Serving Sunday 2023

Introduction

Today we take a break from Psalm 23, to consider our ETHOS as servants of Christ. An ETHOS is a value that a community holds, that guides its members in their aspirations. An ethos is what keeps you moving down the right path, without driving into the ditch of being overly cautious or overly passionate.

I can think of no clearer ethos statement than that of a mother of a young Spartan soldier, whom she was sending off to war. She handed him his shield, and then she said,

“Come back with this or on it.”

That was a statement that captured the ETHOS of a Spartan soldier. Above all else, he was to fight with sacrificial honor.

In the same way we, the people of God, have been given clear and poignant ethos statements, by our Commander, for how WE are to conduct ourselves as HIS soldiers.

For we are at war, as we will see. Thus the local church is both a platoon barracks and a field hospital. It’s where we recharge to go back out again, into the fight, and it’s where we come back to, to heal from our wounds, from the fight.

So today I want us to think about our own ETHOS, as those who serve Christ, in his platoon barracks and field hospital. I want to describe our service to Him with TEN ethos statements. But before get to that, I need to first make clear some assumptions about what His church is.

1. Assumptions

There are three basic assumptions that I’m making, that undergird these ten ETHOS statements.

The first assumption is about

GLORY

What is our primary goal here but to bring God glory? God deserves all glory. This is undoubtedly not controversial to you. But what is less clear is HOW we bring Him glory.

God gets glory first simply by saving a person. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:4-6

Ephesians 1:4–6 ESV

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

that God chose us before the foundation of the world, to lavish us with His grace, “to the praise of His glorious grace.” And then he sealed us to Himself with His Holy Spirit. God does all for us in salvation - that’s why it’s called grace. It’s a gift. And that’s why, 1:14

Ephesians 1:14 ESV

who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

, all it goes to the praise of HIS glory.

But for each of us who are in Christ, when God chooses us for salvation, he does more than that - He also chooses for us, before the foundation of the world, good works for us to walk in as well, that bring Him glory (2:10)

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

.

So what are those good works? Here is where things get interesting. For Paul is not changing the subject, when he summarizes his ENTIRE ministry with this statement, in 2 Cor. 1:24

2 Corinthians 1:24 ESV

Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.

2 Corinthians 1:24 (ESV): Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.

What is the fundamental way that we glorify God? We do so BY enjoying Him. Jonathan Edwards was the really the first English-speaking theologian to draw this out, but so has John Piper in our day. The chief way we glorify God is by enjoying Him. Our JOY in Him shines a bright light on all that is enjoyable about Him, and thus brings Him glory.

Therefore, whatever way you serve him, in whatever capacity, the fundamental goal of your good works is to bring yourself and others to ENJOY God more. The fundamental goal of your ministry is to work alongside others for THEIR joy in God, caused by firm faith in Christ Jesus.

Secondly, I’m assuming how the Bible describes the church: that we are a

BODY

We are the BODY of Christ - the physical manifestation of Jesus himself, on earth. Thus an organizational chart does not describe us. We are a body. Of course there is hierarchy in the body. On the one hand, the eye or the brain are more important than your pinky fingernail. And yet if the pinky fingernail were to be pulled out, the whole body would reel in pain.

Paul uses this body metaphor extensively in 1 Cor. 12. On the one hand, we are ONE body. Whatever we accomplish for God’s glory, we do it as an “us.” Many parts, but ONE body (1 Cor. 12:20

1 Corinthians 12:20 ESV

As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

So this means two things. First, these parts of the body are very diverse, and each one is its own thing. The stomach is a stomach, and the heart is a heart. Each part is its own thing.

And yet, each part needs all the other parts. In fact, God has so constructed the church that the parts of the body that SEEM to be weaker are in fact indispensable (1 Cor. 12:22

1 Corinthians 12:22 ESV

On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

. The weaker and lesser the part, the greater the honor (23

1 Corinthians 12:23 ESV

and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,

). In this way, though each part is its own thing, there’s no division. The church is meant to work together with a smoothness that should remind an onlooker of the human body.

In fact, it’s my opinion that when God invented the human body, He first had in His mind, as a template, US - the body of Christ. And then he made the human body as a living parable.

And thirdly, we serve the

MISSION

The Great Commission, that is.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

(ESV)

We ARE in a war. It did not start with American culture wars. It goes back much further than that, to the Garden. Sides were divided when Cain killed his brother and his descendants tried to build their own way to heaven by building a tower, the Tower of Babel, later to be known as Babylon, which by the end of the Bible, signifies all the unbelieving world.

