The Lord of Ministry
The Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Call to worship
Welcome everyone!
LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS
Lord,
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS
Lord,
SERMON
Introduction
We are going to finish out John chapter 3 today and will be talking about ministry. You may think that this sermon will not have anything for you because you are not in ministry, but you would be wrong. Ministry has to do with all of us because THE WHOLE CHURCH IS CALLED TO BE INVOLVED IN MINISTRY.
In this passage, John the Baptist is with his disciples and is baptizing people, but Jesus is also with His disciples and baptizing people. And John’s disciples get a little jealous because more people are going to Jesus than are going to John. Sound familiar? Very common response that happens in churches today.
We are going to learn five principles today about ministry and how we can become a ministry that glorifies Jesus Christ.
1) Every person in Christ is called to ministry
1) Every person in Christ is called to ministry
After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing. John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized— for John had not yet been thrown into prison.
Explanation
This passage begins with Jesus and John both doing the same thing: baptizing followers
Now this verse says that Jesus was baptizing, but in chapter 4:2 John makes it clear that it was really Jesus’ disciples who were baptizing not Jesus
The point is that these two different ministries overlap and it creates some tension
Now this does not mean Jesus and John were headed in different directions.
They were both proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, the Lamb of God, and the need to repent
They had different styles, but the same goal: to make disciples
Both them and their followers were involved in ministry
Bridge
Ministry in its simplest form is: SERVICE THAT BUILDS UP OF THE BODY OF CHRIST
Ministry is not just baptizing or preaching
Ministry includes all tangible ways in which Christians serve each other and the world for the furthering of the Kingdom of God:
Examples:
Taking out the trash is participating in ministry
Cleaning the church, vacuuming the floor, is ministry
Teaching the children
Helping with events
Sharing the gospel
Serving tables at events or meals
Counseling or discipling others
Preparing a treasurer report
Making sure the sound equipment works properly
All these and more are forms of ministry
POINT:
The point is that I want to make here is that all Christians are called to serve in ministry!
According to John 4:2 “Jesus Himself was not baptizing but His disciples were”
Jesus sent out 70 disciples to take the gospel from house to house
Judas kept the money box for Jesus’ group
Jesus told the disciples to take the 7 loaves and five fish and distribute it
God’s people are called to be involved in God’s Work!
Ephesians 4:11–12 (NASB95)
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
QUESTION: If you are a saint, a citizen of the Kingdom of God, where are you serving for the furthering of that Kingdom?
Ministry is your calling just as much as it is my calling
Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.
Explanation
It’s not hard to see the jealousy in the hearts of John’s disciples
John was the one they looked up to
John was a very popular preacher (Mark tells us multitudes went out to hear him, many to be baptized by him, even the Pharisees came out to be baptized by him….he was so popular many thought he was Elijah or even the Messiah.
And now John is nearing the end of his ministry and his popularity is being taken by Jesus and His disciples
And his disciples were hurt and wounded
What a relevant situation that churches often experience today
As Solomon has said, “there is nothing new under the sun”
We have churches on just about every corner. Just ride down Tiny town and look at all the churches.
And we ride by and we see:
More cars at another church than was at our church: envy creeps into our hearts because they have more people than us
One group receives more praise than another on social media: envy begins
Or someone comes into the church bragging on another ministry at another church that they visited and how great it was compared to this ministry
Envy can easily find its way into the hearts of God’s people
What is envy?
One said: “Envy is defined as a kind of distress at the apparent success of one’s peers.”
Another said: “Envy is pain at another’s good.”
Envy is a common human emotion, but it has no place in ministry
If we do not deal with envy, it will certainly lead to misery
Why do people become envious?
Because we become focused on what we do rather than what God is doing
Here John's disciples were not acting kingdom minded. All they could see was that Jesus had more people than they did!
When Christian ministry becomes more about personal achievements than the Kingdom of God that ministry will almost always drift into error
How many people can we get to attend our services
How many people can we baptize so we get our names in the written in the Baptist digest
How big can we make our building so that everyone can see how great we are!
BUT THE PROBLEM WITH THOSE THINGS IS IT BECOMES ABOUT US AND NOT GOD!
AND IT IS VERY TEMPTING TO SEEK PRAISE FROM MEWN RATHER THAN BRING GLORY TO GOD!
How do we deal with envy in our hearts?
THE RESPONSE from John the Baptist is pure gold
John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.
The reason behind Jesus’ success rests in the Sovereignty of God: that God is the one makes the ultimate decision of who goes where to get baptized and who joins this ministry or that ministry
2) We will never become envious if we remember God’s sovereignty in ministry
2) We will never become envious if we remember God’s sovereignty in ministry
Let’s use the church for an example today
Suppose one church down the street is baptizing people (legit baptisms) twice as much as anyone else in Oak Grove.
According to John’s response, that is because God has ordained it that way. That is God has ultimate control over who comes through the doors of a ministry.
Another example:
Let’s say we go out and invite 300 people to New Beginnings and 10 people show up at First Baptist because our addresses are the same and they look like a church we do not even have a sign to let people know we are a church!
Then according to this principle, that is the way God wanted it. And if God wanted them to come here then He could easily move their hearts to walk through these doors
What we often do not take into account is what God is doing behind the scenes that we cannot see
We become too focused on achievements and neglect everything else that God is doing
3) Be faithful to the role God has assigned to you!
3) Be faithful to the role God has assigned to you!
