The Ministry of the Church

Good evening. Tonight we're on lesson number 19 in our study of ecclesiology and we're looking at the ministry of the church. Next week we'll be looking at the gifting of the church. The gifting of the church is how we actually are empowered to do our ministry. And then the following week we'll be looking at the mission of the church. You may think, "Well, what's the difference between the mission of the church and the ministry of the church?" We'll be covering that over the next couple nights. There is a difference. We normally think of the mission of the church as making converts, publishing, and proclaiming the gospel and making disciples. Well, the ministry of the church includes that, but it's much broader and it's focused on service. And we'll be looking at that tonight.

So let's begin with Bible point number one. The church is a great company of believers whom Christ has saved, in whom He dwells, to whom and through whom He reveals God, and in whom He exercises spiritual dominion. That's our definition we've been working at this whole time. United to Christ, the church is a temple of God's dwelling. The church's ministry is its service to Christ. The word "ministry" is derived from the Greek word meaning "to serve." We have in our church deacons, and that same word means to be a servant, right? And that's where we get the word "ministry" from. To be a minister is simply to be a servant. We often think of, "Well, a minister is Pastor Casey. It's someone who is a full-time vocational pastor." But in a very real sense, every believer is a minister. Every believer is a servant of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostles often introduce themselves as slaves of Christ. They call themselves bond servants or slaves of Christ, indicating their single-minded devotion to serve their Lord. And we have some examples of that. We're not going to read it, but in Romans 1 verse 1, Philippians 1 verse 1, Titus 1 verse 1, Peter does it in 2 Peter 1:1, James does it in 1 verse 1, Jude does it in 1 verse 1. It's a common way to introduce themselves in a letter. They'll say, "I am James, the bond servant of Christ." The church joyfully serves Christ in gratitude, for He bought them with a great price. Now, four verses — you can look them up on your own time. Constantly, both Paul and Peter are talking about you having been bought with a price. You are not your own. You've been ransomed. You've been redeemed. You're in the Lord's army now, right? And so you march to His drums and you focus on pleasing Him and not pleasing yourself. That's what it means to be bought, that we are not our own. We're the Lord's.

The church's service to Christ both now and always is its adoration and worship of her King. The church's service is inseparable from its worship because Christ has saved us. We worship Him. We adore Him. And that leads to joyful service. I want to show you both an Old Testament passage and a New Testament passage. Psalm 100, let me read to you. This is very short. I believe this was read last week, if I'm not mistaken, in our children's moment, if I recall right. Psalm 100: "Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all ye lands." What does verse 2 say? "Serve, serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing." See how worship and service are inextricably bound together. "Know that the Lord, He is God. It is He who has made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name, for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations."

We see the exact same thing in the book of Revelation. Let me read to you from the last chapter of Revelation. Revelation chapter 22 verses 3 through 5: "And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him." Heaven is going to be full not only of worship, but of active service to our Lord Jesus Christ. "They shall see His face and His name shall be on their head. There shall be no night there. They shall have no need of lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign with Him forever and ever." It will be a glorious time of fellowship, of worship, and of service.

I want to read to you Romans 14 verses 7 through 9. It's what Paul says about being bought with a price — how we, because of what Christ wants for us, joyfully serve Him. It says, "For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself." We are not our own chief end, right? Modern humanism tells us we are. It's all about you. You've got to self-actualize. You've got to find your inner light. You've got to find your path. You've got to be all you can be, right? Well, what do some of our great confessions say, and also some of our catechisms say — "What is the chief end of man?" To know God and to glorify Him forever, right? "For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." He's bought us. "For to this end, Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living." He has poured out His precious blood for us, and we are joined to Him forever.

The application for point number one: who does the church live for? Christ, exactly right. We don't live for the SBC. We don't live for local standing in the association. We don't live for fame in our local area. We live for Christ, and for Christ alone.

Bible point number two. The ministry of the church flows from the love of the Father. Our heavenly Father gave His Son for us. John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave." Loving and giving go hand in hand. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her.

