Ministry

Introduction

What have you missed most about church since we have been meeting online? Maybe it is joining together as a community of God’s people to collectively sing praises to our great God? Maybe it’s enjoying fellowship after the service and having a cup of tea or coffee with people. For parents, perhaps you’re missing having the kids go off to kid’s church so you can enjoy the service without being repeatedly interrupted. Maybe, like me, you’re simply just missing the opportunity to speak with people face-to-face, instead of speaking to a camera.

There’s lots of great things about meeting together that we’re missing at the moment. But I wondered… is anyone missing arriving early to church to set up the music and sound equipment? Is anyone missing having to set up and pack up the signs on the street, or the welcoming table, or the tables for morning tea? Is anyone missing having to find some spare time during the week to go grocery shopping or do some baking so that you have something to share with everyone for morning tea?

My guess is, that during this time of online church, many of you who were serving us each and every week are enjoying a little bit of a break from serving in these kinds of ways… and perhaps you haven’t been missing having to do these things each and every week. It may be easy even to slip into complacency and not desire to get involved once again when we are able to resume gathering in person.

What I want to show you today, is that if we are to be serious about loving Jesus, then we have to be serious about serving Jesus and serving one another. Let me say that again. If we are to be serious about loving Jesus, then we have to be serious about serving Jesus and serving one another. Because loving Jesus and serving Jesus, they always go hand in hand.

This is the final week in our ‘Church With Purpose’ series, where over the past month or so we’ve stepped through 5 themes which we find in the Bible that tell us the purposes God wants us as a church to be getting on with.

We began with looking at the Magnification purpose, which means that living for God’s glory is the first and most important purpose in the Christian life. Next was the Mission purpose, and we were reminded that God is at work in the world and has invited us to participate in the work which he is doing. Next was the Membership purpose; loving, welcoming and building one another up as a church family because we’ve been welcomed by God into his family. And last week was the Maturity purpose, becoming more mature as we are being transformed more and more into the likeness of Christ.

This week is the fifth and final purpose, Ministry. Ministry is all about service. It’s a great way to finish our Church With Purpose series because it ties together all the other purposes we’ve been talking about over the past few weeks, as I hope you’ll see today.

As with the other themes we’ve looked at over the past few weeks, we have a working definition for what Ministry is. Here it is:

God has called and equipped his church to serve him. Jesus gives all Christians a place in the life of the church and has prepared good works for us to do. We serve for the good of others as we reflect Jesus’ loving, sacrificial service of us.

I’ll keep coming back to this working definition throughout the talk today because as I hope you’ll see, this working definition has been profoundly shaped by the Bible, and there are many common points between the passage from 1 Peter 4 that was read earlier and this working definition of Ministry.

To sharpen our thinking even further towards a clear outcome, this working definition has also been sharpened into a clear purpose. Here it is:

To see God’s people joyfully and sacrificially serving to build up the body of Christ.

With that working definition and that Ministry purpose in our minds, let’s take a look at what the passage from 1 Peter 4 has to say.

Looking at 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 7, Peter begins this section of his letter by stating that “The end of all things is near.” Having just parachuted into this particular chapter and verse this week, this seems like a really odd thing for Peter to say. But within the wider context of the whole letter of 1 Peter, we see that Peter is writing to Christians in the first century who are confused and discouraged by the persecution which they are encountering because of their faith. They’re wondering how they can continue living for Jesus is such a troublesome world.

So, throughout his letter, Peter’s primary message to these persecuted Christians is to trust the Lord, to live obediently no matter what your circumstances, and keep your hope fixed on God’s ultimate promise of deliverance. And that’s what we see Peter doing here in chapter 4 verse 7. By telling them that the end of all things is near, he’s not saying that Jesus’ return is imminent, for roughly 2,000 years later we know that not to be the case. Rather, he is reminding them of God’s ultimate promise of deliverance and encouraging them to lift their eyes from their immediate context to see God’s bigger picture.

This lifting of the eyes from the immediate context to instead focus on God’s bigger picture, this has flow on effects. Look at the second half of verse 7. It begins with “Therefore… be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.” Being alert… thinking with sober, clear, judgement… coming before God in prayer… these are all expressions of the Maturity purpose which we looked at last week. These Maturity outcomes are the result of lifting our eyes from our immediate context and instead focusing on God’s bigger picture.

