Supporting the Work of Ministry
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Open your bibles to 1 corinthians 12:12…
We saw last week that our goal as a church is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. This is a simple goal in terms of direction but is an extremly hard goal in terms of success… Nevertheless this is what we are seeking to acomplish with everything that we do in life as a Christ follower. And the way we mature in this is through the church carrying out its mission, baptizing people into the church and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded. We have to be taught how to glorify God in all of our life and how to enjoy him…
This is the work of the ministry, to see people taking off the world and putting on Christ. But who does that ministry belong to? That minsitry belongs to the church.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
The church described in the scriptures is not a building, the church is people. And the church is not made up of one person… There was at one time, especially strong in the 20th century and still some today, even though I would say the church is realizing this model doesn’t work, in the 20th century many saw the pastor as THEE minster…
The pastor was to preach, and make house calls, and serve people, and pray for people, and be where all the people needed him, and lead the young people, and teach the older people, and evangelize the unbelievers. While these are all in the job description of a pastor, this was seen in the 20th century as the job of the pastor alone, because he was the professional.
Now, 1 Corinthians does not argue this. The whole of the new testament will prove that the church is a body. It is one unit. A unified whole, made up of many parts. Like a body. The body is not made up of a hand or a mouth on its own… The body is made up of MANY parts. This is true in two ways, as the local church, meaning a church unit like providence… And true of Christians as a whole. Providence is in a sense a foot , while hopewell is an eye, and bargersville christian is a hand etc… Christians are not lone rangers. Christians are a part of many members, working together, to see unbelievers come to know that Jesus Christ was crucified for the sin of the world, burried, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the father waiting judgment on the whole earth. We live to prove with our lives that Christ is LORD.
Christians everywhere are of one body, with one Lord, one baptisim, one faith, one Spirit, and one hope that we proclaim.
This means that we all have a part to play. This is not a sermon on spiritual gifts, this is a little more basic and general. While it is true that every Christian has spiritual gifts given to them by the spirit of god, and those gifts are given to work to build up the body, there are jobs in the church that each and every Christian is called to partake in to supporth the work of the ministry…
Those jobs are 1) Prayer and 2) Provision
Lets first talk about prayer…
One of the first places we understand the call to pray for the work of the minsitry is through Jesus. Jesus told his disciples
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
He called them to pray. Jesus commands them here, pray for harvesters. Jesus calls his followers to pray for people to be trained in the gospel. Pray for them to have opportunities to share their faith and witness to another person. Pray for people who will boldly call people to follow Jesus.
IN the book of acts we see this worked out in numerous ways… What were the apostles and disciples doing before the holy spirit came? Praying. What do they do they devote themselves to in acts 2, one of those htings is prayer. After persecution in acts 4, how do they respond? In prayer… I could go on and on…
It is played out in the new testament Church in such a way that Paul asks the churches to strive with him in prayer, Romans 15:30
I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,
He repeats this to the church at colossai, saying…
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—
Pray with me, congregation. Paul admits he doesnt see this as a one man show…He desires the prayers of the prayers of the church.
In Acts 6 we learn that the Apostles roles that they dedicated their time to was in praying and preaching… an example isn like this Colossians 4:12
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
The ministry needs prayer. We pray for one another in our weaknesses and ailments yes, but that is not all we pray for, we pray for the advancing of the gospel. For the church to mature and grow in faith. For opportunities for us to share our faith. For relationships to be strengthened, for wisdom and discernment. We pray in praise of all that God is doing and give him thanks as Paul often began his letters….
Our shepherd is the Lord and we need his help. True the Lord knows what you need and what you will pray before you pray it, but there is no better way for us to communicate with and call upon the living God for help in our need.
Secondly, every Christian is called to support the work of the minsitry in terms of provision.
Obviously we know that Jesus and his disciples required some money for the ministry because Judas used to help himself to it. But after the holy r spirit comes and people are coming to Christ left and right, an amazing thing happens in the early church…
And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
We see it again in Acts 4:34-35
There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
They were giving to the work of the ministry. They no longer saw money or possessions as a thing to stock up, but as a way to worship the Lord. They had the promise and hope of heaven, you can’t take it with you! They saw their earthly stuff as a way to serve others and shine their light before the world… Paul makes note in Romans 15 of an church who was trying to support poor people elsewhere… He Says, Romans 15:27
For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.
So, giving to the poor, feeding those who have none, taking care of people are good works that flow from the greater work of preaching the gospel! There is a spiritual blessing, being taught to obey the commands of christ… and a material blessings, having financial needs met..
