The Bible reveals that God assigned people responsibilities to
serve from generation to generation. He called some to serve in building boats,
tabernacles, temples, garments, etc. He called men to fight battles, others to
write Scripture, others to prophesy, and still, others to evangelize and
pastor. Whatever the service was, God always provided a pattern for each
project. The Bible constantly urges God's servants to serve according to the pattern!
A pattern is how something is done, organized, or happens (Pace,
N.d.). The synonyms for the pattern are lead, guide, model, blueprint,
template, and standard. God is the one who gives the template on how we should
serve in a building. He does provide the blueprint in every area, including
missions, life, marriage, etc.
Looking at Noah, the man to whom God issued precise instructions
for building the Ark, the Lord told him which type of wood to use; which
sealant to apply; the exact measurements of the Ark; and how many of each
animal to bring aboard. And then God included a bold warning to Noah(Pace,
N.d.). He said, "This
is how you are to build it"! (Genesis 6:15) Details are important to God!
Also, God gave detailed instructions, along with a similar
warning, to Moses regarding the template for the Tabernacle. Hebrews 8:5 says,
"Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the Tabernacle; "See that you make all things according to
the pattern which was shown you on the mountain." (Exodus 26:30; Acts 7:44.).
Solomon constructed a magnificent temple with all its grandeur. It
had the Holy Place, the Most Holy Place, the Golden Candlestick, the Mercy-seat
overlaid with the cherubim, and so forth. However, it was constructed quite
differently from the Tabernacle of Moses(Pace, N.d.). Solomon deviated from the
plans Moses so carefully implemented because 1 Chronicles 28 revealed the
blueprints of the Temple to Solomon—and he was the world's wisest man! The Holy
Spirit revealed the details of the Temple to David—a man anointed by the Holy
Spirit. David said in 1
Chronicles 28:19, "The LORD made me understand in writing by
His hand upon me, all the details of this pattern" of the Temple.
The Jesus Pattern of Service, the Ancient Landmarks
The need for laborers has remained enormous from the Old
Testament dispensation to the time of Jesus' earthly ministry. It is even worse
now. The temptation to embrace just anybody who indicates interest to serve is
powerful and allowing as many as are embraced to serve without regard to laid
down pattern to retain a large harvest force is stronger.
Yet the instruction not to remove the ancient landmark(pattern)
stares at us(Proverbs
23:10). Jesus came to earth
with a specific laid-down pattern in mind which He strictly followed. There
were temptations to follow shortcuts, but He prayed: "Father, if you are
willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine be
done" ( Luke 22:42). He insisted on following the same pattern stressing
that "…as the Father has sent me, so also I am sending you. ( John 20:21)" He also insisted that "a disciple is not
above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained
will be like his teacher" ( Luke 6:40). What are these patterns? How do we
serve according to these patterns? What are the implications of serving
differently?
Salvation
Salvation is the most necessary qualification any person willing
to serve must possess. You cannot offer what you do not have. Salvation is
superior to any charisma, civilization, education, or wealth. The disciples
once returned from outreach, and while rejoicing over the manifestations of the
charismatic giftings they enjoyed, Jesus quickly cautioned them to prioritize
the fact that their names were written in the book of life. In other words,
they were saved. Once, he compared salvation to all the wealth of this world
put together as inferior to the salvation of the soul of man. His words:
"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark.
8:36-38). Jesus took time to teach His salvation on this several times because
of how critical it is. Anybody who ventured into serving God without salvation
end up becoming prey.
Service
Serving the Lord is much more than a clerical calling. It is the
responsibility of all disciples. No one who benefitted from the finished work
of Calvary is permitted to remain idle in God's vineyard. His words: "Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you…" (Matthew 11:28). If you accept the rest that Jesus
promised in this passage, it is mandatory for you to also take His yoke. Taking
His yoke means taking responsibility to serve in the vineyard. The impression
that only selected few are intended to serve in the vineyard has done a lot of
disservice to God's kingdom effort. The Great Commission was not for just some
individuals but for the disciples. In the early church, every believer is
considered Christ's disciple. The words Christians and disciples were used
interchangeably, and the same thing applies to responsibilities.
Discipleship Term
To qualify for service, it is therefore expected that you are
not just enlisted as Christ disciple but you must be seen to know and work
towards meeting the terms of becoming one. These terms include self-denial,
cross-bearing, supreme love for God, love for the brethren, consecration, among
others.
Jesus. For example, he insists that unless a believer denies him
or herself, such person is not qualified to be His disciple. In Luke 14: 26,
Jesus categorically declared that "if
anyone come to me and does not hate his own life, he cannot be my disciple". This implies that unless self-seeking life is put
to death, it does not matter what role one plays in the vineyard; such a person
is not qualified to serve because he or she is yet to be a disciple. "Self manifests itself in various ways, including
self-justification, self-advertisement, self-determination, etc. Self-denial
will mean all that matters is God's opinion, putting off the secret desire to be
noticed, praised, or congratulated, accepting criticisms with joy, etc.
Another term of disciple is SUPREME LOVE FOR GOD. A disciple who is qualify to serve God is one
who loves the Lord with their spirit, soul, and body as instructed in
Deuteronomy 6:5. The only way to test the disciple's love for the master is not
by buying Him a love card but by obedience to His word. In John 14:15, the
master declared that "if
you love me, you will keep my commandments; in John 13:17 He said, "if you know these things, blessed are you if
you do them". Loving
the Lord demands costly, continuous and total obedience. Anything less than
this is gross disobedience.