Because of God's love, the church lives to know God and carry out His will in the world. Let me read to you from John 17, two verses, verse 3 and 23. Jesus says in His high priestly prayer, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You." Who is He speaking about? God, right? "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent." And look in verse 23, Jesus says, "I am in them," speaking of the church, believers in Him. He is united to us. He indwells us. That's part of our definition of the church, right? People whom He's redeemed, whom He has revealed Himself to and through, whom He indwells, whom He exercises dominion. "I am in them, and You, Father, in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, brought into the truest fellowship through our Lord Jesus Christ, that the world may know You, Father, have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me." The same perfect love that God the Father has for His Son, He loves us, His church, right? So it's the Father's love that makes ministry possible.

God is love, 1 John 4:7 and 16. It's one of the first parts of a Bible verse most kids ever learn. God is love, right? The church experiences God's love and desires to reciprocate with love toward God, 1 John 4:19. You can actually look down just below: "We love Him because He first loved us," right? The church knows and receives God's love and desires to reciprocate with love toward others, 1 John 4:7, verses 11, 20, and 21.

And let's look at that down below. 1 John 4:20 through 21 says, "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also." I'm going to look at 1 John 3:1 there. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God." As children of God, because we are in the Son, we have the full affection, the full love of a perfect Father for a perfect Son. You look in the mirror and you say, "Well, I'm not perfect. I'm not very lovable. In fact, sometimes I'm hideous the way I act and the way I treat other people and the way I treat my Lord, right?" Well, if you have your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, despite your sins, He sees the infinite perfections of Jesus Christ when He looks at you. So you have a loving Father who is for you and loves you no matter what. What a blessing that is. That enables us to minister.

1 John 4:7 through 16: "Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son in the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation, a covering for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." It's because of the Father's love that we can minister.

The application for number two: how is the Father's love revealed to us? We just read that in verses 9 through 10. How is the Father's love revealed to us? Through Christ, because He sent His Son into the world to be a propitiation for our sins, even though we didn't deserve it, right? He loved us regardless and He demonstrated His love by sending His Son.

Bible point number three, the ministry of the church flows from the love of the Father through the Son. We had that in Romans 5:8. I know you know that because we memorized that last year here at the church on a Sunday morning. "God demonstrates His own love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," right? So the love of the Father is given to us through the Son.

Christ is the perfect servant, and I have there five references. I'm not going to read them. We've discussed them before in times past. These are what we call the servant songs of Isaiah. The early parts of Isaiah picture Israel as God's servant, and they were to be obedient to God. Of course they were not, and He sent judgment and sent them away, right? But then around Isaiah 40, there's a turning there where God speaks of their restoration. He says that that's going to be accomplished through His perfect servant, and that perfect servant is singular. It is speaking of Christ, right? Some of those songs are actually sung in the first person — it's Christ actually singing, right? One of those you know very well, Isaiah 52 and 53, about the suffering servant, right? "That He was bruised for our iniquities and all we like sheep have gone astray but the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all," right? He was our perfect servant.

And then when you get to the book of Acts, you have these references in Acts 3 and 4. Those two chapters have several references to this servant being Christ. Let me read those to you. They're quite fascinating. Verse 13, this is when Peter had healed a man. He says, "So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people, 'Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why look so intently at us as though by our own power or godliness we've made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.'" He's referring to this divine title that we find in Isaiah of the servant, applied to Christ. He's saying, "Christ is that servant." And it says, "You crucified Him." Verse 26 refers to it again. "You sons of the prophets of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' To you first, God, having raised up His servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning every one of you from your iniquities."

We see the same thing in chapter 4, in verse 27 and 30. Chapter 4 of Acts, verse 27: "For truly against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed" — and that's one of the servant songs, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me." We find that in Isaiah 61. "Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant Your servants," speaking of us, those who are in Christ, "that with all boldness we may speak Your word, by the stretching out of Your hand to heal, that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." So we see Christ is Whom the love of the Father flows through. He is the perfect servant, He is Christ, right? And if we're in Christ, we too are servants, right? And we're expected to serve Him.

