Called to Faithfulness

Mention Thanksgiving service at Greenwood; Operation Christmas Child packing yesterday - 11 packed - Tku Jennifer Nunn

A minister doesn’t really know where he is going, nor does he really know where he’s been. All he knows for sure is Who he really works for.

Many of you have heard my call to the ministry story before but with today’s text, it would be a good time for you to hear it again.

It might be a bit tedious to some of you.

But to somebody, maybe it will be what you need to hear.

You see, I heard so many very tidy and pat call stories when I was growing up.

“I was called to preach at an early age and I never wavered...”

And I’m sure that was true for them.

But my call wasn’t that tidy and it took time and help to get me where I needed to be.

I was saved when I was 12 and baptized when I was 14.

I loved to act on stage when I could be someone else but not so big on being just me in front of a group of people.

I knew early on that God had a plan for my life and that it was different from what “normal” people would do.

I just didn’t have a clue what that was going to look like.

It had to be when I was 16 because I could drive.

I went by the church and talked to my pastor.

I told him I thought I was called to preach.

He smiled and said that’s great.

He looked at his calendar and said, “Get a sermon ready and you can preach in two weeks.”

And that was that.

I’m not sure if it was a test or what - he never said.

I went home terrified - and the more I thought about it, the more terrified I was.

Until the next day when I drove back to the church.

I went into his office and I’m not sure if the Pastor asked me to sit or not.

But I didn’t - I just stood there.

And I said, “I guess I wasn’t as called as I thought I was.”

There wasn’t much conversation and I left.

That put in place the pinball that was my life for the next 9 years.

I graduated.

Went to Shorter College for a semester.

Went to Georgia Tech for two semesters.

Went to Kennesaw College off and on for 6 or 7 years.

Until one day I met Renee’ and she introduced me to her Pastor, Dr. Neal Wall.

I went to talk to Dr. Wall, told him that I thought I was called to the ministry, but I had no idea what that would look like.

He told me I didn’t have to know.

He said, “A call to ministry is a call to prepare.”

He helped me get enrolled in Mercer and a year later, I was preaching at Ohoopee Baptist Church in Tennille, Georgia.

That’s how I was called.

It was a rough and bumpy road.

But I ended up right where the Lord wanted me.

I received lots of feedback since then.

Some of it good was good and fed my ego.

Some of it was harsh and it ate at my heart.

But the one thing I know for a fact, whether anyone was nice and kind to me, or harsh and ugly to me

In the grand scheme of things, I’ve grown to learn that none of that really matters.

Oh yeah, the attaboys still feel good and the you’re a bum still hurts, but in the long run, it doesn’t matter.

As you’re about to hear Paul say, it doesn’t really matter what I or anything thinks.

The measure of my success as a minister isn’t in what someone says about me.

It’s whether the Lord finds me trustworthy or not.

Our scripture today is 1 Corinthians 4:1-5.

Go ahead and look that up while I catch you up.

The church at Corinth had split up into factions.

They all had their favorite preacher that they followed.

And it appears they might have dogged the preachers out that they didn’t like.

And some of them didn’t like Paul.

And it wasn’t like he pretended to be all that - he didn’t.

He was very frank that he wasn’t the best speaker in town.

He didn’t make the best arguments and he didn’t have flash and panache.

He was just a man with a message.

And these folks thought their opinion of him meant something.

In case you haven’t caught on yet, we’re going to talk about ministers today.

Hear now the Word of the Lord 1 Corinthians 4:1-5

1 Corinthians 4:1–5 ESV

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

So we opened with the sentence, A minister doesn’t really know where he is going, nor does he really know where he’s been.

I believe that and I really think that’s the way it supposed to be and here’s why.

In verse 1 -see the word servant.

That word is derived from a word that means “Under-Rower”

Rower - like one who rows a boat.

And this is an under rower - he’s the one who rows underneath everyone else.

I don’t know how well you can see this picture, but if you look real close you can see that there are three levels of rowers.

There is a top group of rowers.

There is a middle group of rowers.

And there is a bottom group, or under group of rowers.

If you look real close you can see that the bottom group only has their oars sticking out of a single, small hole.

They can’t see where they are going.

