Ministry in the Local Church

Good evening. We are starting again. It is class 6. And continuing tonight with our introduction to church life and ministry. Now I want to begin with a little bit of a reminder of something, or not really a reminder, just something I noticed today.

Last week I had reminded you all we have reading this week and it was chapter what in the book? Chapter 9. But there was also two additional readings in the syllabus. And the two additional readings are online articles.

One is entitled Why I Am a Cessationist by Tom Schreiner and Why I Am a Continuationist by Sam Storms. Now that was in the syllabus but I forgot to remind you to read them. So here's what we're going to do.

If you did not read those, in fact let me by show of hands how many of you did? Okay. Yeah. Read the chapter but didn't read the articles. Okay if you did not read the articles I want to encourage you to read them.

And what I will do to make it easier is I will send out a link in the text messaging format to where it will come to you on your phone. And you'll be able to link right to the articles and read them right from your phone or iPad or whatever it is you use.

So again I kind of feel like that was on me. Even though it was in the syllabus so in a sense we all bear some blame. But I didn't remind you last week that there was additional reading on top of the book.

And this is, I don't do that often but sometimes we do. And the subject matter of those articles is going to be what we discuss in the after break session tonight. Because the subject matter is the question of, really the question of what gifts do we believe have continued on?

What gifts have ceased? Do we believe the gift of tongues, prophecy, miracles and things like that continue on? That's the difference between what's known as cessationism and continuationism. And those two articles present two different perspectives.

One from somebody who believes in cessationism. One from somebody who believes in continuationism. So even though you didn't read the articles we can still have a conversation tonight. I can share with you my perspective and then you can read the articles and help you come to your own conclusions.

Sound good? All right. Well as I said tonight is class six even though I just noticed this is incorrect. Or no I'm sorry class five. Tonight is class five and this is a two-part class. Meaning we're going to do part one tonight and part two next week.

Ministry in the Local Church and the Class Agenda

Part one ministry in the local church. Our agenda is this. We're going to first recap our previous lesson and our reading assignment. Number two we are going to discuss gift-based ministry. Which again if you read your assignment this week.

If you read the chapter nine you'll know what that means by gift-based ministry. And then number three we're going to look at ministry partnerships. That isn't in the book I don't think. I don't think I addressed the subject of ministry partnerships and you'll understand what that is when we get there.

We're after the class discussion. After the class break rather. Our discussion is going to be cessationism versus continuationism. Everybody knows what we're doing. This is the agenda for the evening.

Now let's recap last week's lesson. Complementarianism versus egalitarianism. Without looking and reading the board what is complementarianism? Anybody remember? Yeah they are created to complement one another and differing roles in the church.

And egalitarianism is the full equality on everything in any position. The way I have it here men and women are both able to serve equally in any role in the church family and or society in general. That's the egalitarian position.

And we discussed the danger of confusing gender roles. And I will mention this if you're interested you can go look. But I did receive a few negative comments on the YouTube page based on what I said.

One of them saying that I was dangerous because I'm a danger to the trans community according to the comment on the YouTube page. So if you want to go to last week's class look at the comments you can see what was stated.

Just goes to show you there are people out there who are just you know ready and willing to respond and and really drop some wild accusations. Oh they're not no this yeah no they're not going to come in here.

All right so now let's talk about the reading assignment. You guys read chapter nine how is ministry performed? Tonight's lesson is going to center around the information contained in that chapter. But before we get to the lesson as I do every week I wanted to give you the opportunity to ask any questions that you might have.

Does anybody have any questions? Maybe you took notes in the book or you wrote something and you said you know what I want to I want to ask.

This question when I get to class. Anyone? I heard somebody use this argument. I used to go to Celebrate Recovery on Saturday little church downtown that used to be a thriving church. I had a woman pastor and one of the ladies arguments there was what nobody else wants.

You know I was trying to say like well you know the Apostle Paul's clear about that without arguing with her. Sure. She's like well nobody else is stepping in and so she felt like God called this woman because nobody else wanted to step in and be the pastor there because their attendance has dwindled to almost nothing.

