Word of Salvation – Vol.48 No.27 – July 2003

 

Every Member Ministering

 

Sermon by Rev J de Jongh on 1 Peter 4:10-11

Scripture Reading:  Matthew 25:14-30

Suggested Hymns:  BoW 179; 387:1,4,5,6; 419; 434; 145

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ…

There are people in this congregation, and in every reasonably healthy congregation, who stand out in a particular way. They want to see people come to faith. They want to see people growing in their love for Jesus. And they’re willing to be active in encouraging it to happen. They’re willing to take interested non-Christians under their wing and disciple them toward faith. They’re willing to take young Christians into their care and encourage them to grow in their understanding and commitment. And whether they know it or not, these folk especially are taking to heart what this passage says to us this morning. They’re ministering to others with their God-given gifts in God’s authority and strength.

1. Every member ministering to others

And that’s what God calls us all to do this morning – to minister to others. The NIV uses the word ‘serve’ here in verse 10, but it’s the same word as ‘minister’. Serving is the basic idea behind the idea of ministry.

And we all have a rough idea about how that looks. We’ve probably all seen ministers at work. So that probably means that ministry is about leading worship on Sundays, catching up with people pastorally during the week, teaching the young people, leading Bible studies – and whatever else it is that ministers do with their time. But that’s not exactly true, even though that’s how ministry may look when it’s done by the minister.

Doesn’t that at least mean, though, that you don’t have to minister? After all, isn’t that what the minister is here for? Isn’t it his job to minister to the congregation, and your job to work and earn and look after your families, raise your kids, and generally live your life? But if this word ‘serve’ in verse 10 also has the sense ‘minister’ here, and it does, then that means that that isn’t the whole picture. The call here is that we all use the gifts God has given us to minister to others.

In fact you might have seen a trendy thing that some churches do. At the top of their newsletter as their mission statement or whatever, they have the slogan, ‘Every member ministering’. They have a formal minister or pastor who’s job it is to shepherd the congregation, but the understanding is that ministry is the responsibility of every member of the congregation.

The only weakness with that is that there’s a tendency within organisations, including churches, that people call the 80/20 rule. It basically says that generally, 80% of the work is being done by 20% of the people. In many organisations, a small percentage of the members are doing the vast majority of the work. And in most churches, too, only a small percentage of the congregation are doing the vast majority of the ministry.

Someone has used a great illustration of a full bus that’s broken down in the middle of the road. It has to be moved off the road, out of the way of the traffic. And so the bus driver gets out of the bus, puts his shoulder against the rear bumper of the bus, and tries to push it off the road. And everyone looks out of the bus and sees him sweating and straining and making no progress whatsoever. And so a few people get out and help him. And you end up with 20 people pushing the bus off the road with 80 able-bodied people sitting inside complaining about the lack of progress.

And that’s apparently how churches usually end up running too – 20% of the people pushing things along, with 80% of the congregation telling them how to do it.

And maybe we’re doing better than that here. On the other hand things are probably not the way they should be either. And so have a think from time to time about how involved you are in ministering to others within the life of the congregation. Are you actively encouraging people in their faith and in their Christian living? Are you helping newer Christians grow in their relationship with Jesus and their commitment to Him? Are you helping non-Christians that you know along the road to saving faith? Do you spend time each week catching up with folk, either formally or maybe informally over a coffee, talking about where they’re at and helping them see and take the next step? Are you learning to take opportunities that you already have every week to encourage people like that, rather than just making small talk? And are you encouraging them to encourage and nurture others in their faith, so that the network expands even wider? Could God say you were involved in ministry for Him?

The way we minister to others is by faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

You notice that in English, this word ‘administering’ even has the word minister there in it, ‘ad-minister’. And the picture that Peter has in mind here is the household steward who was responsible for managing the householder’s business and property. They’d be given everything they needed – money, authority – to do the job well. None of us probably have a servant like that running our households. But thinking back not all that long ago, wealthy people would have a head servant that would run the household, organise the other servants, make sure that everything was organised and provided for. Some people probably still employ someone to fill that kind of role.

And that’s what God calls us to do in the life of the church. He calls us to be His servants, using the gifts that He has given us to serve and minister to others, administering His grace in its various forms.

In fact, in Greek, these words ‘grace’ and ‘gift’ have the same root. Grace is God’s free gift to us. There’s saving grace that God has given us in Jesus Christ. And spiritual gifts are the practical expressions of God’s grace that we can use to serve and minister to others. God’s saving grace makes us holy and righteous in principle. God’s serving grace encourages us to become that more and more in practice.

And that basically defines what ministry is. Ministry is simply using this serving grace that God has given us, these spiritual gifts, to encourage each other to become in practice what God’s saving grace makes us in principle. Ministry is encouraging people to grow and mature in their Christian walk. It comes out in another passage that deals with spiritual gifts – Ephesians 4: “…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 mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Ministry is encouraging people to grow in faith. Its ultimate goal is unity in faith – unity in the knowledge of the Son of God. It works at helping Christians to become mature, reaching for fullness in Jesus Christ, working to become like him. It works at helping interested non-Christians to come to faith. Ministry is about making disciples, nurturing disciples, and encouraging disciples to make other disciples.

