Untitled Sermon

Over the past few weeks I have been working on our brand new CLASS 301 materials, Discovering My Ministry. I excited about the fact that next month, September 24, we will offer our first training in 301. This afternoon, we are doing simultaneous teaching of CLASSES 101 and 201 beginning at 3 p.m. We’ve done both of these before. In fact, close to 200 people have already taken 101 Discovering Church Membership. So God is really blessing our efforts to truly train our members as fully committed disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ!

As I was saying, over the past few weeks I have really enjoyed studying, writing and editing the 301 materials that deal with ministry. Today I want to give you a small sampling of that material, just an appetizer.

Stand with me please, to honor the reading of God’s word. Look at the screen and let’s all read together, simultaneously and out loud God’s word as found in Ephesians 4:11-12.

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; Ephesians 4:11-12, NKJV

Before you sit down repeat these words with me. Say, “I am a minister.” Say it again with emphasis. “I am a minister!” Thank you. You may be seated.

Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul wrote, "God has given pastors and teachers to prepare God's people for works of ministry so the body of Christ may be built up." The Bible says that pastors are the teachers and administrators. The people are the ministers. Some of you may have grown up in a church where the pastor did do most or the entire ministry. There are lots of small churches around the country where the pastor mows the lawn, teaches Sunday School, cleans the bathroom, does the sermon on Sunday, and a bunch of other stuff. But what we learn about what the Bible teaches really frees the pastor up to do what God designed him to do.

What the Bible says about ministry. First of all, what is ministry? Definition from the Greek word diakonos, which means simply "to serve". So ministry is using whatever God has given me to serve Him and the needs of others.

Second, we minister in three directions: to the Lord, to believers, to non-believers. There are certain ministries that are more purely directed at any one of those. Some ministries do all three. When we worship, we really minister to the Lord. We get together and do Bible study that's primarily aimed at believers and the edification of believers. The ministry of evangelism is primarily directed at nonbelievers. But there are lots of ministries that really involve all three. I think the music ministry, although they lead us in worship on Sunday, it's a great venue for non-believers to see people worship and how meaningful and relevant that can be. It's edifying for us and we minister to the Lord.

Third, Ephesians 4 teaches us that God wants to use me to help others grow toward maturity. The Apostle Paul wrote, "It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become more mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." 1 Corinthians 12 says "There are different kinds of service to God but it is the same Lord we are serving. The Holy Spirit displays God's power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church. All of you together are the one body of Christ and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it."

"What the Bible says About Spiritual Gifts". The Apostle Paul says "Now about spiritual gifts I don't want you to be ignorant." A spiritual gift is a special ability, given by the Holy Spirit to every believer at their conversion to be used to minister to others and therefore buildup the body of Christ.

The purpose of spiritual gifts:

Not for my benefit but for the benefit of others. You have gifts because God wants you to benefit others. If you want to take your gift and brag and make yourself boastful, that's not why God gave you that. 1 Peter 4:10 "Each one of you as a good manager of God's different gifts must use for the good of others the spiritual gifts he has received from God."

Recognize that I have both primary and secondary ministries in my church family. My primary ministry commitment should be in the area where I am gifted -- fulfilled. If you're serving in a ministry and you feel fulfilled, that is one of the most awesome feelings to have.

The secondary ministry includes serving in an area in the body where I am needed -- short term help, special events.

During the rest of this message, I'd like to focus on ten Biblical truths, Biblical foundations of the things that the Bible teaches about ministry.

1. I've Been Created for Ministry. Ephesians 2:10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, We were created in Christ Jesus to do good works, we were created for ministry, works that God prepared in advance for us to do. We are here on earth for a reason. One of those reason certainly includes ministry.

2. We Have Been Saved for Ministry. 2 Timothy 1:9. The Bible teaches that every Christian is saved to serve. It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy work not because we deserved it but because that was his plan long before the world began.

3. I Have Been Called into Ministry. Galatians 1:15. "God in His grace chose me even before I was born and called me to serve Him." Ephesians 4:1 "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."

"You have been chosen [circle chosen"] by God Himself. You are priests of the King. You are God's very own. All this so you may show others how God called you [circle "called you"] out of the darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were less than nothing, now you are God's very own."

