We call Christ our Lord and Savior. The Greek word for Lord is kurios. It signifies someone who exercises power and authority over other people. English translators have chosen the words “Lord, master, and owner” to explain the meaning. Christ is our Master. He Owns us. He bought us with the price of His “blood-death” on the Cross. We belong to Him. His Will is to be our will. His Desire, our desire.
This is where a “workplace ministry” begins. We must understand our spiritual position in Christ and the Power living in each of us. Success in serving the needs of others (ministering) begins with our own spiritual health.
Spiritual health is a matter of considerable growth that begins with the way we think and believe.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded isdeath, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:1-6
Do you see the key? “…those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires … the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” Spiritual health that leads to a healthy ministry begins in our “minds.”
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2
Growth as a Christian includes do’s and don’ts. Paul says one of the don’ts is don’t be conformed to this world. The Greek word for “do not be conformed” is suschematizo and means “to fashion alike, to fashion or shape one thing like another, conform to the same pattern outwardly” and deals with that which is unstable, changeable, transitory on the outside. What doesn’t God want us to conform to? “this world” – aioni – which means “age, era, period of time.” It is used in the New Testament for spiritual or moral characteristics. Paul wrote the believers in Rome that God did not want them fashioning their lives to look like the outward pattern and appearance of the present age. As with most of Paul’s directives, a don’t is replaced by a do.
Paul wrote that one of the “do’s” of Christianity is transformation by renewal. “Transformed” is metamorphousthe. It means “to change into another form.” “Transfigured” is another way of translating the word. It means to change the outward expression to an expression which is representative of the inner being. That’s what happened when Christ was “transfigured” in full view of His disciples. Paul is calling on believers to stop “conforming” (suschematizo) to the world’s pattern outwardly – what they followed inwardly before salvation – and start “transforming” to what is new inside them. Christians do that by the “renewing” of their minds. “Renewing” is anakainosei. It means to “make new and different.” It is a changing for the better. It is an improvement of the mind (nous — the seat of reflective consciousness, the faculties of perception and understanding).
Christians are always in a state of “renewing” their minds. That’s one of the joys of being a Christian. We don’t ever have to become stale or cemented in our thinking. Salvation is the beginning of a new way of thinking; a way that grows in the knowledge of Christ forever. It is our new way of “testing and approving” what God’s Will is for our lives. That is vital as we show His Grace in the workplace.
In the next part of our study we will look at the importance of our attitude in the workplace.
In Christ’s Love and Grace,
Mark McGee
GraceLife Ministries
“Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
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