Last night I was thinking of being called to the ministry & what it means for me as opposed to what it might mean for others. I started thinking of scripture & the various things that I could see that we are all called to do so I started reading through certain scripture getting more ideas. Then I started going through the parallel scripture that was marked on the page for more reference. It quickly occurred to me that we’re all called for the same things. Everyone of us are called to complete the same tasks as every other person that stands up & says “I’m a Christian.” I didn’t used to think this, as it’s not the most popular idea that some people are called to minister, some are just called to witness, some might not be “called” at all… but when the Bible gives some sort of call for any Christian, it’s a call that should be considered on our own lives. How else are we to live if we don’t live by example of Christ & His disciples?
So we come to the first call on the Christians life. I believe every Christian that acknowledges Christ as their Savior, which should be all of them, is called to ministry. Not saying everyone is called to be a preacher or pastor a church. I’m going to take the majority of my message for this call from II Timothy 4:1-5 (NASB). This is a charge from Timothy to preach the Word of God, to constantly be ready to share this Word, a warning of what will come with people no longer sticking to the doctrine of the Bible, to be sober (innocent) in all things so that we may preach & it be heard. Not to say you have to pastor a church, but in whatever you do, you must preach the Gospel along with it. In Romans 10:14-15, Paul asks the Church how people will call upon the Lord if they don’t believe in Him? How will they believe in Him if they haven’t heard the Gospel? How will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?
So we look at the meaning of “ministry” from the origin, & that actually means to serve or “in service for” which is interesting, because then that means we are called to serve. It seems Christianity has become a “serve us” industry as opposed to the other way around. So how must we serve? Well, the best answer is selflessly & the scripture to back that up is John 13 when Jesus washed the feet of Peter. The scripture I want to use is a bit long for this post, but I will look more into it in an expository way when I elaborate on it. There are several wonderful parts in this scripture. Verses 6-9 is symbolic of spiritual cleansing & verses 12-17 is a model of Christian humility. Through this action Jesus taught the lesson of selfless service that was supremely exemplified by His death on the cross.
One of the big reasons I picked the service scripture from John 13 (besides it being a favorite) is because it moves on to my next point on what we are called to do. We are called to love. John 13:31-35 is the specific scripture I’m looking at & in verse 34 it calls to love one another a “new commandment.” After announcing His departure & having insisted His disciples could not come with Him, Jesus began to lay out what He expected of them after His leaving. Love is to serve as the distinguishing characteristic of discipleship. The “12 disciples” are not the ones being talked about here. We are all disciples of Christ so this scripture applies to us as much as anyone & should be our defining characteristic as a Christian.
Compassion is what I’d like to list as the next call on our lives. I Peter 3:8 says “Now finally, all of you should be like-minded and sympathetic, should love believers, and be compassionate and humble” (HCSB). It goes on to say that we should not return evil with evil & insult with an insult, but instead give blessings to the ones who curse us. What a scripture… That to me sums up a majority of Christ’s witness while He was on this Earth. Matthew 9:36 “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them…” Matthew 20:34 “Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.” (NASB) How many people would “gain sight” & follow Jesus if we were to regularly show the kind of compassion Jesus showed? The cool thing, He is still showing compassion on us without being physically present.
The next call seems to be one of the most mistaken calls of the Church; it’s the call to worship. My experiences in leading worship in smaller & bigger elements has led me to study worship. The Book of Psalms is filled with worshipful scriptures & was in fact written as poems & songs in worship to God. Psalm 95:6 says “Come, let us worship and bow down…” That’s one example of worshiping in showing reverence to God for His holiness. Well what is worship? Worshiping something is showing how much “worth” it has to you. In a sense, worship could also be said as “worth-ship.” In Acts 17:22-25 Paul exclaims to people that they are worshiping in ignorance to “AN UNKNOWN GOD” (as is the inscription on an idol). Paul goes on to say that God, who made everything, does not dwell in human temples (talking what is man-made) & God is not served by the hands of humans “as though He needs anything.” All of this gives way to God being eternal & holy & for that reason He is worthy of any & all worship & praise. Sometimes I wonder how many “unknown gods” that we have in our lives that takes away from seeing God more worthy than what we do.
The last call I want to talk about is the call to be transformed. Romans 12:2 tells us to not be conformed, but “be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (NASB) so that we will know what the will of God is. I find it interesting that the “mind” is specifically said here. To me it seems that a lot of people, including me, are content with “following their heart” to the point that we fall back on that statement. It’s Biblical that the heart should not be what we think with. Well why is that? That’s because the heart is emotion. The heart thinks with the world. However, the mind is where knowledge is contained & is where the Holy Spirit takes affect, thus transforming our mind to the will of God & the Holy Spirit being able to take better effect in our lives. This kind of transformation can occur only as the Holy Spirit changes our thinking through consistent study & meditation of scripture. The renewed mind is one saturated with & controlled by the Word of God.
