KSB Mins Conf 2003 - I must be about My Father's business

KWASIZABANTU MINISTERS' CONFERENCE 2003

4 March 2003, 19:00
(introduced by Rev Bill Bathman)

"I must be about My Father's business" - Rev Piotr Zaremba

Luke 2:41-45
Jesus' parents didn't really know their son - they did not know his real interests. His parents discovered that they were going home without Jesus. Are you going home with religiosity or with Him?
I am a director of a ministry and know of the danger of a work centered around a man, which later becomes a ministry, then a movement, a monument and finally a monster.
We need to stay fresh and go home with Jesus in our midst. Some ministers are more concerned about preserving traditions than winning others for Christ. A Polish king went to battle with his richly arrayed horse but when he had to flee he drowned with his horse because of the unnatural clothing on his horse which weighed it down.

Do you have a sense of emptiness and somehow feel that your best days are past? Do you, like Jesus' parents, go to friends to enquire or do you go to Jerusalem to the temple - to God. He is not difficult to be found. Are you busy with the temple in "spirit and in truth"? Prayer is not just about your talking to Him but also about listening.

We are commanded to "go forth" but not anywhere and anyhow but with Him. In prayer you need to listen - nobody can listen for you. Set aside time for prayer. You're wasting your time in ministry if you lose out on prayer. We are not a self-employed army.

vs 46 & 47. Where did Jesus go when He was alone? When you are alone what do you do? When no one is watching what books, magazines and movies do you look at? What are your thoughts in your spare moments? Is the Bible your ultimate pleasure? I faced these questions one day and as I responded to God (after the Lord asked me to be honest about the desires of my heart) I said that I want to be like that man, Jesus. It was as if God opened His hand, blew upon me and said "go, fly high and be yourself". For the first time I experienced the rest and freedom that is found in Christ and in serving Him willingly and freely.

vs 48 - 50

What did Jesus mean when He said "... I must be in my Father's business ..."? It has more than one meaning in English and could sometimes mean that you are forced by a superior to do something unwillingly. It also refers to an inner need or burning desire that drives one. This is the sense in which Jesus used it. His heart was filled with love and burning desire for His Father's things. Why are you doing God's work? Is it because you fear Islam and want to resist them, or you feel compelled out of fear, as a slave fear his master, etc? Then you know nothing of God's freedom. Some even go into the ministry because they've failed in all other areas of life. No, it should be your deepest desire and joy to be about your Father's business. That should be your enjoyment, pleasure and delight.

We do not pay God any service by doing His work. It is a great privilege God has given us to be fellow labourers in His vineyard. It is the greatest privilege - above all other.

Now that you have answered these questions about your greatest desire in life, you must reach towards the goal one step at a time and day by day. Make sure that your daily walk leads you step by step towards the goal and not away from it. A book is only translated one page at a time, and so too with your life - we reach the final, big goal only by being faithful in reaching towards the goal one step at a time, day by day.