Would you turn with me to Romans
chapter 12? I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Gift of Ministry. Beginning in verse 4 of Romans
chapter 12, and this is where Paul gives us the seven gifts given
to the church for the edification of the body. For as we have many
members in one body, and all members have not the same office,
so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members
one of another, having then gifts, differing according to the grace
that's given to us, whether prophecy let us prophesy according to
the proportion of faith. Or ministry, let us wait on our
ministering. For he that teacheth on teaching,
or he that exhorteth on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence. He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Now there we have the seven gifts
given to the body of Christ for the edification, for the building
up of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And every believer has
one or more of these gifts. If you're a believer, God has
given you a gift or gifts in order for you to serve his body. Here we're going to consider
the gift of ministry. And this is a gift that every
believer possesses. All it means is to serve. The
gift to be a servant. As a matter of fact, it reads
literally, look in your King James, verse seven, or ministry
on ministering. It looked at let us wait in hours,
all in italics put there by the translators. And I guess it's
good, but it's not necessary. He said, if you're going to serve,
serve. If you're going to serve, serve.
If that's your gift, do it. Paul said in 1 Timothy 1 verse
20, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me for
that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,
into being a servant. Somebody says, I don't have that
gift. That's kind of bad, isn't it? If you're a believer, you
do have that gift. Now, I don't know how we use
it, But if we're a believer, we do have this gift of service,
being a servant. And I desire for the Lord to
put us into the ministry just like he did Paul. And in this
thing of being a servant, every one of us should aspire to greatness. Now let me repeat that. In this
thing of being a servant, every one of us should aspire to greatness. Anyone can be great. You don't have to have an education.
You don't have to have wealth. You don't have to have popularity.
All you have to do is be a servant. That's it. Look at the words
of our Lord in Luke chapter 22. beginning in verse 24. You know, this is right before the
Lord died, and this was still going on, verse 24. And there
was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted
the greatest. I suppose every one of them thought
they should be counted the greatest. And he said unto them, the kings
of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise
authority upon them are called benefactors. Now that's the way
of the world, people trying to control one another. I want to
have control over you. I want to tell you what to do.
I want to influence you. That's the way of the world.
You know, I think it's funny the way men want to have control,
whereas the reality is that we don't have any control at all.
And God controls everything and everybody. And he's in control
of every event. And you know, if we really believed
that, we'd never worry again, would we? We'd not be upset,
we wouldn't worry, we'd just rejoice. But this is the way
of the world, this is the way Gentiles act. Verse 26, but you
shall not be so, but he that's greatest among you, let him be
as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater he that
sitteth and meet, or he that serveth. It's not he that sitteth
and meet but, I am among you, I am among you. This is the Son
of God speaking. I am among you as he that serveth. The Lord Jesus, God's Son, the
brightness of God's glory and the express image of his person,
the one who thought it not robbery to be equal with God is also
the servant of God. Listen to these scriptures. God
says, behold, my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom
my soul delighteth. The Son of God is the servant. My servant shall deal prudently. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
God the Father calls God the Son my servant. Turn to Matthew
chapter 20 for a moment. Verse 20. Then came to him the mother of
Zebedee's children with their sons, worshiping him. and desiring a certain thing
of him. This was the mother of James and John. And he said unto
her, what wilt thou? And she said unto him, grant
that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and
the other on thy left in thy kingdom. Now that's a mother's
desire. She had high ambitions for her boys. And I can see my
mom making the same request. You know you would, Mom. You're always Mom would too.
So, you know, that's kind of the way mothers are. But look
at the Lord's answer to her, verse 22. But Jesus answered
and said, you know not what you ask. And he's addressing James and
John at this time, standing there with their mother. And he asks
this question. Are you able to drink of the
cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism
that I'm baptized with? Now he's talking about the cross.
He's talking about drinking the cup of God's wrath and being
baptized underneath the fire of God's wrath. He's talking
about the cross and the sufferings that he was going to endure.
And he asked these two men, James and John, are you able to drink
of that cup? Now, how would you think they
would answer? Why, no, of course we can't. But look at the insolence
and the pride of their answer. They said in him, we're able.
