Scripture Introduction
In our church structure, when we give a man authority to preach and lead a congregation we ordain him as a “minister of the Gospel of Christ.” Though I appreciate the honor of that title, I think God offers every Christian the privilege of sharing in this work; I do not believe gospel ministry is limited to pastors; the Christians in Philippi partnered with Paul “in the Gospel.” Let’s look at that text and think together about how we might do the same.
[Read Philippians 1.3-5. Pray.]
Introduction
When I pastored in Nebraska, the elders studied the Bible for months before switching from grape juice to wine for communion. When we did, some members were concerned for the “recovering alcoholics.” After all, AA had “proven” that their only hope was never to drink alcohol. Is that true? As a servant of the Gospel of Jesus, am I limited to this counsel: “You recovering alcoholics must never allow wine to pass your lips”? For 1900 years the church only served wine at the Lord’s Supper; was this critical truth left to our century to discover? Or is there some uniquely Gospel answer for “alcoholics”?
Dr. Ed Welch teaches Counseling at Westminster Seminary. His book on addictions describes Jim, who “had been sober for a year—an amazing feat for someone who had been drunk about half of his forty-five years.” But when Welch met Jim for lunch to celebrate, something was clearly bothering him: “I am getting angry at God for giving me this problem with alcohol. Most people in the world don’t have to struggle to stay away from the next drink every day of their lives. But I do. It’s just not fair.” Jim went on to say that he was losing interest in his church because it just wasn’t speaking to his needs. He found his help and companionship in daily AA meetings.
Does the Gospel speak to one angry with God? Does it address Jim’s thinking about what is fair and how to judge his church? Does it offer anything to the “dry drunk,” one who no longer escapes through a bottle, but whose core beliefs and commitments have not changed? Does the Gospel delve deeper than sobriety? (Quotes and paraphrases from Welch, Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave, 3-10).
What about those who feel empty—the man who uses pornography or the woman who fantasizes about romance – does the Gospel say anything to aching hearts other than, “Don’t do that”?
Or to the woman furious after the pastor preached on gossip? She complained that he missed the whole point: “My problem is that I need relationship; I am lonely.” Does the Gospel heal her problem?
What about the Darnell, who has the new disease, the Adonis Complex, a compulsive desire for a massively muscular body, sculpted to a superhuman physique. His psychologist told him that he has: 1) a genetic predisposition to obsessive-compulsive disorder, 2) fueled by social pressures for a perfect body, and 3) low-self-esteem from poor parenting. Darnell was offered a four-step solution: First, cognitive-behavior therapy assures Darnell that his thoughts are unrealistic and that he really is good looking; second, lifestyle changes are necessary, such as removing mirrors from his bedroom and working out when old, fat men frequent the gym; third, prescription Paxil treats the chemical imbalance in Darnell’s brain; and fourth, re-education trains Darnell and his friends about what is a desirable physique. (Excerpts from The Journal of Biblical Counseling, Winter 2004, 42-58.)
Is that how the Apostle would counsel? Obviously, Darnell needs God, but simply saying, “Invite Jesus into your life” will probably not help. Is there a Gospel solution?
Or for the lady Dr. Paul Tripp counseled? He explains that Linda had been “married for many years to a person who, very honestly, I would have to say was a bad man. He was angry, controlling, and manipulative. He regularly said and did hurtful things. She, meanwhile, had dreamed of the ultimate husband and had gotten so embittered by the blessing of other women in her church that she said she could no longer go to worship. She felt as if God had forsaken her, so much so that she could not read her Bible or pray.” The husband refused counseling. Is there gospel hope? (War of Words, 97).
I cannot solve these problems this morning; we would not have time to address even one sufficiently. I tell you these stories to expose a deeper issue. It appears to me that we often do not know how to apply the Gospel to practical problems. When we try, people hear us say, “Just invite Jesus into your heart,” even though we know that simplistic answers do not make our problems all better. As a result, Christians end up sounding more like pop-psychologists than physicians of the soul. So I thought these real-life stories might make us aware that we must learn to apply the gospel to real-life problems.