Paul understood that even preaching the gospel needed financial support. The next verse in Romans, right after making mention of delivering a financial gift to the poor, Paul says, Romans 15:28
When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.
He is confident, the Roman church will be the supporters, or at least a supporter of his next missionary journey. They will fund his preaching.
This not only happned for the apostles, but Paul understood that there are ruling elders that will stand before, as timothy was devoting himself to shepherding the flock full time, there were full time ministers that were worthy of being paid…
Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
Not only do we see the apostles and pastors and teachers being funded, but alos the evangelists… The apostle John mkes note of this too in his third letter. He writes to the church saying,
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
As a Church, we have a responsibility to support the work of the minstry. Both locally and abroad. There is even a greater emphasis on those who have much money to give... Paul told timothy
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
Those who have much are expect to give much… To be generous givers to the ministry. Rather than store up treasure on earth and make your bank account fatter, glorify God through supporting the work of the ministry.
Now lets address both of these support tools in terms of our church…
How is your prayer life? More importantly than how much time you spend in prayer is how do you view prayer? It is necessary or optional? Your prayer life is a great indicator of how you are doing spiritually. What is it that you pray, when do you pray, why do you pray?
There is so much to pray for. My guess is that, if you are like me in my pilgrimage, you struggle to make time to pray… But this is something to strive for, for prayer is our greatest weapon and resource. James tells the church that you don’t have because you don’t ask. After Paul gets done lining out the armor of God he tells the church to put it on while Ephesians 6:18
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
It is a great responsibility and blessing to pray and lift up our own personal needs but also the work of the minstry. It seems the apostles believed through the prayers of the church that minsitry opportunities would increase, that they would be released from jail, that others would come to know Christ… If that is true, can we comit more time to prayer as a church? Not only do you have an opportunity to pray solo, but we meet every tuesday morning and thursday night to pray. What a sweet time it is to come together as a church and lift up our petition to the God of salvation.
Secondly, how are you providing for the work of the minstry materially? Do you tithe regularlly to the church? Do you know what tithing is? It is not just the religious practice of giving money on Sundays…It is not simply taking ten percent of your money and giving it to the church. Tithing is taking a portion of the blessing God has blessed you with, giving it to the church as an act of worship and obedience, and entrusting him to use your gift to increase his glory in all the earth.
The church has a tool called a budget, the budget helps us as a chruch see how we are suporting the work of the minstry in all the earth. It helps us see what our priorities are. Right now, our budget is not where the elders desire it to be. Mainly because, financially, we are not meeting budget. Our budget for the year of 2024 is 130,000 dollars and we are not meeting it. And for the last six years Providence has not met budget. Meaning tithing has not met what has been planned… As elders and a financial committee we understand that the ball has been dropped in not communicating this to you for the lat six years… But it shows us where the health of our church has been in terms of meeting the needs of the ministry.
For a church our size we should be able to support a budget of 150,000 dollars. This would increase our ability to buy childrens teaching material, diapers for the nursery, support a missionary, give to the needs of widows and single mothers, while caring for the ministry the Lord has already given us. As of now, we are lacking in all of these areas. I say all of this not seeking to ask you for more money this morning. This is a plea for you to consider how you are giving to your local body. Ten percent is a good rule, but praying and asking the Lord how much you should be giving is even better… Praying and giving with a heart that wants to glorify God and enjoy him forever will produce more fruit than a mundate drull heres my tithe…
As I close this morning I want to ask you to consider how you are supporting the work of the minstry in these two areas. Is there a greater responsibility as a member of the body of Christ than to see that the mission we are on is effective and powerful in Christ?
Do you pray for your pastor to be effective? Do you pray for your elders to be wise? Do you pray for Adam and Manda as they teach that their words may not fall on deaf ears? Do you pray for Alisha, and Keri, and Emily, and Donna, and all those who work back in the childrens ministry to speak life and model a real faith to our Children?
Are you giving to the ministry of the local church? Do you see the work of the ministry at providence as worthy of supporting? Are you benefitting from it? We as the body, all the many members are needed for the work of the ministry. I can’t do what I am doing in laboring in preaching and teaching without your support in prayer and finances. We can’t continue to teach the children, or provide for those in need without prayer and financial support. We will not be effective in spreading the seeds of the gospel without a crying out of the church to plead with God for direction, and help, and power…
We have one mission, one message, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, on spirit… Let’s see to it that we do it well, for the sake of our Lord, Amen.