Ministry Over Motions
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
A.
Going through the motions in God’s church looks like …
I. Selfishly Comparing Yourself to Others; Ministry is Laboring Selflessly for God’s Church Together (vv. 8-9)
I. Selfishly Comparing Yourself to Others; Ministry is Laboring Selflessly for God’s Church Together (vv. 8-9)
A. No Comparison
Paul uses an agricultural analogy to get his point across. Whether you are directly involved with agriculture or not, it’s something that everyone in this room can identify with because you are surrounded by it.
Planting is not more important than watering.
Watering is not more important than planting.
Fertilizing is not more important than watering and planting.
Don’t believe me, just ask one of the many farmers in the room.
They will tell you that each of those is essential ingredients in the growing process.
In the church, there is no one position or one person that is more important than the rest. But too often in the church we selfishly compare ourselves to someone else:
Look at my talents
Look how much money I have to give
Look how much time I have to give
Look how many ministries I am involved in
Look at all the projects I’ve helped with
Do you notice the common denominator there?
It’s all about me! The problem is, church isn’t about you, it’s about God. When you make church about you, you inevitably start comparing yourself to others.
B. Part of the Team
The problem is, you’re just a part of the team. An essential part, but just a part.
This is why Paul says in verse 8, “he who plants and he who waters are one.”
As a member of the body of Christ, you are working toward the same goal: to know Jesus Christ and to make Him known.
Being a part of “the team,” being a part of God’s church, is what makes your talents, and your giving, and your time, and your involvement useful. If you’re not a part of the team, all that you have to offer is useless.
When you watch sports, you often focus on the star athletes. They are the ones who make the big plays, the moments that get replayed. But without the team, it’s all useless.
Someone could be the best ball handler, or the best kicker, or the best thrower, or the best base stealer … but all of that is meaningless if you’re not using those skills for the benefit of the team.
You are only “good” or “great” to the extent that you contribute to a team.
Even if you understand that, too often in the church people are only willing to be a part of the team if they can be the star player, if they are the one that receives the recognition.
The only star players in Christ’s church are those who faithfully minister as Christ’s servants.
Now let’s talk about that word servant.
A servant is someone who says, “Yes, sir.” A member of God’s team is someone who says, “Yes, Coach.”
In other words, whatever You need done, God, I’ll do it. In other words, “Here I am, send me.”
I don’t care if it’s not where my particular strengths are
I don’t care if I receive no recognition for it
I don’t care if no one else helps
As long as there is work to be done, use me in whatever way you need to get it done.
In the church we need less people trying to be somebody and more people coming to serve Someone, and His name is Jesus Christ.
The problem in the church is not biblical illiteracy. The problem in the church is not lack of knowledge.
The problem in the church is putting that knowledge into practice.
Which is why we are called to labor.
C. Laboring Selflessly
These verses right here are what I would call a “Christian paradox.” A paradox is something that is seemingly contradictory, but is completely true.
What do you mean by that?
Paul just got finished saying that it’s God alone who accomplishes the growth, and yet here we’re still called to labor.
You know why?
Because God accomplishes the growth by working through His church. God accomplishes the growth by working through His servants.
We don’t have the luxury of saying, “God will work it all out. God will grow it. I’m just going to sit back and watch.”
God will cause the growth, but He invites you into that process.
And the measure by which you serve will determine the reward which you will receive.
You don’t labor to receive recognition. You labor selflessly to give recognition to Jesus Christ.
You don’t labor on your own. You labor together with your teammates in Christ’s church to know Jesus and make Him known.
You don’t labor for yourself. You labor for God’s temple, His church, because the local church is the visible, tangible manifestation of Jesus Christ’s power at work in this world, and because Jesus Christ loves His Church.
Anyone can go through the motions of church when it somehow directly benefits them. True ministry is asking God to show you what needs to be done, saying, “Yes, sir” when He shows you, and joyfully serving for His mission and purpose.
Going through the motions in God’s church looks like …
II. Foolishly Building on Shifting Sand; Ministry is Wisely Investing in the Rock of Jesus Christ (vv. 10-11)
II. Foolishly Building on Shifting Sand; Ministry is Wisely Investing in the Rock of Jesus Christ (vv. 10-11)
A. The Foundation Paul Built
Paul came and planted the church in Corinth, and the foundation he laid was “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
He did so as the “master builder”
This is the person in charge of making sure the building goes according to plan.
They are not the architect, they are just following the blueprints.
God is the Architect, which is why Paul declares he was able to accomplish this task by “the grace of God which was given to me.”