Look what else John tells his disciples:
“You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’
John is saying this is happening because that is exactly God’s plan! He made John the forerunner to be sent ahead of Jesus, not the Messiah! Now it is His turn! John’s role in the Kingdom of God was different from the role of Jesus and he clearly understood that.
John did not get upset with God because he was not the Messiah!
Nor did John try to change his role and take on another role that he thought would bring him some kind of temporary happiness!
John said I have been given my role and I have been faithful to my calling!
And that is what God us saying to New Beginnings Baptist church today, that is what God is saying to us individually today.
This ministry is only here because of the sovereign grace of God, and God has a plan for it
And you are here, because somehow in the way God worked things in your life brought you here just like He brought me here
We might think that we picked this place, but really God picked this place for us. god put it in your heart and my heart. God put that person in your life who invited you here.
We do not get to pick our roles. Nor do we get to pick our gifts, nor the time in which we are born or die, nor the place in which we are born and live, God has ordained those things for us!
Those of you who are married, God has put you together with your spouse.
That job you have, God gave you that job and it is a privilege.
The gifts you have God gave them to you!
Those kids God you have
Those parents God gave you were ordained for you
We do not get to pick our roles, BUT What we do get to pick is whether or not we will be faithful to God in the role He has assigned for us. THAT IS OUR CHOICE!
You may not be able to sing
You may not be able to teach
But I assure you, that you can operate a broom, or you can take out the trash, or you can witness to someone, or you can befriend a visitor in church!
But whatever it is God has assigned to you, your call is to remain faithful and trust that God will use it if you will
4) Serving in your ordained role faithfully fills the heart with joy
4) Serving in your ordained role faithfully fills the heart with joy
“He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. “He must increase, but I must decrease.
John finds his source of joy in simply knowing that God used Him and he stuck with it!
Jesus is the bridegroom, and John has been the forerunner to His ministry. He preached a message of repentance faithfully and had done what God assigned him to do.
John’s faithfulness will result in suffering, it will result in rejection, it will even cause him to lose his life, but there is no greater life lived than in the will of God
And because he remained faithful, his joy “has been made full”.
Principle:
We must not think we will find joy in achievements but in our obedience!
We must never forget that real gospel success is up to God anyways!
Will God be pleased with me if nothing happens in this room today?
If I preached this message faithfully and I did what I was supposed to do, then I pleased Him.
When I go out knocking on doors today, will God be upset with me if no one listens to me?
Nope, I was supposed to go and I went. That’s all He requires of me
And my source of joy must come from knowing I did what God wanted me to do
The Christian life is not about getting God into your story, but about getting your life into God’s story
It is tempting to try to get God to go along with our plans, but that’s not the way it works.
God is the Lord of all ministry, and He saves whom He wants to save and no one can do anything about it.
And God has a sovereign plan for this world and each one of us and there is nothing anyone can do about it
Its wrong to think we can make up the plans and tell God to jump on board with us…RATHER we must find out what God is doing and get involved with Him
The two have drastically different results
5) The Goal of all ministry is to get people to believe in the Son
5) The Goal of all ministry is to get people to believe in the Son
“He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. “What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. “He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.
Explanation
John begins this discourse to explain why he must decrease and Jesus must increase
Jesus has authority “is above all”. John is from the earth, under God’s authority
Jesus is a true witness of heaven. John speaks the words of earth
He speaks the words of God, John speaks the words of man
“For the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand, He who BELIEVES in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him”
If we were to boil all ministry down to one statement, it would be under this heading: to bring people to a genuine belief in Jesus
How pointless to have a church that operates primarily for what other people see rather than according to biblical principles
What a waste to plan events, games, water down the message to make it culturally attractive, never speak about hell, allow any person to join the church without evidence of conversion, never practice church discipline and look goo to the world but never make a difference eternally?
The goal of ministry is about bringing people to a genuine saving faith in Jesus Christ, and I believe in all my heart that following biblical principles is absolutely vital to that
Nothing is more important than eternal life
When I started this plant, that was my primary conviction and still is
That is what Christ centered ministry is, and that must be what this ministry is
Conclusion
I want to close with our word “believe”. We see it yet again there in verse 36
John 3:36 (NASB95)
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
This is John’s theme of the entire gospel. And it is what one must do to have eternal life (John 3:16 “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.”)
I want you to notice here what John parallels belief in this verse with: obedience
“He who believes has eternal life but he who does not obey, the wrath of God abides on him”
To truly believe in God is to obey God!
If we truly believe in or on God, then we will do what God says.
If we do not believe in God, then we will NOT do what HE says, we will do what we think is best.
NO exceptions!
No excuses!
John is straight forward to the point true belief is obedience and disobedience is to not believe!
I can’t tell you which side of this coin you stand on…you will have to determine that by whether or not you truly obey God
BUT I can tell you how to come out from under God’s judgement and into His Amazing Grace
Here it is: You begin by obeying God today and every single day from here on out until you draw your last breath. Every area of disobedience in your life must be changed into obedience, and you will be amazed at what God will do in your life.
You may lose friends, you may lose popularity, you may lose some things of this world, but you will not lose your soul and you will gain a friend that you will never lose again. AND nothing is better than that.
~PRAYER~
RESPONSE
PUBLIC INVITATION
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
OFFERING
We will now worship the Lord through our tithes and offering.
BENEDICTION
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord cause His face to shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His face to you, And give you peace.’”