2 Peter 2:5 says "You will serve as a holy priest." The moment you became a Christian, you were called into ministry.

I am not who I think I am but I am not who you think I am. I really am who God says I am. That's what's important. And God says, and this is a life changing truth, my primary identity is not as a man, as a father, husband. My primary identity is that I am a minister of Jesus Christ. I was created, I was saved and I was called into ministry and so were you. I am a minister of Jesus Christ. That is the most profound truth that you will ever understand. When you became a Christian, you became a minister.

People ask this all the time, "How many ministers do we have here at FBI?" Well, the answer should be 1300 or as many ministers as we have members.

4. I Have Been Gifted for Ministry. 1 Peter 4:10 "God has given each of you some special abilities [circle abilities]. Be sure to use them passing on to others God's many kinds of blessings." Remember I talked about spiritual gifts earlier.

5. I've Been Authorized for Ministry. Jesus says, "All authority in heaven has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples." Matthew 28:18-19. 2 Corinthians 5:20 "We are Christ's ambassadors." An ambassador is someone who has been chosen, selected, to represent royalty, a throne, or a government. The Bible says we are ambassadors for Jesus Christ here on earth, once we are saved, become Christians. When someone asks you, "Are you a minister for Jesus Christ?" You can say without any doubt, any concern, "Yes, I am a minister for Jesus Christ not because I deserve it. I don't. But because I've been chosen by God to be a minister for Jesus Christ and to serve Him.

6. I'm Commanded to Minister. Jesus said, "Your attitude must be like My own for I am the Messiah and did not come to be served but to serve." Matthew 20:29. What Jesus is saying here is not an option. A non ministering Christ, a non serving Christian is not obeying God. Colossians 4:17 "Take heed to the ministry you've received from the Lord and fulfill it." [circle "fulfill"]. The secret to a fulfilled life is finding the right ministry that God has shaped you for and serving in it. That's where you're going to find fulfillment.

7. I'm to Be Equipped for Ministry. I'm to be prepared for ministry is what that is saying. Ephesians 4:11-12 "God gave pastors and teachers to prepare God's people for works of ministry so the body of Christ may be built up."

This verse is really important. It's the key verse in our text but it scares me. What that says as a pastor, the pastors on this staff, is that we're going to be judged on how well we equip you to serve. That is our major role as pastors, to equip or train the saints (members) to do the work of ministry.

8. The Body of Christ Needs My Ministry. 1 Corinthians 12:27 "All of you together are one body of Christ and each of you is a separate and necessary part of it." We are all necessary parts and we all have different shapes. If your liver decided to take a year off from serving your body and said, "I just think I'd like to be fed this year." What would happen? The body would die. The body would miss that part that wasn't serving, that wasn't working. All of us need to be working together. Basically ministry always functions in the context of a church family. The New Testament teaches this in Matthew 9:36-37, "When Jesus saw the crowds He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said, `The harvest is great but the workers are few. Ask the workers to send workers into the harvest field.'" That's still true today. The harvest is truly plentiful. The sad fact is there are more people out there that are ready to receive the good news of Jesus Christ than people ready to share the good news. The harvest is definitely plentiful.

9. I'm Accountable for My Ministry. Romans 14:12 says "So then each of you will give an account of himself to God." There are many parables in the Bible but Matthew 25:14, 30 is the parable of the talents. God talks about how He gave one man one talent, one man five talents, and another man ten talents. He came back later and asked them what they had done with the talents they were given. The one that didn't do anything with his, God said this, "You are wicked and lazy." What God is saying is that He has given us a talent, spiritual gifts, abilities and it is a sin for us to not use them. I'm going to give an account of how I use what God gave me to Him someday. And so are you.

10. I will Be Rewarded for My Ministry. God always wants to leave us with a positive note. Colossians 3:23-24 "Whatever you do work with all your heart as working for the Lord, not men since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward." God says we're going to be rewarded. Don't ask me how. But He says it, so it's true. We're going to be rewarded in heaven on the basis of our service, on the basis of our ministry.

I pray that when God calls me home that I'll hear what it says in Matthew 25:23, "Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness."

We've been created for ministry, saved for ministry, called into ministry, gifted for ministry, authorized for ministry, commanded to serve, we are to be prepared for ministry, the body of Christ needs our ministry, we're accountable for ministry and we will be rewarded.

Now the final question is this. Are you a minister? Are you a minister of Jesus Christ? If so, what’s your ministry? Where are you serving within the context of the local church?

Ask yourself, “Is there a place, a part, a program, that I can point to in this church I attend, that I can say, this is where God is using me to minister my spiritual giftedness and my special abilities?”