Not only are there Maturity outcomes from seeing God’s bigger picture, there are also Membership outcomes too. Look with me at verse 8 and 9. There it says “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

Peter was Jesus’ closest disciple. He was right there when Jesus summed up all the law and all the prophets with the two commandments of ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself. Therefore, it should be no great surprise that Peter reiterates this command in his letter with the command to love one another deeply.

Loving one another deeply, that’s the driving force behind our Membership purpose. Being members of one community, one team, one body of Christ, we love one another and build one another up.

This loving one another is to occur within our church community, but importantly, it is also to extend outwards from our church community to others. See verse 9, which says to offer hospitality to one another, and notably, to do so without grumbling.

The word which we read in our modern English Bibles as hospitality, in the original language, the word used here was a combination of two words; the first one being the word for a friend or friendship, and the second one being the word for a stranger. So, the concept of hospitality that we see here in the Bible, is to show friendship, not just to people who are already our friends, but to extend that offer of friendship out to people we don’t know yet.

This is important because it’s easy to show what we would call hospitality to one another, to people who are our friends, people that we know can reciprocate our hospitality with hospitality of their own. But true, Biblical, hospitality, is to show hospitality to strangers, outsiders, people who may not be able to reciprocate that offer of hospitality. Wouldn’t it be great if we were known as a church who shows hospitality to strangers without grumbling?

I mentioned earlier that the Ministry purpose is a great way to conclude our series because it ties together all the other purposes. And we’ve seen so far as we’ve stepped through our passage the Maturity and Membership purposes coming into play as a result of lifting our eyes and seeing God’s big picture. Now, when we come to verse 10, this is where the Ministry purpose comes clearly into view.

Look with me at verse 10. There it says “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” I want to draw 3 things out of this verse as we consider the Ministry Purpose. Those 3 things are the Who, the What, and the Why of Ministry. I’ll say that again, the Who, the What, and the Why of Ministry.

Let’s start with the Who of Ministry. Verse 10 begins with ‘Each of you should use whatever gift you have received’. Notice that it doesn’t say ‘a few of you should use whatever gift you have received’ or ‘some of you should use whatever gift you have received’. No, rather, it’s ‘each of you should use whatever gift you have received’. That’s all of us, everyone. That’s why in our working definition of Ministry, it says Jesus gives ALL Christians a place in the life of the church.

The church as a body is a common illustration across the New Testament and it’s helpful to think about it again here. The idea is that the one large structure, the body, is made up of lots of smaller pieces, and each one of those pieces have a particular purpose and role to play within the body. What this verse in 1 Peter is saying, is that within our church body, no one is the appendix.

Now I’m no doctor, but as I understand it, the appendix is a small organ in the intestines area of the body and doctors have debated whether this organ has a function or not for years. And the main argument to say that it has no function is this; if you remove the appendix from the body, there are no noticeable symptoms or side effects, therefore it has no function.

I hope you see the significance then when I say that no one is the appendix in our church body. You may think that if you weren’t here, if you stopped coming along to church and being involved, then no one would notice and there would be no noticeable side effects. I want to tell you today, that’s simply not true. Ministry, serving one another, building up the body of Christ, it’s not just for some of us, it’s for each one of us.

I’m sure everyone knows of someone who has been burnt out by all their serving responsibilities at church. Maybe the someone you know who has been burnt out is you. It can happen so easily because we know that some people are really great, they’re really servant hearted and if we ask them for help, every time they’re going to say yes. And what happens is that they end up carrying more than their fair share and become overwhelmed and are burnt out, and it’s a tragedy.

This is why it is so important that the Who of Ministry is each and every one of us. We don’t want to be that church with 20% of the people carrying 80% of the load. Wouldn’t it be great if we were a church where no one got burnt out, because everyone chipped in and carried their fair share and used their gifts to serve one another? That sounds like a great church to be a part of, doesn’t it? That’s why the Who of Ministry absolutely must be each and every one of us.

Having considered the Who of Ministry, let’s now consider the What of Ministry. Again, the first part of verse 10 begins with ‘Each of you should use whatever gift you have received.’ Let me highlight two parts of this. Firstly, the whatever gift part.

Again, this is where the illustration of the church as the body of Christ is helpful. Just as all the different parts of the body have different functions and purposes, and make a unique contribution to the body as a whole, so too are all the members of the church to use whatever giftings have been given to them in order to make a contribution towards the church body as a whole. And this contribution is going to be different for each one of us, and that’s perfectly ok, in fact, that’s the whole idea!

The body of the church needs the variety of giftings from the variety of people within in order for it to function effectively. It would be pretty dull and boring, and not to mention not at all helpful in fulfilling the purposes that God has given for his church, if we were all gifted in the same way.

