Are you useful to God?

I have little doubt that some ministers and Christians reading the title of this blog post immediately became angry (or at least readied themselves to do so). That’s because there are many out there who immediately refute that life as a follower of Jesus Christ isn’t about what we do or about being productive for the Lord.

I get that, and I agree that it isn’t “about” that. But a major biblical truth they miss is that life as a follower of Jesus Christ does include what we do for and with God, and being productive for His kingdom.

There is nothing we can to do to earn our salvation, that is a free gift provided only through a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. And being useful to God is NOT about our value to Him — He expressed our value to Him by giving His Son as a sacrifice on the cross for our sins. But once we’ve entered a covenant relationship with Him, once God “…rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son” (Col. 1:13), and once He adopted us into His own family and appointed us to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ (see. 2 Cor. 5:17-20), God does want us to be useful for His kingdom and in the church.

So I ask again, are you useful to God?

We human beings can be people who aren’t very useful. That’s how the Apostle Paul described a fellow named Onesimus at one point in that man’s life. Paul notes this in the New Testament book of Philemon, which is more like an oversized post card than a “book” — it’s a single chapter containing just 25 verses. In verse 11, Paul writes, “Onesimus hasn’t been of much use to you in the past, but now he is very useful to both of us.” The other person comprising Paul’s “us” is Philemon, the man Paul is writing to. It turns out Onesimus was a slave who ran away from his master, Philemon. But something changed about Onesimus; he used to not be very useful, but since his conversion as a Christian, Paul says he is useful to him in his ministry work and to Philemon.

Paul isn’t making a larger argument that non-Christians aren’t “useful,” but prior to entering a covenant relationship with Jesus, we tend to be more self-oriented, which can limit our usefulness to anyone or anything beyond ourselves. But the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our lives should consistently work at changing that. Being useful with what God blesses us with is something Jesus made out to be a significant issue, as described in the parable of the three servants recorded in Matthew 25:14-30. Two of the servants in this story were productive for their master with what their master had given to them, but one wasn’t, earning him the designation of (and consequences of) being a “useless servant”: “… Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” Matthew 25:30

So once again I ask, are you useful to God?

I think sometimes all of us can feel like we’re not very useful to God and the great work of His kingdom and the church — but we can be. The Apostle Peter helps us understand that we can become increasingly useful to God. Peter sets the context with this:

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires,” 2 Peter 1:3-4.

Then Peter describes a way we can become more productive as citizens of God’s kingdom:

“In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins,” 2 Peter 1:5-9.

When it comes to value, you’re priceless to God – He loves you so much He sacrificed His own Son for you! But are you useful to Him and His kingdom? You can be. And we all can be even more so than we currently are, especially if we apply the instruction Peter provided as the Holy Spirit inspired his writing.

Scotty