Newsletter Article
August 2003
We are ministers. As Christians we are called to minister to unbelievers as well as each other. What does it mean to minister? Here is a definition that I found:
Minister Min”is*ter, v. i.
1. To act as a servant, attendant, or agent; to attend and
serve; to perform service in any office, sacred or
secular.
The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but
to minister. –Matt. 20:28.
2. To supply or to things needful; esp., to supply
consolation or remedies. –Matt. 25:44.
One example of this that I have just read was in Job. Here is someone who could stand being ministered to. He has lost everything. All his children, all his wealth, even his health. Satan wanted to test Job so that he could show God that we are only faithful in our comfort. In all of Job’s afflictions he remained faithful and I would encourage you to read the story for yourself but I want to point out something. Job’s had three friends. If you read the story you will see that perhaps Job could have used some better friends but I want to show you his friends at the beginning of the story. Here is a brief quote from Job;
Job 2:11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
Did you get that? SEVEN DAYS!!! SEVEN NIGHTS!!! On the ground. They did not even speak to Job but just sat with him. To comfort him. Are we willing to be that kind of friend? Often we think we are supposed to fix the problem. That is where Job’s friends went wrong later on but at the start they were true ministers.
Now this takes practice and a good dose of the Holy Spirit to point out how and where we should minister. Humans are naturally selfish and self centered. If it were not so, Jesus would not have told us this:
Matt:36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “` Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ` Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
This is how we are supposed to behave. We are supposed to do things out of love. To love is an act, not a feeling. We are to love as Christ loved. He loved us so much that he died for us. I don’t know of a greater measure of love.
Here is how Paul puts it in his letter to the Philippians:
Phil 2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
So as you go down the road, look for those you can minister to. It may be something obvious, like helping to change a tire or letting someone use your cell phone. It may be simply to smile at someone who is frowning. It is amazing the effect of a smile on someone who is down. A kind word or to offer to pray for someone when they are struggling. Slow down and look for the chance to be a minister of Jesus Christ to a lost and harassed world.
In His Grip,
Jerry Robertson
Chaplain CMA Crossties