THE CHARACTERISTICS OF FAITHFUL MINISTRY
Acts 14:1-7 At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. 2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. 4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. 5 There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. 6 But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, 7 where they continued to preach the good news.
INTRODUCTION: WE ALL HAVE HEARD AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER THAT WE SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN SOME TYPE OF MINISTRY FOR CHRIST. AFTER ALL WE HAVE BEEN SAVED BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, CALLED TO SERVE THE RISEN CHRIST, AND LOOK FORWARD TO THE CROWNS OF HAVING FAITHFULLY SERVED THE REIGNING CHRIST.
YET, IN ORDER TO HAVE A FAITHFUL MINISTRY, THERE NEEDS TO BE SOME WAY SO AS TO DETERMINE IF WE ARE ACTUALLY SERVING WITH FAITHFULNESS.
PROPOSITION: FAITHFUL MINISTRY CAN BE SEEN IN THE LIVES OF PAUL AND BARNABAS!
I. FAITHFUL MINISTRY INVOLVES CONSECRATION
a. THE MEANING OF CONSECRATION. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CONSECRATED?
i. TO DEVOTE OR DEDICATE TO SOME PURPOSE
ii. TO MAKE OR DECLARE SACRED; SET APART OR DEDICATE TO THE SERVICE OF GOD.
b. WHEN WE TALK ABOUT CONSECRATION, THE SETTING APART IS NOT A THING, BUT A PERSON; NAMELY US!
c. PAUL AND BARNABAS WERE CONSECRATED (SET APART) FOR SERVICE
i. 14:1 – “AS USUAL”
ii. UNDERSTAND THAT THEY HAD JUST LEFT PISIDIAN ANTIOCH AFTER SPEAKING IN THE SYNAGOGUE FOR A COUPLE OF SABBATHS
1. THEY LEFT AS A RESULT OF PERSECUTION
2. THEY LEFT BECAUSE THEY WERE “EXPELLED”
3. THIS WAS QUITE EARLY IN THEIR FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY, AND WAS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT RESISTANCE THEY HAD FACED TO DATE!
4. NOW WOULD HAVE BEEN THE TIME TO “RE-ACCESS” AND RETURN HOME!
DONALD J. BARNHOUSE WROTE THIS LITTLE STORY IN HIS BOOK ON ROMANS 1 -- A BACKWOODS PREACHER WAS NOT VERY ELOQUENT BUT WAS OFTEN RIGHT ON THE MARK. GOD DEFINITELY STEPPED INTO HIS LIFE AND CALLED HIM AND CHANGED HIM. AND ALTHOUGH HE WAS NOT VERY EDUCATED, HE WAS DEEPLY DEVOTED TO HIS CALLING. HE LISTENED ON ONE OCCASION TO A PROUD, YOUNG PREACHER – WELL EDUCATED BUT VERY IMPRESSED WITH HIS OWN BACKGROUND AND SKILLS, EVIDENCING LITTLE POWER OF GOD AT WORK IN HIS LIFE. WHEN THE SERMON WAS OVER AND MOST PEOPLE HAD LEFT, THE OLD PREACHER WALKED UP TO HI AND SAID, “YOUNG MAN, WAS YOU SENT OR DID YOU JUST WENT.”
5. PAUL AND BARNABAS WERE AT A CROSSROADS, NEEDING TO DECIDE IF THEY WERE SENT BY GOD, OR THEY WENT BY THEMSELVES
6. PAUL AND BARNABAS DECIDED TO PRESS ON TO ICONIUM BECAUSE THEY WERE CONSECRATED
BEING CONSECRATED MEANS:
WE ARE NOT QUITTERS. IN SPITE OF DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES WE ARE STEADFAST. NOT UNLIKE THE FOLLOWING STORY, ….
