Minister to the Lord

Over the past few weeks it seems that I have been a bit more stressed than the normal. Not only do my wife and I both work full time jobs but we also have children that must be taken care of, driven here and there, and a house that needs cleaning and such. On top of all of this it seems that my responsibilities are growing in the church. This doesn’t really bother me but what does is I’ve noticed how difficult it is to get any type of volunteers for my projects. I have been frustrated because I want churches to reach out in true biblical evangelism. I would love for churches to be set on fire for God, for His glory. I was just about at a boiling point of frustration until I ran across this verse:

Acts 13:2 - As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

The part that caught my attention was “they ministered to the Lord”. So I began to look further into the word “minister”. In the Greek the word is “leitourgeo”. It appears in the Bible 37 times and has a few definitions but one of them is:

to do a service, perform a work
a. of priests and Levites who were busied with the sacred rites in the tabernacle or the temple

The MacArthur study Bible puts it this way:
Ministered – This is from a Greek word which in Scripture describes priestly service. Serving in leadership in the church is an act of worship to God, and consists of offering spiritual sacrifices to Him, including prayer, oversight of the flock, plus preaching and teaching the Word.

After reading this it really struck me. I’m not just serving my church. I’m not just serving those other Christians around me. I’m serving Jesus Christ. If the Old Testaments saints served God by taking care of the temple and making sure that all sacrifices were offered then I am serving God by the small responsibilities that I have within my own church. It doesn’t matter if volunteers come and go. It doesn’t matter if my part is small and insignificant by other people’s standards. What matters is that I allow God to keep my joy alive in Him as I serve Him. So whether you stand alone or in a group of a thousand. Whether you are in the pulpit preaching and teaching, or if you greet visitors with a warm smile, or if you are taking care of the children in your church daycare, or if you are just making coffee, you are serving God. You are “ministering to the Lord”. Who could ask for more?