It's mostly older people that have been there for decades and all they do is squabble with each other over you know whether to put paper cups or plastic. Her argument was like nobody else is willing to do it so what's wrong with her being.

The pastor and I'm not taking her side. No I know you're not Ed and I do think that we have to be kind even when we are dealing with someone that we would disagree with. So I understand you're not trying to argue with her or argue with me and if someone came and said we don't have any men who wanted to be the pastor here so a woman had to step up.

My initial question without being terribly argumentative or hurtful I would say just how hard did you try to fill this position with a man or were you eager to move past that and find somebody who was willing.

And the second question I would have is how important is it that this church remain if you don't have a pastor if you don't have elders if you don't have a functioning leadership how important is it that this church remain.

I mean these are quite I'm just saying these are questions I would ask her but as you said it's dwindled down to nothing. Yeah so yeah you know again it comes down to the issue of are we dedicated to what the bible teaches.

You know if the only person willing to be the pastor was a 16 year old kid you know I mean now we're just you know what's called ad nauseam you know going to the extreme you know what if the only person willing to be a pastor was a homosexual.

What if the only person willing to be a pastor was you know or well I was going to say an atheist you know Harvard just installed an atheist chaplain. This is not a joke this is it made national headlines that the head chaplain not even just a chaplain the head chaplain of Harvard, Harvard does have chaplains.

Remember Harvard began as Harvard Divinity School now it's Harvard Law School and all that. But the head chaplain at Harvard does not believe in God he calls himself a humanist not a theist and he would identify his view of theism as atheism.

So it wouldn't put me past I wouldn't I wouldn't put it past them to put an atheist as the pastor but my point is you know where do we where do we draw the line. Do we look for a biblical qualification or do we simply put in whoever wants to do the job or whoever feels you know well God called me God's calling.

I taught on this last night God's calling is not the only thing that makes a person qualified to a position they also have to meet the qualifications. If somebody says well God called me to do this but they don't meet the qualifications then either God didn't call them or God didn't call them right now you know that's just you know.

So it's a good question Ed. I mean like I said it depends you know having those types of conversations I've heard it I've heard it so much in the past well you know there weren't enough men so the women had to had to rise up and that is an issue.

I would never question the fact that throughout church history the men have failed especially in the 20th century with the rise of the industrial revolution and men going to work and spending their weeks and work don't want to go to church on the weekends because tired exhausted those things many of these things contributed to the higher concentration of women.

In the church men not in the church there's women. They did pretty much everything they taught the classes they did. We had a male. Sure. Yeah and I don't and I don't argue against that that that.

There is a reality there but we have to uh you know we have to ask harder and deeper questions I think to get to the heart of it all. Right. Anything else before we move on. Okay. Well let's look at gift-based ministry.

This can be the first portion of our class tonight getting into the lesson on the subject of ministry. How is ministry performed. Uh gift-based ministry. What is ministry according to the oxford dictionary.

This is the online version. Ministry is quote. This is directly from the oxford dictionary. Quote. The work or vocation of a minister of a religion. End quote. That's how the dictionary defines ministry.

It's the work of a minister. The problem is biblically ministry is not limited to the minister but rather it is the job of the whole church. I cite ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 and 12. Listen to what it says.

And he gave the apostles the prophets the evangelists the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints. Who are the saints. The body to equip the saints for the work of what ministry. The work of ministry for building up the body of christ.

So in that schema in in in in the schema of ephesians 4 11 and 12 whose job is it to do ministry. The saints. The job of the minister or the job of the elder pastor apostle whatever whoever the leader whatever you call him.

The job of the pastor is to equip the saints to do ministry. So when someone defines ministry as what the minister does then they have misdefined what ministry is. Ministry is what the body does and they are equipped by the minister or the pastor or the elder.

So ministry is not limited to the minister. Ministry is shared by everyone. Ministry comes from the greek word diakonia. Diakonia means to serve the same root. Diakonos is where we get the word deacon.

Have you ever heard somebody call the deacons the diaconate. That is a more that's a that's a um a term that's used in church language. They'll say you have the deacons and they'll say the deacons are make up the diaconate the diaconate or the deacons that is the that's their greek title is the diaconate and it means servant.