Paul says, “Like the servant I am, I just followed the instructions I was given.”
B. Poor Foundations
Paul recognizes the only foundation that matters is the Good News of Jesus Christ, but too many churches build on poor foundations.
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
This analogy Jesus uses refers to the individual, but it equally applies to the church.
The church that follows God’s instruction and design, His blueprints, are building on a the rock. The church that does not follow God’s instruction and design, His blueprints, is building on sand.
When my wife and I moved up here, we had to buy a house. We spent hours searching through options and finally came up with four homes. A week later we traveled up to West Union, and by the time we arrived here only one of those homes was still on the market.
It was my wife’s favorite of the four, and it’s an awesome little house. But part of the buying process involved an inspection. Part of the inspection looked at the quality of the foundation.
If the inspector had come back and said everything else was in perfect order, if there was brand new appliances, if there was a brand new roof, if there was beautiful wood floors and painted walls, but said the foundation was failing, we wouldn’t have said, “Sounds great, we’ll take it.”
We would’ve said, “No thanks, we’ll find something else.”
If you wouldn’t accept a house with a poor foundation, why would you accept a house of God with a poor foundation.
Too many churches would rather build on sand in order to appeal to the world, rather than building on the solid rock regardless of what the world thinks.
Now, this certainly includes what a church preaches and teaches. There are most definitely “churches”, and “pastors”, and “leaders” who are “Christians” in name only and preach and teach contrary to Scripture because they don’t want to offend people.
Those “churches” and ministries exist, but that’s not all Paul is talking about.
The foundation of entertainment
The foundation of tradition
The foundation of style
The foundation of big buildings and large campuses
The foundation of social work
Notice that none of the things I just mentioned are inherently wrong or bad, but if that’s the foundation it will all fail.
Nor does a lack of those things automatically mean a church is solid.
Let’s look at the opposite, look at Faith Bible Fellowship
We’re not a multi-million dollar, multi-campus operation.
We don’t have a fancy building. We meet in an old barn.
We don’t have polished ministries.
None of that means we are a solid church.
Whether or not we are a solid church built on a lasting foundation is determined by whether or not Jesus Christ is central in all we do. In our preaching, in our teaching, in our worship, in our service, in our outreach, etc.
The only foundation that matters in the church, in your marriage, in how you raise your children, in your job, in your friendships, is the foundation of Jesus Christ.
C. Misunderstanding the Gospel
If a church builds on any other foundation, it’s because they misunderstand the Gospel.
Who is the Gospel for? Believers or unbelievers?
John 3:16 (NASB95)
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Romans 1:16 (NASB95)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
The Gospel is for believers. As we talked about last week, the Gospel is a launch point, not an end point.
But too many churches approach the Gospel as the end point. Too many churches view the Gospel as giving a sales pitch.
And when you view the Gospel as a sales pitch, all a church cares about is getting people to the church. But when a church views the Gospel as a launch point, it becomes focused on growing people in the church.
If the Gospel is the only foundation worthy of equipping and preparing believers for the works of ministry, then here at this church that is what we will unapologetically pursue.
So Paul says to be careful how you build. Are you building to last? Are you investing in the rock of Jesus Christ for effective ministry? Or are you just going through the motions and building on whatever the world thinks is necessary?
Going through the motions in God’s church looks like …
III. Giving Jesus Your Leftovers; Ministry is Giving Jesus Christ and His Church Your Best Efforts (vv. 12-13)
III. Giving Jesus Your Leftovers; Ministry is Giving Jesus Christ and His Church Your Best Efforts (vv. 12-13)
A. The Difference Between Activity and Fruitfulness
The difference between motions and ministry is the difference between activity and fruitfulness.
Activity is doing something to check the box.
Fruitfulness is giving your best effort in any and every area.
Every person in the church, whether it’s the pastor, a leader, a Sunday School teacher, a worship leader, a children’s worker, a caretaker, etc., every single one of these is building on the foundation that’s set.
If the foundation is something other than Jesus Christ, it’s meaningless anyways.
But if the foundation is centered on Jesus, how you build on that foundation is crucial.
Are you just living to be active, or are you living to be fruitful? Are you giving Jesus the leftovers, or are you giving Him your best effort.
In 7th grade I wanted to play summer football with my friends. The coach for their team told my mom it wasn’t the team for me. They were just too big, I was going to get crushed. So I joined a different team, and it wasn’t where I wanted to be.
Now, my dad taught me to give everything I had, even if I didn’t get the results I wanted. Even if I sat on the bench every game, when it came to practice, I better be the one who was hustling the most. My position on the team had better not determine my effort.
