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Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. Colossians 1:24-29 (NIV)
One of the things that I have learned from dealing with people, and from my own personal experience, is that everybody wants to be somebody. What I mean is that not everybody wants to simply exist, but that everybody wants their lives to really count.
The other night I was sitting around channel surfing, and I happened to come across a special 25th anniversary presentation of the movie Rocky. Watching it, I was surprised at how good it was. Rocky was not some simple one-dimensional character, but a complex mixture of toughness and sensitivity. At one point he tells his girlfriend, Adrian, of his desire to be somebody. He says he just wants to go the distance with Apollo Creed. No one had ever done it before, and if he was still standing when that last bell rang, then he would know that he wasn’t just another bum from the neighborhood. Rocky just wanted his life to count.
Sometime ago an excellent book was written entitled The Search for Significance. I believe everyone is on that search. We all want to believe that there is some significance to our lives. And we have certainly had our values clarified recently. The events of September 11 have caused people everywhere to re-evaluate what is really important. People are being reminded that people, not things, are important. In other words, the most important things in life are not things but people.
When your life is over, what do you want people to say about you? What do you want your epitaph to read? What kind of eulogy would you like? All of us would like to think that our lives made a difference in the lives of others. We would like to think that we would be sorely missed and fondly remembered by many people whose lives we had touched in some significant way.
The apostle Paul was always overwhelmed by the realization that God would use him. He was amazed that the eternal God of the universe would call him to be his ambassador. I’m sure he felt that that was the most significant human endeavor he could embark upon. To be used to God. To make a difference in the world by making a difference in people’s lives. What endeavor could be more significant?
What Paul was talking about was ministry. Ministry is just another word for service. Paul had a passion for ministry because he knew that it meant allowing God to use him for God’s glory. Do you see ministry as your highest privilege? Do you see service for God as a calling? Do you have a passion for ministry? Paul certainly did. And if we want to make a difference in people’s lives in this world, then we need to become passionate regarding ministry.
Do you want to be used to God? Do you want your life to matter? Do you want to make a difference in the lives of the people around you? I hope so. If you do, there are several conditions you must meet. To be used of God...
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Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— (Colossians 1:24-25 NIV)Following Christ involves surrender. We must relinquish the rights to ourselves and surrender our lives to Christ. That means that we begin to see ourselves as servants of God. We surrender control of our lives and allow him to assume control.
Being used of God will also involve sacrifice. Jesus already told us that we would be persecuted for his sake. If we are going to follow Jesus Christ then we must be willing to pay the price. That price may be suffering.
Paul tells us that he suffered for the sake of the church. Indeed, he rejoiced that he had the privilege to suffer for their sake. There was a certain sense in which his suffering was also the suffering of Christ. He was not speaking of the suffering of Christ that he endured on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sin. There was nothing Paul could do to add to that. There was nothing that he could do to enhance that. What Jesus did on the Cross no one could do but him. What he did there is sufficient. What Paul was speaking of was the suffering we endure as Christ’s representatives. When we suffer, Christ suffers.
His suffering had meaning. You see, suffering looks altogether different when that suffering has meaning. When there is a cause worth suffering for, we can rejoice that our suffering is producing something that matters. Following Christ means servanthood and suffering. And the church has always prospered during times of persecution and difficulty. We have a cause worth sacrificing for. We have a cause worth suffering for. We have the highest cause known to man, the cause of Christ. Are you willing to pay the price? To be used of God, you must be willing to pay the price. But there’s more. To be used of God...
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the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim him… (Colossians 1:26-28a NIV)Paul speaks of the mystery that has been hidden. This mystery is now revealed. What is it? It is this–– Christ in you, the hope of glory. Jesus Christ is the main thing.
The focus of Christianity is Christ. The focus of our ministry should be Christ. The focus should not be religion, or a philosophical system of ethical behavior, or rules and regulations, or rituals and good works. The focus of all we do as Christians should be Jesus Christ.
We should focus on Christ because Christianity is all about a relationship with Jesus Christ. The mystery that has been revealed is that Jesus Christ lives within his followers. If you are a believer, Jesus Christ lives in you! It is indeed a mystery as to how this happens, but it is no longer a mystery that it happens. Jesus lives in you. His life is lived through you.
Therefore we must point people to a divine encounter with the living God. This is the essence of Christianity. It is a divine encounter whereby God does a supernatural work within us. He makes us a new creation. And he takes up residence within us.
When you have Jesus Christ living within you, you have all you need. Everything he is becomes available to you. His love, wisdom, patience, power, and mercy become your resources upon which to draw. And as you focus on him, his life begins to show through. All of us need a fresh and powerful revelation of the presence of the living Christ within us. If we want our service for God to be effective, we must keep focused on the main thing, Jesus Christ. Further, to be used of God...
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We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. (Colossians 1:28 NIV)Ministry is making a difference in people’s lives. That is the purpose of ministry. If you want your life to be significant, then invest your life in the lives of other people.