Christian ministry is serving others in the name of jesus christ. So diakonia is what we are all called to do. We are all called to serve. And in that sense we are all to be diakonos. We're all called to be lowercase d deacons.

You know there's the office of deacon but we're all called to deacon one another. We're all called to serve one another. And i'll put it like this while not all christians are meant to be in the office of deacon all local members church members are meant to be an active ministry which means service to one another.

We are all called to be an active ministry or service to one another. So we go to the next question how do we know what ministry we are supposed to perform. Because let me ask you this is everybody called to do the same thing not at all.

And that's a huge issue because a lot of people feel like well brother i'm a pastor and you're not. Therefore i'm better than you. I certainly don't feel that way but that some people do. Right. They my ministry.

Let's say i'm the minister of property right. I'm the one who makes sure that the grounds are clean and the yards cut and the toilets are flushing. So i'm more important than you because all you do is a ministry of communion preparation.

You only do that once a week. I'm here every day. You're not as important as me right. Or something right. We tend to see our ministry up here and other people's ministry because it's what we do right.

And i'm not. I'm not saying it's the way it should be. I'm saying it's the way people tend to be. It's just like i i have a relative who was a uh he was a machinist and he told me one time he says we're these machinists are up here.

Everybody else is down here. We are the smartest. We're the we're the craftsmen of the world. We we make the world turn. Everybody else is down here. That's the way he saw himself. He saw. And i'm. It's one thing to have pride in your work.

But it's another thing to put yourself here and say everybody else is lower. Oh yeah. Oh it was the height of arrogance for sure. And put. But we see that creep into the church. It's in human nature it is.

It's unfortunate but very much. So if you would open your bibles to first corinthians 12 i have it on the screen. I know it's hard for you guys to read. So let's read it. Um begin at verse 14. First corinthians 12 14 paul tells us that not everyone is gifted in every area.

This is important because again we have a tendency to fail to recognize the giftedness of others. Verse 14 it says. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say because i am not a hand i am do not belong to the body.

That would not make it any less part of the body. And if the ear should say because i'm not an eye i do not belong to the body. That would not make it any less part of the body. If the whole body were an eye where would be the sense of hearing.

If the whole body were an ear where would be the sense of smell. But as it is god arranged the members in the body each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member where would the body be as it is.

There are many parts yet one body very important concept paul is giving us. He is very clearly articulating to us that as members of the body of christ we are all unique. And notice a couple of things.

Notice that in this illustration paul is saying if a person says i don't have this gift i have this gift i might see myself lesser. Notice that the illustration i used earlier was i put myself high. But the other problem that people often do is they put themselves low.

Oh i'm not the pastor therefore i have no value or i'm not the deacon. Therefore i have no value or i'm not the one handling the money. Therefore i have no value. And that's what paul is trying to help the church understand that even though your giftedness is different than these other people that doesn't mean you don't belong.

God has chosen you to be in the body for the purpose that he's placed you there for so there's one thing about feeling too prideful. But there's another thing about feeling too useless. People who feel undervalued right.

Paul says we should see ourselves rightly not put ourselves too high. Neither should we put ourselves too low. But that we should use sober judgment. You were going to say um i have to open my bible. I have the printed.

Uh i can look at it real quick. No it's fine. It's fine. I'm just not looking. I'm looking at a digital text. Okay 22. On the contrary the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. And on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor.

And our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty which are more presentable parts do not require but god has so composed the body giving greater honor to the part that lacked that there may be no division in the body.

But that the members may have the same care.

For one another what is it that you're what's your concern. So the less likely parts are.

This is important. Yeah. The point that he's making is that there if you can if you compare the church to a body there are parts of our body that we use all the time and are you know indispensable. There's other parts that are private that we keep hidden.

Right. And he's saying none of them are more important than the others because it all makes up the body. Right. In the same way if let's say i just mentioned like somebody who does the communion preparation versus somebody who does the property versus somebody who preaches.

Somebody might say well the preacher is the most important. Right. He's the most based on partiality. Yeah it's giving partiality saying that you're more important or this is more important. And he's saying when you look at the body you may say well yeah my private areas i keep hidden.