For example, in Isaiah, the prophet of God had to walk naked
(Isa. 20: 1 - 3), and in Exodus 32: 27, Moses told the Levites to put every man
his sword and slay every man his brother. Obedience is one of the true test of
discipleship.
LOVE FOR THE BRETHREN is another ancient landmark that cannot be compromised. In John 13: 34 & 35, Jesus said that "A new commandment I give to you that you love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another". To
serve the Lord requires that you be a disciple of Christ, which requires that you must love all the brethren irrespective of whether they dislike you, ignores you, or even betrays you.
Another requirement for service is RENOUNCING ALL.
In Luke 14: 33, Jesus said that "so therefore, whoever of
you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." Any heart
attached to the earthly things is not ready to serve, yet neither is that
person qualified to be called a disciple.
Renouncement here does not necessarily means throwing away, and
it simply means all that you are to be surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ in
such a way that whenever He demands it, there will be no argument over the
ownership. You must begin to see yourself as a caretaker of whatsoever you
have. If a person renounce all, he no longer has anything. He must therefore
receive all that he needs from the Lord.
CROSS BEARING/SUFFERING is also very critical. In Luke 14: 27, Jesus also
declared that "whosoever
does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple". Cross-bearing is synonymous with suffering. Jesus
bore His cross and died on it. Apostle Paul substantiated this call to
suffering when he wrote to Timothy that "… all who desire to live a godly life in
Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (II Tim. 3: 12) and to the Philippians
believers, he stressed "For
it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only
believe on him but also suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which ye
saw and now hear to be in me" (Phil.
1: 29 - 30).
There are other terms of discipleship that cannot be exhausted
here. If every believer would genuinely becomes His disciple and everyone
serves in the area of discipleship, the Great Commission will be speedily
completed. This is the whole essence of discipleship. The reason why he gave
topmost priority to processing) making) of disciples. "Come, follow me, and I will make
you fishers of people." (Mathew
4:19). This is a call that Jesus makes to Peter and Andrew and to each of us.
Jesus' missionary template is a legacy left for the church to
emulate. Jesus is the life of the church and missions. His strategy, method,
and model worked and helped the church be planted and developed to this stage.
For example, He integrated the Christian's twin evangelism and social
involvement responsibilities. To help make Jesus" ministry more effective
and productive, he preached, taught, and healed. His concern for the physical
needs of people flowed from his love and compassion for them as people,
image-bearers of God, who are burdened by sin and its consequences, hurting,
hoping, seeking, and dying. His healing ministry was a bridge to his preaching
ministry, as he blended concern for the temporal and eternal dimensions of
human existence (Roger, 2000).
His compassion was holistic, concerned for sick bodies, empty
stomachs, and perishing souls. Out of compassion for a leprous man, he reached
out and healed (Matthew 1:41). He moved out with compassion for people without
spiritual direction. He set aside plans for a restful retreat and taught a
multitude (Mark 6:34). When people were hungry and had no food left, Jesus used
his power to feed them (Mark 8:1-10). Both his words and his works were
expressions of his compassion for people. Finally, in the prayer, Jesus taught
us he kept humankind's two essential needs together-daily bread and the
forgiveness of sins. Thus, there was a genuine concern for men's total needs,
physical as well as spiritual. And this concern, while expressed especially
within the church, was not confined to the church.
Paul encourages the church in Galatians, "so then, as we
have the opportunity, let us do well to all men and especially to those who are
of the household of faith" (Galatians 6:10). Missions by word and deed
make a powerful witness to Jesus Christ. It has opened up homes, towns, and
nations to the gospel. It follows the example of Jesus himself, who "went
through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the
good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness" (Matthew
9:35). The scope for Jesus was the whole world, including towns and villages
(Mark 16:15).
WHERE JESUS SERVED MATTER
God has always been interested in where we are located. For
Abraham, the condition was to move out of his kindred to a place he had never
known. Elijah had to move to Cherith before Jordan and then to Zarephath. When
Jesus was ready for ministry, he relocated to Capernaum from Nazareth (Matthew
4:12). God is concerned about the places with greater need. For Capernaum, the
location was described as a place where the people were sitting in darkness and
regions of death. If today's church considered deploying the harvest forces
more to the dark places of the earth, the percentage of unreached people would
have reduced drastically. According to Mission Guide(N.d), all Missionaries in the world today are :
· All
Missionaries in the World (Catholic, Protestant, etc.): 420,000 foreign
missionaries
· Missionaries in the Reached World: 324,600 foreign missionaries (77.3%) [estimates based on older percentage]
· Missionaries in the Unevangelized: 81,480 foreign missionaries (19.4%) [estimated]
· Missionaries in the Unreached: 13,860 foreign missionaries (3.3%) [estimated]
Yet the need for world evangelization is growing by the day. The
most recent research update by Joshua Project (N.d.) indicated that:
v
Total Population: 7.93 Billion
v
Population in Unreached: 3.37 Billion
v
% Popl in Unreached: 42.5%
References
Joshua Project. (N.d.). Global Summary. https://joshuaproject.net/
Mission Guide ( N.d), The
Current State of theWorld. https://missionguide.global/articles/the-current-state-of-the-world#:~:text=The%20ratio%20of%20UPG%20workers,every%20one%20unreached%20people%20group.
O.J. Smith. (1959). The Cry of the World. Marshall. Morgan & Scott,
London
Pace, R.D. (N.d.). According to Pattern. https://revelationcentral.com/according-to-the-pattern/
Roger, G. S. (2000). Cities:
Missions' New Frontier.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books.
