So continuing daily with one accord …………..
praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord
added to the church daily those who were being saved.”
(Acts 2:46-47)
Be
the head and not the tail
Much of what
Christians do today is sub-standard. We have become the ‘tail’
looking to the world as the ‘head’; rather than leading the way
we usually follow at a distance – usually a big distance.
In the book of
Ecclesiastes King Solomon wrote:
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might;”
(Eccl 9:10).
The Apostle Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 14:12,
when talking about various ministries and gifts:
“Even so you, since you are zealous for
spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church
that you seek to excel”.
However,
Christians often organise and arrange ‘evangelistic’ events that
are quite frankly an embarrassment. In
1 Corinthians 4:10, Paul classed himself as a ‘fool for
Christ’, but so often this has been used as justification for
doing things badly and being laughed at by the world. Paul also
said that: “I have become all things
to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do
for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you. Do
you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one
receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it”
(1 Cor 9:22-24).
What we do, we
should do to our absolute best – we should aim to win. Not in
the worldly sense of putting others down in order to get to the
top ourselves, but out of a desire to give God the best.
The Bible tells
us that we are created in the image of God, and we know from His
word that when He had finished creating, He looked at what He
had made “And God saw that is was
good” (Gen 1:10, 12, 18, 21,
25, & 31). This was not just ‘OK’ or ‘the best I had
time for’, but the very best that it could possibly be.
In the book of
Deuteronomy God said the following to Israel
“And the LORD will make you the head
and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath,
if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God” (Deut
28:13).
At
the wedding in Cana, Jesus turned water into wine, not just
average wine but the best! So much so that the master of the
feast made a point of calling the bridegroom to say to him:
"Every man at the beginning sets out
the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the
inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!" (John
2:10-11)
When Jesus fed
the five thousand, He didn’t provide just enough to go around,
but so much that 12 baskets full were collected at the end. Read
Exodus Chapter 25 to chapter 30
and see the detailed instructions that God gave Moses for the
building of the Tabernacle and for making the priestly garments
and various utensils that were to be used for sacrifice and
worship.
God is, without
any doubt, a God of perfection and doesn’t do things by halves.
We have been created in the image of God, is it wrong therefore
for His people to adopt the same standard?
“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through Him”
(Col 3:17).
“A grave defect in much work of today is that men
do not follow Solomon’s admonition, ‘Whatsoever thy hand findeth
to do, do it with thy might.’ The tendency is to argue, ‘It’s
only for so short a time, why trouble?’ If it is only for five
minutes, let it be well done.”3
Oswald Chambers
Making an enthusiastic start
At the start of
something, we are very often full of enthusiasm and energy,
ready to take on the world! This is very often the case with
ministries; once we have become a Christian, the excitement and
knowledge of our salvation often ‘propels’ us into ministry out
of a desire to do something for God.
There are various
examples of this in the Bible, but one of the most notable is
recorded in the book of Matthew chapter
26:33-35, “Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are
made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to
stumble." Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this
night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."
Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not
deny You!" And so said all the disciples.”
Simon Peter and
the disciples had immense enthusiasm, so much so that he stated
that he was prepared to die defending Jesus. As we know, Simon
Peter’s natural enthusiasm and courage came to an abrupt end in
a courtyard when challenged by a young girl! The rest of the
disciples? They ran away scared.
History records
that almost all the disciples did end up dying for their faith
and commitment to Jesus, so what produced this change?
After Jesus had
risen from the dead He told the disciples,
“Behold, I send the Promise of My
Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you
are endued with power from on high.‘ (Luke
24:49)
And again:
“But you shall receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me
in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of
the earth." (Acts 1:8)
Quite simply,
they received the power of the Holy Spirit, no longer were they
relying on their natural human abilities.
The reality is that many of us will go through the ‘Simon Peter
experience’ where we will make bold statements of our intentions
and commitment; we will start well, only to later ‘deny’ Jesus
as we realise that we are just not able to make-good our
promises. We will find out first hand that “the spirit indeed
is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matt
26:41)
Moses had a heart
to set the people of Israel free from their Egyptian slavery. He
started with all the enthusiasm that could be asked for when he
killed the Egyptian. However, God made Moses wait for 40 years
until he had learnt to rely on God’s strength alone. In fact, by
the time God called Moses at the burning bush, Moses’ own
enthusiasm and belief in his own abilities had all gone! (See
Exodus chapter 3).
Abraham’s attempt
to ‘help’ God (he was enthusiastic to see God’s promises
fulfilled), resulted in Ishmael being born, the descendants of
whom have been a constant problem to Isaac’s descendants to this
day – as prophesied in Genesis 16:12.
Like Simon Peter, Moses and Abraham, many Christians have
gone through a ‘time of trial’ at the start of their ministry,
where they feel as though they have been ‘put through a
furnace’. Peter, no doubt mindful of his own previous failings
says: “Beloved, do not think it
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as
though some strange thing happened to you;” (1
Peter 4:12).