Nobody gets to see them. So they're less important. No they're more important. They're indispensable. I wouldn't do it i wouldn't want to lose them. But but yeah and we bestow more honor on them. He says that's the other thing those parts that we might consider to be less valuable because you know they're covered up are actually more valuable.

We wouldn't dare want an injury or have them removed. Right. So it's just a it's just a word picture. He's using the body as a picture of value and he's saying every part of your body has value and every part of the church has value whether whether that value is on display or not or hidden.

That's right. Okay. So sorry. No and i'm glad you asked that i you know i talked through first corinthians. I did a verse by verse teaching through it a few years ago. And i remember spending several weeks on chapter 12 because trying to help people understand their value is a difficult thing.

People have a tendency to either as i said put themselves too high and that's pride or undervalue themselves to the point of not recognizing how god has gifted them and seeing the balance. You know using sober judgment for how we recognize god's gift in this is very important.

So how do how do we know what ministry we are to perform. We have to begin to recognize that god has gifted us in a certain area. So continuing in chapter 12 but going up a little bit in chapter 12 verse 4 this is what it says.

It says now there are varieties of gifts but the same spirit. And there are varieties of service but the same lord and there are varieties of activities. But in this it is the same god who empowers them all and everyone.

To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. Now i want you to notice in that passage the use of the word varieties. I'm going to try to do something i haven't done yet. So if this i hope this comes off.

Right notice here we see the word varieties here and the word varieties here in the word varieties here. Right notice. It says there are varieties of gifts. There's varieties of service and there are varieties of activities.

Right. So if you categorize these you can categorize these as one gifts two service three activities. I did this in the book. You guys who read through the book right. You remember this. Okay. So keeping that in your mind.

Now look at this when paul mentions a variety of gifts service and activities. The gifts are the motivations. The service is the ministry of the gifts within the body. And the activities are the manifestation.

Go back. Remember. He said there's a variety of gifts. There's a variety of service. There's a variety of activities. Well the gifts are the motivations. The service is the ministry. The activities are the manifestation.

So you say i i feel a little confused you guys with me we good you're not. If you're not confused i'll move on. I just don't want anybody to feel like i'm running away with this because this this was like a this was a light bulb moment for me like 10 or 15 years ago whenever i was studying this i guess was in 2008 2009 to like 12 years ago i begin because everybody wants to know what's my spiritual gift.

What is it that god's gifted me to do. And my my question to them is always what are you motivated by. What what gets you out of bed and drives you. That's first and foremost how you start to recognize god's gift.

As i said to and i hope you understand what i'm about to say. Over the years i've heard people say well you're gifted teacher. Okay. But what goes along with teaching. Ability to explain things. Ability to um articulate myself use huh a lot of study.

But being able to stand up and speak is itself a talent. Right. The number one fear of the average person is public speaking. The number two is death. Do you know that. So jerry seinfeld said this. He said most people if they go to a funeral they'd rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.

Because because the number one fear is public speaking number two fear is death. I have never been afraid of public speaking ever in the history of ever. Bobby can attest to this. I was a professional magician at age 16 i was uh and bobby and i worked together.

We did magic together. But what i mean i i was singing choruses. I asked to pray in church. When i was eight years old you remember that i asked bob macindoe if i could pray after service. I was eight years old because i had no fear to stand up and talk in front of people.

But i was not motivated to proclaim god's word until after i got saved. When i got saved god's my motivation changed. What got me up out of bed every morning changed. And it was the desire to proclaim god's word.

So the talent that i had this public speaking gift and the ability to not fear. You know i i always joke i say i do have a little fear of like small social gatherings. I get a little intimidated because i would just rather everybody stand over there and i'll stand over here and i'll talk.

And y 'all hush. Because that's why i'm built right. I'm built for monologue. You know this whole i hate small talk. This holds me it just it kills me it kills my brain. But they to be able to stand up in a group.

And no no fear. But the motivation to proclaim god's word came out of being born again never motivated by that ever. When i was younger even wanting to pray. You know why i wanted to pray at eight years old.