But we are those who are of faith. Thus while the world fights with not rules, by killing and debauchery, we fight with the tools we’re given: bread and wine and water. We proclaim to the nations a body broken and blood spilled, for the forgiveness of sins, and we command baptism - that they kneel in subjection before their King.

Therefore everything we do must contribute to this mission. Thus everyone must be able to fire the weapons we’ve been given. We ARE at war.

2. Our Ethos of Serving

So then, what should be our guiding values, as we labor in the Lord’s army?

Five Statements of OUR Ethos. I’m not the first one to use these, but I’m customizing each one to our own situation, here at Grace Church.

The first is this:

1. Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

What is the main thing? It’s

The glory of God, through the enjoyment of Him by His people, through the proclamation of His gospel and our obedience to it, by faith.

Now, we must also realize that our OBJECTIVE is also our source of ENERGY. All true ministry is energized by SPIRITUAL VITALITY, and therefore by ENJOYMENT of God - not by manipulation or tactics or good marketing.

So we keep the main thing the main thing, not only that we would DO the right things, but also that we would have the POWER to do them in the first place.

So then, it is always good to remind ourselves that whatever we are doing contributes to this GRAND objective of our LORD. This gives EVERYTHING that we do here NOBILITY and BEAUTY. Everything - not just the more honored up-front parts, but what happens on Saturday morning, too. If you are a ministry leader, you don’t want to be surrounded by yes-people, but people who thoughtfully ask this question. We need to be clear about our OBJECTIVES. They may seem obvious, but when we begin to tie them back to our GREAT OBJECTIVES, they may not be so obvious after all. Keep the main thing the main thing.

2. Target Efforts Toward Decisive Places.

Now, just because the glory of God gives everything we do nobility, that does not mean that we should AIM our efforts everywhere. The LORD in His wisdom has granted us a finite set of resources, or talents. And He expects us to apply those talents in order to make a MAXIMAL return with them. The military version of this is the word “Concentration.” It means you don’t spread your forces across the entire line of the enemy. You choose your strongest forces, and apply them to the enemy’s WEAKEST point, for maximum impact. THAT’s called the decisive point - where you match up what you are BEST at, aimed at the point that will gain the most ground, at your enemy’s expense.

So there are two questions to ask here. What are we gifted at? I think we are an incredibly welcoming bunch. We are also a hard-working bunch. And lastly, we desire to be a biblical bunch - to come into alignment with God’s Word.

But then, what weaknesses in our enemy’s hold on this world would those strengths most keenly attack? That’s the question for YOUR ministry. One answer I would give is the pervasive loneliness and coldness of this age. Our world is longing thirstily for family and fatherhood, under the devil’s cold fatherhood.

They long for what WE have here, if only we are willing to open it up TO them.

Then there are schools. You heard of what Pleasant Grove High School did recently. And we are close to colleges. What are the DECISIVE points, that we should apply our efforts. Answer that, and your path is much clearer.

Regardless: targeting our efforts toward the decisive places enables us to say that magical word, NO, and then avoid mission creep - where we accumulate extraneous activities TO the mission that DON’T contribute to the mission. We should be just as proud of the things we’ve said NO to in the LORD, as the things we say YES to. Remember: any well-trained monkey can say yes to everything. But the LORD requires of us that we employ His resources to the most decisive points.

3. We’re a Team of Teams

Throughout the New Testament, we see the TEAM model. Especially with Paul. Basically the whole last chapter of Romans is him saying HI to people, because he was always teaming up with others. That’s because we NEED each other. Visionaries need managers, and managers need visionaries.

Now, a few lessons from Paul’s leadership of teams.

A. Commitment & Sunsets.

First, Paul valued commitment and also sunsets. Commitment is why Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement (Acts 15:39) - Paul didn’t think Mark had the commitment necessary, but Barnabas was Mark’s cheerleader. By sunsets I mean that people came and went from Paul’s teams, usually because they were needed somewhere else. Titus, for this reason I left you in Crete (Titus 1:5).

Our own application of Commitment & Sunsets is this: if you join a team, don’t be a flake - commit. But, if you join a team, you’ve not gotten locked into something that you can never leave. Every year, everyone is given a “sunset”, where anyone can step back from that role, no questions asked. In general, you let us know that in May, and then we spend the summer finding a replacement for you.

Now, your ask, but if we don’t manipulate and cajole people, then I won’t have enough for my ministry! I believe Paul would say, it’s better to have no one in a role than to have the wrong person - the wrong person often being a resentful person, resentful that no one else is helping them do what they do.