Christ's life, death, and resurrection demonstrated His love through servanthood. Look at Philippians — it's that great humiliation of Christ. Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 8: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, a slave, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." He obeyed the Father even when it cost Him His very life, right?

Christ served His disciples at the Last Supper to teach them that love is demonstrated through humble service. We find that in John 13. All the synoptic Gospels speak of the Lord's Supper. John chapter 13 does not repeat the words that Christ says — "Take, eat, this is My body which is broken for thee." He doesn't do that, but it does actually give an account of what happened there in the upper room. What does Jesus do? He puts on the uniform of a slave, this apron — He wraps this towel around Him and He begins to wash their feet. And He says, "What I'm doing for you is to be for your example. It is to serve others. If your master will serve you, how much more should you serve others?" Right? The church reciprocates Christ's love by becoming His servant. We have several references here — Galatians 1:10, Ephesians 6:6, Colossians 4:12 — in each of those Paul says that he or his disciples of Christ are bond servants of Christ, right? Because Christ served us, we willingly and lovingly serve Him.

1 John 3:16 says, "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. We also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren," right? And following Christ's example in laying down His life, we lay down our lives for one another.

Galatians 1:10 — let's look at just one example here of what Paul says: "For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? If I still pleased men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ." See, my goal is to please Christ. I have eyes for Him alone. I am His bond servant.

The application for number three: how can we follow Christ's example in John 13, where Christ humbles Himself and washes His disciples' feet? How can we follow that example, serving one another? Now, some churches view foot washing as a holy ordinance. We talked about ordinances — remember, ordinances are something that was instituted by Christ and that depicts Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, but foot washing does not do that, right? It's not an ordinance. Foot washing was just a humble, practical service that Jesus did for the men in the upper room. They would have been walking down dirty roads and their feet would have been dirty. It's refreshing and cool. It's something that normally a master of a house would have one of his slaves do for his guests, right? If you want to wash someone's feet today, what you can do is cook a meal with somebody, babysit their kids, go mow their grass. Those are practical things that you can help someone with, right? Trim their trees. Those are practical ways that you can show the love of God to the body of Christ.

And we have faithful deacons who are on it. And I'm not trying to put them on the spot, but ladies and anyone who has difficulty climbing ladders and things like that — if you have some tree trimming or something in your backyard that can be done without a big crane or something, something that is practical for one of our deacons to do, let them know. Let the elders know. And the reason why Pastor mentioned this past Sunday in his sermon from Hebrews on service is that it is in meeting physical needs that often spiritual needs are met.

Oftentimes people open up to you when you meet their physical needs, right? And oftentimes because people have spiritual needs that are overshadowing everything, they forget about the physical needs and things stack up, right? And all of a sudden they get overwhelmed, and you can do a great service and comfort by helping people with their practical needs.

Bible point number four, the ministry of the church flows from the love of the Father through the Son by His Spirit. We have Romans 5:5. Look down below: "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." We're united, by faith, to Christ through His Spirit, right? When we trust in Christ, His Spirit comes and lives within us and the love of God permeates our heart, right? It overflows. It changes us.

Christ, who was anointed by the Spirit without measure, likewise pours out His Spirit abundantly on the church. The Spirit's power within us enables us to serve Christ. The Spirit's power is how we serve Christ. If we try to serve Christ in our own strength, we're going to fail. "It's not by might. It's not by power, but it's by My Spirit," says the Lord.

Look at Romans 8 verses 8 through 14. "So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God." You cannot please God in the flesh, trying to serve in your own power or in your own strength. "But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His." You're not united to Christ. "And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, and the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead shall also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." This is not talking about just our sanctification, but it's talking about our entire life — oriented in service to our fellow man and to God — which is only possible by His Holy Spirit.

It's also interesting — up above on the back, I wrote Acts 5, forgive me, it's Acts 6 verses 3 through 7. This is where the deacons — where again, deacon is another name for servant — are being appointed. It says, "Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business." The Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked, right? They weren't being served. "But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. Then the word of God spread, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith." They had fruit, right? Because they were filled with the Spirit, right?

