Made For Ministry
Posted by David Whitten on October 31, 2011 under Featured Articles | 
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Made for Ministry
You were put on earth to make a contribution,
You weren’t created just to consume resources – to eat to breathe, and take up apace. God designed you to make a difference with your life. While many best selling books offer advice on how to “get” the most out of life, that’s not the reason God Made you. You were created to add to life on earth, not just to take from it. God wants you to give something back. Your life makes more sense when you are a contributor rather then just a consumer.
- You were created to serve God.
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:10
These” good works” are what you do for God through serving other people.
You see you were SHAPED to serve. We will spend the next two weeks discussing how we are shaped to serve. But today we are concentrating on ministry.
Did you know that God has always had a plan for you to serve him. And he has been waiting for you to fulfill your divinely designed ministry he has reserved you to do? You were created to serve God.
When you don’t serve God there is a nagging lacking in us that will not go away until we do what we are designed to do.
Ill: Elvis Presley who died at age 42 of a drug overdose, was a very unfulfilled human being. His wife Priscilla gave an interview and said "Elvis never came to terms with who he was meant to be or what his purpose in life was. He thought he was here for a reason, maybe to preach, maybe to serve, maybe to save, maybe to care for people and that agonizing desire was always with him and he knew he wasn't fulfilling it. So he would go on stage and he wouldn't have to think about it." Priscilla said “He didn't know where to look. It was if he was as if at sea and He was lost.”
Ill: personal – my experience time out of ministry
Lets look at Ephesians 2:10 again “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. “
You were created to serve God.
You see we were saved to serve.
Let’s not get this wrong here, we are not saved by service but we are saved so we can serve God. In God’s Kingdom you have a place, a purpose, a role and a function to fulfill. This gives your life great significance.
It cost Jesus his own life to purchase your salvation. 1 Corinthians 6:20 reminds us “you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” We don’t serve out of fear guilt or duty, but out of joy and deep gratitude for what he has done for us. Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning and our future is secured.
Another term for serving is a word that has been greatly misunderstood over the years. That word is “Ministry”.
When people think of ministry they thing of a pastor or priest and professional clergy.
The definition of minister is to meet the needs of someone. Meeting needs for someone is service. All of us are called to serve each other. Listen to Peter’s instruction to us “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1Peter 4:10
That makes all of us a minister. Turn to your neighbor and tell them, “you are a minister”. Look to another and say to them, “I’m a minister”.
God has a ministry for you in his church and a mission for you in this world.
- You are called to serve God.
Growing up, you may have thought that being "called" by God was something only missionaries, pastors, nuns, and other "full-time" church workers experienced, but the Bible says every Christian is called to service. Your call to salvation included your call to service. They are the same. Regardless of your job or career, you are called to full-time Christian service. A "non-serving Christian" is a contradiction in terms.
The Bible says, Peter says, "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.." 1Peter 2:9
Anytime you use your God-given abilities to help others, you are fulfilling your calling.
The Bible says, "So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.." Romans 7:4
How much of the time are you being useful in the service of God? In some churches in China, they welcome new believers by saying "Jesus now has a new pair of eyes to see with, new ears to listen with, new hands to help with, and a new heart to love others with."
I like how Paul teaches us about how er are connected in our service as a body, listen to these words,
25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:25-27
One reason why you need to be connected to a church family is to fulfill your calling to serve other believers in practical ways.
Your service is desperately needed in the Body of Christ-just ask any local church. (Expalin the 80/20 rule)Each of us has a role to play, and every role is important.
There is no small service to God; it all matters.
What happens when one part of your body fails to function? You get sick. The rest of your body suffers. Imagine if your liver decided to start living for itself: "I'm tired! I don't want to serve the body anymore! I want a year off just to be fed. I've got to do what's best for me! Let some other part take over." What would happen? Your body would die.
Today thousands of local churches are dying because of Christians who are unwilling to serve. They sit on the sidelines as spectators, and the Body suffers.
VEF reported in its Virginia Vision campaign just a few years ago, that in our country over 70 churches close its doors for the last time each Sunday.
