The Care Ministries of the Church

Introduction:

My first semester of college at the University of Georgia was a time where I was trying to figure out life on my own and how to fit into this new world I found myself in. I was trying to find a job and also trying to get involved in a church.

I didn’t know that it would not take long before I would have both and would actually be serving back home at a church as a youth pastor, but to get me started, I went on Tuesday nights to the Baptist Student Union meeting.

I had a few friends that were in the leadership there and I was looking for some way to get involved. God had already called me into the ministry and so one night at a meeting, one of my friends on the leadership team approached me about helping him out with a prison ministry that he was involved in.

How many of you here tonight have ever been involved in a prison ministry? Well, it is interesting to say the least. You have to go to a training session where you are told what you can and cannot do and you learn of all the ways that the prisoners might try to con you and get you to slip out a letter or get you to give them some money. We were told that they would often try to go to a counseling session with you to pull off one of these tricks.

Well, the first day I show up for the training session, I pull my car up to the gate and I am buzzed in. My car then is behind a chain link fence with razor wire. The orientation session was cut and dry but then the next time I came, I was with my leader friend.

We are buzzed through the gate and go through the metal detector. We empty our pockets of everything and we go back to see a prisoner. Then I was shocked by what happened next.

We were taken into a small room with glass windows and the prisoner was brought in. I had never experienced anything like this before. My friend was a pretty big dude, but I was not expecting to have the guard lock us in there together and go stand outside! I was wanting to know why he wasn’t in the room with us!

Prison ministry is tough. It requires a level of skill that can only be acquired by doing it and a level of sacrifice that challenges us to get out of our comfort zone.

But, prisoners need the gospel! They need the care ministries of the church if they are going to turn their lives around. They need to know Jesus just like any “free man” on the outside does.

There are a lot of care ministries that the church should be engaged in and we are going to look at some of them tonight as we look at what Paul had to say about them. He was actually even a beneficiary of the care ministries of the church and blasted some people who had neglected them.

Let’s jump in tonight and see what he had to say.

2 Timothy 1:15–18 ESV

15 You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me— 18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.

1. Don't neglect the care ministries of the Church (v.15)

2 Timothy 1:15 ESV

15 You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

Asia was the Roman province of Western Turkey where Ephesus, the city that Timothy was pastoring, was located.

For thousands of years, it was the church that specialized in care ministries.

These ministries include prison ministry, nursing home/assisted living ministries, homeless ministries, drug rehab ministries, etc.

Basically think of any group that cannot get out of their home or living quarters for either imprisonment or health reasons

For centuries there were no insane asylums or assisted living homes. People didn’t have orphanages or places to take care of children. Even hospitals were often started by churches. The church came alongside of people to help physical needs and in the process it led to them helping them with their spiritual needs.

Think about people like George Mueller. You may not be familiar with him, but you should get to know him. He was an amazing man of faith in England that had thought he would go and be a missionary overseas until he was stopped one day by a little child begging for food because their parents had died.

In England during the 1800’s to early 1900’s there was the Industrial Revolution going on. People didn’t know as much as they do now about medicine and diseases and a lot of parents died from the living conditions leaving behind the children as orphans who often had to live out in the streets.

Mueller is approached by one of these children and realizes the mission field that lay right there in front of him with these kids.

He would later be one of the most influential Christians of all time for the impact he had on these orphans and on Christianity, teaching us how to have faith in the Lord. It was all because he engaged in the care ministries of the church.

People are often afraid of these specialize ministries

A lot of groups that get involved in these ministries are not theologically sound, but no one else will engage in these ministries

We have selfish reasons why we won’t get involved

Takes too much time

We consider people unclean

We are afraid

2. Show God's mercy through the care ministries of the Church (v. 16-17)

2 Timothy 1:16–17 ESV

16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me—

Paul exemplifies Onesiphorus and his family for their help. His family was back in Ephesus where Timothy was and they allowed Him to go to Rome to search out Paul.

This was a sacrifice for the family because there was no guarantee that he would come back. He could have been arrested or attacked for associating with Paul. That’s why these other men left Paul.

Paul was desperately in need of the care ministry of the church. Without it, he would have been left alone in that Roman jail.

Think about the people, whether in jail for the Lord or for a crime that are stuck there.

they are alone

they are in need of answers

they need the gospel

Paul knew the gospel and had his hope set on the Lord, but he still need to have that connection to other believers. He was still human!

You have probably heard people say that you can’t speak to a person’s heart until you’ve first met their need. That’s very true!

The greatest need that people in these places need, and I don’t want you to just think about jail, is the gospel.

Prisoners need to hear about Jesus.

Nursing home patients need to know Jesus loves them.

Shut-ins need to know they are still a part of the body of Christ.

All of them need Jesus.

Jesus told us that when we help through these ministries, we are really serving Him.

Matthew 25:36–40 ESV

36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Practical ways you can help:

First, get involved! You don’t know how you can help until you reach out

People often grow and learn better ways to help as they reach out and learn through experience

Onesiphorus searched out for Paul

3. Receive a blessing through the Care Ministries of the Church (vv. 18).

2 Timothy 1:18 ESV

18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.

Paul prays a blessing over the household of Onesiphorus because of what they had done. He prays not for temporal blessings, but eternal ones.

We live our lives in pursuit of the here and now. We want all of the blessings in this life that are going to pass away. Paul didn’t pray for those things. He prayed for the eternal blessings.

A few things that we should observe about the blessings we get from serving.

After people serve they almost always say it was a greater blessing to them than they felt they were to the person they ministered to

We grow in our faith and understanding of how God has reached out to us when we serve

We earn eternal rewards

Conclusion: