Qualities of an Effective Servant of Jesus Christ (Part 1)
Notes
Transcript
This lengthy narrative passage contains no explicit teaching on God’s requirements for effective service.
It does, however, present two highly qualified and effective servants who modeled the qualifications necessary for all who would proclaim the good news through the Lord Jesus Christ.
What we draw from this are examples of how to be effective in our service of Jesus Christ.
Spirit-Giftedness
Spirit-Giftedness
In order for someone to be effective for Christ they must show gifts from the Holy Spirit.
Everyone has different gifts but we all have them.
A Spiritual Gift is not a natural human ability or talent.
It is a bestowment by the grace of God on believers that provides a channel through which the Holy Spirits power flows in ministry. 1 Cor. 12:7
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
The mutual exercise of those enablements is thus vital to the proper functioning and building of the Body of Christ. 1 Cor. 12:14
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
Gifts of the Spirit that we see here in this chapter are:
Prophecy
Teaching
Exhortation
Leadership
Those four gifts are at the heart of all spiritual ministry in building the church.
In addition to these 4 Gifts we also see 2 Apostolic Gifts on display that are not used today and were only used by the Apostles as a way for showing the validity of Gods word and the authority of Christ.
Miracles
Healing
Such supernatural confirmation is unnecessary today.
Whether a man speaks for God can and must now be determined by whether his message conforms to the only standard, which is Scripture.
Boldness (vv 1-7)
Boldness (vv 1-7)
Having been driven out of Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:50).
Paul and Barnabas went to Iconium, about eighty miles to the southeast.
Iconium was a cultural melting pot—native Phrygians whose ancestors had occupied the area from ancient times, Greeks and Jews who dated back to the Seleucid period (312–65 B.C.), and Roman colonists who had arrived more recently.
Once again Paul and Barnabas went to the synagogue to start preaching.
Why did they go to the Jews first?
Had they went to the gentiles first the Jews would have thought that they were unclean and they would not have been allowed in the temple.
While the focus was now on the Gentiles it was their mission to save all people not just the Gentiles.
As in Antioch their message was met first with great joy but over time the resident Jews started to poison the minds of the people and they started to turn on the Apostles and the mission got harder.
The mounting opposition did not intimidate Paul and Barnabas but energized them to speak out boldly.
Nor did it deter them from spending a long time ministering at Iconium.
Boldness is that essential quality without which nothing significant can be accomplished for the gospel.
Boldness is what enables believers to persist in the face of opposition.
Humility (vv 8-18)
Humility (vv 8-18)
Here in these verses Paul heals a man who has been lame his whole life, it say he has never taken a step.
Although today’s believers do not possess miraculous healing power as Paul did, the principle is instructive:
God’s power is absolutely necessary if His work is to be accomplished. Eph. 6:10 1 Pet. 4:11.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
The power “to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20) comes to all believers at salvation. Eph. 3:20
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
The power of the Holy Spirit is released in believers’ lives as they walk moment by moment in obedience to the truth.
That enables them to be used as agents through whom no physical healing occurs, but rather the transformation of the soul in salvation and sanctification.
However we must never become Prideful about the things that God does through us.
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
This incident reveals the humility of Paul and Barnabas.
To be acclaimed a god was the highest honor imaginable in the Greco-Roman world, and was much sought after (cf. Acts 12:22).
Yet they disavowed any such notions about themselves and instead pointed the pagan crowd to the Creator God.
They successfully handled the temptation to succumb to pride.
Had Paul and Barnabas yielded to that temptation, it would have destroyed their usefulness.
Those who seek glory for themselves are on the path to spiritual weakness and impotence.
