What is the Ministry Lifestyle?

What is the Ministry Lifestyle?
Is everyone called to this way of life? How can I begin?

Matthew 5:14-16
"Ye are the light of the world.
A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick;
and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

What is the Ministry Lifestyle?

In the simplest summary I can possibly muster, to live The Ministry Lifestyle is to be the light of the world. However, that is much more easily said than done. In this passage (known as The Sermon on the Mount), Jesus Christ states, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid..." He is referring to the believer, to every born again Christian that has ever or ever will live. Christ, in His death on the cross, brought light into this dark and sinful world. When we pray and accept Him as our personal Saviour, this light He provides - the Gospel - enters into our own lives. We have the light, but we must allow it to shine.

What darkens the shining light of the Gospel in a Christian's life is sin. We must keep a good name if we are to be effective Gospel witnesses! The Lord made clear that there is great power in testimony:

• Proverbs 22:1 "A GOOD name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold."
• Ecclesiastes 7:1a "A GOOD name is better than precious ointment..."
• I Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:"
• I Peter 2:12 "Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation."
• Revelation 12:11 "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death,"

In I Peter 2:9, God calls us a "peculiar people". How beautiful it is to be called to be peculiar. We are commanded to be holy, set apart, to be different from the world. We cannot show the lost how Christ has freed us from sin if we are still living in it! We are not called to be perfect, but we are called to strive to be like Jesus Christ, as He says in John 17:14 "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

The best way to be in the world and not of it - to be a "peculiar people" - to become like Christ, is to get to know Christ. The best way to get to know Christ, is to read His Word. Only the Lord can change a heart and a life, and the only way He truly pierces through to our hearts is if we spend time reading His Word. 

Hebrews 4:12
"For the Word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow and intents of the heart."

Is everyone called to this way of life?

"...Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house...."

Yes! Christ calls all Christians to The Ministry Lifestyle in what we call the Great Commission:

Matthew 28:19
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Song, and of the Holy Ghost."

How can I begin?

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Everywhere, in everything! I Corinthians 10:31 tells us, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." That means in all areas of life, everything we do - eating, drinking, even breathing - we ought to do to the glory of God and in testimony of His grace and mercy. 

The best way to live the Ministry Lifestyle is to go to all that will listen and proclaim, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 66:16, "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul."