The Marks of Effective Personal Ministry

Introduction

I wrestled with this text this week. It is such a good text and so many things you could talk about from this text. In one way these verses could serve as a parallel for my message on Lamenting the death of a Saint. There we saw the death of Stephen, a godly man; here we see the death of Tabitha, a godly woman. If I were to ask myself, why did Luke place these stories here; I would have to say that Luke was intending to show the gospel going out to the more Hellenistic regions of Israel and I could preach on that. These verses really fall into what is often called the Petrine section of the book. The trace the life and ministry of the Apostle Peter. Once we get to chapter 13, things are going to shift over to the Apostle Paul.

Peter’s ministry was busy- Peter was an interesting character and was used by God greatly in ministry. He was often times the leader of the band of disciples whether for good or bad. He was also a very active person. You remember when Jesus told them to wait for him to come to them after the resurrection and Peter starts getting ancy so he suggests they all go fishing. Peter needed to stay busy and throughout the book of Acts, we see him travelling a lot. Oftentimes it is those who are busy that are easiest for God to direct. Think of all the cars out on the street today. It is easier to turn a moving car than a parked car. Sitting on the sidelines is not going to get you anywhere. Get up and do something and then ask god to direct you. Gen 24:27 “And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”

Peter’s ministry was often times very public as well. Most of the time we see Peter, he is preaching to crowds like in Acts 2. He preaches in the temple before they are arrested in Acts 4. He is swarmed by crowds wanting to be healed hoping that merely the shadow of Peter would heal them. But in these two accounts, we see another side to Peter’s ministry. Peter also had a very personal ministry. There are a lot of pastors especially in big churches whose ministry is limited to merely preaching the word of God on Sundays and teaching on Wednesdays. They have no personal connection with their people. The average person in the church has never had a single conversation with them. I visited a church one time on visitation and the pastor was so busy with all his other public activities, that he never even spoke a word to us the visiting missionaries. Everything was handled by some other staff member. It is important for a pastor to have not just a pubic ministry but a personal ministry. I think of the example of the 99 sheep and the shepherd who goes after the one who has wandered away. That is personal ministry. In Jeremiah, God condemned the pastors or leaders in Judah because they did not go after the sheep.

Pastors aren’t the only ones called to minister though. Eph 4:11-12 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” Pastors are intended to be more like coaches in a football team who help develop, guide and lead the team. Each Christian is supposed to be involved in ministering to others in whatever way God has gifted you. 1 Peter 4:10 “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” God has called each and every one of us to serve in some capacity our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Today we are going to take a look at The Marks of Effective Personal Ministry.

I. You have to get involved in people’s lives one on one vs 33,36

A. Public ministry is not enough- I can get up an give a lecture or preach a sermon and it can have an influence on people’s lives but only in a sort of general way. Sermons and lectures are meant to be given to a broad audience to meet broader needs. But your needs are specific. The word of God speaks to all issues we might face in one way or another, but sometimes we need others to help us make personal application of that word to our specific situation. This is why the preacher must not limit himself to just a public preaching ministry.

I was first struck with this truth while reading Richard Baxters The Reformed Pastor which by the way has nothing to do with reformed theology. Baxter’s book is about pastoring the flock of God and in his day, the Puritans had fought hard just to get the right to preach the word of God. But in the meantime a necessary element of ministry had fallen out of practice. Baxter came to the conclusion that the practice of visiting individuals and families teaching them one on one and visiting in their homes had become so neglected that is was no longer considered to be a problem. Sounds a lot like today.

B. You can’t avoid people and expect to have an effective ministry- Some people hide behind public ministry while others just outright hide from ministry. As we have seen in the verses above, God has called all of us to a personal ministry with other people. Now how that is accomplished and in what ways we serve others is highly individualized. God has a specific spiritual gift that you have been given. Seek to use that gift. You must not hide from using your spiritual gifts and avoiding people. I know that not all of us are people people or effective speakers, but you can’t shut everyone out and still expect to be an effective minister.

C. Ministry is all about people- People matter. Playing music is great in church but it must connect in someway ministering to people. Working in the nursery should connect in someway to people. By taking care of those little one’s you make it easier for the parents to be ministered to by the word. Cleaning the building can and should be done as a form of ministry. I am grateful for the work of Regina because she keeps this place so clean. When visitors walk in these doors, they don’t think this place is a mess and walk right back out. This all goes back to the motivation behind what we do here at the church. It only becomes ministry when it becomes about God and other people.

At some level we need to get down to one on one relationships with people. Peter stopped from his busy public ministry and was willing to minister one on one with Aeneas and Tabitha.

II. You have to find your strength in Christ vs 34

The work that Peter did in ministering to both of these two people was miraculous. It was impossible. Aeneas had been paralyzed for the last eight years and Tabitha was now dead. There was nothing in Peter that could have made this happen. Peter doesn’t even claim that he was the one healing Aeneas. Rather, he says Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.

We do not have it in ourselves to create real change in people’s lives. Only God has that power. Its not about you. We must find a way to set aside concerns about getting the credit or even receiving gratitude from people. Would it be nice every now and then to hear, yes, but the heart that demands it is stuck on itself. If it bugs you or bothers you that people don’t appreciate you ministry it might just be that you are doing it for the wrong reasons. Personal Ministry is not about you.

If we are going to have an effective personal ministry, we must not draw on our own strength but on Christ’s. When it is all about us, we will work ourselves to death trying to make something work. I think there are a lot of churches who have been successful at building ministries in the flesh. Btu we have to make a distinction between numbers and changed lives. If numbers were the standard of success, Churches in Oklahoma would be pretty successful. But if so many people are truly saved and truly walking with the Lord and loving Jesus, why do we not see a great revival here in Oklahoma. Only Jesus can truly change the heart of people.

