(Eph. 2:1-10; John 17:1-5)
–Pastor Felix Tingson
We are called for a holy and noble purpose! You were put on earth to make a contribution. You were not created just to consume resources, to eat, breathe, and take up space. God designed us to make a difference with our life.
While many best-selling books offer advice on how to “get the most out of life”, that’s not the reason God made us. We were created to add to life on earth, not just take from it. God wants you to give something back. This is God’s purpose for your life, and it is called your “ministry” or service.
You were created to serve God- the Bible says, in Eph. 2:10b. God has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do” (Col. 3: 23-4; Matt. 25: 34). These good deeds are your service. Whenever you serve others in any way, you are actually serving God (Eph. 6:7). What God told Jeremiah “Before I made you in your mother’s womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work” (Jer. 1:5). You were placed on this planet for a special assignment.
You were saved to serve God, the Bible says. “It is He who saved us and chose us for His holy work, not because we deserved it but because that was His plan” (2 Tim. 1:9). God redeemed you so you could do His “holy work.” You are not saved by service, but you are saved for service. In God’s Kingdom you have a place, a purpose, a role, and a function to fulfill. This gives your life great significance and value.
It cost Jesus His own life to purchase your salvation. The Bible reminds us, “God paid a great price. So use your body to honor God” (1 Cor. 6:20). We do not serve God out of guilt or fear or even duty, but out of joy, and deep gratitude for what He has done for us. We owe Him our lives. Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured. In light of these incredible benefits, Paul concluded, “Because of God’s great mercy … offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to His service” (Rom. 12:1).
The apostle John taught us, “Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life” (1 John 3:14). If I have no love for others, no desire to serve others, and I am only concerned about my needs, I should question whether Christ is really in my life. A saved heart is one that wants to serve.
Another term for serving God that’s misunderstood by most people is the word “ministry.” When most people hear “ministry” they think of pastors, priests, and professional clergy, but God says every member of His family is a minister. In the Bible, the words servant and minister are synonyms, as are service and ministry. If you are a Christian you are a minister, and when you are serving, you are ministering.
When Peter’s sick mother-in-law was healed by Jesus, she instantly “stood up and began to serve Jesus” (Matt. 8:15), using her new gift of health. This is what we are to do. We are healed to help others. We are blessed to be a blessing. We are saved to serve, not to sit around and wait for heaven!
Have you ever wondered why God does not just immediately take us to heaven the moment we accept His grace? Why does He leave us in a fallen world? He leaves us here to fulfill His purposes. Once you are saved, God intends to use you for His goals. God has a ministry for you in His church and a mission for you in the world.
You are called to serve God. Growing up, you may have thought that being “called” by God was something only for missionaries, pastors, nuns, and other “full-time” church workers experienced, but the Bible says every Christian is called to service (Eph. 4:14; Rom. 1:6-7; 8:28-30; 1 Cor. 1:2,9,26; 7:17; Phil 3:14; 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Peter 1:3).
Your call to salvation included your call to service. They are the same. Regardless of your job or career, you are called to full-time Christian service. A “non-serving Christian” is a contradiction in terms.
The Bible says “He saved us and called us to be His own people, not because of what we have done, but because of His own purpose (2 Tim 1:9). Peter added, ” You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you” (1 Peter 2:9). The Bible says, “Now you belong to Him … in order that we might be useful in the service of God” (Rom. 7:4). How much of the time are you being useful in the service of God? In some churches in China they welcome new believers by saying, “Jesus now has a new pair of eyes to see with, new ears to listen with, new hands to help with, and a new heart to love others with.”
One reason why you need to be connected to a church family is to fulfill your calling to serve other believers in practical ways. The Bible says “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it” (1 Cor. 12:27). Remember, there are no insignificant ministries in the church. Some are visible and some are behind the picture, but all are valuable. Small or hidden ministries often make the biggest difference. In my home, the most important light is not the bright light in our dining room but the little night light that keeps me from stubbing my toe when I get up at night. There is no correlation between size and significance. Every ministry matters because we are all dependent on each other to function.
What happens when one part of our body fails to function? We get sick. The rest of the body suffers. Imagine if your liver decided to start living for its own self. “I’m tired! I don’t want to serve the body anymore! I want a year off just to be fed. I have to do what is best for me! Let some other part take over.” What would happen? Our body would die. Today thousands of local churches are dying because of Christians who are unwilling to serve. They sit on the sidelines as spectators, and the Body suffers.
We are commanded to serve God-if we are saved. Jesus says “Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life” (Matt. 20:28). Beloved, for Christians, service is not optional, something to be tacked onto our schedules if we can spare the time. It is the heart of the Christian life. Jesus came “to serve” and “to give” – and those two verbs should define your life on earth. Mother Theresa said, “Holy living consists in doing God’s work with a smile.”
Serving is the opposite of our natural inclination. Most of the time we are more interested in “serve us” than service. We say, “I’m looking for a church that meets my needs and blesses me,” not “I’m looking for a place to serve and be a blessing.” The mature follower of Jesus stops asking, “Who is going to meet my needs?” and starts asking, “Whose needs can I meet”
God wants to use you to make a difference in His world. He wants to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived. If you are not involved in any service or ministry, what excuse have you been using? Dr. Thomas, our guest speaker during the Asian Conference in Hawaii said, “Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Mosses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was co-dependent, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive, and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed marriage, Zaacchaeus was unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid. That is quite a variety of misfits. But God used each of them in His service. He will use you, too, if you stop making excuses.”