Make Your Move
Part 3: Let the Laity Move Up
Key Thought: Ministry is not a special office. Ministry is a special function. Ministry is any act of service given in Jesus’ name.
Intro: What do you think is the biggest sin in the Church, today? Because I guarantee you that whatever your answer is, it’s probably wrong. The biggest sin in the Church today is the lack of lay people leading and doing ministry.
-You see, we’ve got it all wrong when it comes to ministry. We think of ministry that something the pastor of a church does. But, as we talked about last week, that shouldn’t be the case and it’s definitely not biblical.
-Because ministry is not a special office. The word, “ministry” is never used in the Bible to mean a special office like an ordained pastor. It’s never used to mean that this person is a professional. At its heart, ministry is a special function. A special function. A function that everybody can practice and act upon according to the gifts that God has given us. Really, ministry is any act of service given in Jesus’ name.
-now, let me make sure we have understood this before I get into the heart of the message. Let me just give you al little quiz, all right? If you have the gift of hospitality, and you worked as a greeter this morning, welcoming people as they came into our building, today. Is that a ministry? Yes of no? Yes. You better believe it is. It’s a wonderful ministry. Okay, what if you’re helping in the nursery, rocking and taking care of babies and making sure they’re safe and secure and satisfied? If you’re changing diapers in the name of Jesus, is that a ministry? Sure it is.
-You see, we tend to make ministry something very high and mystical and unattainable. Something that most of us think we could never achieve. But that’s not what ministry is, at all. Ministry is just using your gifts for the glory of God in the name of Jesus. Every one of us has gifts, and everyone will be challenged this morning, as I take you now through this message. As you see why we should consecrate our gifts to Jesus and use them for ministry. That’s really what it boils down to. Consecration. That’s an old, churchy word that just means, “dedicated to service.”
-There’s actually a pretty well known hymn titled simply, “Consecration” that says this:
Since Jesus gave His life for me,
Should I not give Him mine?
I’m consecrated, Lord, to Thee,
I shall be wholly Thine.
Refrain:
My life, O Lord, I give to Thee,
My talents, time, and all;
I’ll serve Thee, Lord, Thine own to be,
I’ll hear Thy faintest call.
I care not where my Lord directs,
His purpose I’ll fulfill;
I know He everyone protects
Who does His holy will.
My home and friends are dear to me,
Yet He is dearer still;
In my affections first He’ll be,
And first His righteous will.
My all, O Lord, to Thee I’ll give,
Accept it as Thine own;
For Thee alone I’ll ever live,
My heart shall be Thy throne.
-That’s consecration. That’s being dedicated to service. Everyone of us who call ourselves Christians should be dedicated to using our gifts for ministry. There are 10 reasons why. Let’s get going.
Why Every Christian Should Use
Their Gifts for Ministry
1. God expects us to.
-First of all, every Christian should use their gifts for ministry because God expects us to. When we look in the pages of the New Testament, there is a lifting of expectations because of grace and the calling that God gives us. Look at 1 Peter 2:4-5 and 9-10:
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-5; 9-10
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
-Do you hear the titles Peter uses to describe you?
A. Living Stones
-We are part of God’s never-ending construction project. We help build up the body of Christ. We help build the Kingdom of God right here, right now. Jesus is described in the Bible as the chief cornerstone upon which the Kingdom of God is built, but we are living stones. We all have a part to play in building the Kingdom.
B. Holy Priests
-What is a priest? Someone who offers something to God. In the Old Testament it was sacrificing animals. In the New Testament, we offer our lives as a living sacrifice. As lay priests we are offering ourselves, consecrating our life, our gifts, our future, everything to God. When Peter says that we are “holy priests” it means that we give ourselves completely to Him.
C. A Chosen Race
-I love this phrase. How awesome it is to realize that God has chosen to use us. Because of His great love and mercy and grace, God has chosen the “unchooseable.” I’m not even sure that’s a word, but I do know this: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He chose to die for us when we were unlovable, unwilling, rebellious, and sinful. I remember back when Mandy and I first started dating, I use to ask her all the time, “How in the world are you not married yet? You’re beautiful, intelligent, funny, Godly…you could have any guy you want!” And then I would ask her, “Why on earth are you with me?!? One of the best moments of my life so far was when she turned to me and said, “Because I want you, Stephen.” You know an even greater feeling: that God wants you. He has chosen you to be His own.
D. God’s Own Possession
-I think that’s one of the greatest phrases in the Bible that describes true stewardship. We are people who are God’s property. We belong to Him. Everything we have, everything we are, belongs to Him for Him to do with what He pleases. He’s the owner. He has you as a steward of the life He’s loaned to you. And He expects you to use those for His glory.
