Faithful Christian Ministry

Introduction

Hope delivers us from the despair that nothing we do matters, and enables us to tackle even the most menial job with vigor. Elmer Bendiner tells the remarkable story of a B-17 bomber that flew a bombing mission over Germany in the latter days of World War II. The plane was hit several times by shells and flak, with some of the hits directly in the fuel tank. Miraculously, the bomber did not explode. When it landed, eleven unexploded twenty-millimeter shells were taken out of the fuel tank! The shells were dismantled, and to the amazement of everyone, all were empty of explosives. Inside of one shell was a note written in Czech. Translated, it read, “This is all we can do for you now.” A member of the Czech underground, working in a German munitions factory, had omitted the explosives in at least eleven of the twenty-millimeter shells on his assembly line.

That worker must have wondered often if the quiet work he was doing to subvert the Nazi war effort was going to make any difference whatsoever to the outcome of the war.

This man had no idea if the hard dangerous efforts he was doing were having any effect. He kept on and on doing it trying to save lives.

He would have been under intense persecution and danger to his life. Yet, he kept making explosives that would not blow up.

He did this without ever knowing the outcome of his hard work. He continued to do it at the risk of his own life.

This man was faithful to the cause. He did not give up but kept it up. For how long? Only God and that man knows that. He may have been found out and executed. He knew the risks but knew he had to do what he could to save lives.

That is what Faithful Christian Ministry is. It is serving faithfully doing “all you can do for now.” This is something that is done because of love and a future looking mindset. You do not do it for what is in the here and now, because the here and now may very well not give you anything. It may leave you wondering if what you have done was effective and worthwhile.

That is why it is a looking to the future that you must keep to keep the faith and hope alive. Just as we know that Jesus has already came, we know that He is coming again. We also know that when He comes all wrongs will be made right. Everything will be as it should and the work you have done for people will see its completion and you will see your reward.

This type of ministry is first accomplished by being...

A Faithful Steward in Faithful Service

Trouble and struggles will happen. You will be mocked and treated harshly in your service to the Lord.

As a faithful steward in the service of the Lord you must not let this hinder you from faithfully proclaiming the gospel.

As a believer we are entrusted with the gospel (v. 4). As this steward we are entrusted with this amazing treasure from God. We must share it and never hide or bury it. It is to be shined forth to all people. Never hide it or shy back from sharing because of terrible treatment.

We can stand fast with the gospel in spite of being abused and mistreated because we know that the world has hated Christ first and because we are not of the world like they are (John 15:18-19).

We are against all the things they love and desire.

This is why we must remain pure and wholesome in the faith and never seek to have approval by changing the message. We do not slide into impurity to please people.

We are stewards of the gospel we do not own it. It is not ours to change and alter. It is God’s good news and we are entrusted to share it. Not change it.

We do not use deception or false motives in the sharing of this message either. When we slide into doing these methods, we are no longer seeking to please God but man.

Paul wrote in Galatians 1:10 “If I were trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

If we are seeking to please God alone, we are seeking the right thing. If everyone becomes enraged against you because of your faithful witness, do not back away from it, you are pleasing God.

If you only please God then you are doing right. Never weaken from this aspect. Give it all to God. You can do this because you have the counselor, the helper, our great strength: The Holy Spirit in you.

As such you have a “holy boldness” inside you.

By His empowering you can stand firm in all opposition and desire to be the best. You will count all things as loss, for the sake of Christ you will suffer the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. This is done so you may be found in Him having a righteousness that is of Christ and not of yourself (Philippians 3:8-9).

This includes deception. You will forsake deception in your service.

You may ask how deception is used?

One way many today utilize deception is in what is called bait and switch. This is where you use something to draw people in; games, sports, or some other event, and then spring the trap on them.

In the case of the church the trap is the gospel. We draw people with the temptation of fun times without letting it be known that it is a gospel event, then wonder why people reject and despise the church. We are being deceptive to get them and so we start out our relationship with them in a lie.

