Ministry Wednesday: The Gift of Christ, The Beginning of Ministry

Ministry Wednesday: The Gift of Christ, The Beginning of Ministry.

Though hardly used in Christmas exhortations, John 3:16 was Christ's own explanation for Christmas.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The essence of Christmas is captured in John 3:16. That God permitted His only Son, the only one who had the genetic material God has, the only other being who had the seed of God, the only other being who had the nature of God, the Zoe, the eternal kind of life, infinite and original, to take on a human body, sharing in human life, being subject to death, so that humans too can upgrade to share in that same kind of life for the purpose of being part of the family and the kingdom of God eternally.

That's the essence of the joy of Christmas and it is the essence of ministry. If we know this, it is safe for us.

It must have been for love, it couldn't have been by legality. It has to be of grace and not of works, that God will decide to save mankind and share His life with us.

After all, God didn't promise Adam that if he ate the forbidden fruit and died, as assuredly as He had told him, that He would come back to raise him up and give him a new life.

Redemption wasn't part of the original deal. If God had not sent His Son, His Only Son, whom He loves to come to redeem us, giving us another chance, God would have had no fault. It was love that moved God and not justice. We have no right to being saved but for God's eternal unconditional love.

So we see God's love motivating His will and decisions to save us.

Then we see the place of His ability to give sacrificially. His love moved Him to decide on our salvation and His ability to make sacrifices took over to provide His only Son as the sacrifice for our sins.
His faithfulness completed the cycle, He assured us that whosoever believes would not perish but have eternal life.

We may love people, and make great plans for them, we would need the necessary ability to be able to fulfil the plan and enough faithfulness not to fail when asked.

And this is ministry as exemplified by God and His Christ. We are called into ministry to continue the process. It won't be godly if it isn't done that way.

We must share the same unconditional love God has for people. His love is to whosoever. It is sincere and honest. Ministry must begin and continue in this love. Love must be the motivation for our ministries. If we don't have the capacity to love, then we don't have the capacity for ministry.

After that, we must share that same decision God has made for people. We must seek to see everyone standing perfect and complete in all the will of God. Not standing perfect in our own will but in the will of God. The unconditional love we share with God for people, should lead us to desire same things God desires for them. We don't use our pains, biases, offenses and levels of relationship to determine what people's lot should be, rather we seek for them to be all that God wants for them to be, nothing less nothing more irrespective of who they are to us. This is ministry.

Now, we don't always have the power to give what God wants or desires for the people. This is where our dependence on God comes in. This is where grace comes in. When we share same love and desires with God for them, we need to then make ourselves available by faith and submission, ready to make whatever sacrifice it takes to bring God's will to pass for the people. Here, God takes over and passes His omnipotence through us to bring His will to pass in the lives of the people who believe. This is ministry.

It takes making ourselves available sacrificially just as Jesus Christ did, for God to move through us to bring His will to pass in the lives of His people.

Lastly we must be faithful to this process. Whoever believe should be saved and not be disappointed. Ministry requires of us to remain faithful to God's service and devotion, to His call upon our lives, to the grace He has given us and to the people He has committed to us to minister His will to. If we aren't faithful, He won't be able to trust us with what's valuable to Him. He won't be able to trust us with His word and with His cause. If we aren't faithful, we fail. We fail to carry through to the people what's expected of us. We fail to beat all the odds to deliver purpose. It takes faithfulness to deliver. And at every stage our faithfulness will be tested, we must not fail.

Christmas should remind us of the reason for ministry. It is the beginning of ministry. It is the example of ministry for us to follow.

God loves the world that hates Him, we should love as He does.

God made decisions and commitment to save mankind. We should share and respect those same decisions and make commitments to see them come to pass in people's lives.

God has the ability in His omnipotence to bring His will to pass for everyone. We should believe that and make ourselves available to be channels of His power for the purpose of establishing His will in people's lives.

We should share the character of faithfulness God has. We should be faithful towards Him, towards His will, towards His word, towards His cause and towards His people.

This is ministry and the grace to do this is available in Christ Jesus which we draw through knowledge and faith.

May this grace be multiplied to you today and always in Jesus name. Amen.

Merry Christmas and I wish you a very happy new year in advance!