Illus: The phrase, “People of the Cloth”, reminds me of the pastor of a conservative small-town congregation. He received the gift of a white suit from a friend, but he was a bit reluctant to wear it. Since it was so attractive and a perfect fit, he decided to put it on one warm Sunday. As he was leaving for church, he asked his wife what she thought of his attire. After giving him the once-over, she replied, "It depends. Are you going to preach or sell chicken?" ("The Lighter Side," Partnership, Jul-Aug, 1986, p. 8.)
But ministers of the gospel are just like everyone else, they make their share of mistakes.
Illus: As a preacher, you know you're in trouble when ...
• You call the groom by the bride's former boyfriend's name
• You forget to turn off the cordless microphone while using the rest room
• You finally remember the name of that person you promised to visit in the hospital--while reading the obituaries
• The organist is asked to play while you preach
• The church votes to change your day off to Sunday
• You get assigned to nursery duty--during the morning service
• You preach the same sermon for the second week--and nobody notices
(Bruce Hoppe, Dwight Dally, Dave Maurer, Ron Saari in Leadership, Vol. 9, no. 2. )
But one of the hardest parts of the ministry is the preacher’s wife’s job. Her’s is the most unappreciated job in the church. It takes a special woman to be a preacher’s wife. Sometimes it seems as if her husband does not seem to fully appreciate her efforts to help him.
Illus: A newly ordained preacher and his young wife were going through some hard times in their marriage. They talked about how they could be more considerate of each other.
• The good wife promised that she would stop being so critical of his sleep-inducing sermons.
• He, in return, promised to honor her privacy and stop looking through her dresser drawers.
The preacher was true to his word, and never looked through his wife's dresser drawers; the good wife was never openly critical of her husband's sermons; and their marriage progressed smoothly.
After 50 years, their children gave a great party to celebrate the golden anniversary of the preacher and his wife. Many people came to congratulate the happy couple, and brought lovely gifts.
That evening, as they were putting the gifts away, the preacher saw that his wife left one the dresser drawer slightly open. He tried as hard as he could to withstand the temptation, but he finally opened the drawer and looked inside. There he found 3 eggs, and $10,000.00, in bills of varied denominations.
He was greatly puzzled by this, and went to question his wife. "Oh," she said. "Well, you remember when we spoke of being more considerate with each other all those years ago?" The preacher, feeling profoundly guilty, answered "Yes." She said, "Well, I promised to stop criticizing your boring sermons, but every time you gave a sermon that was a real snoozer, I put an egg in that drawer."
The preacher smiled. "Well, that's not so bad. 50 years of sermons and only 3 eggs! But what about all that money?"
His wife quietly responded, "Every time I got a dozen eggs, I sold them."
People have some strange ideas about people who are in the ministry.
Illus: A business man said, “Preacher, you could not pay me enough to be a pastor. When I have people in my company that do not produce, I have the pleasure of walking up to them and saying, ‘You are fired!’ You have to smile and tell them God loves you and so do you!”
Illus: When it comes to the ministry, I like what Howard Hendricks says about ministers. He said, “If you can't stand the smell of sheep, you shouldn't be a shepherd.”
ACTUALLY EVERY CHRISTIAN IS A PREACHER OF SORTS. You may not stand in a pulpit in the church and preach a message, but I want to tell you that every day, you send a message to people around you.
Illus: One day as the bus pulled up to a stop, the driver noticed that the man standing there was the town’s new preacher. He quickly made up his mind to test him. As the preacher paid his fare and got on the bus, the driver gave him too much change back.
As the preacher started toward his seat, he discovered the mistake. He went up to the driver and said, “Excuse me sir but you gave me too much change back”. The driver responded by saying “Yes I know, but I wanted to see if you are a honest man before I paid a visit to your church.”
It’s easy to smile when we hear stories like this, because it’s easy to laugh at others. But it’s not so amusing when the spotlight is on us.
Illus: Reality TV has become the fad of today’s media. TV cameras follow people around 24 hours a day, revealing every detail of their lives.
