Our fourth purpose is to serve God by serving others through ministry

In my last article I wrote about the third of five purposes for our lives. In the book, "The Purpose Driven Life," Pastor Rick Warren asked the question, "What on earth am I here for?" The first purpose is to worship God. We were planned for God's pleasure. God is pleased with true worship. Loving God is our first and foremost purpose.

Our second purpose in life is fellowship. As our number one purpose is to love God our next purpose is to love God's family.

Our third purpose is to become like Christ or discipleship. A disciple is a whole-hearted follower of Christ.

Our fourth purpose is serve God by serving others through ministry. Ephesians 2:10: "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do." If we have been born again we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us. If we have the Spirit we have spiritual gifts and we should use them to edify and build others up. In Peter 4:10: "Each one should use whatever gift he's received to serve others."

Jesus left a perfect example when he said He did not come to be served but to serve. If we want to follow His example there are a few thing we must do.

1. Serving like Jesus means being available.

n In Matthew 20: 29-34 when Jesus heard two blind men call out to Him for help He stopped, called them and healed them.

n First barrier: self-centeredness: Romans 12:10 Honor one another above yourselves.

n Second barrier: perfectionism: Ecclesiastes 11:4 tells us that if we wait for everything to be perfect we won't get anything done.

n Third barrier, materialism, Luke 16:13: "No servant can serve two masters ... You cannot serve both God and money."

2. Serving like Jesus means being grateful. Psalms100:2: "Serve the Lord with gladness."

n Grateful people are people of faith, hope, joy, great peace, patience, endurance, great power and can never be defeated. Grateful people live great lives. Grateful people will serve others.

3. Serving like Jesus means being faithful.

n John 17:4: "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do."

n I Corinthians 4:2: "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."

n Matthew 25:21: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

When we walk in God's purposes for our lives we will find that life makes sense. This world we live in offers us many alternatives, but we will find that none of them will bring satisfaction. We will only find ourselves disappointed. We will only be fulfilled when we function as we were created to function. It is safe to say that God knows more about what is best for us than we do.

n Leo Kruger is pastor of Valley Christian Fellowship.