A. The strength that we need is a gift from God. 2 Tim 2:1 “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” It is not something you can work up in yourself. It is not something you can earn. If only I just stay faithful to God, He will have to give me the strength. You can’t create this strength by time management, watching you health or micromanaging things. I am not saying don’t manange your time or take care of your self, but this isn’t that type of battle. You can do all of that and still not have the strength you need. Eph 6:10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” We need God’s strength.

B. We need God’s strength because our battle is not a physical battle, but a spiritual one. Eph 6:11-12 “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” There are forces at work in this world stronger than us. The devil will seek to destroy you as often as he can, but greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. If you think you can do it on your own, its because you don’t realize how big this task actually is and who your enemy is.

C. We need strength to serve others 1 Tim 1:12-13 “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”

D. We need strength to speak 2 Tim 4:17 “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” I am not an eloquent speaker. In fact I am an awkward speaker. Maybe you struggle with talking to anyone but your family. God can give you that strength.

E. We need God’s strength for all the hard times we are going to face while we serve God. Phil 4:11-13 “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

II. You have to make yourself available vs36-39

There are two things that really jump off the page when I read these verses. The first is that these people must have really believed that God could raise Tabitha from the dead through Peter. Notice that she was already dead before they sent men to go get Peter. This wasn’t so he could come and perform a funeral, but so he could come and raise her from the dead. Another thing that shows us the faith of these believers is the fact that they placed her in the upper room. This was not the standard protocol for dealing with dead people. You don’t just wash them up and then put them back in their beds. These men really believed God could do something.

But the second thing that amazes me about this passage is that Peter drops everything and comes immediately. Peter was a busy guy. I think of everything that we all do through out the week. You guys work all day, come home take care of things around the house, if you have kids spend time with the kids, cook and eat dinner and then wash rinse repeat. Pastors have a lot going on in their lives as well whether its preparing sermons, planning activities, outreach and evangelism, praying for the people, visiting with visitors, private counseling and putting out administrative fires. Peter was a busy man but he dropped everything to meet the needs of one individual. If you are going to have an effective personal ministry, you must make yourself available to people. Doing so is going to cost you.

a. sacrifice- Peter was willing to walk the 10-12 miles between Lydda and Joppa. Now these two towns weren’t that far away, but when was the last time you tried walking 12 miles. It cost him effort. It cost him time.

b. change of plans- If you are going to be able to make yourself available to people, you must be willing to change your plans. Peter got up at a moments notice and once Peter got to Joppa, Peter stayed in Joppa. Acts 9:43 “And it came to pass, that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner.” The word tarried means that Peter set up residence here in Joppa. And he stayed there many days. This was probably not the original plan. If you are going to make yourself available you have to be a little flexible. I signed up to audit a pastoral administration class by Cary Schmidt at Veritas Baptist College. I believe this is the same class David just recently took. But in that class he recommended scheduling in buffer times into your schedule so you can adjust to things that pop up. If you are going to effectively minister to people, you can’t worship your schedule and time over people.

Peter was willing to drop everything to meet the needs of a dearly beloved Saint.

IV. You must pray vs 40

This ties in with the point that you must not serve in your own strength. If we are going to avail ourselves of God we need to be men and women of prayer. how often do we wish things would be different but we never take it to the Lord in prayer. How many of us have truly labored in prayer over a specific need? Intercession is praying for the needs of others or praying on their behalf. Have we really wrestled with God over these needs for other people? One of the greatest things a pastor can do is pray for his people. One of the greatest things you can do for me is pray for me.

Notice Peter didn’t give in to overwhelming grief but he took his needs to the Lord in prayer. Peter was faced with an impossible situation. But God is the God of the impossible withhim nothing is impossible. So often we are too afraid to ever dare asking for the impossible, but James concludes James 4:2-3 “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

If we are going to be effective in our personal ministry, we must be men of prayer. According to a poll done by Crossway, the average pastor spends about 30 minutes a day in prayer while the bulk of lay people spend about 10 minutes in prayer a day. Prayer needs to become a higher priority in our lives than we currently make it.

V. You must serve people vs36-39

This goes back to my previous point that if you are going to be effective in personal ministry you have to serve people. This point is though is slightly different. If you are going to be effective in personal ministry you need to serve people. This is all over the text and I have put such a focus on Peter, but I didn’t want us to miss the other character in the story: Tabitha.

Tabitha was known for doing good works and almsdeeds. What that means is that she actively did good for other people. She was looking for opportunities to serve other people and help them with things. We often times define good works as not doing bad things, but that is not what it is about. Good works are good things you do for people. Eph 2:8-10 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” We should be looking for opportunities to be serving other people.

Not only did she do good works, but she did almsdeeds. She took care of the poor and needy. James 1:27 “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” We see an example of that in Acts 9:39 “Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.” The implication of this verse is that these widows were wearing the clothes that Tabitha had made for them. They were momentos of someone very dear to their heart because Tabitha had a heart for the needy. She gave financially to meet their needs.

Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

During the 1800’s and early 1900’s, a group of women got together and formed what were called Dorcus societies. The goal of these ministries was to provide clothing and other physical needs for the poor. They would get together, purchase out of their own pocket materials and sew clothes that could be given away to those who needed it. These ministries spread all over the world and helped a lot of missions works at the time.

Tabitha gives us a great example of a believer who sought to minister to others.

Conclusion

It is so easy to slip into thinking of ministry or church as another task to perform. We forget that it is all about God and serving other people. If we are going to be effective, blessed in our ministry we need to realign our values according to the principles that we see in this text.