The titles Peter uses in this Scripture raise all believers to the status of minister!
-Now just that one reason ought to be enough for all of us to get off of our spiritual duffs and do something for God, amen? But just in case you need a little more motivation, let’s go on to #2:
2. Spiritual growth will never happen unless we use our gifts.
-You need to hear this loud and clear, this morning: you will never grow spiritually like you need to unless you use the spiritual gifts God has given you. There’s no spiritual bailout plan if you don’t use your gifts. You won’t grow. Period.
-You see, a lot of Christians think that they’re supposed to be like Christmas ornaments. You know sparkling and looking good and out on display for everyone to see. I know a pastor who taught on spiritual gifts when he first went to a new church. And he gave out a questionnaire out to the members asking them how they were using their spiritual gifts. He said that one lady responded that she used her spiritual gifts in 3 ways: she came to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. And she was serious.
-Hey you know what? I run into Christians who think that they should get the Purple Heart just for showing up. Hey listen, you need to be here on Wednesday nights for Bible study. And you should be here Sunday nights. But at the same time, we’ve got to understand the difference between being a passenger on a ship and being a member of the crew. Some of you need to get that into your hearts and minds this morning. As a Christian, your role in this church isn’t a paid passenger. It’s a crew member who does their part in service.
-If just coming to service and getting fed is the only duty we think we have, we’re going to become spiritual fatsos. You need to spiritually exercise. You need to build some spiritual muscle. And that doesn’t happen from just coming and getting fed all the time. I love what Romans 12:6-8 says:
Scripture: Romans 12:6-8
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”
3. Success is only possible if every Christian has a ministry.
-Listen now. When I came here, everyone told me, “Oh, yes, we want our church to grow. We want that more than anything.” What you may not realize is that every church says that. I’ve been raised in a pastor’s family and gone with my dad to almost every church he’s candidated at over his 30 year ministry. I’ve been in the room when he’s met with church boards, pulpit committees and the like. I’ve been there for those “question and answer” sessions. And at every one of them, the people of the church say, “Oh, we want our church to grow. We want revival. We want to win the lost.”
- Every church says that, and our church was no different when I was candidating here. But could I just be honest with you, this morning? Every church says that, but very few are willing pay the price it takes to actually make that growth happen. As soon as things start getting a little uncomfortable, people start falling off the wagon. As soon as the waters start to get a little choppy, people start abandoning ship. You see, we know how to talk the talk, but very seldom are we ready to walk the walk to make our church successful.
-This is really where the rubber meets the road. Success for us as a church is only possible if every Christian here has a ministry. Jesus knew that the only way the harvest would ever be reaped is if the laborers were motivated. He said the problem isn’t the harvest. The problem is the laborers. There’s not enough of them. He said that if we can just get the church to move out and do what it’s supposed to do, we won’t need to worry about the harvest, because it will be reaped.
4. Needs will never be met without lay ministry. (Acts 6)
-It’s a fact of life, church. If the laypeople of this congregation don’t minister, so many needs will never be met. In fact, do you know that lay ministry began because needs weren’t being met? Do you realize that in Acts 6, when the widows were being neglected, that’s where the lay people of the church began to minister, because the pastors said that they couldn’t meet those needs because they needs to be committed to their preaching and prayer?
-That’s the reason for lay ministry. That’s the reason why I’m calling on all of you to step up and serve in ministry. You see, people need to be visited, they need to be called, they need to have someone pray with them. We need each other like that. And I could spend literally my entire week doing nothing but that and not even cover half of the people associated with our church. So when we have our ministry fair next Sunday after church, I’m going ask some of you, those of you who really have heart for caring for others, to be part of my visitation team. Imagine how we can care for each other when we have an entire team of people organized and dedicated to a ministry like this. Those kinds of needs can never be fully met without lay ministry.
5. God is limited without ministry commitment.
-This is an amazing thought. Do you realize that there are ways in which God is actually limited? He has chosen to reveal His love for humanity through us, His Church. If we do ministry, then He is able to minister through us, but if we don’t do ministry, then God is limited in ministering to people because He waits on us.
Illustration: During WWII, a small community in France had a status of Jesus in the center of their town. It was kind of the focal point of their community. But during the war, their town was bombed and the statue was busted up into several pieces. After the war was over, they began to rebuild the statue of Jesus. It didn’t look anything like it used to, but it was a labor of love for them. It was symbolic of who held their community together. But as the put the statue back together, they became extremely discouraged because they couldn’t find the hands of the Jesus statue anywhere. The finally completed the statue, but everyone was pretty down because the hands were missing, and they felt like they had failed. The missing hands had nail prints in them, and the people just felt like the status was really incomplete without those hands. In fact, they decided that they were going to have to take the statue down because they felt so ashamed that they were missing those hands. But then, just as they were really starting to make plans to take the statue down, somebody placed a small, gold plaque at the base of the statue that read, “He has no hands but ours.”
-At that moment, that little French community realized something I want you to realize this morning: you are His hands. You are the extension of His ministry. And He is limited if we don’t use our gifts for His glory.
6. The Church is incomplete without everyone using their gifts.
-The church will never be a whole body unless everybody uses their gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about the fact that the body has many parts. Here’s what he says:
Scripture: 1 Cor. 12:14-22
“Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don’t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable…”
-We need each other, and we’re really incomplete without everyone using their gifts.
7. Every Christian has gift and is expected to use it. (1 Peter 4:10-11)
-How true that is. In 1 Peter 4:10-11, Peter teaches us that each one has received a special gift, and to employ it in serving one another. Our spiritual gifts are special attributes that God has given to every member of the Body of Christ for use with the Body of Christ.
8. Using your gift glorifies God. (1 Peter 4:11)
-In verse 11, we find that when we use the gifts that God has supplied, then in all things, God is glorified. I don’t know about you, but I want my life to bring glory to God, amen?
9. Not using your gift displeases God.
-Let’s look at Matthew 25 this morning. We’ve studied this before, but let’s look at it, again:
Scripture: Matt. 25:14-30
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15To one he gave five talents[a] of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more.17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ’Master,’ he said, ’you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ 21"His master replied, ’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ 22"The man with the two talents also came. ’Master,’ he said, ’you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’ 23"His master replied, ’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ 24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. ’Master,’ he said, ’I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ 26"His master replied, ’You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28" ’Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
-The story that Jesus tells here is the parable of the talents. You probably know it pretty well. The guy who had the one talent did not use his gift, and the Master was greatly displeased.
-You see, God gives different gifts to different people and He expects us to use them. If we do, He rewards us, and if we don’t, He disciplines us. So no gift, no matter how small it seems, should ever go unused. No matte how small you think your gifts are, you should never let it go unused. If you do, you’re sinning.
Illustration: You know how fun it is to buy gifts for your kids and wrap them and put them under the tree at Christmas time? How would it feel on Christmas morning if your kids came into the room where the Christmas tree was…but instead of being all excited and tearing into those gifts, all they did was look at them, never saying thanks and never bothering to open them? Maybe you would think that they’re waiting for a special gift, so you give them another, hoping that that one will be the one they’ve been waiting for. But they never say thanks. In fact, they just take all their unopened gifts up to their bedroom, put them under their bed and never open them. Never saying thanks, never finding out what they have.
-Now imagine that their friends come over that afternoon and ask them, “Hey, what did you get for Christmas?” And they say, “Nothing. I didn’t get anything.” Cam you imagine how heartsick you would be as a parent to see that ungrateful spirit and attitude in your kids?
-Hey, listen, church: How do you think God feels when He offers us gift after gift after gift, hoping that we’ll open them up and use them, and all we do is leave them in their packaging and stuff them under our beds? Christian, how many gifts is God going to have to offer you before you finally open one up and use it?
10. Using your gift for ministry ministers to God.
-You know the passage in Matthew 25:
Scripture: Matthew 25:34-40
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37"Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40"The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
-That verse is the basis of so much of what we do here at Millville. But the principle in that verse isn’t just limited to one form of ministry. It’s a promise for everyone who uses their gifts in any way for the Kingdom of God.
-I’d like to read a passage from Mother Teresa’s book, “A Gift from God.” If there’s been anybody who was the living embodiment of Matthew 25, it was Mother Teresa. Listen to what she said in her book:
“We all long for Heaven where God is, but we have it in our power to be in Heaven with Him right now. To be happy with Him at this very moment. For being happy in His presence means loving as He loves, helping as He helps, giving as He gives, serving as He serves, rescuing as He rescues, and being with Him for all the 24 hours, because we touch Him when we touch others.”
Conclusion/Invitation
-You may not believe you have the ability, the time or the talent to serve in ministry in Jesus’ name. But don’t ever forget: it doesn’t matter whether or not you believe in yourself. Because God believes in you. And that’s all that matters.
Prayer – Jesus, I think you that you have given me the opportunity to share with the greatest people in the world about how you believe in us so much that you let us use the gifts you’ve given us for your glory. Lord, the thing I ask more than anything about Millville Avenue, is that we truly will be a church where every person is a minister and every minister is using their gifts for your glory. Help us, Holy Spirit, to respond to your Call on our lives. We love You so much. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
