INTRO.- ILL.- One man said, “In my house, I make all the major decisions and my wife makes all the minor decisions. For example, I decide such things as East-West trade, crime in the streets, welfare cheating and increase in taxes. My wife decides the minor things such as which house to buy, what kind of car we drive, how much money to spend, and how to raise the children.” Hmm, is that the way it is in your home?
Here are a couple of verses to consider about husbands and wives.
I Pet. 3:1 “Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives.”
I Pet. 3:7 “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
Both of these verses are powerful and should make us think about our role in the home.
Eph. 5:21 “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
Now that’s a difference verse. What’s the meaning? Does this mean that the husband has to listen to his wife? Well, yes. He’d better. Both the husband and wife should consider one’s thinking and counsel. The two are better than one alone. They are to complement one another, help one another, encourage one another, and support one another.
ILL.- Here’s a great example. I remember reading a letter to Ann Landers by a lady named Rosie. She wrote, “A young couple in Missouri got married in 1937. ‘Mike’ worked the third shift for the railroad. He’d come home about 7 a.m. and do odd jobs around the house: fix the old car, do everything but go to bed. Finally, about 4 p.m. he’d crawl into the sack, and then it took an atomic bomb to wake him up so he could go to work. I would plead with him, ‘Honey, give me your feet and I’ll put your socks on for you.’
“By now it was 1947 and four children later. I never told anyone that I put Mike’s socks on, because they might think I was a nut.
“This went on for 46 years. In 1983 Mike died. I tried to figure how many times I’d put on Mike’s socks. The number came to about 15,000.
“I’ll soon be 75 years old. Mike has been dead 10 years. I would give anything if I could put on his socks just one more time.”
What do you think of that marriage? Rosie was a woman who loved and cared for her husband. And I suspect if the truth were fully known, he cared for her as well. It’s called servanthood. It’s a matter of serving one another in love. And that’s the way it should be in a marriage.
And guess what? That’s the way it should be in the church as well! We should serve one another in love.
Gal. 5:13 “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”
PROP.- In this text, we want examine three different aspects of our ministry.
1- The attitude of our ministry
2- The author of our ministry
3- The activity of our ministry
I. THE ATTITUDE OF OUR MINISTRY
Col. 1:24 “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you.
What has happened to our joy? I realize that some things get us down in life, but it doesn’t have to be that way every day and all day long!
Prov. 17:22 “A cheerful is good medicine.”
It’s good medicine not only to the people around us but also to ourselves. Whatever we dish out, we will receive. What we give is what we get.
ILL.- One of my favorite preachers in the past was Wayne Smith who was the Sr. Minister of the Southland Christian Church in Lexington, KY, for 40 years. One of the great things about Wayne was his joy and his joyous attitude. He had a great laugh and an infectious attitude. DID YOU EVER HEAR HIM?
As he aged he wasn’t as good in his preaching but he still laughed a lot. Not sure if I ever told you this about Wayne but when my kids were young one time I was going to the North American Christian Convention. They were probably 15 and 9 years of age. I said to the kids while driving to the convention, “Who do you want to listen to? Do you want to listen to Sandi Patti sing or Wayne Smith preach?” They said, “We want to hear Wayne Smith preach!”
DO YOU KNOW WHY THEY WANTED TO HEAR WAYNE INSTEAD OF SANDI PATTI? Because of his great humor and stories. He preached in such a way that even most kids wanted to hear him.
Now, here is the rest of the story. After that North American Christian Convention we went to Louisville, KY, to hear Wayne preach. For many years after the North American Wayne Smith and Bob Russell would switch pulpits. We went to the middle service and after the worship was over I took Holly and Shane to meet Wayne. I introduced them and said they loved to hear him preach. I told him how they preferred to hear him preach over Sandi Patti’s singing. He said, “Your kids are not normal.”
About a week after we got home from the North American Holly and Shane got some candy in the mail from Wayne Smith. That’s the kind of guy/preacher he was and is! He’s a man of joy in the Lord and it rubs off on others. WHAT ABOUT US?
Laughter is good medicine and a laughing church is an inviting church! Joyous people are contagious!
The fruit of the Spirit is what? Gal. 5:22 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience….” The second item on the list is JOY!
Acts 13:52 “The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” How could that be? Because the Holy Spirit produces joy in the believer.
Rom. 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” There it is again.
II Cor. 7:4 “I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.”
Boy, I wish I could say those words and mean them with all my heart! I have not known much joy or expressed much joy in the midst of my troubles in this life. How could Paul say that? Did he know something that we don’t know? Did he possess something that we don’t possess? IT COULD BE.
Rom. 8:18 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Could it be that Paul fixed his heart and mind on the future life and this was why he was so full of joy? It just might be.
II. THE AUTHOR OF OUR MINISTRY
Col. 1:25 “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness.”
I have become its servant by the commission God gave me.
Have you thought of your life as being a ministry? Or have you found your ministry in the body of Christ or the church? Have you found your place, your niche, your area of service?
What is your ministry? It can’t be just sitting or warming a pew. It’s got to be more. Be doers of the Word and not hearers only.
