Day 20 "Overflowing Ministry"

In a way, I wasn't really surprised when I read the definition of "ministry" in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary:

1) the office, duties, or functions of a minister, 2) the body of minister of religion: clergy, 3) a person or thing through which something is done. So, if you happen to be asked, "What is your ministry?" the tendency might be to fall back on this definition and have a mindset that probably sees your minister or pastor as the one having the responsibility for the spiritual ministry of others. After all, "Life's too busy right now with all kinds of things pulling on my strings, demanding my attention. Where do I possibly have time, myself, with my busy schedule, to set aside for God?" The definition for minister as a verb didn't help too much either: 1) to function as a minster of religion. Yep, right up the same alley! Not much help there. But it was the 2nd meaning that caught my attention: 2) to give aid or service.

Who among us would say that when asked to do something we really don't want to do, we do it begrudgingly and resentfully? I am sure most of us have at one point or another in our lives. We feel constrained by the list of the do's and do not's that is expected of us. Even when we may believe something to be in our best interest, our own sense of personal freedom and free will might intervene and dictate a different response from us.

My encouragement today is for you to see your ministry as a "way of life" and not to be seen as a prescribed course of action which needs to be taken to fulfill your obligations under a set of rules or laws. I call it the "Great Exchange"- giving up "the need to" or the feeling that "you have to" in exchange for embracing the "want to's." How is this possible? It becomes possible when we perceive ourselves completely set free from our sins and our fear of punishment and are able to embrace the unconditional love that God-and only God- has for us.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

Jesus has already paid the penalty for all (past, present, and future) of our sins. In Christ, you have been given a full pardon from God's perspective (And it is the only one that matters). In God's love and mercy through Christ, you are now free to live your life out from underneath the weight of guilt and fear.

"He set aside the first (covenant) to establish the second (covenant). And by that will,

we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

Hebrews 10:10

When Jesus died on the cross for you and I, he took our iniquity upon himself and gave us his righteousness in exchange, as if we have never sinned. We have been made holy. And having been made holy, our lives spiritually can be reconnected into a relationship with a holy and just God.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us

the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. " 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

As to God's love for us? The more we come to know and understand it, the more we trust God with our lives and seek to please him- not because we have to, but because we want to.

"The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting

love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." Jeremiah 31:3

What we do with our lives is dependent upon our hearts. Why do you really do the things that you do? What true motive directs you? Someone once remarked, "One of the greatest sins is doing the right thing but for the wrong reason. Human nature doesn't surprise me. We are all capable of doing outrages acts to others given the right circumstances. I have watched some of the best intentioned people, just leaving the church following a a very moving sermon about caring for others, unable to even make it out of the parking lot before breaking their pledge to God that they would do better this week to put the interest of others before their own.

So how does this "Great Exchange" materialize in our lives?

First of all, we need to be free from performance in our relationship with God. As long as you feel that your behavior will move God to bless you or punish you, you are constrained by your performance. To dispel this notion, here are a couple of thoughts. Do you believe that God's love for you is conditional or unconditional? If unconditional, it merits or demands nothing of us. This is where God's love and grace is so important to fully understand and embrace. Jesus did what we could do for ourselves. We could never act holy or righteous enough to merit a relationship with a holy God nor enter into his kingdom. Only, and I repeat only, through Jesus shedding of his blood on the cross was the penalty of our sins paid for, and we are given an unconditional pardon from God and brought back spiritually into his family. Only through Christ do we become a child of God- forever.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father

except through me." John 14:6

"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Romans 3:22

"and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:24

Second of all, to experience the "Great Exchange" for yourself, your motivation for whatever needs to be done in your life needs to be seeded and cultivated in love.

We have been set free and made holy by Jesus. Our sins are forgiven past, present, and future. Our eternal salvation is not partial! Is is not dependent upon...! It is done, com-pletely finished! You did nothing to earn nor deserve it. Therefore, you can't screw it up! Unconditional love is just that- without condition. It is what lead Jesus to the cross and held him there.

"Perfect love casts out all fear." 1 John 4:18

"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19

Look at the picture of the water flowing out of the stone fountain above. Why does the water flow out of the fountain? Nothing profound about the answer. It is simply overfilled and needs some place to go. Since Jesus set you free from condemnation and gave you eternal life through him, our efforts and performance do nothing to earn more or less of God's love for us. You do not need to do anything more to more of God's love. You already have it! Therefore, live in the gratitude of what you already have received. Your ministry, the caring about others, is simply letting the love within you overflow towards others as you go through life- 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week. It is an attitude of mind, a continuous sensitivity of the spirit being illuminated within you in the midst of doing whatever you may be doing. When the love of God overflows in your heart, and your understanding and gratitude of His mercy and grace that forgave you all of our sins begins to overflow from you like the stone fountain overflowing with water, your ministry won't be considered a burden but an extension of simply who you are. You won't be able to help it. It will just happen naturally. God wants to have his Holy Spirit to living in and through you. Sharing the Gospel with someone will no longer be seen as a duty or a requirement to perform as if earning extra Brownie points on God's reward system, but merely becomes a joyful invitation to others that you desire for them what you found for yourself.

Live life knowing that you are loved and know whose you are. Your ministry will overflow from such understanding.

I'll be here waiting tomorrow...