Christian Consumers
Submitted by Frank Williams
May 19, 2025
1Co 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
Saved people are ministers in the great renewal project called Redemption. If we are not having some effect on someone believing in Jesus and being saved, we are not fulfilling our duty as ministers of God. It is a tiring work, but it is not a solo work.
First of all, our work partner is the Lord Himself—1Co 3:9 For we are labourers together with God. Then, it is a work together with other believers. Paul and Apollos were not competitors trying to win the affections of the hearers. They each added their portion, but it was all one, united work. It was not a ME effort, but a WE enterprise.
So, we need to realize that every one of us has been given a ministry—even as the Lord gave to every man. And this ministry is related to working with others in helping the lost to be saved and helping the saved to grow in the Lord’s grace and knowledge.
God did not choose angels to be the witnesses of His love and grace. They are ministers in other ways, but the role of being a minister of the grace of God, as revealed in the Word of God, has been given to every born-again believer. We know what it means to be lost and on the way to hell. We know how the Holy Spirit brought conviction, love, and grace to us as it is revealed in the Gospel of Jesus. We are legitimate witnesses because we have experienced the Lord Jesus in a real way.
An unbiblical view of the ministry allows us to live comfortably as a Christian consumer, while others do the work. We have our little private lives that belong to us, and we step out of that into moments of ministry, and then we step back into our private lives.
The point of these brief thoughts is to challenge you to not be just a Christian consumer. You were not chosen to just be a recipient of God’s goodness. You have been chosen to reproduce, as any healthy sheep would do. You have been chosen to give what you have received. This is what Jesus told His first disciples--Mt 10:8 ...freely ye have received, freely give.
When we realize that our lives don’t belong to us—then we live, work, relate, and even play with a ministry mentality.
Consider – The hardest thing about moving forward is not looking back.
