Fulfil Thy Ministry

by G. Jarvie | Category: General | May 1956

"Neglect not the gift that is in thee" (1 Timothy 4.14).

"But be thou sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry" (2 Timothy 4.5).

Timothy was gifted as an evangelist, and when Paul came to Derbe and Lystra he saw the grace of God in him, and would have him to go forth with him to the Lord's work. Paul did this in fellowship with the brethren at Lystra and Iconium, who gladly commended Timothy to the work. Thus this young man went out to the work for which the Holy Spirit had fitted him. He sought not his own things, but the things of Jesus Christ. It is evident from the Scriptures that this is essential in a servant of Christ. The things of God must be more important to him than his own things. In other words he must love the Lord more than himself; this should not be difficult when we think of the cost of our redemption.

"Love that transcends our highest powers, Demands our heart, our life, our all."

True service for God is impossible, until we have settled clearly and decisively in our hearts that we are not our own, but that we belong to Him who gave Himself for us. The yielding of our bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, is the great decision on our part that makes the Lord's service possible. This is true of both brethren and sisters, of all who would serve the Lord.

Let us re-examine our lives and service now, lest we are serving without divine power. If the love has gone out of our lives, and the fire out of our service, then we need to call a halt. There is no value in continuing service which has no power. Let us make sure first of all that our service for the Lord is out of love to Him, and that in serving Him, His love and joy are m us. If it is not so, then let us find our way back again to the Cross, and then look up again to the Throne. Let us see the Lord where He was and where He is. Unless we see Hun, and serve at His call and in His power, then no works of ours will be fulfilled before Him. Let us guard against merely doing something, or being busy.

"Neglect not the gift that is in thee." He has fitted you for something. No child of God is giftless. "To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal" (1 Corinthians 12.7). But the gift may be neglected, and it may be allowed to lie dormant, unused. That may be because the life has never been yielded to Him, because we love ourselves more than we love the Lord. The gift is there, but the power of the Holy Spirit is lacking. It may be that we have busied ourselves with other service, instead of giving ourselves to the work for which the Holy Spirit has fitted us. Let us be careful lest we be side-tracked. It may be that through fear of or respect for others we have sought to please them, instead of pleasing the Lord in the work for which He has fitted us. He gave some, we read, to be evangelists, some pastors, some teachers ... unto the work of ministering (Ephesians 4.11-12).

Among young brethren in the churches of God today, some may be gifted as evangelists, some as pastors, some as teachers. These gifts are not given by Christ to bring them into prominence; they are given for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

All the saints are gifted for some service by the Holy Spirit, but the writer wishes to write to younger men in particular. "Neglect not the gift that is in thee." If you do so, then your Master will lose your service; others will lose the help which you can give, and you will lose your reward. Do not allow love of self, or the fear of others, to turn you aside from the work for which you have been fitted of God. Do not allow yourself to be side-tracked from it. Yield yourself unto God.

If you have been fitted as an evangelist, then do the work of an evangelist. Develop the gift that Christ has given you to reach men. Yours is an "outside " work. Preach the gospel, in season and out of season. Expect to reap many souls, for that is your work. "He that winneth souls is wise," and your wisdom will be seen in the winning of souls. Pray God for that wisdom. Your work may take you far afield, sometimes amidst a multitude, sometimes amidst a few. Keep yourself free for your work. You will need to be a man of prayer, loving the souls to whom you speak, for Christ's sake. You will need a "double portion" of His love in your heart, so that you may love men who do not know what love is. The Lord be with you, for many evangelists are needed. Millions are living and dying in the darkness because evangelists are so few. So many who are fitted for this work are neglecting the gift that is in them. Do not you do so, I beseech you. Think about this

"A hundred thousand souls a day,

Are passing one by one away,

And some in Christless gloom;

Without one ray of hope or light,

With future dark as endless night,

They're passing to their doom."

If God has put upon your heart the work of the pastor or overseer, then you seek a good work. But remember, seek it only for the Lord's sake. To seek it for pre-eminence is to bring disaster upon your own life, and sorrow to others. Search your heart well before you attempt this work. But if you truly love the Lord, and if you love the saints more than you love yourself, then have no fears, for God will give grace for all your need. You will need a faithful, and patient, and kindly heart. You must be able to exhort in the sound doctrine and to convict the gainsayers, therefore meditate upon God's word and do not depart from it. A method of Bible study has been described thus "Know it in the head; stow it in the heart;

Show it in the life; sow it in the world;

Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe

Practise it to be holy.

Read it slowly, daily, prayerfully;

Dig it up, write it down, pray it in,

Live it out and pass it on."

Be also a man of prayer, able to bear others' burdens as well as your own. Learn to be impartial and just in all things. Remember that the sheep are not yours; they belong to the Chief Shepherd, to whom one day you must give account. If you are faithful to Him and to them, He will give you at that day the crown of glory. If you neglect the gift that is in you, then the Lord will lose your service, some of His sheep may stray, and you will lose the crown.

It may be that God has fitted you to be a teacher of the word. What a needful work this is! We need the continual opening of God's word by competent. men, men fitted of the Holy Spirit, who have also prayerfully meditated upon the Sacred Writings, men able to minister the word, and turn the hearts of the disciples to Christ, till all "attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God." It is not merely a knowledge of the Bible that is needed, but through the Bible, the knowledge of the Son of God, the kind of knowledge that transforms us into His likeness. There are dangers in being a teacher (as indeed there are also in being a pastor or an evangelist). If we teach, and do not ourselves do what we teach, then we shall receive" heavier judgement" (James 3.1). We must learn to do first, and then to teach. Then also "knowledge puffeth up" (1 Corinthians 8.1), and the teacher must guard against the pride that often comes with knowledge. We need lowliness of mind, and grace in our hearts, as we learn more, and more so if we teach others. But teachers of God's word are needed, and if you neglect the gift that is in you, then the Lord will lose your service, and some of the saints will fail to grow, and you yourself will lose in that day.

"Fulfil thy ministry." Fill up the full measure, or fully carry out your work. Make it your aim to finish all the work that the Lord has given you to do. Paul's aim was to finish his course with joy. Oh, the gladness of a life fitted, filled, and finished, as the Lord would have it!

We cannot live our lives over again, but today we can seek the Lord, that from this day we may be fitted and filled for whatever service He may call us to do.

G. Jarvie | May 1956
General