Greetings to you, dear friends! Grace and peace to you from Father God and our Lord Jesus Christ! We have been talking about Jesus as the example of a true minister. Through ministry Jesus revealed God to people and that is the main purpose of any ministry – to lead people to God Who is the Source of life and power. We saw that Jesus came into this world to serve people and not to be served. Did Jesus have any unfavourable situations or problems in His life? Of course, He did! It says in the Bible that Jesus was tempted in all things and suffered many things:
«For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (..) …who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered»(Hebrews, 4:15; 5:7-8).
We see that Jesus experienced serious difficulties in the days of His earthly life, but He did not focus on them. Jesus was busy serving the Father and those He was sent to serve. While Jesus served people, the Father made sure people ministered to Jesus; God met Jesus’ needs through His ministry. When we serve others, God motivates others to serve us. We always reap what we have sown. We do not serve people because we do not have any problems, – we serve people because it pleases God. And when we serve, despite the fact that we have problems, needs and concerns, God makes sure some people that we do not even know serve us by meeting our needs. It says in the Bible: «So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless…» (Exodus, 23:25).
This is God’s promise to every minister! God is the only One Who is able to help, comfort, heal and restore a person, so it is important for a minister to lead people to God and not to himself. So how can we lead people to God through ministry, if we look from the perspective of Jesus’ example? One time Jesus ministered to people when He fed a multitude. He met a physical need: people were hungry and He fed them. The Bible tells us that afterwards people began to follow Him and seek Him out. Why did they look for Him? Because they liked to be filled. But this is what Jesus told them after they found Him: « Jesus answered them and said, „Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him» (John, 6:26-27).
Because Jesus served the people, He had an opportunity not only to feed them physically, but also speak to them about eternal life that God only gives. Jesus said: «Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him» (John, 6:27).
You see that Jesus first served people and made an effort to help them in their needs and then He pointed them to the eternal things – to their Heavenly Father. Many believers today are involved in practical ministry to the people and, surely, God change them through it. But sometimes when doing good works we forget what the main purpose of our ministry is: the main thing is to testify of God through our good works and help people to reunite with Him. Only when we understand it and move in that direction, we receive the full reward from the Lord. May God abundantly bless every one of you! Pastor Rufus Ajiboye