The application for number four: how does God work exceedingly abundantly? This is from Ephesians. You know this because Pastor preached through this a year or so ago. This is that great prayer in Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 through 21. "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power, the dunamis, that works within us." The power that works within us is His Holy Spirit. And He can do exceedingly abundantly above all we can hope or ask or think, right? And what I'm getting at is: when your service is empowered by the Holy Spirit, expect to see change, not only in your life, but in those that you're ministering to, because that's not your work that you're doing. Remember what Ephesians 2 tells us — that "by grace we've been saved through faith, not of works, but we've been saved, we've been chosen by God, that we may walk in works that He's appointed beforehand for us to walk in," right? We're not saved by works, but we're saved for good works, and we can only do those through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Bible point number five, the ministry of the church is multifaceted. It encompasses the whole life of the congregation as it participates in its union with Christ. It's our whole life as we're united to Christ, His power is flowing through us, right? It's His Spirit working through us. That's how the church ministers. The church, being in Christ, is a new creation that is given the ministry of reconciliation, 2 Corinthians 5:17 through 21. Let's look at that. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ," that is, union with Christ — we're in Christ — "he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation." Because you are one with the Redeemer, guess what your mission is to do? It's to bring men to the Redeemer. It's to reconcile them to God. Verse 19: "that is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God, for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

The ministry of reconciliation is the very ministry of Christ. As the church is His body and He is our head, guess what our words are going to be? Our words are going to be the words of reconciliation, the words of Christ, the gospel. The church is described as "working together with Him." We are co-laborers with Christ. When you set about to minister as a church member, you are doing that work with Christ. You can't see Him, but He is in you and He is co-laboring with you.

The ministry of the church includes worship, Bible study, prayer, fellowship, observing the ordinances, all those common means of grace that we've talked about, discipleship, pastoral care, the meeting of both physical and spiritual needs of the flock. It includes everything. Ministry includes everything a local congregation does as it follows Christ's command to love one another. The ministry is everything the local congregation does as it follows Christ's command to love one another.

Through joining His work, we become bond servants and display His glory. Look at 1 Corinthians 3:9: "For we are God's fellow workers, and you are God's field, you are God's building." Paul's never bashful about mixing metaphors and he actually has three in that verse. We're His building because we're His temple. We're His field because He expects us to bear fruit. And we're His fellow workers. He wants us to join Him in the work of the harvest. 2 Corinthians 4:5 through 7: "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bond servants for Jesus's sake." We serve one another in the church. We become slaves to one another for Jesus's sake — that's what Paul is saying. "For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." Christ working in and through the church is a glorious thing because He enables us to do things that we could never do ourselves, we could never plan ourselves. We often start doing ministry — as we mentioned, maybe it's humble service, bringing someone a meal — and that leads to the chance to be able to pray for someone. That leads to a chance to be able to witness to someone and share Christ with someone. That leads to a chance to be able to disciple someone or counsel someone, right? He has plans that we have no idea about, and to Him be the glory for that.

The application for point number five: how does a church display the glory of God? Is it through dressing really spiffy? Is it through bleaching our teeth and looking bright and combing our hair? Is that how we display the glory of God? We display the glory of God by ministering, by becoming one another's bond servants so that the light of Christ can shine through us, right? That's how we display the glory of God. Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Bible point number six, the ministry of Christ also extends beyond the body of Christ to its broader community. So it's not just within the church where we are bond servants toward one another. We are bond servants to God, but it extends to the broader community. As "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself," so we are ambassadors for Christ. The church is the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We get that from Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount. The love of God cannot stop when we leave our church parking lot.

Ministry does not just happen within the walls of this church. Yes, the body of Christ is worthy of ministering to. We do a lot of our ministry within the body, but you are not in the church — you are the church. So wherever you go, you're bringing the ministry of the church with you. The love of God cannot stop when we leave the church parking lot. We are always the church. We're always a church wherever God sends us into the world. We're always to be light in darkness. The city that sits on a hill cannot be hid. We're always to be salt. Salt acts as a preservative — it preserves meat. They didn't have refrigeration back then, so they had a lot of salted meat, and that preserved that meat. We are to be agents of preservation in this world by shining the light of Christ, by showing His love, by building up and serving other people.