Because i like the idea of standing up there and talking in front of people. I like to get up and do that. But i wasn't motivated by god's word. So motivation begins. That's what your gift is. And then that becomes a ministry.

The service that that turns into is your ministry. And then the activities of that service become the manifestation of your gift. So let's look at it like this in romans chapter 12. In fact if you turn there the romans chapter 12 we are giving a listing of of what i call motivations for ministry.

And again somebody might explain this a little differently than i do. This was something that just was clear to me. But might you might understand it a little differently. But this is how i see this. Because if you go to romans 12 and beginning at verse 3 it says this.

For by the grace given to me i say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. That's what we just talked about but to think with what sober judgment each according to the measure of faith that god has assigned.

By the way that's proof if anybody ever wants to argue with me that god isn't the one who gives faith but we produce faith ourselves. It says right here god gives a measure of faith that he assigns. I think that the the in proportion to the gifts what god needs you to do.

Like for instance yes i it's let me hold back on answering that. But but i do think that there are things that call for um a more mature faith. So so yeah i would say that so or yeah i mean think about the guys in afghanistan many of which are about to give their lives for their faith.

I think that requires an extra measure of the spirit. Absolutely so so that's how i would see that yeah and but yeah could be and and it could change god you know we mature. The bible says grow in grace and knowledge.

You know verse 4. For as in one body we have many members. Paul is using the same example as first corinthians 12. And the members do not all have the same function. So we though many are one body in christ and individually members one of another having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.

Let us use them if prophecy in accordance with our excuse me in proportion to our faith in service and our serving. The one who teaches and his teaching. The one who exhorts and his exhortation. The one who contributes in generosity.

The one who leads with zeal. The one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. So you see how i outlined this i said okay there's seven distinct what i call motivations. He calls them gifts. But but again as i'm describing this i believe a gift is a motivation.

So seven motivations for ministry. And the seven that he gives in this list. I do not think this is an exhaustive list but i want to say that i don't think these are the only things. But this is seven maybe umbrellas that other things can fall underneath or categories all.

Right. So the first one is prophecy. What is prophecy. Most of us think of prophecy as telling the future. But from a that's right. From a biblical perspective prophecy is simply the proclamation of truth.

If you go back and read isaiah jeremiah lamentations read the books of the prophets most of what they said was not future telling. Most of what they said is what was going on right now. They're. They're.

They're. They're calling out the people on their sin and telling them that judgment is coming if they continue in their sin. Right. This was their they were proclaiming truth. Prophecy is the proclamation of truth.

And so if somebody were to ask me what do you think your primary gifting is. I think the motivation of my ministry is the proclamation of truth. Therefore i would say my primary gifting is prophecy. Okay some people might argue with that but i'll explain later where some of the nuances might come in service.

Service is meeting needs. You might say well we're all you just said five minutes ago we're all called to be servants. Yes. But there are people. And if you've never met one they're a they're a gift to the church.

There are people who are uniquely gifted to serve others. And you can tell that they are motivated by what can i do for my neighbor. What can i do for the church. What can i do like i show up here sometimes.

And there's people who just come up here to clean. They didn't ask. They'd have to be asked they're just here. I come up here sometimes there's guys outside pressure washing or they're trimming the trees because they're uniquely that they just they know the church needs it.

And they're here doing it. They don't have to be asked. They don't have to be told they're just here. Right. And so that that desire of service in fact this is one of the gifts that we look for in somebody who says i think god's calling me to be a deacon if he's not already serving in an extraordinary way then we would say what is it makes you think you're called to this.

Because that's an extraordinary office the office of servant deacon. You know if you're not already serving you don't have to have a title to serve. Right. And that's why i would say elders and deacons from my perspective are more things that you recognize rather than have to that to have to uh somebody have to tell you no i already see you're gifted in teaching.

I already see you're gifted in service. This is our prophecy or whatever. It's already there. You know when we chose brother andy brother mike to be elders here you know how we did it. We gave a piece of paper to everybody in the church and we said we want you to write down three names of men in this church that you believe god has given us as elders.

