A Good Minister of Christ is Nourished with the Word and Serves Christ to Others

As believers in Christ, we need to be a good minister of Christ Jesus, those who are first being nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching in God’s Word and then lay these things before others to minister the riches of Christ to them for their nourishment and supply.

This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, A Good Minister of Christ, based on many portions in 1 Tim. 4 and other portions in the New Testament.

We need to be those who live and serve according to God’s economy concerning the church.

First of all, we need to see a vision of God’s economy; when we see what is in God’s heart, the economy of God, we will be revolutionized.

When God has mercy on us and we see a vision of God’s eternal economy, our entire life, living, and service in the church life will be different, for everything we do and say will be linked to God’s economy.

God has an economy, a heart’s desire, according to which and for which He created all things and He does all things.

When we see the economy of God, when our veils are rolled away to see a vision of God’s eternal economy, we will have the same desire as God: we will be joined to Him in His desire.

A vision of God’s economy will not only impress us but also cause us to realize that we want to live a life that has the highest value related to God’s economy, so we will live and serve according to God’s economy concerning the church.

So we will just pray. Prayer is the key.

We need to have a proper prayer life, taking in the word of God by means of all prayer and petition, and bringing the Lord’s word back to Him in prayer so that what He has said He will do, He will do it in us.

We need not only to pray but have a proper prayer life.

The church should be a house of prayer first of all.

May we first of all pray, not focusing on doing, coordinating, labouring, or working for God, but on praying to be one with the Lord and with one another.

To pray is to exercise our spirit.

Our living and service toward the Lord should be in our spirit. It may not be easy for us to do all things in spirit, for we’re so used to doing everything in ourselves and by ourselves.

So we need to exercise our spirit, even force ourselves to be in our spirit and live in spirit.

The exercise of the spirit is the exercise of our organ to contact God, be one with God, and do all things in God and with God.

This week in particular we want to see that we believers in Christ should be ministers of Christ Jesus, and individually each one of us should be a good minister of Christ Jesus, ones who are nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching, and who minister the riches of Christ to others to nourish and supply them. Amen!

A Good Minister of Christ is Nourished with the Words of the Faith and Ministers Christ to others

In 1 Tim. 4:6 Paul speaks of being a good minister of Christ Jesus, that is, being nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching and laying these things before the brothers.

What does it mean to be a minister of Christ?

Many today think that to be a minister of Christ is to do many things for God and in His name, and that a minister of Christ is one who belongs to Christ.

To be a good minister of Christ is to serve others with Christ, that is, to minister Christ as Savior, life, life supply, and every positive thing to people.

Every believer in Christ needs to be a good minister of Christ Jesus.

We are called not to be teachers of the law or of other things (1 Tim. 1:7, 3) but rather, to be ministers of Christ Jesus.

On one hand, a minister of Christ belongs to Christ; on the other hand, a minister of Christ serves others with Christ, for they minister the riches of Christ into them.

We believers in Christ belong to Christ; even more, as we are being nourished with the words of the faith, we also minister Christ to others for their nourishment.

May we be the good ministers of Christ Jesus today.

May we come to the Lord’s word to enjoy Him in the Word, be nourished with the words of the faith, and be constituted with the truth.

And may we lay these things before the brothers.

What does it mean to lay these things before the brothers?

First of all, “these things” refer to the words of the faith and of the good teaching in the word of God, which is the entire contents of God’s New Testament economy.

As we remain in these things, abide in the word of God, and are constituted with the truth, we will be nourished with the words of the faith, and there will be some rich supply of Christ to minister to others also.

Just as a steward or server in a restaurant lays the different courses of food before us, so we as good ministers of Christ should lay “these things” before the believers.

This doesn’t mean that we should teach others and speak all kinds of doctrines and teachings, to make sure we lay “these things” before the believers.

Rather, as we are being nourished with the words of the faith, as we digest and assimilate the Lord into our being by being in His word, we need to minister the riches of Christ, the rich supply of life, to others also.

As we are being nourished with Christ, we will have Christ as food, as life supply, and as nourishment; then, when we meet others, we will have something of Christ to minister to others.

Many times our experience is that we meet others and we have nothing to share, for there’s no supply of Christ, no rich supply of the words of the faith.

It’s not that we have to invent new things, new principles, and new doctrines; we simply need to be constituted with the truths in God’s word and speak them to others to nourish them with Christ.

If we are faithful to daily be in the word of God, reading the Bible and the ministry, we will be richly supplied and nourished with the words of the faith.

Then, when we meet others, we will not teach them but simply lay the rich food before them by laying these things before them.

This is to be a good minister of Christ Jesus.

We don’t need to have any new and special utterances; we simply need to speak and respeak the words of the faith that constitute us through our digestion and assimilation, and the Lord will feed others through our speaking.

We eat, digest, and assimilate the Lord in His word, and out of our constitution of Christ, we put forth some of the riches of Christ for others to enjoy and partake of.

May we have such an aspiration to be a good minister of Christ Jesus, one who richly enjoys Christ in His word and has something of the rich supply of Christ to minister to others for their nourishment.

