God's Mature Children Serve Him Faithfully

God Mature Children Builds Their Faith As They Serve God Administering Jesus’ Commands In Love Matthew 28:18–20 (NIV84) 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Jude 20–21 (NIV84) 20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 1 Peter 4:9–11 (NIV84) 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it 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. Ephesians 4:11–15 (NIV84) 11 It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. FRIENDS, today I’d like to address with you an issue that has caused a lot of heartache in many churches and in individual Christians’ lives: Whose responsibility is it to build a healthy church? Of course, we want to say that it is God’s responsibility. Everything begins and ends with God. And there is an element of truth in this statement. All four passages that we have read this morning show clearly that God is in control. Matthew reminds us that Jesus acted with All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. Jude reminds us that our Lord Jesus Christ brings us to eternal life. Peter explains that believers have received gifts from God and when we use these gifts, we are administering God’s grace. And Paul reminds us that it is God who called some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. But if you look at all four passages, you’ll see that although God is ultimately responsible for building a healthy church, He is consistently using ordinary people – everyday people – people like you and me, to fulfil a very specific role in God’s plan to make disciples of all nations and to equip them to grow in maturity so that they can serve the body. This is why we as Christians we believe it’s our responsibility to build a healthy church as God has called us to. Jesus commands us to make disciples (Matthew 28:18–20). Jude prompts us to build ourselves up in the faith (Jude 20–21) so that we can serve others. Peter calls beliers to use their gifts to serve others (1 Peter 4:10). Paul tells Christians to speak the truth in love as we prepare God’s people for works of service so that the church will become mature and just like Jesus (Ephesians 4:13, 15). Friends, local churches, actually all churches, exist to display God’s glory to the nations. And we do that by fixing our eyes on the gospel of Jesus Christ, trusting Him for our salvation, and then loving one another with God’s own holiness, unity, and love as we reach out to the world around us addressing their salvation. Salvation has always been an issue. When Jude began his letter, he said that although his original intention was to write a general letter about “the salvation we share”, he had narrowed down his concern to “urge you to contend for the faith” (verse 3). By “salvation” and “faith” he meant the same Christian message, of course; but his different words and emphases show his uneasiness over the disturbances that were occurring in the churches. “Salvation” is the great future hope of Jesus’ return as Saviour, but that hope was being undermined by those who did not ‘share’ it with Jude or his faithful readers. Similarly, “the faith” is the fixed Christian gospel, but it was being eroded by those who denied that it was given to the church “once for all”, and instead felt free to “change the grace of our God into a licence for immorality” (verse 4). We are faced with similar pressures today to alter basic Christian doctrine or behaviour. How do we respond? Some are tempted to ignore them and hope they will wither away with time. Others suggest that we need the stress on experience, inner conviction and certainty, married to Jude’s passion for truth and structure. The difference, they say, is not between truth and heresy, but between personalities and values. Yet others find the mere presence of false teaching in a church so alarming that the only course of action is immediate evacuation into other, purer churches. That may solve the problem in the short term; but in this letter Jude is warning that a liberalizing danger will always threaten churches, and the pure church of one generation faces the very real danger of becoming the heretical church of the next. Our Scripture readings remind us that we must take care of ourselves, ensuring that we are correctly centred on God and his gospel. It reminds us that we have certain responsibilities to those who are falling foul of wrong teaching. And it reminds us that we must keep our eyes firmly fixed on the great future which God has promised us. Friends, how do we achieve this? Scripture tells us how to. In Acts 2:42 (NIV84) we are told that the first believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. This is what we should do too. Believers “build themselves up” in their faith by studying and learning the Scriptures. This is our responsibility. But there is more. In 2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV84) Paul told Timothy: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved – like a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” An unashamed worker presents his or her life and ministry to God, knowing that God will be pleased with the quality of work. Jesus told a parable about a master entrusting money to his servants. Two of the servants wisely invested their “talents” and gladly gave the master his money with the extra earned upon the master’s return. And the master’s reply: “Well done!” A diligent worker, desiring only God’s approval, need not be ashamed to present himself and his work to his master. Paul rounded off the image of the workman by comparing effective ministry with the expert use of tools. The expression translated “correctly handles” literally