The message of the gospel is of utmost importance because it is a matter of eternal consequences. The souls of billions are at stake. Hence, the work we do for the Kingdom is critical. The question is, can God count on you?
This question does not speak primarily to your willingness to get involved in Kingdom work. Rather, it speaks to your commitment to faithfulness and integrity in serving the Lord. The point here is that some who claim to serve the Lord do so for self-serving reasons or with wrong motives.
In Paul the apostle’s letter to the Philippians, he says this concerning His friend Timothy: “For I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s” (Phil. 2:20-21, KJV).
Since Paul says “ALL seek their own, the problem referred to was not an isolated one but a prevalent one. Hence, the subject matter of this blog post is nothing new. It is not unique to modern Christendom. Even in Paul’s day, many of those involved in Kingdom work were self-serving!
The same is true today. Being a preacher, I sometimes get the preacher-jokes thrown at me. Things like, “All you guys want is people’s money.” Or, “Televangelists give Christianity a bad name,” etc. By the way, I don’t deny that some validity exists for those allegations.
So, the question on the floor is, can God count on you to be faithful?
Looking at the Big Picture
Accepting the challenge to do ministry work in the church is good. But that’s just the beginning. Small study group leaders, for instance, must put adequate time in to study the content they present each week. This can place a substantial demand on those teachers’ time.
On the other hand, they need to consider the big picture. If they shun their responsibility to properly prepare, opportunities to impact lives with the gospel will be missed.
Have you ever attended a church service, and it was obvious the choir did not properly prepare? Or, perhaps it was not the choir but the preacher who was not properly prepared. What a turn off that can be.
Why should unbelievers who attend our local church respond positively to what we offer if we don’t value what we do enough to present it with excellence?
The gospel is not entertainment. It’s not a ritual for simply going through the motions. The gospel is the message of God’s undying love for a lost world. It is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. And God has made us stewards of this vital work.
During His public ministry, Jesus taught a parable about a lord who had gifted his servants with money to be his stewards (Matthew 25:14-26). After a long time, the lord returned for the stewards to give account of their stewardship. Two of them, the lord found to be faithful. The other he found to be wicked and lazy.
Our goal in serving the Lord should be to be former and not the latter.
How We Serve God
Bear in mind that you and I don’t serve God directly. He needs absolutely nothing from us. Rather, we are servants of God because in His name, we serve His people and humanity at large. And God deserves nothing less than our very best.
That in turn means that the people we serve in His name deserve nothing less than our very best. And our business for God is a matter of eternal consequences. So, again, can God count on you to be faithful?
Copyright © 2022 by Frank King. All rights reserved.