Ephesians 3:7-9 “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things.” (ESV)
Pastor Herk continued last Sunday in his sermon series in the Epistle of Ephesians by asking: what is your life work? Let’s look again at this passage in more modern terms.
Ephesians 3:7-9 “This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along.” (The Message Bible paraphrase)
The Apostle Paul further explains this principle in 1 Timothy 1:12-16 “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” Our life work is totally and completely dependent on God and a result of God’s work in our lives.
How does God help us with our life’s work? (1) God has given us a unique ministry. In Acts 22:14-15 Jesus said to him, “The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness for Him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.” Paul’s Gospel ministry was not something that he thought up on his own; it was given to him by God; assigned by Jesus Christ in person. The Greek word for “minister” is “diakonos” meaning “one who executes the commands of God; a servant, attendant, minister - the servant of the Majesty.” This Greek word is where we get the English term “deacon”, one who, by virtue of the office assigned to them by the church, ministers. The Apostle Paul is not the only one who has been assigned a unique ministry.
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” God has given each of His children a spiritual gift and a unique ministry to use that gift. Ministry is not just for Pastors, Deacons and church staff. We are all ministers (those who by the command of God proclaim and promote religion among men) with a ministry that is ministering to a lost and dying world. Every one of us is a minister, serving the Lord and the Kingdom of Heaven in His Gospel ministry work of repentance, reconciliation and restoration; meeting needs right where we are. We, as servants of Christ, “go in peace; serve the Lord”; that is what ministry is. There is no such thing as a Christian without a ministry.
Ephesians 3:7-9 “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things.” (ESV)
We each make a profound difference in the lives of each other. God has designed each one of us in some unique way, consistent with the way that He created us, to be a minister in some form or fashion.
Let's continue Pastor Herk's message on our life's work in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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