Since the main objective for man's salvation is to serve the Lord in righteousness and true holiness all the days of his life, it is imperative that we all aspire to perform our God given task as faithful and profitable servants.
Undoubtedly we have all been gifted with differing gifts according to the grace that is given to us, and should utilize them accordingly. If our gift is to prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; if it is ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, let him teach the way of God in accordance to the truth; he who exhorts in exhortation; he who gives with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Regardless of our differing gifts, as servants sanctified to serve the Lord, there are four things we all have in common. This thought is derived from following a discussion Jesus Christ had with his disciples.
On one occasion Jesus witnessed his disciples arguing among themselves, so he asked them, "What was it you argued among yourselves on the road? But they kept silent, for on the road they argued among themselves as to who would be the greatest.
Jesus having sat down called the twelve and said to them. "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and sat him in the midst of them, and when he had taken him in his arms he said to them, "Whosoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receive not me but he who sent me"
Interestingly John answered and said, "Teacher, we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us." I wish we all would pay a little more attention and consider carefully the fascinating answer Jesus Christ gave to John. He said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us" (Mk.9:38-40). It is clearly stated in scriptures that, "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit."
Jesus then gave a stern warning of the dangers and consequences of causing anyone who believes in him to stumble, even the members of our own body which causes us to sin. He said; "It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck, and for one to enter the kingdom of God maimed with one hand, one foot, one eye, than to be physically whole and be thrown into hell.
At the heel of this serious warning, Christ's admonition to his disciples which applies to everyone without exception is:-
1. Everyone will be seasoned with fire.
Every one's life is a replica or a product of his thought. It is said that "As a man thinks in his heart so is he." This is why the right teaching is so important. We all live what we believe, and our faith which is more precious than gold is bound to be tested with fire. The reason why whatever we believe and live will be tested by fire (trials and persecutions) is to prove its genuineness, and may result in praise glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
It is important to note that we are all founded on one foundation, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. And whether we are aware of it or not, every single minute of our lives we are involve in the construction of our spiritual house.
Some people are building their spiritual house out of endurable material such as gold, silver, or costly stones, while others are constructing with wood, hay or straw. The sure thing is that, "Every one's work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is.'
'If anyone's work which he/she has built on the one and only foundation which is Jesus Christ endures, he will receive a reward," a reward of his spiritual house, which is the immortality of his human body. But, "If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss." The loss of his spiritual house, an immortal body; 'but he him-self will be saved, yet so as through fire" (1Cor.3:12-15).
Remember, we are sanctified to serve the Lord in the construction of his temple, which is our body and we all share the same responsibility to rid our selves of our old sinful nature, and develop the nature of the new man which was created in Christ Jesus in righteousness and true holiness.
According to Job, "Man who is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; he flees like a shadow and does not continue" (Job.14:1).
The wise King Solomon described man's life in this way; "For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful and his work grievous; even in the night his heart takes no rest" (Ecc.2:22-23).
No one therefore can escape the season of fire which is to the praise, honor and glory of God. Therefore, we are admonished to; "Do all things without murmuring and disputing, that you become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world"(Phil.2:14-15).
The ideal thing is choosing the durable material such as faith without which it is impossible to please God, and to make every effort to add to faith goodness, and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self control; and to self control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
It is stated that, "If you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is short-sighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins" (2Pet1:8-9).
We have the promise that, "If we do these things, we will never fall, and we will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ" (2Pet.1:10-11).
Our development and growth is patterned after Jesus Christ. "It is God who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph.4:11-13).
2. Have salt in ourselves for every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.
To all believers Jesus said; "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men' Therefore, "He who has ears to hear let him hear!"
Salt is indicative of purity, good influence, something which gives flavor, and endurable as the covenant of salt. This signifies that whatever we are offering to the Lord must be pure. We are admonished saying; "I beseech you, brothers. In view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual act of worship" And, Whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, do all to the glory of God (Rom.12:1; 1Cor.10:31).
What we all have in common is that whatever we do, or offer in the name of the Lord should be done with sincerity of heart, and reverence for the Lord. We are admonished saying; "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism" (Col.3:22-25).
We are to let our speech be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that one may know how to answer everyone.
3. Be at peace with each other
If we truly understand and believe the comprehensive work of Christ, there would not be all the bickering and fighting among believers. Because according to Titus, "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by his grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:4-7).
According to the scriptures, "All things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2Cor.5:18-19).
We are consecrated to live at peace with each other, we are admonished to, "Bear with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do" (Col.3:13). We are to pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
4. Accountability
We must all make it our aim to be well pleasing to the Lord, for "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what has been done, whether good or bad" (2Cor.5:10).
"The one who knew his master's will, and did not prepare him self or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few, for everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more"(Lk.12:47-48).
Our task is to simply persuade others, out of love to believe and practice the truth, and be always ready. Because the Son of man is coming at an hour we do not expect. But if the servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat the men servants and maid servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
So instead of spending his entire life with Jesus Christ in his kingdom, ruling and reigning with him, he will spend part of his time in the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Let us therefore aspire to be faithful and profitable servants, for thus says the Lord. "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has" (Lk.12:42-44).
The whole objective of Salvation is not just to be saved, but to come to the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and pattern our lives after him who has come to set us an example that we should follow his steps. Our sojourn here is to construct our spiritual house, the temple of the living God. Are we all going to strive to be a faithful and profitable servant?
The choice is ours
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About the Author
Lucius Joseph is the Founding Pastor and President of a non denominational, and non profit organization, "Essentials of Life Ministry Inc." whose passion and main objective is to help sensitized others of the reality and practicality of the life in the Spirit. We support the principle of, "Freely you have received: freely give." And that, "The worker is worthy of his wages."
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