I have a good friend who used to be in “professional” ministry. Though his current job does not allow him to “preach the gospel” in a public way, it does allow him to make a lot of friends. Further, he has made friends in the small town where he lives, and his life has been a ministry to them as well. Finally, he has ministered to me personally; therefore, I view him as involved in ministry
-
As we consider the word “minister,” it really means “servant.” A minister of Christ is thus a servant of Christ. As a bi-vocational minister, I am both a missionary pastor as well as a carpenter, yet I look at both my jobs as a service to Christ and to others. The greatest command of all is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and then the second greatest command is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Each of us should make these commands our ministry as we become servants of Christ.
-
In my previous “ministry” I was the pastor of an established church and did not have to be bi-vocational, but before that I was also a bi-vocational minister. During that time I was doing carpentry work for a lady that became a good friend. Her son was still living with her and was struggling with drunkenness. He came home from work discouraged one day as I was working on a remodeling project in their house. This man was close to my age and needed someone to talk to, so I set my tools down, noted the time so that I would not charge my customer for the time spent visiting with her son, and proceeded to talk with him for about 45 minutes.
-
During that conversation, he told me that the alcohol was killing him. I listened, but I also told him of God’s love and that Christ came to pay for our sins. He had tears in his eyes as we spoke of Jesus Christ and how He loved us enough to die for us. I was not on the job site that day as a pastor, I was there as a carpenter, yet because I loved God and my fellow man, I was able to minister- to be a servant. Each Christian should realize that there are opportunities all around them to minister for God’s glory.
-
This young alcoholic and I then became friends, but that friendship was brief, because he died just a couple of months later. Though I was no longer able to minister to my new friend, I was still able to minister to his family, and the best part is that they were able to minister to me. As I was missing my friend, it was so encouraging to hear his mom say that he had quit drinking and was talking about God the last few days of his life. Sadly the alcohol had already done so much damage to his body.
-
We do not all minister in the same way. I am a pastor and my ministry today is different than it was just a few short years ago. Today I am leading Bible studies as we get ready to start a new church here in Worthing. Since we do not have an established congregation yet, I also do carpentry work, thus I am bi-vocational again.
-
I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul as I think about ministry. “For in fact the body is not one member but many. 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.” (1 Corinthians 12:14-18 NKJV)
-
Let us all minister as we put God first and love others.
Friday, March 20, 2015
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Change is not Always Bad
Now that the days have gotten longer, what should we do with all our extra time? I say this tongue in cheek, because of course we still have only 24 hours in the day, it just stays light later due to the time change.
-
There has actually been some talk about South Dakota no longer springing ahead and falling back, but instead keeping one consistent time throughout the year. Change- even good change- can be difficult.
-
For example, several years ago Coke Cola, reformulated their premier soft drink. They made this move after much testing. It was determined- based on their testing- that new Coke was much better than their classic soda. There was a big problem however. The most loyal Coke drinkers had become used to the classic formulation and did not like the new pop as well.
-
Jesus faced a similar problem 2000 years ago. He did not introduce a new soft drink, but instead introduced a new way to relate to God. For years God’s people, the Israelites, had been relating to God through animal sacrifices and other temple rituals in addition to many commands and ordinances that God had given to them at the time of Moses. Before Moses, people still related to God, but for the Israelites, that relationship changed when God gave the Old Testament Mosaic law. Through the years the Jewish people had gotten used to that Old Testament standard.
-
Suddenly Jesus arrived on the scene. His death burial and resurrection would do away with the Old Testament Mosaic law. Colossians 2:14 describes it this way: “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (NKJV)
-
As Jesus was teaching, He showed that certain people would have trouble with the idea that there would be a new way of doing things now that the Messiah had come. "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'" (Luke 5:39 NKJV). Just like many consumers did not embrace New Coke, many of the Jews did not embrace Jesus. Further clarification is found as we look at more of Jesus’ illustration. "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 "But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Luke 5:37-38 NKJV)
-
Wine in those days was put in leather type bags. New wine would stretch the bags and new bags were able to stretch, but old bags would break if stretched. Christ used that illustration to show that He would not just tack His sacrifice on the cross on top of the Old Testament Mosaic law, but that He would actually replace the Old Testament law with His payment on the cross.
-
Sadly, many people liked the old law because they were used to it, even though Christ’s way was better. Today we no longer have to follow the law that Moses gave to the Israelites. Instead we realize that although God has expectations for man that preceded the Law of Moses, our sins have been taken care of on the cross and we no longer have to worry about the Old Testament Mosaic law. The old law simply pointed out sin to temporarily cover it. Instead we have something far better- Christ’s payment on the cross which has permanently paid for our sins. The new is far better.
-
There has actually been some talk about South Dakota no longer springing ahead and falling back, but instead keeping one consistent time throughout the year. Change- even good change- can be difficult.
-
For example, several years ago Coke Cola, reformulated their premier soft drink. They made this move after much testing. It was determined- based on their testing- that new Coke was much better than their classic soda. There was a big problem however. The most loyal Coke drinkers had become used to the classic formulation and did not like the new pop as well.
-
Jesus faced a similar problem 2000 years ago. He did not introduce a new soft drink, but instead introduced a new way to relate to God. For years God’s people, the Israelites, had been relating to God through animal sacrifices and other temple rituals in addition to many commands and ordinances that God had given to them at the time of Moses. Before Moses, people still related to God, but for the Israelites, that relationship changed when God gave the Old Testament Mosaic law. Through the years the Jewish people had gotten used to that Old Testament standard.
-
Suddenly Jesus arrived on the scene. His death burial and resurrection would do away with the Old Testament Mosaic law. Colossians 2:14 describes it this way: “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (NKJV)
-
As Jesus was teaching, He showed that certain people would have trouble with the idea that there would be a new way of doing things now that the Messiah had come. "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'" (Luke 5:39 NKJV). Just like many consumers did not embrace New Coke, many of the Jews did not embrace Jesus. Further clarification is found as we look at more of Jesus’ illustration. "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 "But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Luke 5:37-38 NKJV)
-
Wine in those days was put in leather type bags. New wine would stretch the bags and new bags were able to stretch, but old bags would break if stretched. Christ used that illustration to show that He would not just tack His sacrifice on the cross on top of the Old Testament Mosaic law, but that He would actually replace the Old Testament law with His payment on the cross.
-
Sadly, many people liked the old law because they were used to it, even though Christ’s way was better. Today we no longer have to follow the law that Moses gave to the Israelites. Instead we realize that although God has expectations for man that preceded the Law of Moses, our sins have been taken care of on the cross and we no longer have to worry about the Old Testament Mosaic law. The old law simply pointed out sin to temporarily cover it. Instead we have something far better- Christ’s payment on the cross which has permanently paid for our sins. The new is far better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