Are you involved in making disciples? Are you involved in nurturing disciples? Are you involved in encouraging disciples to make further disciples?

2. Every member ministering in God’s authority and strength

But then what kinds of spiritual gifts has God given us so that we have the tools for the task? And you’ll know that there are other lists in the New Testament that give examples of the kinds of gifts God gives. Peter doesn’t do that here. He just speaks about two broad families of gifts, speaking gifts and serving gifts.

God gives some Christians speaking gifts. And we know who some of those people are because they’re good at speaking the gospel to other people. Maybe they’re good at speaking the gospel to non-Christians. They’re evangelists. Maybe they’re good at doing that one on one, or maybe to a whole group. But God has given them the courage they need to speak to people who might challenge them. He’s given them the ability to present ideas in a short and simple way. He’s given them a clear understanding of the gospel so that they can present it clearly.

Or maybe they’re good at teasing out the gospel – good at understanding the different sides to the gospel that the Bible speaks about – good at applying them to peoples’ lives. Then they’re teachers and preachers. God’s given them the ability to see how everything holds together in unity. And they’re able to take the different parts of that unity, explain them, illustrate them, apply them, and show how it all fits together as a whole.

And there are other speaking gifts as well, but these two are an example.

But what you need to remember if God has given you a speaking gift is this. It doesn’t count for much unless you’re speaking God’s Word. It doesn’t help anyone much if you’re spouting your own ideas, or someone else’s, and they don’t agree with God’s. In fact that does a lot more harm than good. It’s important that you know your Bible well, and that you’re teaching what the Bible teaches.

On the other hand, if you are teaching what the Bible teaches, then you can know that you speak with the very authority of God. A department store chain used to say, ‘We stand behind the products we sell.’ And God, too, stands behind everything He has said in the Bible. If you’re teaching what the Bible teaches, then God Himself stands behind the truth of what you teach, and you teach with God’s authority.

And then there are people who are especially good at serving. They may or may not be good at teaching the gospel as well, but they’re definitely good at demonstrating the gospel by example. In the way they live, in the help they give, you see the kindness and compassion of Jesus – you see His grace and mercy at work in practice. These people get busy when someone is sick, or house-bound, or in hospital, or lonely. They’re the people who bring meals around, or who mow your grass, clean the house, have you round for a meal, or pop in for some company.

And just as the people with speaking gifts can use them in God’s authority, these folk can practice their gifts in God’s strength. God Himself gives them the strength they need for their calling. They’re probably inclined to go far above and beyond the call of duty and end up worn out by it anyway. But God promises to give them all they need to reflect Jesus to the world through their example.

Many of us have some idea about our spiritual gifts. We know our strengths and weaknesses. We know the things that we’re interested in and passionate about. When it comes to ministering in the life of the church, we know where we fit best and where we feel like a square peg in a round hole. Doing something like the ‘Discover your Gifts’ course has helped some of us, too, to clarify our gifts just a little more.

But the question ultimately is, how are you using those gifts, and interests, and passions, to minister to others? There’s no point having God prepare you like that and then not using them in His service. In fact, it ultimately works against you if you don’t. You could end up suffering the fate of the servant who was given the one talent and buried it in the ground. When the master returned and asked how his servants had invested their money, he wasn’t terribly happy about the servant who had nothing to show for what he had given him. In fact he took away from him the little that he had and gave it to someone else, and threw that servant out of his kingdom.

How are you using your gifts, and passions, and interests to bring others to Christ? How are you using them to challenge and encourage believers to grow in their faith? How are you using them to equip other Christians so that they’re able to reach out and bring others to faith? God has given each of us gifts and abilities. He expects us to use them in ministry.

Conclusion

I really like that illustration I mentioned earlier about the bus that had to be pushed along for a while. It’s just a pity that it describes one of the glaring weaknesses of most churches. You can just imagine the few people that have hopped off the bus sweating and straining to keep it moving, not making a whole lot of progress, while everyone else stays inside, not really all that happy either because they’re not getting anywhere fast. Surely the better option for everyone is for the bus driver to stay on the bus and steer it, and for everyone else to get off and push. Sharing the load makes everything easier for everyone, to the point that everyone can enjoy the satisfaction of getting where they want to go without having had to burst a blood vessel to do it.

But our church here is that bus. We’re the people involved. Some of us are pushing pretty hard; some of us aren’t. Some of us are busily involved in ministry, sharing the gospel, nurturing new believers toward maturity, encouraging disciples to make even more disciples. But once again, some of us aren’t.

Where are you in all of that? Are you someone who is busy and active in ministry? Are you using your God-given gifts in ministering to others?

Amen.