The life of a minister is usually so hectic and crazy that we begin to put ourselves on the back burner. We find ourselves devoting so much time and effort focusing on everyone else that our needs and desires go to the waste side. The title of this article is “The Aim of The Preacher” because we want to focus on the minister/preacher. This is not a writing of your duties and responsibilities as a minister to the people that we serve. However, this is a writing about your duties and responsibilities to yourself in your relationship with God. We know that ministering can be difficult and stressful at times. We know that sometimes helping people with their burdens can seem unbearable. The following will be a help to understand “The Aim of The Minister.”

The first thing that should be the aim of the minister is that you must know, believe, and understand God.

Isaiah 43:10, “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”

Lets look at each of these three items one at a time. We must know God in an intimate sense. There comes a time when we have to acknowledge that we do not know all that we need to know about God. When you get to this point then you find yourself spending more and more time with God because you need know who He is. When I first met my wife we began to spend more and more time with each other in order to understand each other. As a matter of fact, even to this day, I try to find out more things regarding my wife. Things that I never knew. The reason that I do this is because I desire to know my wife intimately. The same should be done with God but to an even higher degree. He is our Savior. We have to come closer to Him each day.

We must believe in God. In other words, we must confirm or stand firm on God and His word. As believers we must believe God’s love for the world, His salvation, His promise of eternal life, His word, His forgiveness, His call for you, His promise to be with you through every trial and tribulation, and His commissioning of you to proclaim the truths of Christ. Now the reason that I had to mention this, though we usually would all agree with it, is because at times we can be cynical about the truths of Christ. Usually you can tell when a minister is not taking God seriously because he says, “I know God’s word says…but.” When you or those around you start using “but” then that is usually when they are starting to do things their own way and not God’s way. It can become very easy as a minister to take God’s word lightly. We begin trying to make things happen on our own instead of following God in all that He wants.

Understanding God is also very important. We have to understand that God is who He said He is. Our salvation does not change who God is. God is the same before we got saved and He will be the same after we die. He doesn’t change. We have to understand that He is holy, perfect, righteous, merciful, just, the only living and true God, and He is the only one that can save. You see, when we get to a place where we can understand who God truly is and not who we want Him to be, then we will really begin to experience God.

Second, it is a necessity to personally know and believe in the power of Christ’s resurrection. How can we as ministers of the gospel tell people about the saving power of God if we don’t believe it ourselves? Too many times I have seen ministers deny the true power of the resurrection of Christ. If you do not believe that Christ was raised from the dead to live for evermore then you can not minister the word of God.

1st Corinthians 15:12-17, “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”

As believers, our hope resides in the fact that Christ got up from the grave. If Christ did not get up from the grave then He would have been no different than Muhammad (Islam), Joseph Smith (Mormon), or Charles Taze Russell (Jehovah Witness) just to name a few. Christ getting up from the grave solidifies the fact that He was indeed God. If you don’t believe this then based upon 1st Corinthians 15:17,

…your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

If you are still in your sins then you have no business telling people the gospel.

Third, as a minister you must forget about the past and move on toward the future. Many times there are things that we do and later realize that we have missed the mark as a minister. We then begin to beat ourselves up and quickly realize that we are not cut out for the work of a minister. Which eventually leads to giving up. That being said, as we enter into this way of thinking, let it be a warning that we should take heed to. When you think like this begin to think about the great forgiveness that God has for us…if we ask.

1st John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

You see, the aim of the minister is not to tear himself down. The aim of the minister is to repent and move forward. Do not allow the enemy to keep your focus on where you have faltered. Believe God’s word for what it is and push forward.

Fourth, don’t be ashamed of living for Christ.

Philippians 1:20, “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.”

In everything that we do let it be done with great excitement for Christ. As Paul mentions in this scripture he will not be ashamed but he continues on to say that he will magnify Christ in his body no matter if it is by life or by death. Paul was so unashamed by Christ that it didn’t matter what he was doing he wanted to magnify Christ in his body. Many times the only Christ that people see is the Christ living in us. Lets be bold so that we can be unashamed of our lives as we live for the King of kings.

Fifth, we should be consistent in our walk with the Lord. There is nothing more aggravating than seeing a minister live a wishy-washy life for God. How many times have you lived one way in the presence of believers but then live another way when you go to the grocery store? Here is the deal, God sees all that you do and you must be consistent. Ask yourself the question, if I were to tell people that I meet out in the world, that I am a minister would they be shocked. I have heard pastors use foul language, smoke cigarettes, and even say that homosexuality was a gift from God. If you are not consistent with the word of God then you have missed the mark considerably. Also, we have to remember that no matter what trials we are facing and no matter the hardship that we are going through we must stick with the word of God. There is no better way to end this section then with the word of God.

2nd Corinthians 6:3-10, “Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”

Sixth, is our faithfulness with the word of God. As ministers of the word of God we are to be faithful.

1st Corinthians 4:1-2, “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”

Lets look into this verse written by the apostle Paul. He mentions that as ministers we are to be stewards of the mysteries of God. What is a steward? What are the mysteries of God? Well, a steward is a caretaker or a manager of someone else’s things/property. The mysteries of God are the truths of the gospel. If you put these two facts together you will see that we are to be caretakers or managers of God’s truths. The key, we must be found faithful. When you look at verse two you will quickly find without a shadow of a doubt that the requirement of a steward is to be faithful. In other words, you have been entrusted with the mysteries of God (the gospel) and you must be found as a good steward (caretaker) with His truths. You must be faithful to the One who has entrusted you with His truths. This is not something that is asked of you rather it is something that has been commanded to you. This means that when you handle the word of God you must take good care of it. You can not go teach or preach unprepared and expect God to bless you. You can not just “wing-it.” You can not tell people what they want to hear simply because you don’t want to hurt their feelings. You can not tell half truths and feel as though we have done well with His word. We must be faithful with the word that God has given to us. The key word is found in verse two. Paul says that it is required of you to be faithful.

Seventh, you must be faithful with your life. With any good minister, our aim should be to surrender our lives faithfully to the Lord. Throughout scripture we find time and time again that the ones that have been entrusted with the word of God were faithful with their lives until the end. Paul was beaten, stoned, and imprisoned just to name a few hardships but yet he was still faithful with his life until the very end. Stephen, Acts 7:60, was stoned to death and his last few words as he was being stoned were, “…Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” And the ultimate example of faithfulness is found in our Lord Jesus. He was faithful to do the will of God even until death. How about you? Are you willing to be faithful through this life and even until the end? You can tell by the way you handle and react to the situations around you. You see, even when Paul was in situations that justified (in our eyes) him giving up he was still faithful. For example, when Paul was in prison he did not ask the believers to pray for his release but he did beckon their prayers for him to share the gospel. He was faithful. Stephen, even though he was set up (Acts 6:13), he still spoke the truths of God. He was faithful. And finally, as Christ had the opportunity to turn away He too was faithful.

In closing, our aim as ministers is to regularly examine ourselves so that we stay humble, strong, faithful, unashamed, and consistent. We must fight the good fight. We must finish the course. And above all things we must keep our eyes on the prize.

References

• What the Bible Says to the Minister: The Minister‘s Personal Handbook. (1996). Chattanooga: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.