(An updated excerpt from Doing the Works of Jesus: Book 1: Becoming a Disciple Who Loves)
Ministry Is for All Believers
Maybe you are like me. I am not employed in “full-time Christian ministry.” I don’t run a nonprofit organization. I have worked in secular jobs for more than twenty-five years. At the present time, I have no official ministry title. I do not hold a staff position at my local church, but I am a minister of Jesus Christ.
For the last few years, I have felt driven to understand and obtain the promise contained in John 14:12. In that passage, Jesus makes this amazing statement: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (NKJV). Jesus didn’t present this as merely a possibility. This is a promise! If a believer meets the condition of faith, Jesus promises that believer that he will do the works of Jesus, and greater works than these he will do!
This promise is not only for church leaders. It is for all believers. Jesus didn’t single out church leaders when He made this promise. In fact, there were no religious leaders in the room when He said this! Your church leaders may or may not ever experience the full potential of this promise, but don’t let that stop you! You don’t need to wait on your church leaders before you take the challenge and begin “doing the works of Jesus.” If this desire is in your heart like it is in mine, go for it! Remember that when the time came for Jesus to choose his twelve apostles, who would be entrusted to carry on His ministry after He was gone, Jesus did not choose religious leaders. He bypassed the “Bible schools” of the time and chose ordinary people and prepared them to do extraordinary things.
It’s important for us to remember that neither the pastor nor the priest was ever meant to do all of the work of the ministry. In Ephesians 4:12 (AMP), Paul tells us that when Jesus gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to the Church, “His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering…”
The Church is described as the Body of Christ, with many members. We all have unique, essential functions to perform. Each of us has a vital role to fulfill. You are a vital part! We cannot do without you!
“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’”—1 Corinthians 12:21 (NIV)
Will you take the challenge?
In His letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus first gave specific messages to the entire church membership; but at the end of each message, He gave a special invitation that promised amazing reward, not to the whole church, but to the individual within the church who set himself or herself apart from the rest and accepted His challenge to be an overcomer. In those messages, Jesus seems to imply that He knows that not every church member will take the challenge. He addresses only those individuals who desire more, those who are not satisfied with the ordinary, and those who are willing to make any sacrifice to overcome and obtain the extraordinary ultimate prize.
Will you take the challenge that Jesus is offering? Will you leave the ordinary behind, choosing instead to overcome whatever obstacles might stand in your way and obtain the extraordinary prize, doing the works of Jesus, and even greater works?
What Does it Mean to Do the Works of Jesus?
I believe that doing the works of Jesus involves learning practical ways to demonstrate the power and love of Jesus Christ to people we encounter every day.
It’s about bringing the reality of Christ into our daily lives.
It means living a life of power and love on a daily basis.
It’s about learning to walk in the Spirit moment by moment.
“Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”— 1 John 2: 6 (ESV)
It’s about fully becoming the person God intends for you to be and living the abundant life that God intends for you to live.
In order to “do”, we must first “become”.
It’s about all of us becoming a Church that demonstrates the reality of Christ to a dying world that needs to see proof!
The Goal
The goal is not to prepare you to fill a position on the church organizational chart. The goal is to be equipped and empowered to fulfill the desire that God has already put into your heart for ministry.
You have a calling of God on your life. We can help each other prepare, discover and fulfill the purposes that God has for our lives and learn more about who we really are in Christ.
In this time of great harvest, you can experience what it means to do the works of Jesus, as He promised (John 14: 12), and to fulfill Christ’s command to love one another, as He has loved us (John 15: 12). As each one of us becomes a disciple who really loves Jesus and really loves people— and demonstrates that on a daily basis— the Church will be transformed. We will become a Church that truly is a light to our cities, to our nations, and to the world.
As we learn to focus on giving to the needs of others, rather than on just getting blessings for ourselves, our lives will demonstrate true Christianity to others, and we will be taking the first steps toward fulfilling Christ’s “Great Commission” to go and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe everything that Jesus commanded us (Matthew 28: 19– 20).
Next: The Challenge