So I did. I worked harder than any other guy out there. And I didn’t play a lot. It started to get really disheartening, but I never quit.
I remember one day we were running mock plays, offense and defense. I was on defense, and we were really only there to give the offense a feel for what the play would be like. But play after play I made it behind the line and sacked the quarterback.
Eventually my coach had enough. He grabbed me and my friend by our helmets and took us over to the side. He looked my friend in the face and yelled, “How much do you weigh?”
My friend said, “200 pounds.”
He looked at me and said, “How much do you weigh?”
I said, “72 pounds.”
My coach turned back to my friend then did a double take and said, “Really?!”
I shook my head and he looked at my friend and said, “Put this little runt on his butt then!”
My friend was just going through the motions. He was told to line up, so he checked that box. He was told to move when the ball was snapped, so he checked that box. He was giving a lot of quantity, but he wasn’t giving quality.
And just because I rarely played in a game, didn’t mean that my work was meaningless. It was my best effort, and if nothing else, it was strengthening the team.
There’s a lot of people in the church, even godly Christian people, who become so focused on quantity that they neglect the quality.
B. Your Work Will Become Evident
There’s only two people that know the quality of your work: you and Jesus.
How do I know if my work is quality?
Here’s a little exercise for you:
If you attended work the same way you attended church, would you still have a job?
If you gave the same quality, and care, and attention to your job as you do the church, would you still have a job?
If the effort and service you put into a sports team or a hobby was the same as you do the church, would you be successful?
That’s just an exercise. The Holy Spirit will make it clear to you what areas you are doing well in and what areas need work.
You will never be perfect. No matter how long you have been walking with Jesus, God will continue to show you things that can be strengthened.
But even though God will continue to work on you, the question is can you say that to the best of your ability you are aligned with what Jesus desires from you.
I can tell you there was a period of time where I wasn’t.
There was a period of time where I knew what God was calling me to do, how He was calling me to live, where He was calling me to go.
And I said, “I hear all that, but I’m choosing to live this way because it’s what I want.”
That’s a miserable place to live.
I don’t have it all figured out. There’s still a myriad of areas that God is working on in me, just ask my wife. But if Jesus came back today, I could honestly say my life is aligned on mission with you, and even if I’m just a little runt on God’s football team that doesn’t really feel like I’m making a difference, I can honestly say I’m giving it my all.
C. Quality Work
Some commentators have pointed out the descending order of value of the list of materials in verse 12, but that’s not Paul’s point.
The point is to build with quality materials. Because one day Jesus Christ is coming back, and for those of you who are Christians, you won’t be judged for your sin. You’re sin has already been judged and covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.
But you will be judged by how well you did business with what the Lord has given you until He returned.
Don’t believe me?
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Have you taken what God has given you and are you investing it? Are you giving Jesus everything you have even if it seems like nothing to you? Or are you giving Him your leftovers because there’s something else in your life that gets your full attention?
Going through the motions in God’s church looks like …
IV. Prioritizing Your Earthly Work; Ministry is Prioritizing Your Heavenly Offering (vv. 14-15)
IV. Prioritizing Your Earthly Work; Ministry is Prioritizing Your Heavenly Offering (vv. 14-15)
A. An Invitation
Live in such a way where you can proudly present your life to Jesus. As a church, live in such a way where you can proudly present your ministry to Jesus.
Every person is going to give an account. Christians will give an account for what they have done.
Paul said our works will be tested with fire, and it’s the all-consuming, perfect, powerful, overwhelming fire of God. Nothing is going to escape it.
If your work remains after God has tested it, you will receive a reward.
If your work is burned up, you will suffer loss.
Now Paul says even if a Christian builds foolishly on the foundation of Christ’s church, he will still be saved.
But that person will not receive a reward.
What’s the big deal with the reward? I’m in heaven, isn’t that good enough?
Jesus will bestow rewards, and crowns, and honor on you for what you do for Him here in this life. But if Revelation 4:10-11 means anything, it demonstrates that we will turn right around and place those crowns at the feet of Jesus, because He is the only one worthy of all glory, and honor, and praise.
If prioritize your earthly work, it will be burned up and you will have nothing to offer Jesus.
And yes, by the skin of your teeth you will make it to heaven. You’ll be saved, but you might come in smelling a little smokey, like you been sitting around a campfire. And as you say, “Whoo, barely made it!,” you will watch martyrs, faithful missionaries, servants, witnesses, all who will show Jesus how they gave everything for Him, and they will present Him with a heavenly offering.