Three names. Any three names that you can think of that you think god has given us as elders. Every piece of paper i had back had the same two names on it. Mike caullion andy montoro. Now if you uh there are a few others that were outliers but the vast majority actually all of them had the same two names.

That's how we knew they have already demonstrated themselves to be elders. The church has already recognized them to do this. Now it's affirming them. Right. All. Right. So teaching somebody might say well pastor i think your gift is teaching not prophecy.

And i do think that there can be a connection. That's my little dance. I do think that there can be as i said i don't think that there's one single gift. I think it's a it's just like you're a unique individual human being and god has wired you a certain way.

I do think that there can be crossover. And if i were to say there's a crossover in my gifts it would prophecy and teaching. Right. That's just those two things. Um but teaching is different than proclamation the proclamation of truth in this respect teaching from a biblical perspective is your researchers your clarifiers your um you know your truth.

Uh what's the word. I'm looking for outliners. Uh people who are gifted in helping people understand things. So this might not be somebody who's necessarily gifted to stand up and proclaim. But they may be good at small groups and teaching helping people understand things might be a good counselor because they can take the word and use it to counsel people.

Right. Uh it's not always the guy who's up rip snorting and shouting who's the best teacher. Right. And again if you say which where where is your motivation. I love to teach. I love teaching history and ethics and all those things.

But sunday morning when i'm in the word and proclaiming the word that's where the motivation comes out. And that's why a lot of times in here i get a little preacher-esque start shouting a little bit.

It's all it's there. What's the word exhortation. Me yeah means to build up to lift up to exhort. And have you and you've ever met a person who's gifted to building up others. Man you leave their presence feeling like a new man or a new woman.

You just feel like god has gifted them to build you up. I have a friend who's who. And he would say his gift is a gift of exhortation. And every time i'm with this guy i leave feeling like i can conquer the world because he's just gifted in the area of building up the church building up brethren.

And sometimes you know you sometimes you need that. That's a crucial point. Sometimes you need that spiritual booster shot somebody who's able to build you up in your faith. Yeah. They didn't run away from you.

I gotta fill out some more. Yeah. Come here. What's up here. Yeah. Absolutely. Now going back. Aren't we all called to be encouragers. Yes. But but again this so this is not saying that we you get to get out of it john.

Because you're this might not be you. No we still are called to do it. But there's a unique gifting within the church of those people. And recognizing those people is a value. Because when you do see somebody likes an ed's condition you you know who to send.

And you know who not to send. You don't necessarily send the the the teacher who might just go and tell ed all of his problems. Yeah. Yeah. You might you might send the exhorter the encourager. Because that's what ed needs.

Right. And this is part of being the one of the elders is recognizing. Hey ed needs some love. You know. So number five is contributions. Uh this is giving and sharing of resources. Contributions. You say well aren't we all called to give.

Yes. In fact chat class eight is going to be all about giving in our call and responsibility to give in the church. But i know this and i want to tell you a secret. No you might be a secret to you. The church knows this.

None of the elders here know who gives what. I have no idea who gives anything. Because i don't see the books i don't see. We have three finance officers. They're the only ones who know what gives or who know what anyone gives.

But i do know that there are many times in 15 years of ministry where i've had people come up and they have said i know the church has a need. How can i fill it. Or what does the church need. And we want to fill that need.

Oftentimes those people are demonstrating this gift that they they want to go above and beyond. They want they they have a desire to give. I think i've told the story of jc penny before you guys heard that story.

The guy who owned the stores jc stores the man was an exceptional giver his whole life. He gave so much of his of his fortune to the church and to ministries and to people in need. I mean to the point like it was something like 70 80 percent was a very high percentage of what he had.

He gave away and god kept blessing him to give. And he kept giving and did it. I didn't know that but it's just so amazing that you know there's you you can see god blessing him and and it just and it never stayed in his hand was to say everything god gives us we should hold with a open hand right willing to use and serve others.

And there are people who are as again we're all called to give. But there are certain people who just seems like that's their motivation. I'm i'm motivated to give and to contribute. Um leadership administration.

Brother jack bunning is always the one i think about with administration. You know he was here for so many years. He was an elder here and he served alongside of me for the last you know for well until this year when he stepped down.