is, “to cut straight.” This word is used only here in the New Testament. Approval of the use of whatever gifts you have received, in other words, your ministry before God, depend on how well you have proclaimed, explained, and applied the word of truth. This is what Paul explained to Timothy. Whatever form of ministry we perform must help the gospel cut a straight path and do nothing to hinder it. Friends, when we use our gifts in humble service to others, we are faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. This is why Scripture argues that a healthy church is a hospitable church. Friends, I’ve always experienced Penguin as a hospitable church. Allow me to explain. Being hospitable is different from social entertaining. It is to be welcoming, opening, friendly, warm, generous, and kind. This is the kind of church that we are supposed to nurture. Entertaining, to the contrary, focuses on the host—the home must be spotless; the food must be well prepared and abundant; the host must appear relaxed and good-natured. If hospitality, in contrast to entertaining, focuses on the guests’ wellbeing, their needs— whether they have a place to stay, or need nourishing food, or a listening ear, or acceptance—then we are addressing their primary needs. Friends, this is why hospitality can happen in a messy home or church. It can happen around a dinner table where the main dish is canned soup. It can even happen while the host and the guest are doing chores together. We should not hesitate to offer true hospitality just because we are too tired, too busy, or not wealthy enough to entertain. Hospitality is a strong expression of God’s kind love extended to address the needs of those we meet. We are called to be faithful in living this way. Friends, to be “faithful” means not to hide the gifts that God has blessed you with, but to use them as they were meant to be used—serving and building up the body of Christ. Some people, well aware of their abilities, believe that they have the right to use their abilities as they please. Others feel that they have no special talents at all. in our Peter passage he addresses both groups. Because each believer has been given a way to minister, we should find our way to serve and do it. Most importantly, when we see a need in the church, we should meet it the best way we can. Friends, God will examine what kind of workers, we have been for Him. We should build our lives on His Word and build his Word into our lives. It alone tells us how to live for Him and serve Him. When we ignore the Bible, we will certainly be ashamed at the judgment. Consistent and attentive study of God’s Word is vital; otherwise we will be lulled into neglecting God and our true purpose for living. Often after I’ve made similar statements people have confronted me saying that they don’t really study God’s word. They ask me then whether I question their faith. Friends, I don’t. I never will. But I’d like to remind you of the statement made in Hebrews 5:13–6:3 (NIV84) “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. 1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.” These Christians, described here as immature, were not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. They lived on milk, that is, they had not grown in their faith. They remained inexperienced and unskilled in applying their knowledge to their lives. They had received enough instruction and should have been able to teach others the elementary truths of the faith, but they were still acting like infants, not moving ahead, not digging deeper, not applying what they learned to enhance a life of righteousness. We must learn not to fall into the same trap. How will we make sure of that? Friends, in order to grow from infancy to maturity, we must learn discernment. We must train our consciences, senses, and minds to distinguish good from evil. We must unite from the word of God principles of right thinking and right action whereby we can correctly judge moral situations that occur. When that happens, we learn to recognise temptation before it entraps us. Yes, it is true, everyone needs to first learn the ABCs before being able to read complex books. But we are called to move beyond the ABC of Christianity - the elementary teachings about Christ include the importance of faith, the foolishness of trying to be saved by good deeds, the meaning of baptism and spiritual gifts, and the facts of resurrection and eternal life. Listen carefully I’ll repeat myself: To have a mature understanding, we need to move beyond (but not away from) the elementary teachings to a more complete knowledge of the faith. This is what Hebrews intended for us to do. In one important sense, the entire Bible follows this theme of maturity. According to Matthew 28, Jude 20, 1 Peter 4, Ephesians 4 mature Christians should be teaching new Christians the basics. Everything in the Bible leads us toward mature faith, which is always characterized by • A sense of becoming, not arriving. The growing Christian is reaching forward, not resting on what has already happened. • A sense of wonder, not self-righteousness. The growing Christian is more likely to know how difficult the questions are, rather than how easy the answers are. • A sense of commitment, not laziness. The world’s people need the peace God offers; our social systems need God’s justice; our bodies need God’s healing. The growing Christian acts in faith to become God’s servant to the world, even under stress. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13–14 (NIV84) “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” All Christians, including you and I, should be growing, maturing, and pressing on! Amen.