Those we minister to include our family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. Our ministry includes acts of goodness to all men. Galatians 6:10 is our reference here — acts of goodness. When we discussed the nature and attributes of God three years ago, Doctrine of God, part one, we talked about the love of God, and that's one of His attributes. Part and parcel with the love of God includes His goodness, right? If we're filled with the love of God, we're going to want to express goodness towards others.

Look at Galatians 6:9 through 10. "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all." It means those in the church and those outside the church, "especially to those who are of the household of faith." We have our first obligation, of course, to minister to our brothers and sisters here, that we know about their needs, but it's beyond that — it's to all men that we are to be servants.

Look at 1 Peter 2:15 through 17. "For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." You have someone that looks down on you for being a Christian, that has even expressed animosity towards you — serve them. It's hard, especially if they've mistreated you, they've cursed you, they've belittled you — serve them. You will put them to silence. "As free, not using your liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God: honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." We are to use our freedom to become slaves. It's kind of paradoxical, right? The freedom that we have in Christ is not to serve ourselves — it's to serve God and to serve others.

Hebrews 6:10: "For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown toward His name, and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister." When we minister to the saints, we're ministering to Christ, right?

Christ's own ministry included acts of mercy among the Gentiles in Galilee. We have Matthew 14 there, Tyre and Sidon in Mark 7:24 through 30, and the Decapolis in Luke 8:26 through 39.

Jesus even declared that the church's acts of mercy would distinguish them — would distinguish the church from the goats. In other words, our acts of goodness and mercy is what sets us apart at the last judgment — that's what He says. Now, we know we're saved by grace through faith in Christ, right? But let me read to you. This is very interesting. It shows you how inseparable our salvation is from the works that Christ instills in us. Matthew 25, verse 31: "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me food. I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me in. I was naked, and you clothed Me. I was sick, and you visited Me. I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick or in prison and come to You?'"

They were oblivious that it was Christ whom they were ultimately serving. Verse 40: "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'" And the opposite is spoken of the goats, right?

As servants, the church uses its liberty to do good to all men. 1 Peter 2:15: "For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men."

The application for number six: what keeps you from growing weary? We talked about this just a minute ago when we were in Galatians 6 on the back, and also Hebrews 6. What keeps you from growing weary? The Holy Spirit, yes. And knowing that one day we will hear God say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." He will repay our toil. We don't have to worry about that. We're never going to be without. We're going to have the fullness of Christ Himself on that glorious day.

Bible point number seven, the ministry of the church is directed, encouraged, and supported by the officers of the church, its elders and deacons. We talked about elders and deacons. Everything of ministering in the church should be directed, encouraged, and supported by the elders and the deacons. We already read the verse in Acts where the deacons would meet practical needs so the apostles could give themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Deacons and elders work together for the same gospel goal. They indeed participate in the church's ministry. Elders and deacons should be at the forefront of ministering. If they're not, they're lazy, wicked servants, unprofitable, right? But their main role is to equip the congregation for ministry so that the body will be built up and made to be like Christ. Ephesians 4:11 through 13: "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

So the idea of having deacons and elders is not to say, "Hey, all the ministry of the church is done by them." In some churches that happens, and that's the fault of the elders. Some churches, the pastoral staff wants to handle all the ministry. They think that only they are qualified to do it and they're ministry hogs and they do it all for the most part. And so church on Sunday becomes a spectator sport. "Oh, I heard that pastor went and visited someone. How nice. I'm sure glad we can pay pastor to go visit the people in the hospital and to have a prison ministry and to do discipleship. Oh, my son needs to be discipled. Oh, Deacon, would you disciple my son?" Right? No. It should never be passive. The goal of leadership in the church is to equip the body so we can all be ministers. We can all utilize the gifts that God has given us to build up one another till we all come to spiritual maturity. That's the goal, right?

