What Is "Ministry" Anyway? - Part 2 of 2

What is 'Ministry' Anyway? - Part 1

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God wants us to know what gifts of ministry He has given us (I Corinthians 12:1).  "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. . . . it is the same God who works all in all" (I Corinthians 12:4-5).   Clearly, these gifts come from God.  As Christians, we are to be actively involved in doing God's work.  I Corinthians 12:11 tells us, "But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills."   It was with purposeful thought and divine wisdom that He gave us the spiritual gifts we possess.  Each of us have been gifted with a specific purpose of ministry in mind.

If we seek to glorify God, we must do so by using the gifts He has given us to minister to others.  "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another.  If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.  If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever" (I Peter 4:10-11, NIV, NKJV).

God is not waiting for His Kingdom to be established before He uses the body of Christ.  In John 4:35, Jesus rebukes his disciples for the false belief that the work God wants them to do is sometime in the future.  He urges them to look around them and see the work that needs to be done.  God's expectation is that we minister to others in the here and now. 

Photo: AnnettVauteck

One of God's purposes in creating us is to be involved in His work.  "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).   What an amazing privilege and blessing that God wants us to actively participate in His ministry!

Let's take to heart the admonition given to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord and fulfill it" (Colossians 4:17).  In the end, "each of us will give account of ourselves to God" (Romans 14:12) whether we have fulfilled His will for our lives.  Are you ready to do the work that God has created you to do?  Will you hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things" (Matthew 25:21)?