No, I beat my body and make it my slave so after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (I Corinthians 9:27)
The Apostle Paul wrote to us concerning the manner in which we are to treat our body:
Perhaps you have found that your body has a mind of its own. If you permit it to do so, it will bring itself down to destruction.
The body is remarkably shortsighted. It cares little for consequences. It lives for the moment. Therefore it is ready to eat and drink itself to death, to smoke cigarettes, to take drugs, to drive while drunk, to indulge in immorality, without regard for the consequences of such actions.
Fortunately your body is a coward. If you stand up to its desires and order it to serve God, it will do so. But if you permit your body to govern you, you will suffer for it.
Your body does not belong to you but to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You were placed in your animal body by the Lord in order to test you. In order to inherit a spiritual body like that of the Lord Jesus, a body capable of awesome exploits, you first must prove yourself worthy in your present body. If you cannot govern your present body you have no hope whatever of receiving, in the day of resurrection, a body like that of Christ.
Grace and mercy will not interfere, in the Day of Resurrection, with the inviolable Kingdom law of sowing and reaping. You and I are going to reap precisely what we have sown.
Remember, we are discussing why people do not discover their place in the Body of Christ.
If we are to know God's will we have to be careful to not conform to the world. This is difficult, given the tremendous amount of information to which we are being subjected. We have to make sure we are reading our Bible and praying each day, even if it means there is no time left for the television, radio, or Internet. There is no way we are going to survive throughout the age of moral horrors if we have not made a practice of daily prayer and Bible reading.
If we are presenting our body a living sacrifice, if we are being transformed by the renewing of our mind, then we are able to test and approve God's good, pleasing, and perfect will for our life. There is but one will of God for us, and it is good, pleasing and perfect.
How many believers of our day are setting aside their own interests, taking up their personal cross, and following Jesus? There are some, no doubt; but this is not a popular doctrine.
Yet it is utterly impossible to discover and appropriately use our gift and ministry until we deny ourselves for the sake of Christ and His Gospel.
There are some who are doing great works in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but are pursuing their own selfish ambitions. Such will hear in the Day of Christ: "Depart from me, you evildoers. I never knew you." It is not enough just to make our contribution; we also must live a righteous life, being sternly obedient to God, if we expect to receive the reward.
To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: (Romans 1:7)
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many believers do not understand they have been called to be a saint, that they have no other calling. Therefore they view Christianity as a religion they are to observe faithfully while they live their life after the manner of everyone else in the world. They do not grasp the total demands the Lord makes on each member of the royal priesthood.
As long as a believer perceives himself as nothing more than the faithful adherent of a religion he will never use the gifts that have been given to him. For one thing, he has no time for anything except making a living. He is not a disciple, he is a churchgoer—nothing more. He or she is not a functioning member of the Body of Christ.
How many Christian people realize they already have been given a role in the Body by the Holy Spirit, and that their most important responsibility in life is to find that role and to be faithful in exercising it? We know from the parable of the talents that if we bury that which has been given to us, not using it in the Kingdom, our talents will be taken from us and given to another. We ourselves shall be thrown into the outer darkness.
Has the role of Divine grace been so overemphasized that we are unaware of the severe demands and responsibilities that the New Testament places on every member of the Body of Christ?
We have mentioned that the pastor-congregation (priest-people) pattern of Christian services works against the widespread functioning of gifts and ministries in the local church.
We have pointed toward the fact that the unscriptural emphasis on evangelism and adding people to the assembly tends to depress the emerging of gifts and ministries in the local church. Even if there is a team effort in the church in which several people join in prayer and effort, if the objective is primarily to add numbers of people, there probably will be little increase in the operations of gifts and ministries.
Because of the great emphasis placed on adding more people to the assembly (church growth), the purpose of the operation of gifts and ministries becomes unclear. The gifts and ministries actually are given to bring the believers to spiritual maturity, not ordinarily to add members to the assembly.
The return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth is for the purpose of establishing His Kingdom here. Christ is going to accomplish this with and through a great host of saints. This we know.
What may not be as well known is that only mature saints will return with the Lord. There can be no disobedient, lukewarm, spiritually stunted, immature, carnal believers in the army of the Lord. One such individual would jeopardize the entire effort.
Therefore the emphasis of the Holy Spirit today is that each of us find, develop, and use his or her ministry faithfully and diligently. Only then can the army of Christ be prepared for the Day of the Lord.
To be continued.
Copyright © 2013 Trumpet Ministries Inc
Gift and Ministries - Part 1
No comments:
Post a Comment