Another reason is to remind you that you have gospel power. If you know God, you can share in gospel solutions. We need not hide from hard issues. A third reason I tell those stories is to motivate us to actually do it, to learn to apply the gospel to our own lives and to the lives of others we meet.
Before we get started on those, let me show you three thing in the text but not directly related to today’s main point:
1) Notice that while Paul is in jail, he is concerned for others. Paul’s troubles do not control his thoughts; his problems do not preoccupy his heart. I think this is a common failure in the church today. Stated pointedly, we will not serve others while we are self-absorbed. Is not some of the popularity of blogging and tweeting and broadcasting yourself due to Americans’ tendency toward intense self-preoccupation? When the gospel grips our hearts, it frees us to think of ourselves less. Not so much to think less of ourselves, but to think of ourselves less. That is a powerful gift of God and a great grace to show others.
2) Notice that Paul is thankful for them and speaks to God about them with great joy. I asked God how I could possibly mention this without being self-serving. He only said that I should say it quickly and go on. Here it is: Paul commends the church for making him happy to be their pastor. Hebrews 13.17 asks every church to do the same: it should be our goal to make the pastor glad that God called him here. That’s all I will say about that.
3) The word, “all,” appears 3 times. The Philippians have problems with disharmony; part of Paul’s answer is to use the word, “all” every chance he can. Duane’s email: “Or as Rich said, look at the 98% we have in common rather than the 2% that we debate.”
With those in mind, let’s notice (briefly) two things about partnership in the gospel.
1. We Must Know How to Apply the Gospel in order to Partner in Gospel Ministry
Paul was thankful to God and prayed with joy because the Philippians were partners in THE GOSPEL.
Gordon Fee is certainly correct when he says: “It does not take much reading of Paul’s letters to recognize that the gospel is the singular passion of his life; that passion is the glue that in particular holds this letter together. By ‘the gospel,’ especially in Philippians, Paul refers primarily neither to a body of teaching nor to proclamation. Above all, the gospel has to do with Christ, both his person and his work. To preach Christ is to preach the gospel, which is all about Christ; to preach the gospel is to proclaim God’s good news of salvation that he has effected in Christ” (Commentary, 82).
So the “news” part of the good news can be summarized as God sent his Son, Jesus, who lived a perfect life, died to pay for other’s sins, and was raised from the dead, proving the effectiveness of his sacrifice. The “good” part of the news is that it that the gospel is the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1.17). What makes it good news for a particular person is applying it to their lives.
Maybe an illustration would help. Suppose you stand with a rifle in a field in Germany at eleven o’clock in the morning on the eleventh day of November, 1918. At that moment, the news was Armistice, a agreement for the cessation of hostilities between the Allies and Germany. That is news. But it does not become good news for you until the man across the lines from you lays down his weapon. News has to be applied.
The gospel is true news, but it becomes good for Linda when she applies it to her life, saving her from the wrath to come, but also saving her now as it frees her from the control of bitterness and anger, even if her husband never changes! This is Jesus’ promise in John 8.36: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” It is good news indeed when God frees us to make much of his grace rather than have our emotions control much of our lives.
In God’s wonderful providence, Michael started us last week at Sunday School on applying the gospel by understanding “future grace.” We will continue to do so for the next months. I want to prepare you for Michael’s lesson by remind us that we must say “no” to some popular substitutes to Gospel ministry. If we are going to apply the gospel properly, we must say
• “No” to simplistic solutions for profound problems. Jesus is the answer, but not in the way people hear us say it. Gospel work probes deeply into both the heart of man and the heart of God as revealed in the Scriptures.
• “No” to belief in “the God we believe in” or “the gospel we believe in.” It is not the Gospel because it claims to be, because we like the answer, because it is popular, or because it works. Mormonism “works” at cleaning up peoples lives, but it is not the Gospel.
