Christians must learn make Christ the centre of their lives and ministries. They must learn to focus attention of all to Christ and no other. They must teach that life is all about him.
John the Baptist’s outlook and attitude to life and ministry was that they were all about Jesus. Short of which life has no meaning and ministry makes no sense. He teaches us that:
- Knowing who we really are and who Jesus is and relating with him and ministering on the basis of that knowledge is the essence of our existence. Obviously true knowledge of His person puts him first before anything that we can ever aspire to be in life. Once we mix the order by swapping positions with Christ, we will have identity crisis in life and ministry.
- Knowing our subject well gives power to our testimony. Here Jesus is the subject of life and ministry. John the Baptist knew Him very well. He called him, the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sins of the world and, the son of God. It is what we know about Jesus that we tell others. What and how we say about Jesus depends on what we know. Cultivating a deep relationship with Him is key in knowing him. The closer we are, the more we know him and the better we can testify about him to the world.
- Knowing our limits enhances our effectiveness. We have not been called to do everything in ministry. Let us not enter into a ministry that does not belong to us. John knew he was a voice calling in the desert. He knew he was called to baptise with water. He equally knew it was Jesus prerogative to baptise with the Holy Spirit.
- Knowing where to direct people’s attention reduces the temptation to call same to ourselves. John the Baptist knew to say, “This is the Lamb of God,” or, “This is the Son of God”. Whatever people thought to make of him he knew to equivocally say, ‘I am not the Christ”. If what we are or do is all about Christ then all the attention should be directed to him. He alone should be given all the honour, the glory and the praises for our successes in life and ministry. We exist to reveal the person of Christ to the world; not to project ourselves or ministry over and above Him. Neither should we block people’s view from seeing Christ with our ambition for renown even if people think we should be made known.
- Knowing that satisfaction and true joy comes from doing what heaven has assigned to us. It isn’t that we decide what in life or ministry makes us feel good. Strictly speaking, ministry is not about personal enjoyment. It is about God deriving pleasure from what we are and what we do. However, satisfaction here talks about contentment and finding joy that our call is from heaven no matter the circumstances surrounding us. It is the satisfaction that is glad to let Jesus be in the limelight and go back to sleep soundly that Jesus took all the glory for my efforts and successes.
- Knowing and consciously accepting that this life and ministry is not all about my personal gain. I therefore should not strive to compete or manipulate others to gain an upper hand over them. I should not fight or bring others down to be known as a great man of God. I should not scheme or stage-manage being in the limelight. John the Baptist understood the central position Jesus occupies in his life. He gave what should be a check to any Christian or servant of God that might want to project himself above Christ. “He must become greater and I must become less”. This should be the motto of all who truly and humbly follow and serve Christ.
Conclusion
If all we live for is about Christ, then let us make conscious effort to reveal him indeed. Let us not become like the tourist guide who after leading people to view magnificent works of arts in a gallery was no longer satisfied being just a guide but began to stand between the art and the people. The people soon got irritated because they had come to see the art works and not the guide. If people were to ask like they told Phillip “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” (John 12:21). Would you take them to him and then step aside for them to view Jesus fully or would you stand between Him and them, telling what a great servant of God you are? Remember: It is all about him. Will you let him be greater and you fade into nothing?
