2022-08-28 Do You Have What It Takes

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? (Acts 14:19-28) August 28, 2022 Read Acts 14:19-28 - God's marching orders: Rom 12: 6 "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them." We're expected to use God's gifts to us. Not like the boy who was asked, "What position does your older bro play on the football team?" He replied, "I'm not real sure what it's called, but I think he's a drawback." That's the problem in almost every church. Too many drawbacks, not enough halfbacks and fullbacks. We're all ministers -- every believer. God gave teachers Eph 4:12a: "to equip the saints (believers) for the work of ministry." We can't say, "But I can't do much." Huge mistake to do nothing because we can only do little. What if your eyelids said, "I don't do much - just flutter around a bit. I'm taking the day off." You'd be blind by noon. There are no small ministries, just small minds. We're all needed. Genuine believers want to serve their Master. So, what does ministry look like. P&B give us a great example. Every true child of God will want to use their giftedness to serve others. It's a beautiful thing. So, what exactly defines ministry - the use of our spiritual giftedness? I. Ministry Involves Persecution Tough place to start, isn't it? "By the way, if you sign on, expect to suffer." But this sets expectations correctly. As P&B minister in Lystra, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium appear who previously wanted "to mistreat them and to stone them" (Acts 14:5b). They're head-hunting. After P&B escaped them in Iconium, some travel the 100 miles east to finish them off there. They stir up trouble quickly. Perhaps some in Lystra were offended by P&B's refusal to accept divine honors. So, an illegal lynching occurred. Paul was stoned, thought to be dead, and dragged out of town to hide the evidence and foil the Romans. They're like the group that wanted to crown Jesus King on Sunday and cried for His execution on Friday. It must have also been a vivid reminder to Paul of how he had held the coats of those who stoned Stephen. Did Paul actually die? Probably not. The mob was "supposing that he was dead." Paul later says, "Once I was stoned" (II Cor 11:25b), a clear reference to this time, but he doesn't say killed. But a miraculous recovery did ensue. 20 "But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe." The disciples from Lystra prayed, Paul was healed and "he rose and entered the city", having just been left for dead! Imagine the stir that caused! But ministry does cost! Paul later encourages Timothy: II Tim 3:10: "You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra-which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me." Paul reminds Timothy, ministry is costly. This very stoning was no doubt indelibly embedded in Timothy's mind bc, being from Lystra, he was likely there! He's seen the price Paul paid. Paul goes on: 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Not maybe, might be, could be, possibly - but will be. Discipleship costs. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed by Hitler days before the end of the war wrote, "When Christ calls a man, He calls him to come and die." Jesus said Jn 15:20b: "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." It may be a mocking laugh by friends, the loss of a business deal for being honest, the loss of friends for taking a stand against abortion, the loss of tax exempt status for taking a biblical stand on issues of morality, or the loss of life for claiming Christ - faith will cost. We must not tell people how easy it is. Discipleship costs. "All who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted." Expect it; prepare for it; embrace it for His sake. II. Ministry Involves Perseverance 20 But when the disciples gathered about him." What disciples? The new believers in Lystra. Paul's been stoned and left for dead. Their future might have looked pretty bleak. But they stood by Paul. They persevered. And Paul, after being roused by Christ, "rose and entered the city" - the very place from which he'd been stoned. Ministry involves perseverance. Genuine faith results in a lifetime of committed service. Or it's not real. Let Jesus rock your world: Rev 2:7: "To the one who conquers (perseveres) I will grant to eat of the tree of life." Rev 2:11: "The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death." Rev 2:17: "To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone." Rev 3:5: "The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life." Get the point? Saving faith perseveres - to the very end! This is serious business. Sideline observers are largely self-deceived about being saved at all. Jesus is saying loud and clear: "Don't kid yourself. If you're real, you'll persevere." Charles Simeon was a great 19th century preacher in Cambridge. For 12 years he was so hated by those who opposed his preaching the gospel that those who rented pews locked everyone out. Twelve years. Those who came were forced to stand in the back to listen. Twelve years. But he went on to a fruitful half century ministry there. Persevered. So must we. Believers finish strong! So don't be deceived. If you are content to sit on the sidelines; if you've no desire to serve; if you got hurt and checked out; if ministry is too costly, you may not be real at all. Ministry involves perseverance -- the ability to be hurt, mocked, overlooked, unrecognized or criticized and still keep going -- like the energizer bunny. Nothing can stop it. They stoned Paul and he got up and walked right back into the eye of the storm. Like genuine disciples. III. Ministry Involves Proclamation Giving someone food or shelter may help them for a time. But you will have done nothing for their real need - the need to know Jesus died to forgive their sins, to know they are helpless to help themselves. That, Titus 3:5: "he saved us, not because of works of righteousness done by us, but according to his own mercy." It takes words to make the gospel