Sometimes it's not that the pastors are being ministerial hogs — it's that the body can get complacent, right? There in some churches there is a priestly class, if you will, where they talk about the clergy and then the laity, as if the laity just don't have the skills. The laity is far more skillful in ministering than most pastors ever will be, right? We all have different gifts. Maybe a pastor is gifted in teaching and leading, but he may not be gifted in administration, or he may not be gifted in works of mercy as much as you are. He may not be gifted in exhortation as much as you are. We all have a gift, and we'll be talking about that next week. The gift that God has given you — He's placed you in the body to use that gift, and no one can use your gift as well as you can, right? So that's the purpose of elders and deacons ultimately: to equip the church so the church can be edified, it can be built up and then brought into maturity, right?

The equipping and the edifying is done humbly and lovingly through the word of God. We find that in John 21:15 through 17. Let me read that to you. John 21:15 through 17 is the restoration of Peter. "So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?' He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.' And He said to him, 'Feed My lambs.' He said to him again a second time, 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?' He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.' He said to him, 'Tend My sheep.' He said to him a third time, 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?' Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, 'Do you love Me?' And he said to Him, 'Lord, You know all things. You know that I love You.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed My sheep.'" The way that pastors and deacons equip and lead and encourage ministry is through the word of God. It's never through guilt tripping. It's never through browbeating.

You know, in this world, men are guilty of this — especially I've seen this in pastors where we puff up our chests, right? And we speak loud and we think that that's our authority. It's not. Remember we talked about authority. Our authority is simply the word of God and your personal holiness, right? Because if you don't have personal holiness, no one's going to listen to you, right? So the authority of the pastor is simply saying, "Thus says the Lord." And it's with that, the word of God, that we seek to equip the saints, to build up the body, so that all may come to maturity and the work of the ministry is done by the church.

The application for number seven: are the officers of the church a separate priestly class? Is it a separate, special, super class that has more gift and more expertise than anyone else? No, not at all.

Bible point number eight, the ministry of the church is not only for the elders and deacons of the church, but for every member. God's people of all ages and all stations — wherever God has placed you in life — participate in its various ministries, employing their God-given gifts to serve Christ, His bride, and the world.

Let me reread that. Every Christian believer, no matter how old you are or how young you are, should be engaged in ministry. I love Wednesday nights because we often have our children's moments, right? And how blessed we are to be able to hear Abigail play her recorder tonight and to be able to tell us about a great hymn of the faith, right? Every week we're blessed by that. And whether you know it or not, Abigail, you are ministering to us. You're edifying us. If she can do that, then I need to be doing that, right? And it blesses us.

So it doesn't matter what your age is. It doesn't matter what your age is on the top end either, right? I mention often that Moses didn't get his calling at the burning bush and his commission to lead Israel out of slavery until he was 80 years old, right? So you're never too old to minister, right? It doesn't matter what your station in life is. You may not use that word a lot, but "station" just means your place in life. Some of you are in a place where you're working a lot of hours, right? And because of that you may not have a lot of time to be involved in external ministry, but you still have a ministry, do you not? If you're married, you have a ministry to your spouse. If you have children, you have a ministry to your children, right? And to the place where your coworkers are, wherever God has placed you, right? Whatever station it is, your life may be involved in homeschooling your kids all day. That is a ministry, right? So it's for everyone, no matter what your age is, no matter what your station is in life — it's something that we all participate in. And we employ our God-given gifts to serve Christ. Romans 12:6 says, "Having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them." In other words, we all have different gifts, so use them. Don't bury your talent. Don't be that unprofitable servant. When the master comes, he says, "What have you done with the talent that I've given to you?" "I buried it because I was afraid I was going to lose it," right?

The application for number eight: how can you discover and use your gifts to serve Christ? I'll give you a hint — come next week. We're talking about the gifts of the church. It's in the Word, it's in the body of Christ. Seriously, ask. If you don't know what your gift is, ask your mom or dad. Ask your spouse. Ask a brother or sister in the Lord. You say, "Well, they don't know me well enough." Yes, we do. We see you every Sunday. We see you greeting people, we see you cleaning up. We know your gifts, and we'll be glad to tell you your gifts if you don't know your gifts.