James continues:
“My brethren, count it all joy when
you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your
faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work,
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
(James 1:2-4)
God wants us to
be perfect and complete, lacking nothing, but all too often we
haven’t got the time; we know we need patience but we want it
now!
It has been said
that nowadays many Christians spend just 3 years training for 30
years in ministry (rather than the other way round as Jesus
did)! Even the Apostle Paul after his conversion waited for 14
years before his ministry began in earnest (see
Gal 1:15 to 2:1). Moses waited
40 years, Abraham 25 years, Noah 100 years to see God’s promises
fulfilled. David was anointed as Israel’s king many years before
he sat on the throne, but he was prepared to wait for God to do
things in His time.
Proverbs 17:3
says “The refining pot is for silver
and the furnace for gold, But the LORD tests the hearts”.
The problem is not enthusiasm, but obedience and trust. Not
obedience to ‘our’ ministry, but to God, in His way, in His
timing.
All the time that
we are striving to fulfil our own agendas, seeking to serve God
in our own way, we are of little use to Him. God wants to drive
out of us any hint of self-reliance or confidence in our own
abilities. Oswald Chambers said:
‘We have to get rid of this notion—“Am I of any use?” and make
up our minds that we are not, and we may be near the truth. It
is never a question of being of use, but of being of value to
God Himself. When we are abandoned to God, He works through us
all the time.’ 4
The idea with all forms of ministry ‘is not that
we do work for God, but that we are so loyal to Him that He can
do His work through us’.5
When we understand this we will be ready for whatever
ministry the Lord calls us to.
Somewhere down the road - Where it can all go wrong
Very often at the
start of a ministry ‘putting God first’ seems like the most
natural thing. However, as the days go by, we can get complacent
or simply forget that it is the Lord who has brought us this
far. Like the children of Israel, our memories of God’s
provision slip from our mind and we start to rely on our own
strength again as if nothing had changed in our lives. Like
Samson, we rise to meet the challenge without realising that
God’s Spirit is no longer powering us (Judges
16:20). As we struggle we blame God for not being
faithful and blessing our ministries; after all, HE called us to
this ministry in the first place! We also start to become
resentful of others who, on the surface, don’t appear to be
doing as much as we are. We find ourselves in the Mary and
Martha situation.
“Now it happened as they went that He entered a
certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him
into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat
at Jesus' feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted
with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do
You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?
Therefore tell her to help me." And Jesus answered and said to
her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many
things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good
part, which will not be taken away from her."
(Luke 10:38-42)
This type of
situation will probably ring true for many of us; we take our
eyes off the Lord, things start to go wrong and all of sudden we
start to notice others, who are apparently doing nothing! We cry
out to God ‘It’s not fair’!
However, Paul
raises and important point in
Romans14:4: “ Who are you to judge another's servant? To his
own master he stands or falls”.
In other words,
it’s none of your business what others do before God. Jesus
replied in a similar way when questioned by Peter about John’s
relationship with Jesus; “Jesus said
to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to
you? You follow Me." (John
21:22)
Jesus also told
the parable (Matt 20:1-15) of
the man who hired workers throughout the day. At the end of the
day he chose to give the same wages to all of them. Those who
had worked longest and therefore hardest complained feeling
unjustly treated. But as the man in the parable points out, each
man received exactly what had been agreed. So it is with us,
each of us answers to our own Master, (“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” Phil 2:12),
we have received that which we were promised (i.e. the salvation
of our souls), and therefore we have no grounds to complain.
NB: This is not
suggesting that others will get away with doing nothing for the
Kingdom, faith without works is dead (see
Galatians 6:7 / Matthew 6:20-21 / 1 Cor.
3, for a start!).
The verse in
Romans clearly states that ‘To his own master he stands or
falls.” We can rest in the assurance that God is Just: “Shall
not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen
18:25) However if others are doing nothing, it is almost
always because their walk with the Lord is not where it should
be, and we probably need to pray for them rather than criticise
them. At the end of the day, they are losing out while you
continue to store up treasure in heaven that will be waiting for
you! (Matt 6:19-21)
So, to summarise thus far, when we take our eyes off Jesus, we
end up ‘sinking’.
“And
Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to
come to You on the water." So He said, "Come." And when Peter
had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to
Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was
afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save
me!" And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught
him.”
(Matt 14:28-31)
Oswald Chambers
comments on this verse: ‘The wind
was actually boisterous, the waves were actually high, but Peter
did not see them at first. He did not reckon with them, he
simply recognised his Lord, and stepped out in recognition of
Him and walked on the water. Then he began to reckon with the
actual things, and down he went instantly. Why could not our
Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves as well
as on the top of them? Neither could be done except by
recognition of the Lord Jesus’6
This is it in a
nutshell. When we take our eyes off Jesus, even for a moment,
and start to consider our circumstances, look at others, and
start counting the cost, we will struggle.
“Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall
sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”
(Psalm 55:22)
“If we undertake work for God and get out of
touch with Him, the sense of responsibility will be
overwhelmingly crushing; but if we roll back on God that which
He has put upon us, He takes away the sense of responsibility by
bringing in the realisation of Himself.”7
- Oswald Chambers
Be
filled with the Holy Spirit
As a river is
continually refreshed from the source, so must we be if we are
to continue bearing His light and bringing glory to our Saviour.
In Christian ministry we will continually be ‘giving out’ and
unless we make sure that we also ‘take in’, we will dry up, and
our ministry, and more importantly, our own spiritual life will
be affected. Daily Bible reading, prayer without ceasing,
fellowship with other Christians; all of these are absolutely
essential if we are to be pleasing to God and effective in our
ministries for Him.
It will never
cease to be a source of amazement, how many Christians know
nothing of God’s Word and yet expect to have fruitful
ministries. As we have already seen, Jesus said that we should
make disciples and teach them. What will we teach them if we
don’t know the Word of God? All we will have is our own ideas
and opinions – again, we will end up sinking, and no doubt
blaming God!
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God,
the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints
nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power
to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases
strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the
young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They
shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint”.
(Isaiah
40: 28-31)
Spending time waiting on God is the only way that you will find
sufficient strength to do all that lays before you. As has been
stated, God must be number one. Unless we spend time before Him,
drinking and being nourished in His Word, we will not last the
distance. “Bodily exercise is all
right, but spiritual exercise is much more important and is a
tonic for all you do.“ (1
Tim 4:8 The Living Bible)
Dr Paul Yonggi
Cho, is the pastor of the Central Church in Seoul, Korea which
now has over half a million members. In his book ‘Prayer – Key
to revival’8 he explains that unless he got up early
and spent time with the Lord before the start of each day, he
would not be able to cope with all the demands that are placed
upon him.
Keep the fire burning!
“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for
in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”
(Gal 6:9)
We have the hope
of all that is before us to look forward to, this alone should
give us the resolve and determination to keep pressing on.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and
the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has
sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
(Hebrews 12:1-2)
“Forgetting those things which are behind and
reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward
the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus.”
(Phil 3:13-14)
"His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and
faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will
make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your
lord.'
(Matt 25:21)
“For I consider that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us.”
(Rom 8:18)
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our
outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed
day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a
moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are
seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which
are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are
eternal.”
(2 Cor 4:16-18)
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and
steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in
and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also.”
(Matt 6:19-21)
“Set your mind on things above, not on things on
the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in
God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will
appear with Him in glory.”
(Col 3:2-4)
Finally to conclude:
“Jesus Christ says, in effect, Don’t rejoice in successful
service, but rejoice because you are rightly related to Me. The
snare in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service, to
rejoice in the fact that God has used you. You never can measure
what God will do through you if you are rightly related to Jesus
Christ.
Keep your relationship right with Him, then
whatever circumstances you are in, and whoever you meet day by
day, He is pouring rivers of living water through you, and it is
of His mercy that He does not let you know it.”9
“The idea is not that we do work for God, but
that we are so loyal to Him that He can do His work through us –
‘I reckon on you for extreme service, with no complaining on
your part and no explanation on mine’. God wants to use us as He
used His own Son.”10
–
Oswald Chambers
All scripture
quotations from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982 . Thomas
Nelson: Nashville (unless otherwise stated)
1) McGee, J. V.
1997, c1981. Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the
Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) . Thomas Nelson: Nashville
www.thruthebible.org
2) Chambers,
Oswald, My Utmost for His Highest, - December 18th (United
Kingdom: Marshall Morgan & Scott) c1927.
3) Chambers,
Oswald, Abandoned to God, (United Kingdom: Marshall Morgan &
Scott) c1993.
4) Chambers,
Oswald, My Utmost for His Highest, - February 21st (United
Kingdom: Marshall Morgan & Scott) c1927.
5) Chambers,
Oswald, My Utmost for His Highest, - December 18th (United
Kingdom: Marshall Morgan & Scott) c1927.
6) Chambers,
Oswald, My Utmost for His Highest, - June 18th (United Kingdom:
Marshall Morgan & Scott) c1927.
7) Chambers,
Oswald, My Utmost for His Highest, - April 13th (United
Kingdom: Marshall Morgan & Scott) c1927.
8) Paul Y Cho,
with R. Whitney Manzano, Prayer: Key To Revival, (United
Kingdom: Word Books) c1984
9) Chambers,
Oswald, My Utmost for His Highest, - August 30th (United
Kingdom: Marshall Morgan & Scott) c1927.
10) Chambers,
Oswald, My Utmost for His Highest, - December 18th (United
Kingdom: Marshall Morgan & Scott) c1927.
All scripture
quotations from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982 . Thomas
Nelson: Nashville (unless otherwise stated)
For
more information contact:
Deal Christian
Fellowship, Sutherland Road, Deal, Kent
CT14 9TQ
01304-371363
E-mail:
info@dcf-online.co.uk
Web:
www.dcf-online.co.uk
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