clear. This may be by giving a tract, a book, best of all, a Bible. It may be by inviting them to a Bible study or church. It may be by your own words. Do you know how to share the gospel? Paul says in Rom 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." We must not be ashamed either - nor ignorant. Could you show someone the gospel? It's all there is 10 verses in Eph 2. It's there in 4 verses in Romans = 3:23; 6:23; 9:9-10. It's there in 1 verse in John 3:16. Ministry is sharing God demands perfect - and God provides it in Christ. Charles Spurgeon once said, "Don't hold back because you cannot preach in St. Paul's; be content to talk to one or two in a cottage You may cook in small pots as well as in big ones. Even a little dog can bark at a thief, wake the master and save the house. A spark is fire. A sentence of truth has heaven in it. Do what you do right, thoroughly, pray over it heartily, and leave the result to God." That's true for all of us "ministers", not just pastors. IV. Ministry Involves Propelling Paul was never content just to see people saved. He lived to prod, propel and them to maturity in Christ. So, 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." He strengthened and encouraged them. How? First, he taught them to continue in the faith. Col 1:28: "Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ." He showed them the beauty of Christ and told them tho it was costly to follow Him it was worth it. There was no easy believism in Paul. He knew persecution was part of the deal, warned others to expect it, but reminded them Rom 8:18: "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." And he demonstrated that by retracing his own steps to the places he'd been abused stoned. Encouraging others in faith is all our job: Heb 10:24-25: "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another." John McCain told how in solitary confinement as a POW in Vietnam prisoners created their own Morse-code type language that allowed them to tap out messages between cells. They shared memories, poems, what they recalled of the Bible. For 7 long years, that's what kept them going. He summarized, "We sustained each other." That's what we do in ministry. We sustain each other. V. Ministry Involves Planning In v. 23 P&B appointed elders in every church. Time had revealed qualified and gifted men -- multiple ones in each place. Leaders must always be looking to help people find their giftedness and use it for God's glory and the good of the body. Planning is not contrary to Spirit-leading; it is a means of expressing the Spirit's leadership. True leaders inspire others by word and example to be all that God intended them to be. And we are all leaders somewhere, be it home, school, work or church. Leaders help answer two questions: "Who are we? And "How should we then act?" Ministry needs leaders to stay focused. VI. Ministry Involves Prayer God deserves our best, right? An teacher, coordinator, administrator, usher, helper or other ministry person who is not on-time and fully prepared should go do something else. To give God less than our best is sinful. But we ALSO know nothing of value happens if God doesn't do the heart work. So we pray! Spurgeon perceptively describes this balance: "The Xn should work as if all depended on him, and pray as if it all depended on God." Failure to prepare for our place of ministry is unconscionable. But failure to pray over our efforts is to fail before we even start. You may feel your ministry is small. But eternal issues are at stake. It doesn't get any bigger than that. Pray like Moses: Psa 90:17: "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish (make eternal) the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!" Prayer clothes our efforts with eternity. Ministry without prayer is like a car without gas. Philips Brooks said, "Never allow yourself to feel equal to your work. If you ever find that spirit in you, be afraid." Pray. Keller - I'd pray more. VII. Ministry Involves Praise P&B finished this first journey by backtracking all the way to Perga, which they passed initially, but now preached in. Then they sailed home to Antioch and reported in. 27 "And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles." Note 2 things. First, while no doubt mentioning the hardships - being thrown out of Iconium, Paul's illness at Perga and stoning at Lystra - that wasn't their emphasis. It wasn't a downer. They looked at the big pix which allowed them to minimize the hardships. There's a lesson! Second, "they declared all that God had done with them." Yes, they made a hard journey. Yes, they preached and taught and saw some come to faith. But the heart work - all God's. It was thru them, but by God! If they weren't there, nothing happened. But their work, without God would have been useless. So they credited God, not themselves. They weren't glory hounds like so many today. They put the glory where it belonged. God did it! Years ago I preached a sermon on being God's instruments. One man was greatly offended. If God only wanted him to be an instrument, he wasn't interested. Didn't believe God would diminish him like that. I said, "Do you think it diminishes you to be the conduit through which the glory of Almighty God shines forth?" It is the greatest privilege in the world to be God's minister - an instrument thru whom His glory flows. Conc - Now, I don't know what area of service God has equipped you for and is calling you to. But I know this. Far from being an obligation, it will be the biggest privilege of your life to glorify your Savior in whatever way He asks. If you're not involved, you're missing the best part of your life. Sir Thomas More once counseled Richard Rich, a young man unsure how to make a mark in the world. More said, "Be a teacher." Rich replied, "And if I'm a great teacher, who will know?" More said, "You, your students, God. Not a bad audience, that." Same can be true of us in any calling. So, let's now be a drawback. Let's be a full-on back - for His glory. Let's pray. DONE 7