• What if you were the subject of next week’s show?
• What if it was your life that the world got to see?
• What would your life say to the people around you?
• What message would it convey?
Some of you are shaking your heads, saying, “Oh that will never happen to me.” Well I’ve got news for you – people are watching you every day, and there’s no camera around to remind you. Whether you like it or not --
• Every day your life is influencing somebody
• Every day your life is making some kind of statement
If anybody ought to be concerned about what message his life is making, it ought to be a child of God.
We ought to be concerned about the message our life gives to others because the Bible says we are CHRIST’S AMBASSADORS!
WHAT ARE YOU PREACHING TO PEOPLE AROUND YOU DAY BY DAY? For example:
• Young people, what do you preach when you go to school?
• Adults, what do you preach when you go to your job?
• Parents, what do you preach when you are in your home?
• What do you preach when you are around your friends?
The Greek word in the N.T. for preaching is “kay roos' so”. It means to herald, to proclaim, to declare publicly some message or fact.
When the idea of preaching comes to mind today, we turn and focus on the preacher as if he is the only one that God uses to speak to others.
But I’m here to tell you that every person is a proclaimer of some type of message. People that surround your life each day are getting the message your life is proclaiming.
You might think.....
• It doesn’t matter what you do
• It doesn’t matter how you act or what you say
• It doesn’t matter how you treat people
In 2 Cor. 3:2, Paul said, “Ye are our epistle…, known and read of all men:”
I want to tell you that IT MATTERS TO THE LORD!! God wants to use your life to get a message to the world you live in.
When the world looks at your life, what is the message that it ought to receive? The world should observe ....
I. THE MESSAGE
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE? It is the message of WHAT WE HAVE RECEIVED FROM THE LORD.
Vs. 1b “As we have received mercy, we faint not;”
Paul declares that he has this ministry because of the mercy he received.
• He had persecuted the people of God
• He had people imprisoned, whipped, and killed
God in His mercy saved him and forgave him.
Paul understood what Jeremiah meant when he said that God’s mercies are new every morning.
Look at Lam. 3:22-23, “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
• Mercy is the compassion of God given to those who don’t deserve it
• It’s a pardon given to those who should have received judgment
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR THE WORLD TO SEE THE MERCY OF GOD IN OUR LIFE? His mercy reveals HIS GREAT LOVE FOR US.
If we receive salvation because we deserved it, that would not say much for God. But if we receive it by MERCY, His mercy speaks of His great love for us.
As children of God today, our life should be proclaiming to a lost world that we are heaven bound by the MERCY OF GOD.
We will be able to enjoy the blessings of heaven because God is a merciful God. We deserved hell but He gave us mercy.
Illus: When I think of mercy, I think of the three fellows (Carl, Bob, and Brett) that lived a very wicked life, and they found themselves in Hell.
When they appeared there, a voice said, “Carl you are first.” He was surprised when a door opened and this dirty looking woman appeared and the voice said, “Carl, for all eternity you must live with this ugly woman because of your many sins!”
Next the voice said, “Bob, you are next!” He was surprised when a door opened and a woman even more ugly than the first appeared, and the voice said, “Bob, for all eternity you must live with this ugly woman because of your sins.”
Needless to say, only Brett was left and he was getting nervous because he had lived a more wicked than the other two put together. The voice said, “Brett, you are next!” Another door opened up, and the beautiful Cindy Crawford appeared before him. Brett was all excited when he saw her and he immediately thought, “THIS IS NOT BAD!” Then the voice said, “Cindy, because of your sins you will have to live for eternity with this ugly man.”
Every day, our lives should reflect that we have been saved by the MERCY OF GOD! If it were not for the mercy of God, we would all be doomed to live in a Christ-less eternity.
• Often people mean well when they say, “God helps those who help themselves!”
• That is only partially true, GOD ALSO WILL HELP THOSE WHO CAN NOT HELP THEMSELVES!