And this is where comparison amongst one another is really unhelpful. It may be tempting to think that particular gifts or talents are more important than others, or that I can’t possibly be gifted in a certain area, for example music, or public speaking, or kids’ ministry, whatever it is, because I’m not as good at that as [insert name] is. But this comparative way of thinking tears down, rather than builds up. So, whatever your gifting is, it is important and you are to use it to build up the body of Christ.

And secondly from verse 10, notice that whatever our particular gifting is, it is called a gifting because you have received it from God. This is why our Ministry purpose working definition begins with God has called and equipped his church to serve him. Whatever your particular skills and talents are, God has given them to you in order to serve him and his church. Firstly, this means that we can’t take pride in our skills and talents as these have been given to us rather than earned by ourselves. And secondly, this means that we aren’t to hold onto our skills and talents for our own purposes, but rather as God has given liberally to us, we are to use our gifts liberally in order to serve others.

In summary, the What of Ministry is that God has given particular gifts to each one of us. Whatever you gifting is, it is important and you are to use it to build up the body of Christ.

As I’m saying this, I’m also aware that some of you may be sitting there thinking, I don’t feel like I have a gifting, and if I do, I certainly don’t know what it is. If that’s you, I want to encourage you today by saying that attitude is FAR more important than skills or talent. More valuable to the church body is one person with a servant hearted attitude who doesn’t know what their gifting is, but is willing to provide help wherever it is needed, than 100 of the best musicians or preachers who have all the skills and talents in the world but are only using those skills and talents to build up their pride and their ego.

So I’ll repeat, a servant hearted attitude is FAR more important than skills or talent. And also, sometimes you don’t know if you’ve got a gifting in a particular area until you give it a go. You may be surprised at what gifts you do have when you serve in a new area and try something new. And don’t be afraid that if you try something new, you won’t be great at it right away. At Trinity Church Woodcroft, we’re a community of regular people. It’s always wonderful to see people try something new and do their best to love and serve Jesus. That’s the kind of church and people that we want to be.

Alright, having considered the Who and What of Ministry, let’s now consider the Why of Ministry. One more time, look at verses 10 and 11 with me. There it says “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

From this passage, we see that the Why of Ministry is to serve others, and to glorify God. Each of us have been given gifts, not so that we can use them to build ourselves up, to show off how good we are. No, rather, our gifts have been given to us so that we may serve others. It’s why, once again, in our working definition of Ministry, it says that ‘We serve for the good of others as we reflect Jesus’ loving, sacrificial service of us.’

This is where the attitude and purpose of the church is radically different from the world. The message the world sends is take care of yourself, take care of number one first, and then perhaps after you’ve taken care of yourself and have some left over time or energy, then you can take care of other people. But we want to be radically different from the world. We want to be people who serve one another first. We can put aside our own desires, our own needs, and serve another.

And when we humbly and sacrificially serve one another in this way, being radically different from the world, we bring glory and praise to God. We started off this whole Church With Purpose series by looking at Magnification and how the first and most important purpose in the Christian life is to bring glory to God. So it is fitting that we’re concluding our Church With Purpose series by looking at Ministry and seeing that the way that each of us is to use our gifts in order to serve one another, well that fits within the higher purpose of living to bring glory to God.

In summary, the Why of Ministry is that we serve in order to serve others, and to bring glory and praise to our great God.

As I conclude, you may be thinking, all that I’ve said today is a cleverly disguised sales pitch to get you to do some job at church which you really don’t want to be doing. But I assure you, I’m not saying any of this to twist your arm, to guilt trip you into serving at church and helping out.

Rather, I want to encourage you to serve one another as a response of thanksgiving and joy… because Jesus first served you. Jesus was the Servant King. Mark chapter 10, verse 45 says “For even the Son of Man – the Son of Man who according to Daniel chapter 7 in the Old Testament has been given authority, glory and sovereign power over all nations and peoples – this Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

And Jesus’ instructions for his first disciples was that they were to follow in his footsteps, following the example of humble service which Jesus demonstrated. Just as Jesus picked up his cross for our sakes, in Mark chapter 8 verse 34 “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

If you call yourself a follower of Jesus, that is Jesus’ instruction for you. Jesus was the ultimate example of humble service for us to follow. All that we do… we do in response to God’s grace to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, my prayer is that each one of you would follow Jesus’ example, as you joyfully and sacrificially serve one another to build up the body of Christ.