We're up to the task. We can do it. Now, that is an
amazing answer, but the Lord's response is even more amazing. Instead of rebuking them and
reprimanding them for their pride, look how he answers. Verse 23,
and he saith unto them, you shall drink indeed of my cup and be
baptized. with the baptism that I am baptized
with. Now notice the wording. He says,
you shall indeed. You really are going to drink
of the cup that I drink of. And you're going to be baptized
with the baptism that I'm baptized with. How? Well, Paul put it this way. I am crucified with Christ. He didn't say Christ was crucified
for me, although he was. He said, I am crucified with
Christ. You know what that means? This is true of every believer. When he drank of the cup, I did. When he was baptized under the
wrath of God, completely immersed under the wrath of God, suffering
for sin, I was. Literally? Literally. Because I was in him. You know, that's what we confess
in baptism. That's why I love baptism. What
a beautiful illustration of the gospel. When he lived, I lived. When he kept the law, I kept
the law. When he died, I died. When he
was raised, I was raised. He looks at these two fellows
and he says, you shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink
of. And you'll be baptized with the
baptism I'm baptized with. In the beloved, I went to the
tree. There in his person by faith
I may see infinite wrath rolling over his head, infinite grace,
for he died in my stead. In the beloved accepted am I,
risen, ascended, and seated on high, saved from all sin through
his infinite grace with the redeemed ones accorded. heaven a place
in the beloved God's marvelous grace calls me to dwell in this
wonderful place God sees my Savior then he sees me in the beloved
accepted and free yes you shall indeed drink of the cup because
you're in me whatever I do you do but let's go on reading But
he says in the middle of verse 23, to sit on my right hand and
on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them
for whom is prepared of my father. And when the 10 heard it, they
were moved with indignation. against the two brethren. How
dare they make such a request that they should be at the right
hand and the left and just leave us out? They were moved with
indignation, just like me and you would be if somebody did
that, just like us, no different. Verse 25, but Jesus called them
unto him and said, you know what? The princes of the Gentiles exercised
dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority
upon them, but it shall not be so among you. You know the way of the gospel
is not the way of the world. No similarities. But whosoever
will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among
you, let him be your servant. Remember, this is about the gift
of ministry. Let him be the servant, even
as the son of man came not to be ministered unto. This is one of the most amazing
verses of scripture in the Bible. Even as the son of man came not
to serve, to be served, but to serve and to give his life a
ransom For many. Now, in that statement, we have
the gospel, don't we? He came not to be served, but
to serve. And here's what he did in coming
to serve. He gave his life. A ransom. A sin atoning payment. For many. Not everybody. but for many. Now, this is the
gospel. He gave his life a ransom. How clearly he demonstrated his
service when he washed his disciples' feet. I love to think about that.
I can understand why Peter said, you'll never wash my feet. He
said, if I don't wash you, you have no part with me. He said,
well, wash my head, my hands too. I understand that, don't you?
But here he comes washing the disciples' feet. And he came
to serve, he came to give his life a ransom for many. His death, his life, and his
death was a ransom, a payment for the wages of sin for many. Now, here's my question. Did
he pay the debt? Did he pay the debt? Beloved, when he said, it is
finished. My debt was completely paid. And my salvation was completely
accomplished. Yes, even before I was ever born. That's how complete this salvation
is. He paid the debt. And God accepted
the payment. And God accepts me. He accepts
everybody that Christ died for. He accepts everybody that looks
to His Son as all they have in their salvation. The ransom was
paid. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. The scripture says in Hebrews
10, 14, for by one offering, he hath perfected forever. Then they're sanctified. Now
that's what he did by his death. He perfected. You know what that
means? I'm perfect. Somebody says, you don't look perfect.
I know, but I still am. If God says I'm perfect, I am perfect,
perfect before God. And if that's the way God sees
me, that's the way I am. That's what he accomplished by
that ransom payment. He paid the debt of my sin, put
them away, and now I stand perfect before God. Now, when Paul said
that God made us able ministers of the New Testament, this is
the New Testament. This is the New Testament, what
we're talking about now. Him giving his life a ransom
so that I'm accepted by God wholly because of what he did. Now, this has happened to me on numerous
occasions when someone has been rude to me or something like
that. Len always says, you get bad karma. You get bad karma. I hear that a lot. I get bad
karma. I guess I do. But do you know what karma means?