Someone said, “Mercy is reserved for the helpless.” We can not save ourselves, nor can anyone else save us.
But we need to send a clear message to a lost world, that we have salvation and it does not have anything to do with what we have done, but it is all because of HIS MERCY!
THE PLEA FOR MERCY PRESUPPOSES A RECOGNITION OF ONE'S OWN WEAKNESS.
Some people exclude themselves from the mercy of God because they will not humble themselves and admit their weakness and helplessness. People's egos are often too big; personal pride often runs very deep. They just have to talk about themselves in all matters.
Illus: Did you hear about the famous, egotistic author who said to his friend, "We have only been talking about me. Let's talk about you. What did you think of my latest book?"
Illus: General Custer was known for his ego.
At Little Bighorn, one of Custer's scouts warned him they were in for a fight.
He estimated there were enough Sioux to keep them busy for 2 or 3 days.
General Custer replied rather smugly, "I guess we'll get through with them in one day."
He even declined help from the 7th Cavalry or the aid of Gatling guns.
Well, Custer was right about one thing. One day was all it took.
The lost world will never SEE THE MERCY OF GOD if we do not proclaim it with the life we have. I am here to tell you today that I am a child of God because of the mercy of God. He REACHED DOWN AND SAVED A SINNER LIKE ME!
They need to hear THE MESSAGE, but also they need to see -
II. THE MANIFESTATION
WHAT IS THE MANIFESTATION?
We need to send a clear message of THE MANIFESTATION OF WHAT WE HAVE RECEIVED.
It is not enough for us to go around shooting our mouths off about having been saved by the MERCY OF GOD, we have got to MANIFEST SOMETHING! (That is, show them something!)
Look at 2 Cor. 4:2, “But have RENOUNCED THE HIDDEN THINGS OF DISHONESTY, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.”
Paul is talking about what happens when you’re born again. When you’re born again, something happens on the inside, but the results are seen on the outside.
• Do not come to me and tell me something has happened WITHIN but you can not show me from WITHOUT!
• You are not SAVED, you are DECEIVED!
• The reason that many can not SHOW YOU THE MANIFESTATION is because they do not have anything to SHOW!
He says those things that are shameful, disgraceful and scandalous, are things no longer desirous to us. Because of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, THINGS ARE DIFFERENT!
Look at 2 Cor. 5:17, we read, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
When people look at Christians, they ought to be able to see that because of Christ....
• The liar can become a person whose word is trustworthy
• The thief can become productive and help others
• The drug addict ( alcoholic, etc..) can be set free from the addiction
• The sinner can be forgiven and receive eternal life
• The saddened heart can become joyful
Because of God’s mercy, and the transforming power of His gospel, we ought to be mirrors that reflect the Lord’s glory, by being transformed into His likeness.
The world should be able to:
• HEAR THE MESSAGE OF WHAT WE HAVE RECEIVED
• SEE THE MANIFESTATION OF WHAT WE HAVE
RECEIVED.
And also, they should know where these changes came from. They came from-
III. THE MASTER
They need to hear about THE MASTER THAT MADE THE CHANGES IN OUR LIFE.
Look at 2 Cor. 4:5, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord….” Our life is to show forth Christ to a lost and dying world. There is no other message that can help mankind.
We are not here to:
• Impress people so they will have a good opinion of us
• Receive praise and admiration
We want people to see CHRIST IN US so that they will desire to have Him make a change in their life.
Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Jesus Christ alone saves. There is no other Saviour for man. Without Christ, no man can be saved.
• No teacher is wise enough to save himself…
• No prince is noble enough to save himself…
• No minister is good enough to save himself…
Illus: We are to be like a “Bird dog” and point men to Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 3:2, we read, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.”
There are people who never read their Bibles, but you can rest assured that people are reading your life each day.
Conclusion:
May the Lord help us to preach the right message with our lives, so others will see Christ living in and through us where ever we are.
I. THE MESSAGE
II. THE MANIFESTATION
III. THE MASTER
