Ministry and Truth are Defined by Christ's Example
"Whoever wants to be great among you must become the servant of all" (Matt.
20:26).
To partake of Jesus Christ's ministry one
must become a son or daughter by the adoption of the Spirit. Though we are
heirs of God yet must we be subject to others in service. When it is
necessary a servant that is yielded to God’s will and purpose will be the
first to gird them self and bow down to wash the feet of others as Christ
did His disciples. A Christ like example and testimony is not about selfish
ambitions, or look who I am and what I can do, or how I'm blessed, it’s
about the Ministry of Jesus Christ and His working through adopted
sons and daughters of God to bring the Good News of Salvation and Healing to
the souls and lives of others.
Many are as we were before Christ washed us,
they are overcome being the children of disobedience led about by the spirit
of wickedness. (Eph 2:2)
Strangers may be compelled to come to Christ by our sharing with them that
same spirit and love Christ offers each one of us. Thru our love and service
to those who are outside the Kingdom they too may be encouraged and desire
to be part of God's family and find rest from the debts owed for their sins
also.
If one begins to think it's beneath them as a
brother, sister or minister of Jesus Christ to serve or wash the feet of
others, or begins to think that they should instead be served or
exalted they probably are not qualified, nor deserving of the title to serve
as Christ's ambassador.
Many unintentionally exalt themselves by taking
credit for work that Christ alone has done. One may exalt them self or
discredit the character of Christ by seizing judgmental responsibility which
belongs to Christ alone or by actions that are unbecoming of Christ. Those
who behave in this manner may find themselves being used as a tool in the
hand of an anti-Christ spirit hindering the propagation of Christ’s love for
sinners and the gospel.
Those who are overcome by a disobedient spirit
may judge selfishly so that they will in return be rewarded or appear
especially favorable, leaning on cobwebs and reeds, these may find
themselves building up worldly respect by carnal appearances, collecting
stately and worldly assets, erecting monuments to a false imagination of
God, and building a kingdom of wood, hay and stubble which shall not endure
the fiery trials to come.
Hereby
perceive we the love of God, because he laid
down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and
shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the
love of God in him?
My little children, let us not love in word,
neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. (1 Jn 3:16-18)
Pure
religion and undefiled before God and the
Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and
to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)
Let us not think that we as
born again believers have ascended very far beyond the unrepentant while we
tarry upon the earth. Our current state of salvation is challenged daily by
an enemy who seeks to turn us away from the true path of righteousness unto
a place that he may find opportunity to kill, steal and destroy God’s plan
for our lives.
Be glad if you have sinners
within your fellowship or ranks because the benefits delivered for the
Church of Jesus Christ belong to sinners. All that the Spirit shall call who
gladly receive and obey the gospel of Christ are entitled to receive thru
the new birth a magnificent transformation to become like Christ.
Then said he
also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not
thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours;
lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
But when thou makest a
feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
And thou shalt be
blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at
the resurrection of the just. (Luke 14:12-14)
Let us pray collectively as
the body of Christ for a greater manifestation of Christ’s love in ourselves
and toward our world by seeking deeper relationships with Him and
maintaining a consistent life of prayer and study of God’s Word.
He
that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he
walked. (1 John 2:6)
Beloved, now are we the
sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that,
when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
And every man that hath
this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1 Jn 3:2)
Many that fall into error blindly venture
outside the word of God and the measurements and safety of the Holy City of
God. Poor examples they become, estranged to the true love of Christ. They
look unsympathetically upon the widows and fatherless, the poor, hungry and
unredeemed. Blind they become to the Truth of Christ and the lies of the
enemy, and having neglected or robbed God's children by strife and vain
judgments they may find at the conclusion of their days to have missed the
will of God and their true purpose and calling in the Kingdom of God.
We must Guard ourselves against the wiles of the
enemy. Paul warns we should run our race not as if we are just beating the
air but as if we are determined to have the 1st place award by
investing ourselves with every movement and action of our being to secure
our place as an over comer that when we have run the course that is before
us and finished the race we shall not be ashamed.
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that
beateth the air
But I keep under my body, and bring it into
subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself
should be a castaway. (1 Cr 9:27)
JW Mills 4-17-07