3. You are commanded to serve God.
Jesus was unmistakable:
Mark 10:42-45"42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”"
For Christians, service is not optional,
Its not something to be tacked onto our schedules if we can spare the time.
It is the heart of the Christian life. Jesus came "to serve" and "to give"- Since we are called to follow his example, serving and giving sum up one of God's most significant purpose for your life.
Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation.
The old comparison between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is still true. Galilee is a lake full of life because it takes in water but also gives it out. In contrast, nothing lives in the Dead Sea because, with no outflow, the lake has stagnated.
The last thing many believers need today is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they are putting into practice. What they need are serving experiences in which they can exercise their spiritual muscles.
Serving is the opposite of our natural inclination. Most of the time we're more interested in "serve us" than service. We say, "I'm looking for a church that meets my needs and blesses me," not "I'm looking for a place to serve and be a blessing." We expect others to serve us, not a place to serve.
But as we mature in Christ, the focus of our lives should increasingly shift to living a life of service. The mature follower of Jesus stops asking, "Who's going to meet my needs?" and starts asking, "Whose needs can I meet?"
Eternal implications to our Service for the kingdom of Christ.
In Matthew 25:14-ff Jesus teaches us about what the kingdom of heaven is going to be like and in v 14 he begins to tell a story about a master who went on a long trip but before he left he entrusted large amounts of his money with his servants. The story tells us that he divided up his money like this, to one he gave 5 talents, now a talent was a measurement used in bible times and a talent was about 60 kilograms that equals approximately 130 lbs. and he gave this guy 5 talents, that’s 650 lbs of money we would assume it was some precious metal gold or even silver we are talking huge chunk of change here another servant he gives 2 talents and to yet another he gives one talent.
Not it is interesting what when he comes back he calls for an account of what was given to these servants. Ant the one he gave 5 talents to he discovers that he invested it and now is able to offer his master the increase of his investment and he hands him back 10 talents. The servant he gave 2 talents gave his master 4 talents. Of these two servants the master said well done my good and faithful servant. Then he came to the one he gave one talent and the servant stood before his master and made excuses of why he did nothing with the talent he was given.
He was stripped from his gift and thrown outside where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. A clear illistration of eternal suffering
This eye opening story tells us the importance of using all that has given us and bringing the increase.
At the end of your life on earth you will stand before God, and he is going to evaluate how well you served others with your life. Spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. We grow up in order to give out.
The Bible says, in romans 14:12 "Each of us will have to give a personal account to God." 'Think about the implications of that. One day God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others.
At that point, all our excuses for self-centeredness will sound hollow: "I was too busy" or "I had my own goals" or "I was preoccupied with working, having fun, or preparing for retirement." To all excuses God will respond, "Sorry, wrong answer. I created, saved, and called you and commanded you to live a life of service. What part did you not understand?" The Bible warns unbelievers, "He will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves," but for Christians it will mean a loss of eternal rewards.
We are only fully alive when we're helping others. Jesus said, in mark 8:35 " For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." This truth is so important that it is repeated five times in the Gospels.
If you aren't serving, you're just existing, because life is meant for ministry. God wants you to learn to love and serve others unselfishly.
There is real Signifiance in our Service You are going to give your life for something. What will it be a career, a sport, a hobby, fame, wealth or even your family? None of these will have lasting significance.
Service is the pathway to real significance. It is through ministry that we discover the meaning of our lives. As we serve together in God's family, our lives take on eternal importance. Paul said, Romans 12:5 " so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.."
God wants to use you to make a difference in his world. He wants to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived.
If you're not involved in any service or ministry, what excuse have you been using?
Abraham was old,
Jacob was insecure,
Leah was unattractive,
Joseph was abused,
Moses stuttered,
Gideon was poor,
Samson was codependent,
Rahab was immoral,
David had an affair and all kinds of family problems,
Elijah was suicidal,
Jeremiah was depressed,
Jonah was reluctant,
Naomi was a widow,
John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least,
Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered,
Martha worried a lot,
the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages,
Zacchaeus was unpopular,
Thomas had his doubts,
Paul had poor health,
and Timothy was timid.
That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in his service. He will use you, too, if you stop making excuses.