Karma is is if you have good vibes or if you do good things,
good things will come back to you. And if you have bad vibes
and you do bad things, bad's going to come back to you. You're
going to reap what you sow. That's what karma means. Now that is
human religion, isn't it? That's even, quote, Christianity. It's a human religion, is all
it is. Karma, karma, karma. You get good karma, you do good,
you think good, you do good things, good things will happen to you,
but if you're bad, it's gonna come around and bite you. I mean,
you give bad vibes to somebody and they're gonna come back at
you, it's your fault. Well, maybe that's, well, no, it's not so.
It's not so, because there's no such thing. It's not karma,
it's grace. It's what Christ did. This is
the difference between the gospel and everything else. The gospel
says, I get good because of his grace. Everything else says you
get good because if you're good, you'll get good. If you're bad,
you'll get bad. Well, if that's the case, none of us are going
to get any good, are we? All of us have bad karma. But thank
God for the gospel of his grace because of his ransom. Because
of his ransom, God gives me nothing but good. And it doesn't have
anything to do with me being good. It's because of who he
is. He gave his life a ransom for
many. And the ministry has something
to do with this, doesn't it? This thing of ministry. Peter said in Acts 4, he called
it the ministry of the word. The ministry of the word. This
is the word. He gave His life a successful
ransom for many and put away their sins and accomplished their
salvation. Their salvation for everybody He died for. The ministry
has something to do with the proclamation of that word. We
read in Acts chapter 20 verse 24 that this is called the ministry
of the gospel of God's grace. Grace! A ministry of grace. Not
a ministry of karma, but a ministry of grace where Grace causes somebody
like me to be perfect in God's sight. It's called in 2 Corinthians
3, verse 8, the ministry of the Holy Spirit. You know, this is
what's glorious about this. It isn't up to me to try to get
you all to believe the way I'm saying. I mean, I can try to
do that, but this is the work of God the Holy Spirit. If God
the Holy Spirit works in your heart, you're gonna see that
this is the gospel and nothing else is. You'll see that, you'll
believe it, you'll rejoice in it. It's not up to me to get
you to figure this out or get me to figure it out. This is
the work of God the Holy Spirit. This is the ministry of the Holy
Spirit. It's called in 2 Corinthians
3.9, the ministry of righteousness. By him giving his life a ransom
for many, many were actually made righteous. Every believer
is nothing less than the righteousness of God. In 2 Corinthians 5.18,
it's called the ministry of reconciliation. Paul said in Romans 5.10, if
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. By the death
of his son, much more being reconciled will be saved by his life. And
in 2 Corinthians 9, 1, it's called the ministry of the saints. Now,
if I'm serving you, I'm serving him. If you're serving me, you're
serving him. Because he said, this is the
words of our Lord, inasmuch as you did it to the least of these,
my brethren, You done it to me. The ministry of the saints. Now,
what is this thing of serving Christ? Would you turn with me
to John 12, being a minister? Turn with me to John 12. Verse
26. If any man serve me, well, here's what you
need to do. Let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also
my servant be. If any man serve me, if any man
is a minister to me, him will my father Now, hear the words of Christ
to his servants. Follow me. I love the simplicity of that
instruction. Follow me. This is the marching
order to the church. Follow me. Now, how do you follow
somebody? This is really easy to answer. You follow somebody
by keeping your eyes on them. You know, when I've gone to Mexico,
and some of you have experienced this, when we go into this place,
it's downtown, it's kind of a third world, there's a marketplace,
there's tons of people, and all kinds of different places you
can go, and you know, when I'm in there, I'm intimidated. I
can't speak the language, and if Walter Groover's with you,
Man, he's not concerned about you being, I mean, you've got
to keep your eyes right on him. Because he's going to go off,
he wants to get in there and get out, you know, and I understand
that. But I learned something about following. As soon as I
take my eyes off him, he's gone and I'm lost. And I've got to
wait for somebody to come find me. The only way that you can
follow somebody is by keeping your eyes on them. Turn with
me to Hebrews chapter 12 for a moment. Verse 1, Wherefore, seeing we
also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
talking about all the people mentioned in Hebrews chapter
11, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience. the race that is set before us. Now, the only reason, the only
way I'm going to run this race with patience is I really believe
God is on the throne, ruling and reigning and controlling.
