You Are a Minister
January 11, 2024 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
If you have placed your faith Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are a minister. No seminary degree required. No ordination. No prior examination (except for making a public profession of faith). No special talents or gifts separate the “minister” and “non-minister” Christians. Every Christian is a minister.
That’s God’s design. It doesn’t mean every Christian ministers as God desires. Some deny that they have a ministry. Some question whether God could use them for ministry. Others are caught up in looking after their own needs that they overlook serving others. Either you are a Christian seeking to faithfully steward the gifts and resources God has given you to serve the church and those outside of the church or you are a Christian disobeying God’s desire to use you to bless others.
Once again, this is not my design; it is God’s design. Consider these Scriptures:
- The Saints are to be Equipped for Ministry, Ephesians 4:12. Paul says that Jesus has given to the church “the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” In Paul’s language, the “saints” are every believer. Those we often call “ministers,” i.e. pastors and teachers, are called to equip the saints for ministry.
- Every Believer has Been Gifted by the Spirit to Serve Others, 1 Corinthians 12:7. In the grand chapter discussing spiritual gifts, Paul says, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Paul uses the word “manifestation” to speak about the gifts of the Spirit that become manifest (i.e. revealed) within the church community as they are used. Paul says these gifts are for the “common good,” meaning they are for the service of others in the church. In Romans 12:6, Paul commands, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.”
- Bearing Other’s Burdens Also is Ministry, Galatians 6:2. In the context of restoring one caught in transgression, Paul commands the church, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” These burdens are emotional, physical, and spiritual. Instead of judging others when they sin, we are commanded to restore and help them. This is ministry. The writer of Hebrews commands, “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (3:13). Ignoring or dismissing the sin of others is no service to them.
- A Healthy Church Requires Every Member Ministering, Ephesians 4:16. Paul explains that “the whole body, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Every member of the church contributes to the health and growth of the church.
There are more passages we can look at, but these give the big picture that it is God’s design for you to be a minister in his church. The question then becomes, how are you doing? Are you serving? Are you serving “by the strength that God supplies” (1 Pet. 4:11)? Are you looking “not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4)? Are you “striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” with other members of the church (Phil. 1:27)? Are you doing good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith (Gal. 6:10)? You are a minister, and the church needs you.
This is the topic I will be teaching on for the next six Sundays during our Sunday School hour. I want to equip the saints for the work of ministry by outlining the Scripture guidelines for ministry. We will consider the character, the knowledge content, and the competencies of faithful ministers in the church. I hope you will join us.
