Did
you know that you are a minister?
That’s
right. Each and every one of you is a minister, because if you have faith in
God, he wants you to use that faith to reach out to a lost and hurting world. We
have a ministry, even if we don’t work for a church. We must proclaim the truth
of God’s love in thought, word and deed, as if we are a dying man or woman of
God ministering to dying people.
As
Christians, we focus on Christ and his love, but this love is just a vague
concept to most people unless that love is reborn in each and every one of us
each and every day and we learn to love others as Christ loves us. After all,
Christ said that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love people.
As
ministers, we are to show that love by shining a light on the Gospel. The
Gospel has been hidden to those who are lost, in the dark and who follow Satan.
The human heart is wicked and blind. For example, Paul’s opponents didn’t
understand his ministry because they didn’t know the meaning of the Gospel.
Satan has been defeated, but he is still powerful. He is still a dominant force
in our world. If he can trick people into thinking he is equal to God (as he
did to Eve in the Garden of Eden), he can blind people to the truth of the
Gospel. Truth that can be trusted is truth that changes and also testifies to
others. We have been entrusted as ministers of the Gospel.
In the past century, the church has
been divided among those whose focus was evangelism (the proclamation of Christ
crucified) and those who were focused on social welfare or social justice.
Which should we be doing? The answer is that we should be doing both. However,
the proclamation of Christ crucified should be our central focus, and efforts
to achieve social welfare or social justice should be an outgrowth of that
focus––and not the other way around.
Jesus’
name must be on the lips of those who believe in him. Their service in his name
should confirm the integrity of their message, especially if the message comes
from those who have been called to preach the Gospel. God does not shine his
light on anyone’s heart for his/her sake alone. Every believer’s knowledge of
Christ must shine on a world that desperately needs Christ’s love. The light of
the Holy Spirit shines on the world. It allows our lives to be touched and our
faith to be kindled. Paul’s preaching was open and sincere, but the Gospel is
hidden from many people. The only way it can be revealed is by witnessing to
others. This witnessing involves spiritual warfare because Satan is actively
opposed to Christian witness. Nevertheless, we need to be lights in our dark,
sin-filled world.
Paul
was not motivated by money or the need for human approval. Consequently, he
refused to water down or change God’s word to suit what people wanted to hear.
Paul is a good example for us to follow. We must not be motivated by earthly
desires. We must be motivated by a deep and sincere desire to spread the Good
News of the Gospel. We must not alter or change God’s Word to conform to what
people want to hear. We must not “tickle their ears.” We must pierce their
hearts, minds and souls. Honesty is beautiful and refreshingly simple, just
like servants of God-no hidden meanings, no hypocrisy, no duplicity, and no
political games.
When
we do God’s work, we must not tamper with the Gospel, no matter how much we are
tempted. If we tamper with the Gospel, it loses power and our witness and
ministry are negatively affected. The things of this world must not become more
important than our devotion to Christ. He is the utmost authority we must obey.
We must stay true to the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus. Everything we do
must point people to Jesus. That is what evangelism is in its purest form.
Paul’s
ministry is an example of servanthood. Servanthood implies diligence,
faithfulness, loyalty and humility. Servants don’t compete, grandstand, polish
their image or grab the limelight. They know their job, they admit their
limitations, and they do what they do quietly and consistently.
We
must not be discouraged when we face rejection or persecution. The evil in our
world can easily discourage us, but we must remember that throughout history
the evil nature of our world has rejected and persecuted those who preach the
truth of what is written in the Bible. We must not lose heart, faith or hope.
We have been given a specific ministry-something we can do and that God wants
us to do. When we do what God tells us to do, we find encouragement about
ourselves and about life.
We
must constantly remind ourselves that God does the work in our ministry. We
need to be faithful to what he has asked us to do and depend on him for
everything. We have to count the cost and responsibilities for what we do, but
God takes the responsibility to get us through. God said in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never, not
ever, not ever, leave you or forsake you.”
We
must do everything we can to minister to the needs of those around us. These
people can be in our family, our neighbourhood, our circle of friends, our
church. We must be a
daily witness and servant to everyone we meet.
Bibliography
1.
Jeremiah,
David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood,
TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013)
2.
ESV Study
Bible. Part of Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.
3.
Chafin, K.L
& Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s
Commentary Series, Vol. 31: 1,2 Corinthians (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson
Inc.; 1985)
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