What it means to Minister to the Lord

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom He had raised from the dead. So they gave a supper for Him there. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very expensive perfume of pure nard, and she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” (John 12:1-3)

What does it mean to minister to the Lord? Most people think “to minister” is to have a preacher, a pastor, or an evangelist speak into your life. Many consider ministry in the form of church services, tent revivals, or missions trips. But there is so much more to ministry than that. There is a ministry that is far above serving one another. There is ministry that is to the Lord.

The first mention of man ministering to God is referenced in Exodus 28:35 when God gave instructions regarding the Levite priesthood. He said to Moses:

“Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron’s sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.”

Again the Lord says in Deuteronomy 18:5:

“For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.”

And in 1 Chronicles 23:13 we read:

“The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should sanctify the most holy things, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister to Him, and to give the blessing in His name forever.”

There are many other scriptures in the Bible that mention man ministering unto God. After reading God’s directions in selecting Aaron and his lineage to be ministers unto Himself, it stirred me up. I hope it has stirred you as well, causing you to consider what it really means to minister to the Lord.

The Hebrew word for minister is “sharath” and means to serve, to attend, or to wait on. Does this describe your interactions with Jesus? In the days of the tabernacle, the priests served and attended to God in the Holy Place by putting fresh oil in the Menorah and keeping it burning 24/7. They also presented showbread (aka the Bread of Presence) before the Lord 24/7, eating it in fellowship on the Sabbath as they placed fresh bread before God for the coming week. And they burned incense at the golden altar before His presence 24/7, with the incense represented their prayers and worship coming up before God as a sweet fragrance. Their lives revolved around ministry to God. So how does this ministry apply to Christians today? I mean, we are not under the Law of Moses and do not serve in the Tabernacle as Levite priests. Yet, we are ministers of the gospel to this world and we are fellow heirs with Jesus Christ Who is our High Priest.

I believe we get a view of how to minister to Jesus from the interactions described in John 12:1-3.

 “Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom He had raised from the dead. So they gave a supper for Him there. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very expensive perfume of pure nard, and she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

First of all, notice that there are three individuals mentioned in this excerpt, apart from Jesus. We have Martha, Lazarus, and Mary. A family that is mentioned several times in the four Gospels as being followers of Jesus.

But what I want to discuss is far beyond this familial gathering. What I notice here are three individuals displaying different aspects of what it means to minister to the Lord. And along with each individual, the ministry gets deeper, more intimate.

Let’s start off with Martha. Here we see Martha SERVING those around her. The first mention of her serving is from a different gathering described in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10. Here in the Gospel of John, chapter 12, we see that she had invited all of these people into her home and was making sure they were fed, had drink, and were comfortable. She served in the aspect that she met their needs and showed them warm hospitality. This reminds me of something Jesus taught in Matthew 25:34-40. Jesus said:

“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”

Here we see an aspect of ministry in which we minister to God as we serve one another in the love of Jesus Christ. Not as a duty or out of obligation, but out of the LOVE of the Father. It is an important part of ministering to Jesus, but not the only part. There is so much more.

Next, we have Lazarus, who was reclined (or seated) at the table with Jesus. He was in a position of closeness both literally and figuratively to Jesus. A closeness that speaks of FELLOWSHIP. They were eating together, talking to one another, and more likely than not Lazarus was soaking up the joy of being in Jesus’ presence. This is another aspect of ministry to God: to fellowship with Him in His presence. Just as the Levites would sit in the Holy Place and eat of the Showbread before the Lord. It implies a level of intimacy beyond serving Him food, drink, and shelter. This is a relationship! A fellowship!

So how do Christians today fellowship with Jesus? John speaks of this in 1 John 1:1-7.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

To fellowship with Jesus is to share or partake in Him. In other words, if He is light, we are to be light. If He is holy, we are to be holy. If He is merciful, we are to be merciful. (Btw, He is all of these and more 😉)

The Greek word used for fellowship in this scripture is “koinonia” and means communion, joint participation; the share which one has in anything, participation.

To sit at the table with Jesus and partake of the bread (His body broken for us) and the drink (His blood poured out for us) is to share in His crucifixion and resurrection. Paul said that He was “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20) though we know that he was not physically placed with Jesus on the cross. What he meant was that he shared in the crucifixion the moment he accepted Jesus into His heart because the old man (Saul) died to the world so the new man (Paul) could live through Jesus. Paul became a new man in Jesus Christ, no longer bound by the Law, dead to the world and the lusts of it. He had become light, as Jesus is the Light of the world.

It is important to note that fellowship with Jesus is no frivolous matter. To have true fellowship with Jesus is to die to self. It means to lay down your own life, your own plans, your own ideas and to follow His leading. Many people are happy to minister to Jesus as a servant to others, like Martha. But how many are willing to sit at the table with Him and share in Who He is? Remember, there are many aspects of what it means to minister to God. Are we willing to just minister in one aspect or go all the way? Before you answer, let’s see the ministry of Mary to Jesus.

Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, was bold in her ministry to Jesus. We first read of her devotion to Him in the Gospel of Luke:

“Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”” (Luke 10:38-42)

Here again we see Martha serving, and yet again we see Mary at Jesus’ feet. Mary ministered to Jesus through her worship. She truly WORSHIPPPED Jesus. The word worship means to set your affection and adoration towards something, as in to revere. Mary was willing to forsake all that was around her in order to worship her Lord. She paid no attention to custom, to religion, to duty. As a matter of fact, she pushed past all of those hinderances and distractions just so she could worship at Jesus’ feet. In both stories, her focus and her adoration was on Jesus. But I like what Jesus said about her in Luke 10:42. Mary had set her heart on that ONE THING which could not be taken away from her. That ONE THING is the same as mentioned by David in Psalm 27:4.

“One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”

The ONE THING which Mary had was her total surrender and devotion to her Lord.

She gave Jesus her best, on so many levels. The perfume she had anointed Him with was very expensive and many sources say it was worth a year’s wages. On top of that, she had used her own hair (still on her head, mind you – no wig!) and wiped the oil all over His feet. This broke many cultural customs of her day seeing as she was an unmarried woman touching an unmarried man, particularly a Rabbi. In her day this was forbidden. But what many people didn’t understand, in her day, was that she wasn’t just an unmarried woman and Jesus wasn’t just a Rabbi. She was His disciple and He was her Lord. The level of intimacy of this interaction went far ABOVE and BEYOND the normal.

She didn’t care what the religious had to say about her “indecent behavior.” She didn’t care what her sister had to say about her “lack of duty.” She didn’t care what the other disciples said about her “wastefulness.” She only cared to minister to her Lord, and did so by anointing Him with Spikenard. This reminds me of when the priests burned incense in the Tabernacle, and the smoke wafted up to God as a sweet fragrance, representing the prayers and worship of the people. Here Mary’s perfume filled the whole house. Everyone could smell the sweet fragrance of her worship and it is clear that it pleased Jesus because He didn’t rebuke her. Rather He rebuked those who had rebuked her. This got me thinking, what was the significance of this fragrant perfume called spikenard?

“Spikenard had a unique fragrance, and the presence of its aroma was an indication that the very best had been offered. In the Song of Solomon, spikenard is mentioned in reference to the love between bride and groom. In Song of Solomon 1:12, the bride says, “While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.” Those words imply that, despite all other fragrances in the room, only his bride’s would matter to the groom. The presence of spikenard represented their passion for each other and their desire to have only the best define their love. When Mary of Bethany broke her alabaster jar of spikenard (John 12:3) and bathed the feet of Jesus with the oil, she, too, wanted only the best to define her love for Him. It has been speculated that this jar may have been Mary’s dowry or her inheritance. In other words, this jar of spikenard ointment may have been all she had of value, and she poured it out on Him. Her extravagant gift is a picture of the kind of offering expected of each of us. Only the best was worthy of her Lord, and she was willing to give everything as an act of worship. The same should be true of us (see Numbers 18:29).”

*Reference from GotQuestions.org -  Article “What is spikenard in the Bible?”

So what cue could we take from Mary of Bethany’s worship? She forsook all to worship Jesus and Him alone. She pushed past the snares of religion and custom to minister to Him. She gave Jesus her best. And last but not least, she took Jesus at His word.

I don’t want you to miss this part. If you keep reading John 12, verses 7-8, you’ll see that Mary was the only person present that not only believed Jesus’ word about His coming burial, but she helped Him prepare for it. Jesus said:

 “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”

She may not have understood the full implication of Jesus’ coming death and burial, but by golly she wasn’t going to miss out on the opportunity to help her Lord prepare. She took action to Jesus’ words and this ministered to Him greatly. She did what those sitting at the very table of fellowship had not even considered.

I pray you can see the deeper truth here. We as followers of Jesus Christ are also called to be ministers to Him, not just to other people on this earth. And ministry to the Lord has many aspects to it. Let us not get caught up in one part of ministry or another and forsake the ministry as a whole. There should be in us the Martha ministry, the Lazarus ministry, AND the Mary ministry.

I don’t want you to miss this part either: Each ministry comes with it's own cost. I personally see the cost as being greater as we get deeper into the ministry. To serve others comes at a cost. To be separate from worldly ways comes at a cost. To forsake all comes at a cost. But there is no other place I would rather be than right before my Lord Jesus. My heart mirrors that of Mary, in that I have found that ONE THING which would not be taken away from me. And yes, it has come at a cost. Can I tell you that the anointing always does? But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Just a SIDE NOTE: Even the angels ministered to Jesus (Matthew 4:11). We are His Church, the Ekklesia, the called-out ones, His BRIDE! Oh how He desires us to minister to Him. How He desires that we desire to minister to Him.

I pray that this has opened your eyes to new depths in what it means to be a true Christ follower. There are so many doctrines in this world, and each with their own philosophers and theologians. Let us not stray from the very truth sitting before us in the Bible. James, brother of Jesus and His disciple, said that “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). I encourage you to get into the scriptures to know more of Who your LORD is and who you are. Don’t get caught up in the superficial Christian walk. Dig beneath the surface. There are depths to God that we cannot even fathom. And as we minister to Him, He ministers to us. Draw nearer to God. Spend time with Him. Let that ONE THING become a desire welling up in you, overflowing into the lives of others. You will continuously be AWED and SURPRISED by the things the LORD will show you. I love you my brethren. Until next time……