A MOTHER HAD WATCHED HER SON THROUGH THE WEEK BEGIN TO DRAIN IN ENERGY. AND BY THE END OF THE WEEK HE HAD SIMPLY LOST THE DESIRE TO GET UP AND GET WITH THE DAY. SHE HEARD THE ALARM GO OFF THROUGH THE DOOR. SHE LISTENED AS NINE MINUTES PASSED AND THE ALARM WENT OFF AGAIN. APPARENTLY HE JUST KEPT PUNCHING THE LITTLE SNOOZE BUTTON ON TOP OF THE ALARM. FINALLY, AFTER THREE OR FOUR EXTRA RINGS, SHE DECIDED TO TAKE CHARGE SO SHE WALKED IN AND SAID, “SON, IT’S TIME TO GET UP. YOU’VE GOT TO GET UP.” HE PEEKED OUT FROM UNDER THE COVERS AND SAID, “CAN YOU GIVE ME THREE GOOD REASONS I HAVE TO GET UP?” SHE SAID, “WELL, YES. FIRST OF ALL, IT’S SUNDAY, AND YOU NEED TO GET DRESSED FOR CHURCH. SECOND, YOU’RE FORTY-THREE YEARS OLD AND YOU KNOW BETTER THAN TO LIE THERE. THIRD, YOU’RE THE PASTOR OF THE CHURCH AND THEY EXPECT YOU TO BE THERE!”
WE UNDERSTAND THAT OFTEN ARE GREATEST WORK COMES WHEN WE ARE PRESSED THE HARDEST
7. ONCE AGAIN THEY WOULD BE MET WITH DIFFICULTY
a. THE JEWS REFUSED TO BELIEVE
i. THE WORD MEANS DISOBEDIENT
ii. THE WORD MEANS TO SPURN
b. WE NEED TO REALIZE THAT PAUL, BARNABAS, AND WE WILL OFTEN LIVE OUT THE VERY NATURE OF THE PARABLE F THE SOWER AND THE SEED AS WE SEEK TO SERVE OUR SAVIOR AND LORD!
c. THESE JEWS WERE A VIVID REPRESENTATION OF THE SEED THAT FALLS ON THE HARD GROUND AND IS SNATCHED AWAY
d. IN ADDITION THEY ALSO TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BREED “POISON” – MISTRUST IN THE MINDS OF OTHERS.
8. THE RESPONSE OF CONSECRATION TO THE DIFFICULTIES THAT THEY FACED
a. THEY DID NOT TURN TAIL AND RUN, IN FACT THEY “SPENT CONSIDERABLE TIME THERE”. – VERSE 3
b. THEY SPOKE EFFECTIVELY – IN OTHER WORDS THEY WERE PREPARED TO SHARE THE GOSPEL WITH THOSE WHO WOULD BE HEARING THEM.
i. SO OFTEN WE FALTER FOR LACK OF PREPARATION
ii. IF I WERE TO SAY TO YOU RIGHT NOW, TAKE OUT A PIECE OF PAPER AND JOT DOWN THE VERSES TO THE “ROMANS ROAD”, COULD YOU DO IT? THOSE COUPLE OF VERSES ARE ONE OF THE SIMPLEST WAYS TO SHARE THE GOSPEL WITH SOMEONE ELSE.
iii. DO YOU HAVE A TRACK IN YOUR POCKET – SOMETHING TO LEAVE BEHIND ON A TABLE
c. THEY SPOKE BOLDLY
i. GUESS WHAT, SATAN LOVES IT WHEN THOSE OF US WHO FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST SPEAK TIMIDLY AND APOLOGETICALLY ABOUT WHOM HE IS AND WHAT HE HAS DONE IN OUR LIVES!
ii. PAUL AND BARNABAS SPOKE BOLDLY.
