Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Beginning of Ministry

Have you ever thought about what the beginning of Jesus' ministry was like? Surely, being the Son of God, it would be smooth sailing, right? All the right contacts, perfect follow-up, an infallible approach with no hiccups to irritate His new ministry. Although I would quickly agree, Jesus' ministry, like Himself, was and is infallible, the beginning of Jesus' ministry, however, was quite bumpy. The first words that are quoted of Jesus is His affirmation to John the Baptist to baptize Him. (There Jesus goes again being the perfect model for a life devoted to Christ and teaching us the importance of baptism.) But the very next place we see those red words of Jesus are not the intriguing parables of chapter 13 or the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. Before Jesus' adult earthly ministry begins, Jesus is tempted. TEMPTED....by SATAN....HE HASN'T EVEN GOTTEN STARTED YET and satan is trying to tempt Jesus. Really? When God calls us into ministry, how can we even begin to expect that everything will just "fall into place" and ministry will just magically happen. Jesus Christ Himself encountered great obstacles at the beginning of His ministry.

So how did he deal with it? Let's check out chapter 4. Satan tries to tempt Jesus in three ways: physically, with power, and with prestige. Now obviously, we know Jesus doesn't give in, but look at His response. Deuteronomy 8:3; 6:16; 6:13. The Torah, the Old Testament, the scriptures He was raised to know and trust. Live on the words of God, do not test God, worship and serve Him only. I feel as though we could learn so much from these words. What if we based our ministry on this advice...living on God's Word, not testing God, but fully relying on Him and worshiping and serving Him only.

Once Jesus' teaching ministry begins we are prompted with these directions: Matthew 4:17-19.
1. Repent
2. Follow Me
3. Become fishers of Men

Isn't it interesting how this parallels with his final words in Matthew 28
1. Making disciples
2. Baptizing
3. Teaching them all I have commanded

Do you see the connection? Repent, Follow, Fish so that you can take His lead to help others Repent, Follow, & Fish. May we continue to daily strive to learn more of all that He has commanded us!

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