The Reason For Ministry

The operation of ministry today in many circles is wrong because people have no good understanding of what ministry is all about. Good news, the ROUNDED BEAUTY crew is here to provide light on that.

The best way to see ministry is to look at the Lord Jesus.

‘Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.’ (Hebrews 2 vs 17).

The major reason for ministry is service. Actually the word ministry means service. Anyone, whose real intent is not to serve, cannot be a minister of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our service is both to the Lord and to men and the reason for the service is the reconciliation of men. In actual sense, ministry places you between men and God.

Now let’s break it down:

The Ministry Of Reconciliation

Jesus came to reconcile man unto God, Hebrews 2:17 says that. When a man receives reconciliation, in return he is made a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5 vs 18).

There are two levels of participation in the ministry of reconciliation  the believers’ level and the ministry gifts’ level. The believers’ level is when a man who has no assignment in the fivefold ministry (such as Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher) preaches the gospel and thereby wins souls. On this ground we can say that every believer has been called into the ministry.

However, the second level which is our focus is the ministry gifts.  Just as they have been listed previously, they extend and present the grace of Christ to both the world and the church.

‘ But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles;  and some, prophets;  and some, evangelists;  and some, pastors and teachers;’(Ephesians 4 vs 7-11).

Now, in carrying out this level of ministry, we must ensure we understand our position. We are actually standing between men and God. Please don’t get us wrong, all men in Christ are priests and kings, however, the posture of Christ in His high priesthood towards man and God must be our posture too in order to fulfil our calling as God expects. Let’s take a look at the postures we need to take as ministers of God:

MERCIFUL

Jesus came as a man on earth so as to be a merciful high priest, because he was made a man like us, he was tested like we are and could be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. We must be able to show some compassion to people, that is what should be the motive behind all we do in ministry, that is why we want the oppressed delivered, that is why we want the poor fed and not for any selfish reason. Anything that will affect your posture of mercy to people should bring you to your knees; whenever you can’t be touched by the infirmities of people you are gradually losing relevance.

FAITHFUL

Faithfulness points us to the Lord. That should be our posture to him. You must never catch yourself being unfaithful to God, you are God’s steward of his manifold grace (1Peter 4 vs 10-11). The moment you stop being faithful to God, you have become your own master. You are a man under authority; you go where he sends you, doing what he sends you, with whom he sends you. In a nutshell, when you carry out ministry, put two people before you, God and man, the moment you are in the picture, you won’t follow according the master’s pattern.

Watch out for our next post!