S28P5 – Our saintly duty: fulfill the call
2 Tim. 4:3-5
For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instruction; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold, and will turn their ears away from the truth and will wander off into myths and man-made fictions. But as for you, be clear-headed in every situation, endure every hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Growing up at home, everyone had a job. Actually, everyone had several jobs. I remember being in charge of the garbage and having to tear up the boxes after a night of pizza. Some days it would be left to me to wash the dishes after dinner. In our family, everyone had a role and work to do. It is no different in the family of God. Scripture tells us that some are called to this office while others are called to other offices. Spiritual gifts are received differently by different people. Vocationally, God has called us to different jobs as well. And whether one’s work is in an office, at a school, at a church or at home raising the family, we are all called to some kind of ministry. We are God’s priests here on Earth, and He expects that we will minister to others in some capacity. That is the call.
We don’t need credentials to be ministers. We don’t need titles or degrees. Every follower of Jesus Christ is commanded to do as He did in his ministry on Earth. Life may be different today than it was 2000 years ago on the other side of the world, but the work that Jesus Christ began continues even in the here and now. You may have a whole host of responsibilities that keep you from being able to simply wander the land preaching and healing people, but that does not mean that you have not been called to a ministry that God wants you to fulfill. Timothy is told in today’s passage that there will come a time when men will make up their own rules and try to deceive even the followers of Christ. The way that we deal with that pressure and remain faithful is to continue to walk out the ministry that God gives us to complete. If we focus on our calling then we focus on Christ and the ministry He began.
When I gave my life to Jesus and told him to take it and do what He wanted, I gave him everything. These hands that labor are his. These lips that speak are his. This mind that thinks is his. If I have given everything of myself over to him for his purposes, and if He lives in me, that means that my life is now about his ministry. He has called me to continue his work. When I signed up to be a saint, I signed up to fulfill that calling. And as the opposition around me increases, it is even more critical that I focus on completing the ministry to which I have been called. If the church is to withstand the times that are approaching, it must remain focused on completing its work. Father, thank You that You call us individually and corporately to be your ministers, and remind us daily of our duty to fulfill that calling.