And you know, if you believe that, you're going to be patient.
Everything's going to be okay. And there's a race set before
every one of us. And look how he says to run this
race in verse two, looking unto Jesus. the author and the finisher
of our faith. Now this word looking here I
think is very interesting. This is the only time in the
New Testament this word is used. It means to turn your eyes away
from other things and fix them upon something. Turn your eyes
away from everything else. You know what that means? I'm
not to look to myself. I'm not to look to my works.
I'm not to look to my feelings. I'm not to look to anything about
me. I'm not to look to you. I'm not to look to your works.
I'm not to look at what you're doing. There's only one place
I'm to look, looking unto Jesus. Now, how do I look to him? I
look to him as the author and the finisher of faith. I look to Him as the One who
gives me faith in the first place. That's how much I look to Him.
I look to Him for faith. I don't only look to Him in faith,
I look to Him for faith. Lord, give me faith. Give me
faith. I look to Him as the Author,
the Beginner, the Creator of faith, and I look to Him as the
Finisher of faith. He's the End. He's the Beginning.
He's the End. looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. Is He the author of your faith?
And if you have faith, is He the one that's going to finish
it? Well, if you have faith, you know that so. And then He
says we're to look to Him as the one who for the joy that
was set before Him, the joy of doing His Father's will. He said, I came down from heaven
not to do my own will, But the will of Him that sent me, and
this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which
He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. Now this was His Father's will
for Him to save the elect. That's why He came. He didn't
come to make men savable. He came to save. And that's what
He did and what joy He received from doing His Father's will.
And for the joy of saving His people. Oh, the joy, the joy
He got in bearing our sin. I don't understand that. Who for
the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. He was willing to go to the cross
and all that that means, being forsaken by His Father, being
made sin. He endured the cross, despising
the shame. Counting is nothing the shame
of the cross. Now this is, I think it was Greg
Elmquist that said this, and I told the men in the back that
I thought this was such a powerful, a poignant thing. If I am being
punished for somebody else's sin, unwillingly, I'm gonna be
resentful. If I'm being punished for somebody
else's sin willingly, I'm going to do it out of love for them
and I'm going to know that there's some nobility in what I'm doing.
But the one thing I can't feel in being punished for somebody
else's sin is shame. Shame. Now this gives us some
idea of the reality of what the cross is. My sin so much became
his sin that he felt the shame of it. Now, looking unto Jesus, the
author and the finisher of our faith. This is how we look to
him. And this is what it is to follow him. It's to look to him.
Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross,
despising, counting as nothing, the shame. And what's it say
next? And is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. I'm to look to him as set down. Now, why is he set down? Well,
Hebrews 10, 11 says in every priest standeth daily ministering
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. on the right hand of
the majesty on high, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. You know what that means? He
sat down because his work was completed. When he said those
blessed words, it is finished, the salvation of everybody he
died for was perfected, was finished, was completed. And we look to
him as having sat down. How I love those words. It is
finished. Now, Peter said in first Peter
chapter four verse one, if any man minister, And remember, every
believer has this gift. It's a gift of grace. It's a
gift to serve the church. If any man minister, let him
do it as of the ability that God giveth. God has given you
the gift to serve. He's given me the gift to serve
and the ability to be a servant. Now, I need to say this. There is a very real danger in
me and you, not using the gift God has given. Listen to these scriptures. Paul
said to Timothy, neglect not the gift of God, which is given
you. Now he wouldn't have said that
if there were not a danger of Timothy neglecting this gift. He also said to Timothy in 2
Timothy 1, stir up the gift of God which is in thee. Fan the
flame. Don't let it die out. Fan the flame. Paul said to Archippus
in Colossians, take heed to the ministry that thou has received
of the Lord Jesus that thou fulfill it. Take heed. Make sure it's fulfilled. He
said to Timothy also, make full proof of thy ministry. There's such a danger of spectator
Christianity. I don't want to have anything
to do with that, do you? I don't want to just be a spectator. Whatever
it is to be a servant, I want to be a servant. There are believers who have
been gifted Everybody has this gift of being a servant, but
they don't seem to be serving anyone but themselves. I don't
want to be that person to you. I know I will be apart from the
grace of God. I know it could be. I know I would be, but I
don't want to be that person. I want to stir up the gift of
God that's in me. I don't want to neglect it. What a shame it is for Well,
it's just like, it's kind of like somebody that's, say, a
gifted athlete, but they don't work, they don't try, they don't
practice, and they end up not being any good. Somebody that's
a gifted piano player, if they don't practice all the time,
they're not gonna be good, even if they have those gifts. Stow
up. Neglect not the gift of God that's
in thee. Now, it was said of the house
of Stephanus in 1 Corinthians 16, 15, that they have addicted
themselves to the ministry of the saints. In this day of addictions,
what a good addiction this is, to addict yourself to being a
servant to the saints. Now that's something to aspire
to greatness in, being a servant. We ought to all aspire to greatness
by taking the lowest seat in the house and being the servant.
