Sunday Sermon recap

Make straight the path.

Our theme this year as a church has been to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. That has led us down different paths as we have endeavored to unpack what that means and apply the teachings of Jesus and the bible to our lives. We have looked at motivational gifts, the Holy Spirit, Spiritual gifts, and making sure our world is framed by the bible, not just in some parts but all parts.

As we prepare the head into Advent for 2023. This blog wraps up our theme and my prayer is that it will position us well for all that God has into 2024.

So Ephesians 4:11-16 (NLT) says:

 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

The challenge for us all in the above passage is that we are all called to minister. The ascension gifts or the 5 fold ministry gifts are not about the person or the gift as much as they are about equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.

The goal of someone with a 5 fold ministry gift is not fame or a traveling ministry but to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

So how do we all take seriously our call to ministry?

What even is ministry?

For us to understand the ministry God has for each of us to do as part of the body we need to have a clear biblical understanding of who we are in Christ.

We must allow scripture to shape how we view ourselves in Christ.

When we accept Christ as our Lord and saviour we become the children of God. But in 1 Peter 2, Peter describes our role in Christ as priests.

1 Peter 2:9-12 (NLT)

9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

10 

“Once you had no identity as a people;
    now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy;
    now you have received God’s mercy.”

11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

We have the ministry as children of God to be priests. A lot of images can pop up in our minds when we hear the word priest. But throughout the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, priests have served as the conduit between God and people.

Jesus is actually called our High Priest in Hebrews 4. A High Priest who knows and understands the challenges of being human, but he never sinned.

But 1 Peter calls us to be priests. To live like priests, to be people who know that this world has nothing for us but we through Christ have something for this world.

A great picture for us to understand our priestly role is the story of John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the Lord.

Matthew 3: 1-3 (NLT) says:

In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” 3 The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said,

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
    Clear the road for him!’”

John the Baptist made the path straight for the first coming of the Lord. He baptised in water and Jesus baptised in the Holy Spirit and fire.

We in our priestly ministry are called to make the path straight for the second coming of Jesus.

Our priestly ministry requires 2 parts:

1. Knowing Jesus.

2. Leading others to Jesus.

With Advent starting next week it is a great opportunity to be intentional about being ready for the second coming of Jesus and to reflect on how we are waiting as priests.

Because the truth is as priests :

We are not waiting for God, we are waiting on God.

Don’t live life waiting for God to do this or that before you live for him. Wait on him and be ready to help others know Jesus the way you know Jesus.

Now we come to answer WHAT IS MINISTRY?

Can we start here with this statement:

Whenever you say YES to God, you say YES to ministry.

Mary after having been visited by an angel and having her world turned upside down

in Luke 1:38 (NLT) says:

Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.

Mary didn’t know everything, but she said yes to God and started her ministry. A special and unique ministry but a ministry no better than the one God has for you and me.

A great picture of people saying yes to God and therefore ministering to those around the is Hebrews 11.

It’s a famous chapter. Let’s check out a small part of it

Hebrews 11:8-16 (NLT)

 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. 9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. 10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

11 It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise. 12 And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.

13 All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. 14 Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. 15 If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. 16 But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

All of them by faith died full of faith and dreams for the future.

That takes a lot of waiting on God and not for God.

Hebrews 11 is the “faith chapter” and there are heroes we can draw inspiration from.

But the true hero of Hebrews 11 is God.

As you read through Hebrews 11 you will be inspired, and you will be reminded of the faithfulness of God and then you will ask yourself the question, what is God calling me to do and am I saying YES?

This leads to the final thing to consider as we step out and minister.

We must think generationally.

Proverbs 13:22 (ESV) says:

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.

When we say yes to God and minister according to his plan we are setting up an inheritance for our children’s children.

Inheritance isn’t just about money.

God introduces himself to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3 like this,

Exodus 3:6 (NLT)

 I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

He is the Father of generations, he calls Moses in his time to do what he was called to do but not discounting what God has done in the past.

To finish, the past is for learning not living. We learn from the past, we don’t live in the past.

When we learn from the past, it makes it easy to say yes today and allows us to be faithful to the future.

We must be more loyal to the future than the past.

Let’s be ready to say yes to God and in turn minister to those around us and lead them to Jesus so that others can know Jesus the way you and I know Jesus.

Have a great week. 🤝🏻

John.