Namani J Nharrel
In ministry, all we need is to be faithful in whatever God has entrusted to us. Heaven will demand an account from us for what He assigned to us. However knowing that my brother’s ministry is also assigned from heaven would require:
That John the Baptist did not deceive himself nor kept anyone in doubt about his person or the nature of his ministry even if his disciples thought to exalt him to a position he did not attain or merit is a lesson for us to learn. He did not give a second thought when the disciples told him about Jesus and the crowd he was pulling. He quickly deflected the attention back to Christ. He earlier told people who he was not and who he was. Of himself he said:
In comparison with Christ, John the Baptist didn’t think himself anything. Yet this same man was the very one our Lord told the crowd “…of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist” (Matt 11:11). Just as John the Baptist had a right view of his person and ministry he also had a proper understanding of the person and ministry of Christ both in their global context and in relation to his own life and ministry. He might as well have told his disciples, that man you saw baptising and people trooping to him is the very reason I exist and minister. ‘You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ but I am sent ahead of him’ He exalted Jesus in the following words:
The purpose for which John was sent was to reveal Jesus to Israel. He was contented with that and sought no more. He was satisfied being a mere helper of Christ. When it came to comparing him with Christ he had only one desire, “He must increase, but I must decrease”(John 3:30). P.S. Watch out for the concluding part. -Namani J Nharrel |
One day, Mr. Olugu hired a sleek-looking 2011 Mercedes E –Class. Without a proper check-up on some essentials, he rode the car to attend an august event – he assumed all was in order; after all, the car was sleek and new. Just as he rode, he got caught up in the dreaded Lagos Island traffic. Lo, Mr. Olugu’s hired acquisition began to overheat because water dried up in the radiator and simultaneously the car ran out on fuel. He decided to push the car to the service lane so the car temperature could normalize and subsequently try to get a nearby filling station to get some fuel in a gallon he found in the trunk.
Naturally, he was miffed and flustered by the turn of events. As he tried to get himself composed, he got drenched by his sweat in his new, white and lavishly- embroidered kaftan. Worst of all, he got swooped on by marauding street urchins who stripped him of all the cash he had. The day that started out so bright ended up so gloomy.
The above scenario is typical of what a number of Christians pass through today in their faith. They are quick to embrace philosophies, doctrines and patterns that totally contradict the principles and dictates of Christ. Although these might look so sleek and appealing at the first instance, only a proper scrutiny of the essentials by the word of Christ reveals the shortcomings. Ironically, some of these shortcomings are heralded by the church, which should be the ground and the pillar of truth (1Tim.3:15). Many Christians are left with thoughts and intents bruised and mangled with false teachings. They are worse today than when they first started.
To this end, scripture admonishes us to be schooled in Him personally, by diligently knowing our full rights in Christ so we don’t make a shipwreck of our faith (2Tim.2:15-18).
“My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well-constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything. ” (Col.2:6-10 The Message)
-Emeka Ofia
| An eagle traversed the land hovering over hills and valleys and finally landed at a river bank with a sound of triumph that seemed to say, ‘I have found at last…’. Then a voice says, “It is all about you”. That was in an advert of a Nigerian mobile telephone company. The message: The Company values its customers to undertake all the pains to reach them.
There is a philosophy almost a religion that says life is all about man. Adherents believe all endeavours should have the pleasures of man as the ultimate goal. This belief system has its adverse moral and social consequences. People get into trouble because they want life to revolve around them for the pleasures they desire through possessions, positions, or powers they think they ought to have. Check it- All the hearts aches, the infighting in families and communities and even wars are forms of protests about real or perceived injustices, denials and deprivations of some rights and benefits. James says it all. “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn’t it the whole army of evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can’t possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don’t get it because your whole motive is wrong — you want only what will give you pleasure”. Man-centered doctrine unfortunately has come and become the irritation in the church of Christ today. Its teachings portray God existing for man’s pleasure instead of man existing for God’s pleasure. John the Baptist was a man who understood that it is rather man existing for the pleasure of the Divine. His disciples saw Jesus baptising. Apparently they were not comfortable about that development. They reported it to John the Baptist. There were two concerns in their report.
They implied therefore that:
John’s response was instructive as it was very humbling. He did not feel jittery if Jesus was taking over his ministry nor bothered if Jesus was becoming more popular than him. He told them, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said,’ I am not the Christ,’ but,’ I have been sent before Him.’ (John 3:27-28). He not only affirmed the ministry of Jesus, but reaffirmed the person of Jesus and made clear his own person and the role he came to play in the ministry of Jesus. “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven,” says,
John the Baptist was therefore saying both Jesus’ ministry and his were given by God. He did in essence remind them too that his own life and ministry were about Jesus succeeding in His ministry. He had testified and drawn attention to Jesus when He came on the scene. -Namani J. Nharrel |