Phoebe in Romans 16, she was called a servant of the church.
That was her life. That was her life. Phoebe, this
dear woman Paul spoke of, a servant of the church. Wouldn't that
be a blessing if you and I would be described that way? Because
it's only being a servant of the church that we serve Christ.
That's the only way we can serve Christ, is being a servant to
his people. Remember how he said, inasmuch
as you've done unto the least of these, my brethren, you've
done unto me. Inasmuch as you did it not to the least of these,
my brethren, you did it not to me. Turn with me to Luke chapter
eight. I love this passage of scripture. Verse one, and it came to pass
afterward that he went throughout every city and village preaching
and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the
12 were with him, but not just the 12. Certain women. which had been healed of evil
spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, out of
whom he cast seven devils, and Jolanna, the wife of Cusa, Herod's
steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto
him of their substance." I love to think about that. These women
following around the Lord, and they're the ones who took care
of him. They were the ones who made sure he ate. What an honor
it was to these women. Turn to 2 Timothy 1. Second Timothy chapter one. Verse 13, hold fast the form
of sound words. and those words that were spoken
of in the previous verses, verses eight through 12. Hold fast the
form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and
love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed
unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. And this
thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from
me. of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. He names these men. I don't know
what all was involved, but that was his testimony. But then he
said in verse 16, The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus. For he oft refreshed me, and
he was not ashamed of my chain, But when he was in Rome, and
this is before the days of phones and cell phones and global positioning
devices, and this was before all that. What did he do when
he was in Rome, the biggest city in the world? But when he was
in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and he found me. The
Lord pay him back in that great day. No, the Lord granted him
that he might find mercy of the Lord in that day. You know the best thing you can
pray for somebody is that they find mercy. Not that the Lord would repay
them for all the good they've done. What if that was the case for
you and me? We'd be in trouble, wouldn't
we? The Lord grant that he may find mercy of the Lord in that
day. And in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus,
thou knowest very well. What an encouragement this man
was. Onesiphorus. He was a servant to Paul. You know, Paul was a servant
to him, too. Now, in conclusion, two things. Thank God for the gospel that
makes me to be right now. lacking nothing, perfect in Christ
Jesus, because that when he drank that cup as the sinner's substitute,
I did too. When he died, I died. When he was raised, I was raised. When he went back to glory and
ascended into the Father's presence, I was in him. And as he's there
right now, I'm there too. He said, indeed, this is real.
This isn't just pie in the sky. This isn't just as if. If Christ
is in heaven, I am too, because I'm united to him. That's my
hope. And in light of that, may God
give me the grace and give you the grace to be servants, to
seek to be great in the kingdom of heaven by being the biggest
servant there. Now that's a good ambition. May
God give it to us all. He that would be great, let him
be your minister, your servant. And when Paul gives these seven
gifts given for the edification of the body of Christ, I think
it's interesting that the second one he mentions is that of being
a servant. I wouldn't put that second. I would put being a teacher
or being a giver. I wouldn't have put it second. Paul did. And that shows us the
importance of this gift. May the Lord give us, everybody
in this room, the grace to believe the gospel. And what comes out
of that? Being his servant and a servant
to one another. Let's pray.