THERE'S NOTHING IN IT FOR US MINISTRY!

Can you imagine a ministry like that? No one ever thought of that one before. I’ve heard of Bus Ministry, Youth Ministry, Family Ministry, and more. Just think: if we had the There’s Nothing in It for Us Ministry there would be no real reason for any ministry at all. Think of the time we would save. And, think of all the money we would save. That’s the real issue, isn’t it? It kind of reminds me of the Veggie Tales little silly song entitled; The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything. They don’t do anything and never have every time I have watched it with the little ones: No changes; a lot like us.

How many ways can we serve the community we live in? That should be the real question and the real issue! What can I/We do next? How can we help ease the burdens of the downtrodden? How can we help people with self-defeating habits? How can we bring the Good News to a broken world which is in vast need of the healing power of Jesus? It’s for certain they will not come to us to be helped; at least not very many of them. People in these situations do not feel that desperate, for the most part. Felt needs are very important to them.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (Jno. 1:14). The son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. . .(Matt. 20:28). And, what was there in it for Him? I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do (Jno. 17:4).

It just seems to me we are here for some of these same purposes. If there is a job to be done in serving in any capacity it would be better to have a Christian in that capacity. Christians are dependable. You can count on a Christian. They don’t punch clocks. They are available at anytime, day or night. There will be no reason to expect a shoddy job. A Christian, unlike his or her Lord, is not perfect, but will give his or her best every time. You can count on that happening! That's ministry.

We can stand in denial of responsibility. It’s not my job. Let someone else do it. We can minimize our responsibility. Let the EMS do it; it’s really their job to serve the community in crisis work. We can project our feelings about not doing it to someone else: He could have done it; he was closer to the situation than I was. Regrettably, we can just rationalize our irresponsibility by saying, There is always someone else better suited or trained for that particular job than I am.

You see, we can just pass the buck until we finally come back to: There’s nothing in it for us! Just live in eternal gratitude that Jesus did not take the same attitude when he died on that cross for each of us.