Serving the Lord (part 1)

BIBLE VERSE:

Serve the Lord with gladness! Psalm 100:2 (ESV)

In Christian ministry we need to realise that first and foremost we serve the Lord.

It’s true we also work for those we are accountable to and in CEF^® we of course serve the children. But above all you serve the Lord Christ (Col. 3:24). This leads to a number of important implications.

When we serve Christ, we come to Him for vision and purpose.

Vision gives orientation. We would soon go in a wrong direction, if we receive our vision and purpose from people. Vision and purpose need to come from the Word of God! How does Jesus see the children? How does the Lord describe their greatest need? And what is His solution? When He sees the children like sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36), when the Bible describes them as lost and strayed (Ezek. 34:16), when Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10), then our vision and the purpose of our ministry become clear. Every child is lost in sin and needs Jesus as his Saviour. We need to bring them the gospel!

When we serve Jesus, we depend on Him.

Apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:5). That does not only mean, that we come to Him for wisdom, pray to Him for help or seek His advice before we make decisions. It means in particular that our ministry can only be fruitful on His terms. The devil wants us to think: If I work day and night, I will do a good job. If I work hard, I will be successful and the Lord will be pleased with me. Almost everything in this reasoning is wrong. God told Joshua on the day of His commissioning: If you want success, if you want to see fruit, then this is what you need to do. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful (Josh. 1:8). In Christ’s service, studying His Word is our first duty!

When we serve the Lord, we obey and trust Him.

In ministry we are sometimes tempted to do things that are not completely right. A friend offers to make an illegal copy of a certain software we need. “In doing this you can save the Lord’s money,” whispers the voice of worldly thinking. In contrast the Word of God reminds us, that the Lord’s servants hate wrongdoing (cf. Prov. 16:12). In the Lord’s service we know to whom we must listen. – In ministry we also face many challenges. We sometimes find ourselves in a situation like Moses, we have a Red Sea in front of us, fainthearted people around us and the enemy coming behind us. What can we do in such a situation? We remind ourselves that this is not our ministry, it’s His! He is in control. Then we trust Him!

When it’s clear to us that we serve the Lord Christ, we serve Him with gladness.

We know that we serve the best Lord, a Lord who loved us so much that He gave His life for us! We also know that we serve the highest Lord, a Lord who deserves that we serve Him joyfully, cheerfully and enthusiastically, always expressing the privilege; it is good that we are here (Matt. 17:4).