Christianity is about life transformation. It is God’s purpose to transform our minds, actions, and character. His goal is to make us more like Christ. And that should be our goal for those around us. We should desire to help each other become more mature in our faith, more like Christ in our character. So we minister or serve one another. We encourage one another. We teach one another. We even admonish one another. In short, we are there for each other.
When you make a difference in someone’s life, you begin a chain reaction. One illustration of this is the true story of Teddy Stallard.
By his own admission he was an unattractive, unmotivated little boy. He was difficult to like, especially for a schoolteacher who all daylong faced his deadpan, expressionless, unfocused stare. Although his fifth grade teacher said she loved all her students, Miss Thompson had to admit that deep down she wasn’t being honest. She didn’t like him, and she even received a certain perverse pleasure in marking his papers with red ink and writing the F’s with a flair.
Her view of him was already distorted by her perspective, but she should have known better. As his teacher, she had his records and she knew more about him than she wanted to admit. His records read like this:
First Grade – Teddy shows promise with his work and attitude, but he has a poor home situation.
Second Grade – Teddy could do better. Mother is seriously ill. He receives little help at home.
Third Grade – Teddy is a good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year.
Fourth Grade – Teddy is very slow but well behaved. His father shows no interest.
At Christmas, her class all brought her presents in pretty wrappings and gathered around to watch her open them. She was surprised when she received a gift from Teddy. It was crudely wrapped in brown paper loosely held together with tape. When she opened it, out fell a gaudy rhinestone bracelet with half the stones missing and a bottle of cheap perfume. The children began to giggle, but she had enough sense to put on the bracelet and apply some of the perfume on her wrist. She asked the class, "Doesn’t it smell lovely?"
When school was over and the children had left, Teddy had lingered behind. He slowly came over to her desk and said softly, "Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother. And her bracelet looks real pretty on you too. I’m glad you liked my presents." When Teddy left, Miss Thompson got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her.
The next day when the children came to school, they were welcomed by a new teacher. Miss Thompson had become a new person. She was no longer just a teacher; she had become an agent of God. She now had a changed perspective. She was now a person committed to loving her children and doing things for them that would live on after her. Because of Miss Thompson’s loving attention, by the end of that school year, Teddy showed dramatic improvement and had caught up with most of the students.
Miss Thompson did not hear from Teddy for a long time, after he left her class. Then one day she received a note that said:
"Dear Miss Thompson: I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my high school class. Love, Teddy Stallard."
Four years later, Miss Thompson received another note. It read:
"Dear Miss Thompson: They just told me I would be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love, Teddy Stallard."
Finally, Miss Thompson received another note:
"Dear Miss Thompson: As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, MD. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year. Love, Teddy Stallard."
Miss Thompson went to that wedding. In Teddy’s eyes she deserved to sit where his mother would have sat; she had earned that right. She had done something for Teddy that he could never forget. By a small act of love and kindness, she had changed the course of his life. She had exercised the power of love. She had become an agent of God.
When you understand the purpose of ministry is to touch the lives of people, you will begin to have a passion for ministry. Finally, if you are to be used of God...
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To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. (Colossians 1:29 NIV)Paul said that he struggled with all God’s energy. It was the power of God at work within Paul. He had learned the secret of living in the power of God, of depending upon God’s eternal resources.
That is the secret for us as well. We must learn to depend upon Christ for our daily resources of strength. If we try to simply live in our own strength, we will fail. We don’t have enough strength. Our power is limited. We need God’s strength.
How do we do this? How do we learn to depend upon God’s strength rather than rely upon our own? We do it by deliberately exercising ourselves spiritually. Just as we would exercise ourselves physically, we must also learn to exercise ourselves spiritually.
We must discipline ourselves spiritually by keeping our appointments with God. We must take the time to read God’s Word. We must study it. We must seek to understand what God is saying to us through it. We must learn to give, not only of our money, but also of our time and talents. We must serve, by becoming a participant in ministry, sharing ourselves with others. We must witness, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others. We must step out of the boat and take a few risks for God. In faith, we need to trust God to be there for us when we minister in his name.
To do these things means that we must discipline ourselves. They will not just simply happen by accident. We must plan for them and we must follow through on our plan. As we do, we will find that we are tapping into the eternal resources of God. We are plugging into the power of God. We are learning to rely upon God more and more and upon ourselves less and less. We must work in his power. We must live by his life in us.
Do you really want a life that counts? Do you really want a life that makes a difference? Then volunteer for duty. Be like Isaiah, when he encountered God in the Temple. At first, he was mortified by his own sinfulness. He repented of his sin and God cleansed his sin. Then God began to ask who would be willing to go on the mission he had. Isaiah replied, "Here am I Lord, send me." Volunteer for duty. Step out in faith. Determine to live a life in dedicated ministry to God and service to others. Catch the passion of ministry and your life will never be the same. And you will make a difference in this world for God. Your life will count.
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