It is no secret in the modern church that God wants us to share His Gospel. God commands, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Christ, NIV).
This Great Commission from God raises a vital question: how does one go and make disciples of all nations and what does it look like to work for God?
First Step
The first thing to understand about working for God is that what is considered a laborer for Heaven is complex. Jesus declares, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” (Christ, NIV). Under a simple understanding, Jesus would be wrong. In nearly every town in the USA, there are three or more churches, and every year tens of thousands of students graduate with Biblical degrees.
Jesus is challenging our idea of what it means to work for God.
Instead of theology that counts a worker for God as anyone who works at a church, Jesus adds nuance to this idea. To understand church leadership, one has to look at the Pharisees. In modern Christianity, it’s common to think of the Pharisees as a select group of religious leaders who didn’t campaign for God, but normally religious leaders are perfect. The Pharisees were self-serving and arrogant, and they didn’t understand the Gospel, but now religious leaders are humble, and they only think about others. In fact, if someone with a Biblical degree presents an understanding of the Bible, one can immediately assume it’s true. The moment this nonsense is presented one can immediately see that modern Christians aren’t better than anyone.
In the modern church, the Pharisees are described as a group whose entire purpose was to hinder God, but in reality, they were the same as any other church leader.
They preached what they thought was right, but in mankind's folly, it was generally wrong. Preachers are very effective at pointing the finger at the Pharisees in sermons and critiquing them, but the preachers are the people the verse is talking about.
God did not put documentation of sinful church leaders in the Bible so that one can know that church leaders used to be sinful, God put it in the Bible so one can navigate sinful church leaders as he did.
If one is to understand what it looks like to work for God, the first step is to recognize that every time he points out the wrongdoings of the Pharisees he is actually talking about me. When it’s realized that there is profound complexity to what makes someone a laborer for God, people have to reevaluate every step they’ve taken to share the Gospel.
Putting Jesus at The Center
At this point, the question is clear: what kind of worker is Jesus looking for? The answer is that He isn’t looking for mankind. God’s workers are called to be humble and Christ-centered because throughout scripture Jesus’ workers are told to deny themselves.
Mankind is the problem with the Christian workforce, and it isn’t until they are crucified with Christ that they are fit for work in Heaven.
Jesus calls for a radical change, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” (Christ, NIV). If someone is born again, of water and Spirit, then God isn’t utilizing the flesh.
Instead, he now has an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to put before people, which is far better than human understanding and doctrine.
The radical change that God wants is evident. When Moses is called in the wilderness to lead Israel, God presents this idea. Moses pleads, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” (Moses, NIV). It’s often understood that the reason God sent Moses is because he utilizes the incompetent and the weak, but why he does this has generally been left unanswered.
God wants the weak because they don’t have power of their own to do things.
Instead, they tap into God's power because there isn’t any other source for them. The Pharisees demonstrate that God doesn’t want someone who has strength by their own power, and God is testifying that he will actively seek out those who don’t utilize themselves. However, this idea of using God’s power is incomplete because it leaves the question open: how do I utilize the strength of God? An effective example of utilizing God is John the Baptist. John did great work for the kingdom of heaven and John was God’s chosen instrument to prepare the way of Christ. He outlines labor for God in completion when he says, “He must become greater; I must become less.” (John, NIV).
The way to utilize God’s power is by going further than making God greater and making oneself less.
It takes a step beyond going to seminary, reading the Bible, and making an active effort to institute God’s wisdom, it takes making an active effort to diminish anything that isn’t divine. This is the same reason that God chose Moses to lead Israel. It’s easily recognized that he did it because Moses was a poor speaker and God uses the lowly. God wanted Moses because Moses wouldn’t speak on his own accord. Moses will utilize God's strength and nothing but it, because he has no outside strength.
When God seeks laborers for Heaven, what He is looking for is someone who has no strength of their own to get in the way, because mankind’s strength is not as effective as God’s.
Real World Application
At this point, what goes on inside the heart of a worker for God is understood, but what is left open is what it looks like outside. The final question to answer before one understands working for God is: how will God utilize a genuine worker? I’m sure many people reading have tried to start Bible studies with their friends and no one showed up, or tried to run a ministry in their church only for it to get shut down by a pastor who doesn’t see the effect, or pursued many other ministries that fell on their face. This makes someone ask how God is going to use his servants.
The first part of the answer comes when it’s understood that not everyone will be saved.
There are never going to be eight billion Christians in the world all united to God. This means that just because that close friend really needs Jesus doesn’t mean God is going to call them into the faith and it doesn’t mean they are going to get saved.
The easiest way to find places where God is actively working is to look for them instead of trying to force them.
This isn’t to say that God is never going to use someone where they are, or that one shouldn’t minister to the people around them, but it does mean that if God isn’t calling the people around someone then there is still somewhere that God will use them. Instead of shortening opportunities, this actually expands them. Without this idea, if close friends and the people at church aren’t open to growth, then there is no work for someone to do. Now there are other places they can seek out. Instead of excluding the places nearby, think of it as including new and foreign lands. It’s far more common, in the Bible, to see someone being sent by God to teach strangers about Heaven. They often end up in whole new towns or whole new tribes. Moses had no relationship with Israel’s people and had been living in an entirely different country, then God called him to return.
God has somewhere he wants to use you, and to experience it, it may require stepping out of a comfort zone.
God’s workers actively seek places where God is working so that they can be a part of it.
Modern Christianity is laced with thousands of people who overestimate themselves and completely miss the point of sharing the Gospel and working for God. To effectively work for the Lord requires actively becoming less so that God can be more, and to find where God needs more workers it’s important to expand the search. God has a plan for anyone who is willing to do things with His strength.