May we even tell the Lord to make us such ones, the ministers of Christ who have a rich deposit of Christ, a rich treasury of Christ in their being, to bring out riches of Christ before others to feed them and thus help them grow in life for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we aspire to be a good minister of Christ Jesus who is nourished with the words of the faith and speaks Christ to others. Amen, Lord, we come to Your word to be nourished with You, partake of You, and digest and assimilate You into our being. We give ourselves to You, Lord, to be constituted with the truth. May the words of the faith and the good teaching in God’s word become our inner constitution through our eating, digesting, and assimilating Christ in His word. Amen, Lord, fill us with Yourself to overflowing! May we be richly nourished with the words of the faith and may we lay these things before others so that they may also be nourished. We want to be good ministers of Christ Jesus, those who dispense Christ into others. Nourish us day by day. Fill us with Yourself. Flow in us and flow out of us. We want to not merely teach others about the Bible but even more, minister Christ into them as food! Amen, make us ministers of Christ!

A Good Minister of Christ Serves People with Christ to Minister Christ to them as Food

Many believers in Christ all around the world love the Lord and His word, but they are starving.

They do not eat properly, and the food given to them in their gatherings is very superficial and quite unhealthy. Oh, Lord Jesus!

May we be the good ministers of Christ who serve people with Christ by ministering Christ to them as food.

May we take up the burden to supply others with food, not relying on the “pastors” or even on the elders to feed the saints but we ourselves learning to function to minister Christ to others.

A good minister of Christ is one who serves people with Christ, ministering Christ as Savior, life, life supply, and every positive thing to people.

If we believers in Christ want to minister Christ to others, first we must be nourished; we don’t teach others about Christ but rather, we minister Christ into others as food (Matt. 4:4; Jer. 15:16; Ezek. 3:1-4; John 6:57, 63).

The word of God is our daily food; we do not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.

We need to come to the Lord in His word and be richly nourished with what He is to us.

We need to find God’s word, eat God’s word, be nourished with God’s word, and allow the word of God to be the gladness and joy of our heart.

As we do this, we will eat the Lord and we will live because of Him. His words will become spirit and life to us, and we will speak the living word of God to others.

May we be like Timothy today; may we be a good minister of Christ Jesus who first feeds on God’s word, digests it, assimilates it, allow it to saturate his inner being, and then lay these riches before the saints to nourish them. Amen!

May we be saved from trying to teach other things than what Paul taught; may we not try to be different from others but simply be nourished by God’s word and serve people with Christ.

There are so many riches in God’s word!

And the ministry of the age brings out the rich groceries in the word of God for us to enjoy, partake of, and be constituted with.

As we exercise our spirit to read the Bible, the footnotes in the Recovery Version, and the life studies, we will be nourished with the riches of Christ.

Then, we will have something of Christ to minister to others as food.

Thank the Lord that He has opened up the word of God to us.

Thank the Lord that He has given us the riches of Christ to be our enjoyment and experience day by day.

We simply need to dig into God’s word by spending time with the Lord in His word.

Daily we need to take time to be with the Lord in His word to allow the Lord to shine on us, expose us, deal with anything that needs to be dealt with, and infuse something of His riches into us.

First, we need to be nourished with the riches of Christ, and then, we need to minister Christ to others as food for them to be nourished and supplied.

We need to present the saints with the riches, the groceries, that the Lord has shown us from the word of God (2 Tim. 2:2).

May we first be nourished ourselves and then minister this nourishment to all the people of God.

As we are nourished with the words of life concerning Christ, we have something in us that can flow out to others to nourish them also. May we be such ones today.

Lord Jesus, we come to You in Your word to be nourished with the words of the faith and the good teaching. Nourish us and supply us with Yourself through your word. Amen, Lord, saturate our inner being with the word of God, with the riches in God’s word. We want to be filled with the riches of Christ so that we may be able to serve them to others as food! Amen, Lord, make us those who serve people with Christ. Make us those who minister Christ as Savior, life, life supply, and every positive thing to others. May we first be nourished ourselves, and may we serve Christ to others for their supply and nourishment. We don’t want to give others mere knowledge about God and Christ; we want to impart something of the riches of Christ that we have enjoyed and are constituted with so that they would be nourished with the words of the faith!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-Study of 1 Timothy, msg. 8 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 6, entitled, A Good Minister of Christ.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The all-inclusive Christ in 1 Corinthians, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – 5 Metaphors that Describe Genuine Christian Ministers and Their Ministry, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The Foundations are Christ Received, Experienced, and Ministered, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The day-by-day Christian life, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – A good minister of Christ, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Chapter 8.
  – The heart of our spiritual fathers toward us and how they have served us, via, Living to Him.
  – Being nourished, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – To the lost world minister Christ, / Not just by word, but by life, / Imparting Christ by living deeds / To the poor souls living in strife. / To the lost world minister Christ, / By daily walk making Him known; / Imparting Christ by whom you live, / Share with all men what you own. (Hymns #922 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Christ is the truth, ’tis Him we testify, / Christ is the life, ’tis Him we minister; / Christ is the Lord, ’tis Him we magnify, / Christ is the Head, and we exalt Him here. / Christ is the All in all to God and man— / With Him both we and God are satisfied; / Christ, the reality within the Church— / By Him are life and numbers multiplied. (Hymns #863 stanzas 3-4)
  – Outreach of the glorious gospel / Is the flow of life within; / It is by our testimony / That lost sinners we may win. / Grant us, Lord, the living outflow, / May Thy life through us be seen; / Through us as Thy living vessels / Quicken people from within. (Hymns #925 stanza 1 and chorus)