• “No” to “Just pray.” Must we pray? Of course, but prayer alone is not equal to Gospel ministry.
• “No” to quick solutions. Unbiblical patterns of thought and feelings did not develop overnight; they were forged through years of experiences, bad teaching, sins committed against us, the darkening of the mind which is part of the fall, and a host of other befuddling factors. A Gospel solution requires serious labor and prayer to press on our hearts and minds new ways of dealing with circumstances. The Gospel is not whitewash for our weathered lives; it is surgery on cancer which threatens to consume and destroy us from inside!
We must put off these sub-gospel ways of thinking. But we must also put on Biblical thinking:
• We can chose, by faith, to be passionate for the Gospel.
• We can commit ourselves to the Word written for the content of the Gospel and to Jesus, the Word incarnate, as the source of the Gospel.
• We can trust that the Gospel is the power of salvation, the power to save lives now, by the freedom which Christ gives, as well as saving people from eternal punishment. God changes people hearts as they believe that they can trust him for their futures, so that they are freed from bitterness today.
• We can invest ourselves in learning to apply the gospel. Sunday School is a start; I can recommend books; we could even have training on Gospel Transformation and Counseling. The resources are available, as soon as we are ready to receive them.
We must want to love and apply the Gospel. The second thing we must do in order to partner in gospel ministry is serve people.
2. We Must Serve People in order to Partner in Gospel Ministry
When church people hear phrases like, “partnership in the Gospel,” we assume money and prayer. We suppose the Philippians prayed for Paul’s work and sent financial support. Those are probably both true. But it seems to me that the two words which are most critical are not money and prayer, but partner and people.
1) Partner, not “Lone-Ranger.” That means you need me and we need each other. The Bible says that pastors are to equip you for Gospel work. Then he tells all of us to pray and encourage and help one another in faithful ministry. The work is simply too difficult for any of us to do alone. I promise you that I cannot do it myself. If we expect the pastor to do the ministry so that people can attend a good and comfortable congregation, we will die. We must improve in working together.
2) People. I do not know your “Linda” or “Darnell.” God places you in their lives to serve them with the Gospel. Are you scared? Pray and ask others to pray with and for you. Are you unsure? Teaching is available. Are you overwhelmed? Ask for help. But know this: God gives you the unique privilege of Gospel ministry to people only you can touch!
3. Conclusion
This was not a very well-organized or smoothly flowing sermon. I felt that God put on my heart some things that we needed to hear in the life of our church.
One of the ways this sermon was directed was by an article in a magazine Alan gave me last week. Mark Buchanan wrote about his visit to the Brooklyn Tabernacle, where Jim Cymbala pastors. After the Tuesday night prayer meeting in which “3,500 God-hungry people storming heaven for two hours,” they went out to dinner.
“In the course of the meal, Jim turned to me and said, ‘Mark, do you know what the number one sin of the church in America is? It’s not the plague of internet pornography that is consuming our men. It’s not that the divorce rate in the church is roughly the same as society at large.’
“Jim named two or three other candidates for the worst sin, all of which he dismissed. ‘The number one sin of the church in America, is that its pastors and leaders are not on their knees crying out to God, “Bring us the drug-addicted, bring us the prostitutes, bring us the destitute, bring us the gang leaders, bring us those with AIDS, bring us the people nobody else wants, whom only you can heal, and let us love them in your name until they are whole.”’
“I had no response. I was undone. He had laid me bare, found me out, and exposed my fraudulence. I was the chief of sinners. I had never prayed, not once, for God to bring such people to my church. So I went home and repented. I stopped sinning. I began to cry out for ‘those nobody wanted.’
“And darned if God didn’t bring them. But then I found out why nobody wants them: they’re messy and costly and dirty. They swear at you, lie to you, steal from you. Worse, they make you love them, and then often break your heart.” (Leadership, Spring 2009, p. 98). Real ministry is messy, and yet, I wonder how we would pray if we believed that the gospel was the power of God.
