MAXIMISING YOUR MINISTRY
Part one …. CALLED TO MINISTER
Series Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16
It is God’s desire today for each Christian to use his or her God given gifts and abilities. The scriptures are clear - God has given to each of his children unique ministries and it is OUR responsibility to ….. maximize our calling !
There are many Christians who want God to use them, but others who are content in their passive position and anxious at the prospect of being ‘involved’ in the life and ministry of the body of Christ.
In this series my aim is to help both these groups of people. To enthuse and encourage those hungry to find their place and ministry and move forward in that, and those who need reminding of the calling on their lives and inspired to stand up and step out.
It is the will of God that you and I be a living, functioning member of His body, the Church.
Romans 12:3-8 …… We start today by looking at the fact that we are all …..
I believe this can be a really exciting revelation, that God has called YOU to serve Him !
Understanding our calling
Ephesians 4:1-6 ….. “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received”
God has called YOU ! …. Don’t limit this concept of calling to those who occupy positions of responsibility in the body of Christ. It is vital we are reminded that salvation is a ‘calling’. That is ….. God placed his hand on our lives, drew us to himself, placed his Spirit in our hearts and now is the claimant of our lives and affections.
Salvation was not a choice but a response. A response to God’s call to come to him. Listen to Apostle Paul as he describes how he became a child of God and as a result found a NEW PURPOSE for his life …… Galatians 1:13-24
We have been …..Called to Christ - Galatians 1:15,16
Called to purpose - Galatians 1:16
Called to fruitfulness - Galatians 1:23,24
Your 2nd most important decision
The most important decision anyone can ever make is to receive Christ as saviour. The second is to discover God’s will for your life and DO IT !
We are not talking about those who leave home, occupation etc to serve God, though some here will hear God ask them for that, but the call on all of us to play our part in God’s plans.
So many Christians drift along from one year to the next, never exercising their gifts and ministries, never seeking to discover their unique God-given calling.
It is perceived that the minister does the ministry. And this is true but one important fact remains ….. WE ARE ALL MINISTERS ! ……. WITH A MINISTRY TO FULLFILL !
But what ministry have we been called to ?
- We are called to minister to the Father
It is the chief aim of man to worship God and enjoy him for ever. As someone has said
“We are called to an eternal preoccupation with God”
I don’t know what you consider the primary purpose of your life now ……. We have been called to ‘serve God’.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
We are the people of God …. Why because …. We have received mercy.
Revelation 1:6 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.
You may not consider that you have a ‘ministry’, or any gifts or talents that God can use.
But this truth is the starting blocks of any ministry. Understanding that we have ALL been called to know him, love him, worship him and serve him is the very foundation of being used by him.
Examples ….. Moses at the burning bush ……. Isaiah vision of God’s temple ……. Paul’s revelation on the Damascus road. What is common in these ? ….. They each encountered the magnitude of God that radically changed their perspectives.
The primary goal of our lives is to worship God . Too much of our worship is self-centered
Worship is ministry to God in gratitude, love and awe. Ministry begins at the throne ! Until you’ve visited the throne and seen the King you’ll never be overwhelmed with the longing to serve him.
Jesus reminds us that the Father “seeks worshippers”. God longs for you to minister to him in worship and holiness.
- We are called to minister to the Body
We have wrongly created an unbreakable relationship between ministry and leadership. A relationship not found in the New Testament. God has called us ALL to be ministers, and has called some to be leaders.
Ephesians 4:11-13 The word ‘ministry’ is used here not to describe the work of pastors but rather of the ‘saints’, i.e. God’s people.
This is unquestionable evidence that the New Testament envisages ministry not as the prerogative of a clerical elite, but as the privileged calling of all of God’s people. There is no unemployment in God’s kingdom, he has a work for each of his people.
It is left for those who, to coin a phrase, are “paid to do it”. I’m sorry but our ‘manual for ministry’, the Bible, does not recognize this point of view. We are all responsible for the work of ministry, we cannot find any reasonable excuse for relinquishing our mutual responsibility for each other and our shared responsibility for the world.
This is a decision we each have to make that we will give to God our gifts, our abilities, our desires and our ministries so that …….“…..the whole body ….. grows and builds itself up in love…..” (Ephesians 4:16)
Two words define ministry in this context……. Health and Growth ….. ministry is that which produces a healthy body (church) and that which causes the body (church) to grow.
1 Corinthians 12:27-31 …… Our diverse personalities and abilities offer diverse ministry to the body. We are not all called to be the same and do the same.
I was called to ministry before I gave up my job went to Bible college and then entered ‘The Ministry’. You have been called to the same ministry that I have, the difference being that the gifts God has given me he has chosen to use in me as a leader.
Galatians 6:2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Jesus spoke so powerfully about the way greatness …. “The greatest among you will be your servant”
1 Peter 4:8-11 (read *)
- We are called to minister to the world
Any serious reading of the Bible will automatically reveal that the church has been given the most daunting yet the most exciting challenge ever handed to a group of people.
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Even the most passive of Christians surely cannot deny that the church exists for this very reason. But it’s so important that we understand that we have been called to sow our whole lives into this very purpose.
Remember the very first call to the very first disciples “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men”
It was the mission which Jesus began and when he returns he’ll complete it, but until then we are ministers to this world. Ministers as Paul put it of a “new covenant” a covenant of hope and forgiveness.
Not only was it the call of Jesus but it was also his passionate prayer.
Matthew 9: 36-38 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
This is the responsibility if every believer. The church is so often guilty of a selfishness Christianity where we are more concerned about what we want the church to be for us and not want God wants it to be for the world.
This is the call of God on our lives as his ministers to reach out just as Jesus did to a hurting and dying world with a hand of love, hope and most of all a life which demonstrates Jesus.
Conclusion:
So many people in the church today are unaware of the massive potential in their lives. God wants you to know your ministry and use your gifts and passions for his glory.