Because the Lord loves a CHEERFUL giver (2 Cor. 9:7

2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

), and He’s still in the business of providing cheerful givers. Maybe, for that empty role, He’s just waiting for the resentful giver to get out of the way.

This is why we don’t want to operate out of DESPERATION. Martha was desperate for help and resentful she wasn’t getting it from Mary (Luke 10:41

Luke 10:41 ESV

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,

). But Mary chose the more NEEDED thing: to ENJOY her Lord. From that ENJOYMENT would grow plenty of service to her Lord later. But since Martha’s service was not driven by ENJOYMENT of the Lord, it spoiled on her, and it did not glorify him.

B. Multiplying leaders.

Another lesson about Paul’s teams is that they were greenhouses for new leaders. Paul was not a man who was working HIMSELF out of a job - He knew GOD would see to that, right soon. We’re all disposable. What matters is the glory of the BODY.

And one of the glories of this body is how it multiplies leaders. The church is a greenhouse for transforming men and women into leaders who then produce other leaders.

This is why our BENT as elders is to take seriously the authority God has given us, BUT then we labor to DISTRIBUTE that power and authority OUT from the center, to others. We don’t Lord our role over anyone, but we work alongside YOU, for your JOY.

Which requires allowing new leaders to try to new things, and to run around and chew up the furniture a bit, like a new dog. But this is because we’re multiplying leaders NOT for the next 6 months, or even the next 6 years, but for the next 600 years. Christ may return tomorrow, or we may still be early in the church age. We are not called to make ONE good hand-off, but to labor for generations of good hand-offs.

Now, one more thing. What’s the point of teams? Yes, it is to clearly state our objective, and then accomplish it.

But in all this, God clearly ALSO has in mind

C. Our Sanctification.

Let’s go back to the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas for a moment. The truth is, they were BOTH right. Mark really did flake out on Paul, and so Paul was right to not take him. But Barnabas had optimism about Mark, and he was right about that, too. Late in Paul’s life, he instructs Timothy to bring Mark with him, for he is very useful to me, Paul said (2 Timothy 4:11

2 Timothy 4:11 ESV

Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.

).

Sometimes the point IS not who is right, but the conversation itself, and HOW we have the conversation. How we work through constructive conflict, TOGETHER. A man should be able to look at his own ministry team, and how they work through conflict, as a MODEL for how he should work through conflict in his work during the week.

We are a body, and therefore we are a team of teams, cooperating smoothly together.

4. Move to the Battle, with Flexible Intentionality

By intentionality, I mean that the Holy Spirit can working just as much in a meeting room, with our calendars open, as He does in spontaneous moments. We want to be planners.

And yet, we also want to be flexible. Just because something was started ten years ago doesn’t mean that it must continue, or continue in the same way. So we honor the past, and realize that things have been done in a certain way for a reason. But then we go to war with the army the Lord has provided TODAY.

Thus we must remember WHY we are to have Flexible Intentionality: because our Lord expects us to take the OFFENSIVE. The gates of hell will not be able to withstand the gospel (Matthew 16:18

Matthew 16:18 ESV

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

). Gates are defensive in nature.

And so taking the offensive means being BOTH ORGANIZED and NIMBLE. The best platoons have very intentional battle plans, but then they are flexible enough to adjust when they make first contact with the enemy.

But the church has gotten very used to making NO contact with the enemy, in a culture where we can just ASSUME the gospel. And now today we are shocked and set back on our heels. We must re-engage, with flexible intentionality.

5. Communicate to Coordinate.

Because we are a TEAM of TEAMS, this requires communication. And one rule of any organization is that if you THINK you’ve communicated clearly, communicate again, just to be sure, and then you MIGHT be there.

Again, because are a TEAM of teams, or better, a body. And since each part of the body is to be working SMOOTHLY with the others, this means that each team, especially each team leader, is to be interested in what all the other teams are doing. Being the leader of one team means having a loving curiosity about what’s happening with OTHER ministry teams. This is the body of Christ, and so leadership means ensuring that the OTHER team succeeds and brings glory to God. It’s a beautiful thing when brothers dwell in unity, and no one cares who gets the credit.

This requires simply spending time together.

Conclusion

Now, there is much more we can say about serving.

But this is enough for us for to apply today:

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

Target Efforts Toward Decisive Places

We’re a Team of Teams

Move to the Battle, with Flexible Intentionality

Communicate to Coordinate

I’m convinced that if we hold to these simple values, by FAITH the Lord WILL bless our efforts, and reward us with MORE responsibility. That’s how He usually works. We’re to be faithful with what He’s given us today, and with that faithfulness, I’m confident He WILL promote us to greater responsibility, in due time.

Let’s pray.