Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them: You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials… Acts 20:17-19
It Is Not About You
Paul wrote this passage to the Ephesian elders when he knew he was headed to prison, and most likely death. He wanted to make sure that they carried on the work of the Lord. Paul was an example to them. He loved them and taught them. He encouraged, as well as admonished when needed. He knew he would most likely never get to spend time in person with them again, but he had some important words he wanted to them to remember.
Anyone who has been effective in ministry knows that true ministry cannot ever be about you. If you are in ministry for you, you need to re-evaluate the call you think is on your life. Ministry is not about making money. It is not about fame and notoriety. It is not about having the most likes or followers on Instagram. True ministry is messy. It is not perfect and it most likely will not make a great social media post or make you rich and famous. Often it will make you unpopular with some people. And there will be tears and trials.
Authentic ministry cannot be about our plans, our expected outcomes, or our timelines. All these things must be surrendered before Him so we can clearly hear Him and follow His leading. Trying to do God's work, our way, with our expectations, and with our own timeline will lead us directly to the wilderness.
The first thing we have to do when we are ministering to people is to get ourselves out of the way if we want to authentically minister to people. When I say minister – I don’t mean just the ministerial staff at a church. Every believer is a minister. God puts people in our lives every day that we can minister to. We are all called to share the gospel and to love people with the love of God. It will not be convenient, and sometimes it will be very unexpected, which is why we always need to be open and ready when a God moment comes our way.
Paul had been an example of serving in humility, with tears and with trials. He planted this church in Ephesus. He had fed them milk as baby Christians and provided direction when needed. He was not serving himself, or the people of the church. He was serving God. Although helping people is a very “godly thing” to do, engaging in ministry only to help people is not what God wants from us. He wants us to serve HIM. Paul wanted the focus to be on Jesus, not himself. This is why he boasted in his weakness. He wanted others to see that only in Jesus was his weakness made strong.
We cannot let ministry be about ourselves, nor can we do ministry in our own power. It is only through the love of God that He has poured out on us that we can love others and minister to them the way He intends for us to do. If we lead them to keep turning to people, or even the church, they will be disillusioned eventually. He is the only one who can meet their real needs. Yes, the church can help meet physical needs, and spiritual needs with education, but we cannot be the ultimate fulfillment for them that they can only find in Him. Our main goal in ministering to others should always be to point people to Him.
