In our church we already know that everyone of us is called to be a minister, however, to understand the essence of ministry deeper, we first have to know its definition.
According to the Gospel of John 4:33-34, 39: “Therefore the disciples said to one another, No one brought Him anything to eat? Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed upon Him because of the saying of the woman, who testified, He told me all that I ever did”.
Therefore, true ministry is what a person does to establish the Kingdom of God in his/her personal life or in that sphere where he/she is called to by God.
Often when we speak about ministers we see people, who stand behind a pulpit or work in church. But, if you study the Scriptures you can clearly see that God calls ministers only those people, who try to spread and establish God’s Kingdom and his principles all over the earth through their lives.
Therefore our life credo should be the longing to bring down God’s Kingdom from heaven and establish it on earth.
Revelation 11:15 reads: “And the seventh angel sounded. And there were great voices in Heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ. And He will reign forever and ever”.
This is the dream in the heart of God! So if everyone is called to be a minister, we are to dedicate our lives to the main goal – to seek the Kingdom of God and spread God’s righteousness on earth.
But sometimes it happens that a person being a preacher or a teacher of the Word of God or a worker in the church office may not be a minister. It is when a person speaks about God’s principles, but doesn’t apply them in his/her own life and doesn’t strive to adhere to the standards of God’s Kingdom. A true minister is absolutely subdued by the Kingdom of God. So first of all you have to conform to the principles of the Kingdom yourself and only then can you spread the Word.
Matthew 7:21-23 tells us about it: “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works? And then I will say to them I never knew you! Depart from Me, those working lawlessness!”
Here the Bible describes a case where a man healed and performed miracles, and preached in the name of the Lord, but still did not let sincerity, love, kindness and righteousness of the Kingdom to reign in his life. That is why Jesus says: “I never knew you… those working lawlessness”. For God it does not matters how beautifully you speak but how you live! Your lifestyle propagandizes either God’s kingdom, or the kingdom of this world. Ephesians 4:11-15 says that every believer is called to be a minister and carry the Word of God to the ends of the earth, but before everything else you have to manifest Jesus through your personal life.
Therefore, ministers are not only those people involved in the fivefold ministry, but first of all, those, who resemble Jesus Christ through their lives. So now we can see that our main ministry is not singing in the church, preaching or any other responsibility, but everyday work on ourselves, so that our character and lifestyle would conform to God’s character.
Colossians 1:15 says that we have to resemble the image of the invisible God, because only looking at us the world will see God. And the Message to Romans 12:2 teaches us how to become God’s reflection, and that is through transformation of your mind and readiness to work on your self.
“But seek first the kingdom of God…” Matthew 6:33.
This is what Matthew 28:19-20 tells us: “Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world. Amen.”
So Jesus wants us to teach people what He taught us and to never forget that the teaching has to be closely connected to its application in practice.
2 Corinthians 3:1-3 says: “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, like some, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men, it having been made plain that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, not having been written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but in fleshly tablets of the heart.”
Our lives should be such a ministry to God that people will see and read as an epistle, and which could show God’s love and His reality to all people. “For the Law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:17-18). Jesus manifested God not only through preaching, but first of all, through His life. He was a true minister!
Golden Truths:
- Ministry is all our efforts, activities and works directed to establish and spread God’s Kingdom, His principles and laws of the Kingdom.
- True ministers are people, who live according to the principles of God’s Kingdom and have dedicated their life to one only purpose – to manifest and plant them all over the earth.
- All our life must be such a ministry to God, which could be read as an epistle by everyone, and which could show God’s love and His reality to all people.
