Doing The Lord’s Work

Serving – May 2014 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Doing The Lord’s Work

Who, according to the Lord, is the prudent, wise believer? It is “everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice” (Mt. 7:24 NIV ). Note that He does not say “hears my words and believes them.” Obviously, one has to believe them to do them, but there is such a thing as believing and not doing them. God’s Word tells us to be “doers of the Word and not hearers only” (Jas. 1:22 JND ). To do the Word we must be born again – we must be “created in Christ Jesus to do [the] good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10 NIV ).

What Are These Works?
The person who is born again is indwelt by the Holy Spirit who, when allowed by us to operate, will produce good works through and in us. The Spirit will enable us to love, be patient, be trustworthy (faithful), be gentle, show self-control (Gal. 5:22-23) and to serve the Lord by being generous and “supplying the needs of the Lord’s people” (2 Cor. 9:11-12).

From the time of our salvation we should have the attitude expressed in the question, “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10). We will ask, “What do you want me to do?” – not, “What do I want to do for the Lord?” A convert who had just been saved from a dreadful evil wanted to “go with Him,” presumably be taught as if in a Bible school, but the Lord Jesus did not let him. Instead, He told him, “Go home to your [family] and tell them how much the Lord has done for you” (Mk. 5:18-20). That applies to almost all new converts.

Discovering What We Should Do
The new convert should do as the first converts did. They should seek out and assemble with other believers and do what they do: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). We devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching by reading what they wrote and the other Scriptures – meditating upon and doing them (written and oral ministry help in understanding the Scriptures). We meet our need for fellowship by joining in the activities of the believers with whom we gather. We worship publicly by participating in the breaking of bread and privately by meditation and prayer. And we also meet together for group prayer.

As we do these things we will come to realize that “to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it” (Eph. 4:7). This grace is in the form of “gifts” (v.8) “to equip His people for works of service” (v.12). Their purpose is the building up of the body of Christ which “grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (v.16).

How Do We Discover Our Gifts?
Each of us has at least one gift (1 Cor. 7:7). Suppose you have no musical ability, are not a teacher and are not able to preach publicly. Does that mean that you have no gift? Absolutely not! Consider a man like that who was very fruitful for the Lord because of his one-on-one ministry at work or wherever the opportunity presented itself. He has a gift.

An excellent way to discover your gift is to volunteer to help wherever and whenever a need arises. You will soon find out if you are suited to the task. However, it may be a job that brings no prestige and may even be unpleasant. But let’s note that the seven who were “full of the Spirit and wisdom” were called upon initially to “wait on tables” (Acts 6:2-4). Two of them, Stephen and Philip, were given much more important tasks later (Acts 6:6-10, 8:6-7,26-36). Remember, it becomes the Lord’s work if you “work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord” (Col. 3:23).

There are gifts that do not have any obvious “miraculous” component. Those who have empathy and the intelligence necessary to learn how to treat illness or physical handicap truly have a “gift of healing.” Similarly those who have the ability to learn foreign languages and to use that skill fruitfully to translate Scripture and Christian literature have the gift of tongues (see 1 Cor. 12:28).

How Do We Know Where To Serve?
We are told to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19), including our own. Our hometown is an excellent place to start. If it is His will for you to go elsewhere He will lead you there.

Trust Him to make it clear if you make a choice and are mistaken. For example, Paul and his companions apparently thought it was the Lord’s will for them to preach the Word “in the province of Asia” but they were “kept by the Holy Spirit” from doing so. Then they “tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.” Soon God clearly called them to “preach the gospel” to the Macedonians (Acts 16:6-10).

Take His Yoke Upon You
What is taking His yoke upon you? It is deciding to use your life to serve Him. But doing so in no way bars you from secular employment. It simply means having an attitude like that of Isaiah and saying, “Here am I. Send me” (Isa. 6:8). To make yourself fully available to Him is to become yoked to Him. He promised those who become yoked to Him a satisfying, full Christian life, saying “Take My yoke upon you ... and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt. 11:29).

What Is A Yoke?
A yoke is a device that makes a burden easier to bear by distributing its weight on the shoulders. There are yokes designed for one person and others designed for two. Christ’s yoke is designed for two. When we take His yoke upon us, He will bear part of the burden making the yoke easy and the burden light (see Mt. 11:30). Yoked to Christ we will be constrained to go wherever He wants to go and do whatever He wants to do. He assures us that He will not be a hard taskmaster for He is “gentle and humble in heart” (Mt. 11:29).

God made man so that he is not satisfied unless he is involved in something. Solomon tried to meet that need with “things under the sun” and he tells us in the Book of Ecclesiastes that he found everything he tried to be “meaningless.” Doing the Lord’s work will never be meaningless. In doing work for the Lord, “you will find rest for your souls” (Mt. 11:29)!

By Alan H. Crosby