That is not healthy or good. It is deception because we are not trusting fully in the power of God to do the work. It is an attempt to please man rather than God. We are afraid if we do not let it be known that it is a gospel event no one will show. So we make it a man event and forsake God.

We are to deliver the truth and be loving to people.

To be loving to people we must...

Show Parental Concern

As people who are to love the truth and love people we must be as parents are with their babies.

Paul says he was gentle among them like a nursing mother. He also says that he was like a father and exhorted them encouraged them and charged them to walk in a worthy manner.

This is showing extreme care and concern for the people. It is not a false love but one that is borne of a genuine desire for their salvation.

The question here is, “Do you love people? Do you love them enough to work with them as a parent with a child?”

This is loving our neighbor as ourselves. We are going the extra mile with them and caring for their growth and development.

As such we are not just drawing them in with trickery desiring their love. No, we are loving them even when they do not love us.

This word care here is only used one other time in the New Testament. It is found in Ephesians 5:29 where it says, “For no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.”

It is cherish in Ephesians. It is care here. It means to warm. We are to be a warm and inviting presence amongst the people. Not a scalding truth bath, but one that is warming and loving. One that warms them with the truth.

Just as a parent does with a child. When we begin raising children you do not start out with hard truth and strict punishment. No, we begin gentle and lay the foundation. They learn what is right and wrong.

Then we move into the more harsh acts of punishment once they know better. Some of this is seen in Galatians and 1 Corinthians.

Paul rebukes them for certain sinful activities they had allowed or committed themselves. Yet, he did it all with exhortation, encouragement, and with a charge to holy living.

He was a compassionate man. He loved people dearly. We know this for a fact because he has stated that he has great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart. “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:2-3).

He desired to be accursed for the salvation of his fellow Israelites. That is genuine love and compassion.

Paul allowed his compassion for the people and his zeal for the Lord to be what created the hunger for the truth in the people. He loved deeply and encouraged strongly.

He allowed them to get close to him. He was a leader that was amongst the people. They knew he was the real deal.

Much like Captain Winters in the wonderful miniseries “Band of Brothers.”

Winters was a phenomenal soldier who was a man amongst his fellow soldiers. He led with integrity and fearlessly. He was fair and balanced. He was compassionate in the right way. But the men respected him because he was with them and he led them from the front.

He did not have an arrogance about him. He was with them in all the nitty-gritty. They knew he was authentic. So when he rebuked them or gave an order, they knew it was because he knew what was best. He did not do it out of any other desire or to harm the men. They knew he was authentic and knew what was best.

This is how we must be amongst the people. Whether they are our fellow church members or those outside the walls, we must be genuine and authentic and show parental concern for them.

We love by being a faithful steward and showing parental concern we also do it by...

Proclaiming the Word of God

The best way we can be faithful and show parental concern is to proclaim the word of God.

We must remember that we are the vehicles of which the word is delivered to people as Paul says in Romans 10:14-15, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, w“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” This was a quote from Isaiah 52:7.

Isaiah 55:11 tells us that “My word that goes out from my mouth shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I sent it.” God the Father says that His word will accomplish that which it was sent to accomplish.

We also know that Gods word is a sanctifying truth (John 17:17). As such we must never treat the Bible as any other book. It is the life changing word of God.

When we deliver it to people as such it will change their lives. But you must embrace the word, live the word, and believe all that is in it as the truth because it is from God and is truth.

If you deliver the word to people without being certain of it yourself, it will be a weakened message. It will not have the power that will make the people accept what you preach or teach or speak to them as the word of God. It will come across as the word of men.

When you do deliver it as it is. When you know it is the words that can change people, then you can rest in its power to make that change.

Not only this, but when the word is delivered rightly it will strengthen the people in their resolve to imitate you as you imitate the word of God. You will act godly yourself because you are fully convinced by the word. They will then in turn do the same.

Not only this but they will be empowered to endure all things. God’s word clearly teaches that His saints have been saved to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25) and that sinners will experience wrath to the uttermost (1 Thess. 2:16).

They will be able to rest in this and be able to endure the suffering that comes. These believers were strengthened by the knowledge that they were not alone in their suffering. The word of God tells us the same thing.