They can’t see where they’ve been.

They can only go where their master directs the ship to go.

Ministers are under rowers for Christ.

Where he wants us to go - we go - and most times we don’t have a clue where he’s going to take us.

It was just not quite 12 months ago that we interviewed Matthew, Skye, Liam, Blayke and Sawyer.

16 months ago they had no idea Gray, Georgia was ever going to be a thing in their life - but they know now.

Hannah’s first day was on March 28th of 2021 - not quite 2 years ago yet.

6 months before that date, she had no idea that there was a Gray, Georgia - but she knows now.

Austin’s first day was January 19th of 2020.

In July of 2019, he was looking forward to getting married in December at the First Baptist Church of Gray, Georgia.

Little did he know at the time that he was getting married in the place that was going to be his job.

And, little did he know that less than 3 months after he started, Covid was going to teach him that everything he knew didn’t matter any more.

The rules had just changed.

Not a one of us just a little while before we were called, had a clue what was about to happen.

We had no clue where we were going.

But we weren’t called to know - we were called to row.

And we were called to be “Stewards of the mysteries of God.”

A steward is someone who handles the business of their master.

We don’t own the business.

We have no right to add to the business.

We have no right to take anything way from the business.

We don’t have a right to tell the master how to run his business.

Our job is to simply handle the “mysteries of God.”

And, and, and, we know what those mysteries are.

Prior to Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection, it was a mystery how God was going to save people.

But after Jesus, it’s not a mystery anymore.

The Father had chosen.

He had planned before the creation of time to allow His people to live free.

They could choose to follow His ways or not, it was their choice.

And He knew what the choice would be.

So in order to reveal how great His love was for us, He sent Jesus.

Rebels deserve death, but the Lord wanted us to have life.

He allowed Jesus to take our penalty.

He made us right in His sight.

He gave us life and in ways we still don’t comprehend.

And when Jesus rose from the dead, we rose with Him.

This is the mystery.

This is the foundation of all we do and all we believe.

And as ministers, we have to be faithful stewards of that message.

Now, to be a good minister, what skill is the most critical skill for a minister to have?

Is it eloquence?

Let’s hope not.

Is it wisdom - is it the ability to craft great arguments and shut down all of our opponents?

Nope.

Is it the ability to draw a crowd?

Or the ability to organize people?

Or the ability to pray, or visit the sick or teach children?

The most critical skill is in 1 Corinthians 4:2 “Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.”

Faithful has a synonym that explains things a little better to me.

“Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”

Will I handle my master’s business the way my master wants it handled?

Every minister has to understand, it’s not our business - we have to run it the way the master wants it run.

My desire is for what the master desires.

I desire the best for my master.

As a minister, I want what’s best for those who are doing business with my master.

What does it look like to be trustworthy?

A reformer by the name of Tilemann Hesshus said that all ministers had four common characteristics.

First, they hold tightly to the doctrine of the church.

You can hear that in what Paul says.

“We preach Christ crucified,” he said in chapter 1.

There is nothing to add to that or take away from it.

It is the basis of everything we think and everything we do,

Second, a faithful minister labors diligently in good faith and conscience.

Like Paul says in verse 4, “I am not aware of anything against myself...”

He’s not being arrogant.

He’s saying I’m doing the best I can for the Master all of the time.

Third, and this is the one what is becoming more necessary now than ever before,

A trustworthy steward is marked by constancy.

A big word that means we will not be led astray by money, dangers or diversities.

First Baptist pays it’s staff well but let me say this about that.

Every minister on this staff could earn more in the private sector.

I’ve done it - I know it for a fact.

We don’t do this for the money.

Any minister who does it for the money is not a trustworthy steward.

And I pray, as our country becomes more and more hostile to the faith, I pray each of us will remain constant.

No matter what anyone say to us or does to us, that we will not waver from the faith.

We will stand firm on the gospel.

And fourth, a trustworthy steward is known by their piety.

We know that everything we do is for the glory of the eternal God and for the salvation of His church.

It isn’t about us - it is about the Master.

It is always about the Master, because

I serve an audience of One.

I was so naive when I entered the ministry.