1. THEY SPOKE WITH AUTHORITY
2. THEY SPOKE WITH FRANKNESS
3. THEY SPOKE WITHOUT RESTRAINT
II. FAITHFUL MINISTRY INVOLVES COURAGE
a. COURAGE TO KNOW WHEN TO CONTINUE
i. CONTINUED THROUGH DIFFICULTIES WITH THOSE WHO SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER – THE JEWS
ii. CONTINUED THROUGH DIFFICULTIES THROUGH THOSE WHO WERE “POISONED” – THE GENTILES
iii. CONTINUED THROUGH DELIBERATE DENIAL OF THE VALIDITY OF THE WHAT THEY WERE PREACHING
1. GOD CONFIRMED WITH SIGNS.
2. KIND OF INTERESTING TO SEE THAT EVEN WITH SO POWERFUL A WITNESS – MIRACULOUS SIGNS AND WONDERS, THERE WAS STILL DELIBERATE DISBELIEF
a. SIGNS WERE THINGS THAT DISTINGUISHED THE MESSAGE OF PAUL AND BARNABAS FROM THE MESSAGE “OTHERS” MAY HAVE BROUGHT, AS WELL AS THE MESSAGE OF THE JEWS WHO WERE PRESENT AND STIRRING UP DISSENTION
b. WONDERS WERE OCCURRENCES THAT FOCUSED THE ATTENTION OF THE PERSON VIEWING IT ON GOD
c. SO PAUL AND BARNABAS WERE ABLE TO VALIDATE THEIR MINISTRY AND THE FOCUS OF THAT VALIDATION WAS GOD!
CAN’T YOU HERE THE WORDS IN THE STORY OF LAZARUS AND THE RICH MAN – “IF THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS, THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE, EVEN IF ONE ROSE FROM THE DEAD.”
b. WHAT COURAGE PRODUCES IN THOSE WHO HEAR
i. WHEN WE HAVE THE COURAGE TO PROCLAIM CHRIST THERE WILL BE DIFFICULTIES
ii. WHEN WE HAVE THE COURAGE TO PROCLAIM CHRIST THERE WILL BE HURDLES
iii. WHEN WE HAVE THE COURAGE TO PREACH CHRIST THERE WILL BE RESULT
ANYONE WHO STANDS COURAGEOUSLY FOR THE BIBLE WILL FACE EACH OF THESE RESULTS.
YOU CAN PLEASE ALL OF THE PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIME; SOME OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME; BUT YOU WILL NOT PLEASE ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME.
JUST BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT GET 100% AGREEMENT AND ACCEPTANCE DOES NOT MEAN YOU DO NOT STOP TRYING!
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN HAS SAID, “MUST ONE POINT OUT THAT FROM ANCIENT TIMES A DECLINE IN COURAGE HAS BEEN CONSIDERED THE BEGINNING OF THE END?”
WHEN THE BELIVER IN CHRIST LOSES HIS COURAGE, THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST LOSES IT VESSEL!
III. FAITHFUL MINISTRY PRODUCES CONFIRMATION
a. HERE IN THE TEXT WE SEE CONFIRMATION IN TWO WAYS
i. FIRST BY SIGNS AND WONDERS
ii. SECOND BY THE SIDING OF THE PEOPLE
b. WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE GOSPEL IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING
c. ONE OF THE SENSITIVITIES THESE MEN HAD WAS A SENSITIVITY TO THE GOSPEL
i. DID WHAT THEY DID FOR THE GLORY OF GOD
ii. DID WHAT THEY DID SO THAT OTHERS COULD SEE THE GRACE OF GOD
iii. DID WHAT THEY DID UNTIL WHAT WAS BEING DONE DID NOT BENEFIT THE GOSPEL ANY LONGER
1. THERE WAS A PLOT TO SILENCE THEM (AND THE GOSPEL
2. THE APOSTLE CHOSE TO LEAVE SO THAT THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL COULD CONTINUE
3. THEY CONTINUED TO PREACH THE GOSPEL
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS ALWAYS AT WORK IN OUR LIVES AND IN THE HEARTS AND LIVES OF THOSE WE COME IN CONTACT WITH.
FAITHFUL MINISTRY MUST CONTINUE EVEN WHEN THERE IS AN ATMOSPHERE OF DISSENSION, SUSPICION, AND ANTAGONISM. THESE ARE ALL TOOLS OF THE ENEMY TO THWART NOT THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL, BUT THE PERFORMANCE OF HIS SERVANTS.
TAKE A LESSON FROM THE LIVES OF PAUL AND BARNABAS, SERVE FAITHFULLY BY BEING CONSECRATED AND COURAGEOUS, THEREBY ALLOWING GOD TO CONFIRM YOUR FAITHFULNESS; NOT ALLOWING THE DEVIL TO UNDERMINE YOUR FAITHFULNESS!