In reading and knowing it we see that many of our fellow believers our ancestors in faith of the past have face much persecution. It shows their steadfastness in faith and their resolve to stand. It is a most encouraging word to us and those we share it with.

Because of the word of God giving these evidences we and those we share it with can endure hardship, exhibit works of faith, love, and hope in the midst of suffering. God sometimes allows for His people to suffer and be persecuted to demonstrate how evil and wicked the world is and how righteous His judgments are upon them is.

It reveals the sovereign God we worship and His faithfulness to the end for those who have believed.

We can only have all these attributes of being a faithful steward, parental concern for others, and faithful proclamation of God’s word despite all reasons not too when we...

Look Forward to the Glory to Come

Separation hurts and is hard to handle. It is especially tough when it is people you love dearly. Do we ache when we can’t be with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Do we long to see them as Paul did the Thessalonians? We should be this way. We should love them as much as we do our biological family.

But when we have served as has been described, we can look back not with regret and remorse but look ahead and rejoice. We can because we know we have faithfully served the Lord amongst the people and delivered His truth to them. We will know we have served the people in a way that we know they saw true faith and love.

As such we can know that many of them will be with us in the end. It is because of this that we can face all things in ministry.

We know the glory to come. We have seen the glory of Christ in His first advent but we long await the second advent. In it we find strength to endure and serve faithfully.

We can be faithful even in times of testing such as this year has produced. It is our future looking mindset that gives us courage and hope.

Again our faith and hope rests in the blessed return of Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). We serve the people because we love the people and desire to see them in this time. That is what Paul means by our joy and crown.

He is not necessarily implying that he will receive a crown for them but that they are his crown. This is how we should look at the people we are serving. That they are the crown. They are our joy. They are our prize. They are what is important.

Not only will we have joy and peace in our ministries and in our churches when we do this, but we will bring strong affirmation to those we serve. When we say they are our joy and crown we have given them strong fatherly affirmation. They will then strive to bring even more joy to the one that has affirmed them. They will serve and love others and the cycle will continue.

They will go and make strong believers as we have in our faithful stewardship, parental concern, faithful proclamation, and future looking mindset.

Conclusion

Oh what a joy it is to serve and love people. It is something that brings joy, peace, hope, and love.

We should all have the desire and passion to love and be faithful with the gospel message that has been entrusted to us. We should all seek to serve and share Christ with as many people as we can.

Also, we should love those who have caused us grief in our ministries as much as those who have shown us love and respect.

Some believers caused Paul much grief by not living as they should and by attacking him personally. Some were a major burden to him. But when he looked forward and saw them in glory, they brought joy to him, as it should us. We should be able to look at those who cause us pain and grief with joy.

Yes, it may hurt when they attack you. Yes, it may be painful and tough. But they can be your joy and happiness because if they are believers we will see them in glory. That future looking mindset is what will keep us going regardless what is happening now.

Warren Wiersbe has stated it like this:

“Don’t give up! Lay hold of the spiritual resources you have in Jesus Christ. You have the Word of God within you, the people of God around you, and the glory of God before you. There is no need to give up.”

What hope, joy, peace, and love that brings. Our hope is found in the coming of our savior. His first brought salvation and His second brings joy such joy that we cannot describe it any better than this:

Joy to the World the Lord is Come. Let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare Him room.

He rules the world with truth and grace. And makes the nations prove the light of His righteousness and the wonders of His love.

Joy to the world, now we sing. Let the earth receive her king.

It is in this that we have hope, joy, peace, and love. Christ our king.

We can rest in Him and His perfect righteous sovereign plan. It is to Him we turn for strength and peace. So, turn today if you have never believed on Him. He is the way, the truth, and the life and the only way to the Father and joy and glory. In Him is the only place found for real authentic joy and peace. In Him is where real authentic hope and love is found.

He is true righteous and has not nor will He ever leave you alone. Believe upon Him today and receive this amazing joy.

If you have believed and are a believer then lean into this teaching found in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-20. Trust that Christ will carry you through and give you the joy, peace, love, and the hope to make it through all things.