In the footsteps of Jesus—Minister as Jesus ministered

So far we’ve talked about believing what Jesus believed (transformed mind), Living as Jesus lived (transformed character), Loving as Jesus loved (transformed relationships). Today we’re looking at ministering as Jesus ministered. In other words, transformed service.
In Mark 6 Jesus confronts his disciple with a ministry opportunity. They have a chance to put into action everything they’ve learned through their recent experience. Alongside Jesus they are faced with 5,000 picnickers in need of a packed lunch. They are about to discover nine important lessons about ministry.
Lesson 1: Ministry means pressure
They’d had little time to rest and recover from their previous ministry encounters and now they were having to step up and do it all again. It had been Jesus’ plan that this was a well-earned break from the crowds, but the crowds had a different plan, a different timetable.
Lesson 2: Ministry is draining
No one is arguing with their need to rest. Even Jesus recognised that. Sometimes ministry takes an emotional and physical toll on us. We need to recognise this and respond properly.
Lesson 3: Ministry is unpredictable
They didn’t invite the crowd they invited themselves. They didn’t plan to offer lunch, but the crowd didn’t plan for it either.
You never know when an opportunity for ministry might arise. The best preparation is to develop Christ-like character.
Lesson 4: Confusion comes with the territory
The crowd just came, they didn’t know what they were going to do, they just wanted to be wherever Jesus was. Interestingly Jesus imposed a degree of order (they sat down in groups of 50). Managing confusion is part of ministry.
Lesson 5: Ministry carries responsibility
Jesus told his disciples: “You feed them.”
Lesson 6: Ministry calls for faith
Without faith we can do nothing. If we do not believe that God is at the heart of our ministry, then we’re working under a false premise. It is vitally important that we allow God to fulfil his purposes through us.
Lesson 7: Ministry calls for sacrifice
What if Jesus had said yes when they asked him: “Are we to buy food for all these people?” More than this, sometimes ministry means sacrificing safety, pride and self-reliance in order to see God’s power released.
Lesson 8: Ministry is about learning as well as doing
Sometimes we excuse ourselves from ministry on the basis that “It’s not my gifting.” But ministry offers us opportunities to learn new things. The disciples had already learned about deliverance and healing, now there was new lesson on the curriculum.
Lesson 9: Ministry involves service
It was the disciples who did the distributing and the collecting.
If these nine things are too many to remember, then let me give you three things about the way Jesus did ministry that might be easier to remember.
#1 Grace: Jesus always did things with grace. Although he and the disciples were probably tired, he still had room for compassion, he still had room to serve.
Bill Hull says: Jesus ministered out of who he was; his influence came from his character.
This was the character of a servant, the character of sacrifice and the character of compassion.
#2 Generous: God doesn’t hold back when, there was more than enough to go around.
#3 Glorious: Not only did the crowd experience the abundance of God’s blessing, they enjoyed it too.