ILL.- I mentioned recently that I renewed my friendship and relationship with my one of my old college professors, Bob Stacy. He’s not old, just older, as I am. Bob is 72 years old and he’s held many different ministries: college professor (OCC, Central Christian College, etc.), CIY (founder in 1968) director and/or leader, and I don’t know how many different church ministries.
He did tell me, however, that some years ago he preached at the church in Mountain Home, AR. Guess what? It wasn’t his niche. That church ministry was far too slow for Bob. He needs more action. (I don’t think he’d like it here either!)
Bob is now preaching at the Spring Hill Church of Christ in Middletown, OH. They run 300 or so in church and I think Bob is loving every minute of it. Of course, he’s in good health and able to handle all that goes with a busy full-time ministry.
Recently Bob wrote me and said, “Steve, I’m not worried but I am preaching on worry next Sunday and could you send me some illustrations?” CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? My ex-college professor is asking ME to send HIM some illustrations. I sent him probably 15 or so illustrations and he wrote back, “Thanks to the illustration guru.” One other time he called me the “illustration machine.” COULD IT BE THAT I FOUND A MINISTRY BESIDES THIS CHURCH MINISTRY?
The number one question that preachers ask me via email from the sermon central site where I send my sermons is this: WHERE DO YOU GET ALL YOUR GOOD STORIES AND ILLUSTRATIONS? I write back to everyone who writes me and thank them for their kind words and say, “Please tell me about yourself and your ministry.”
Brothers and sisters, we all have a ministry to perform. We all can do something in the church and even outside the church for Christ! But in the church, we need to find what we can do and do it with the strength that God provides and then give Him the glory. WHY? Because He is the author of all the good that we do in this life! He commissions us and empowers us!
I Pet. 4:10-11 “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
If it’s good in you, it’s from God and He deserves the glory. Praise Him for using you in any form. Be quick to pray, “Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to serve. Please bless my service and may You be glorified.”
III. THE ACTIVITY OF OUR MINISTRY
Col. 1:25-29 “25I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”
The activity or action of our ministry. What was Paul’s activity as a preacher?
ILL.- Someone put it this way: “A preacher teaches, though he must solicit his own class. He heals, though without pills or knife. He is sometimes a lawyer, often a social worker, something of an editor. He is a bit of a philosopher and entertainer. He is a salesman, a decorative piece for public functions, and he is supposed to be a scholar. He visits the sick, marries people, buried the dead, labors to console those who sorrow and to admonish those who sin and tries to stay sweet when chided for not doing his duty. He plans programs, counsels and in between times he prepares sermons and preaches them on Sunday. Then on Monday he smiles when someone says, ‘WHAT A JOB! ONLY ONE DAY A WEEK!’’
I doubt that anybody accused Paul of working only one day a week. If so, he’d get only half pay!!
Paul was a servant of God by serving people. He preached and/or presented the Word of God in its fullness. That’s vital for any preacher. If a preacher is to be anything, he should work at his preaching ministry.
I take it seriously because that’s what I was taught in Bible college. Don’t be lazy. Don’t be slipshod. Do the best you can. Fulfill your ministry.
Acts 20:7 Paul said, “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God’s Word.”
ILL.- John Edmund Haggai said, “Preachers are praised as administrators, after dinner speakers, book reviewers, counselors, good mixers, organizational workers, program pushers, BUT WHATEVER HAPPENED TO PREACHING?”
Good preaching takes time. It takes study. It takes work. Of course, Paul was directly inspired by God. We preachers get our inspiration by studying. Regardless of whatever any of us do to minister for Christ, it takes work.
ILL.- Bill Bradley was the basketball star of the 1964 Olympics. Someone said to him, “I wish I could shoot baskets like you.” Bradley replied, “Would you stay in one place until you hit 24 consecutive baskets?”
That can apply to almost any ministry. Practice makes perfect in almost anything we do whether preaching, teaching, playing an instrument, leading singing, etc., etc.
What’s your ministry? What do you do for Christ? Or what can you do? And do you do it the best you can?
CONCLUSION-----------------------
ILL.- J. Wilbur Chapman was a great preacher of the past but he wasn’t always that way!
When he started preaching in one church, the leaders got together and said, “This man can’t preach for sour grapes. We’re going to have to fire him.”
The chairman of the board asked who would go tell him that he was fired. All were reluctant. The chairman then said, “I won’t tell him either, but I will be down in the basement next Sunday at 8 a.m. to pray for him. All those who wish to join me are welcome.”
Eight men came that first Sunday. That prayer meeting began to grow and saw J. Wilbur Chapman become one of the more powerful preachers of his time.
When asked how his church seemed to always have a good preacher, one of the members said, “We make our preacher a good preacher. All we ask is that we have a man who is earnest and then we’ll make him good. We pay him a good salary, furnish him a good place to live, and look after his physical needs so he has no worry about those matters. THEN WE PRAY HARD FOR HIM. We keep him encouraged. We boost him. He is our man and his success is our success. We make him a good preacher by praying for him.”
Brothers and sisters, regardless of whether you preach, teach or whatever you do to serve Christ in the church, we all must boost one another, encourage one another and pray for one another. PRAYING FOR ONE ANOTHER WILL MAKE THE DIFFERENCE IN OUR VARIOUS MINISTRIES.
May God continue to bless us all in our various ministries.