I thought every body in every church I would ever serve would be nice and kind and

If you showed them in the scripture where we were supposed to do something, then by golly, we’d do it.

But then I found out the truth.

There’s not a whole lot of difference between some folks outside the church and some folks inside the church.

Mean can be found anywhere.

Cruel can be found anywhere.

Judgmental can be found anywhere.

That’s why Paul says, 1 Corinthians 4:3 “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.”

It’s a small thing.

It’s insignificant.

It’s trivial.

That’s a hard lesson for a minister to learn.

Ministry is very personal.

You really put your heart out there in more ways that you can imagine.

And we care more about people that you can imagine.

We hurt when you hurt.

And then while we hurt for you, somebody criticizes us.

Or someone you gave your heart and hours of your life to, decides to leave the church for whatever reason.

And it hurts.

Because it’s your job and you did your best.

But someone judged you not good enough.

That’s what’s happened to Paul.

He started the church in Corinth and then the very people he led to Christ essentially told him he wasn’t so good at it.

You do see the disconnect right?

It was good enough to get you saved - but it wasn’t good enough for what?

What more did you need than to be brought from death to life?

But instead of saying, “how dare you?” Paul says something else.

In essence he says, it’s not so much that you say I do a poor job, it’s that you put yourself in a place to judge me in the first place.

And that’s not your place.

In fact, it’s not even my place to judge myself.

There is only one who really knows whether I’m a trustworthy steward or not, and it is the Lord.

Ultimately, a minister serves an audience of one.

We don’t really know the good we’ve done.

I can’t tell you have many times someone has told me that I did something

Or I said something that meant the world to them.

And most of the time, I don’t remember.

I was just busy doing what I thought I was supposed to do.

I had no clue what the Lord was doing.

But one day, we’ll know.

Jesus is coming.

He will make it very clear what His plan was.

And whether we did it or not.

Listen to what Paul says 1 Corinthians 4:5 “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”

I want you to remember something we’ve studied.

In Revelation, we heard this about the New Jerusalem: Revelation 21:22-23

Revelation 21:22–23 ESV

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

When the glory of God shows up, His glory will bathe everything in light.

There will be no darkness.

Nothing can or will be hidden.

All things - every thought and deed - will be revealed.

For the trustworthy steward, the Lord will give commendation.

That’s a big word for praise.

A trustworthy steward will get praise from the Lord.

And the untrustworthy steward - we studied this the other week didn’t we?

If you build with wood, hay and straw, your work will be burned up in the Lord’s judgment.

You’ll still be saved.

You’ll still enter heaven.

But you’ll be missing something.

You see, for the minister, his reward won’t be determined by his success or his popularity.

Jesus will simply ask, “was my steward faithful?”

A minister doesn’t really know where he is going, nor does he really know where he’s been. All he knows for sure is Who he really works for.

Let us pray:

One of the things we do to remain faithful stewards is the Lord’s Supper.

Jesus said to do this to remember him and what better time to do it?

While we are being thankful this week for all the Lord has given us, why not be thankful for the Lord Himself.

a. Remember, Jesus took an ordinary, everyday thing, eating and drinking, and he turned it into something special.

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 11:

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

a. Did you hear the mystery of God revealed, right?

i. How does God save us?

1. Through the death, burial and resurrection Jesus.

a. And you heard the promise, right?

i. 1 Cor 11:26 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

1. Until he comes.”

a. Christ follower, you will see Jesus return.

i. Nothing can stop it.

1. Nothing can interfere with it.

a. You will see Jesus return.

Let us pray over the table:

a. Holy Father,

i. Thank you for your salvation.

1. Thank you for your sustenance.

a. Thank you for your deliverance.

i. Thank you for your forgiveness.

1. Thank you for your power and might.

a. Thank you for your glory.

ii. Thank you that we will see Jesus face to face.

1. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

a. Amen.

15. If you are a baptized born again believer in Jesus, you are welcome to share this table with us.

We ask that everyone exit your pew to the left.

Come to the Pastor or Deacon in front of your section and when you are served, you can eat the wafer right that moment.

You don’t need to take it back to your seat.

Also, if you are gluten intolerant, let us know.

After you receive the body and blood of Christ, please return to your seat for an invitation and song.