HOW DO WE VIEW MINISTRY? Mark 1:29-39
INTRO:
A Man With a Servant’s Heart
A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.
Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but met with only silence or pious excuses. Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world’s only famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret.
When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined. They never know by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret. Perhaps the episode is a vital insight into why God used D. L. Moody as He did. He was a man with a servant’s heart and that was the basis of his true greatness.
Gary Inrig, A Call to Excellence, (Victor Books, a division of SP Publ., Wheaton, Ill; 1985), p. 98
To minister: to give aid or service
Ministry: a person or thing through which something is accomplished :
from Latin minister servant;
There is a need for true ministry in the church, yet there is a vast view of what that ministry should look like.
We have books, tapes, seminars and much more to teach us how to minister to our world.
Yet, from all of my study, to have true ministry there must be a spirit of servanthood, a willingness to serve others.
How do we view ministry through the act of service?
I. THE PLACE OF MINISTRY v. 29-34
A. As soon as Jesus left the synagogue, He went to the mother-in-law of Peter. When people found out where He was, they came to Him.
B. Jesus did not go out to look for ministry, He ministered where He was.
C. I am sure you have heard the statement, “bloom where you are planted.”
D. Does it seem easier:
• To see the need of another age group
• To see the need of the homeless and hurting somewhere else
• To see the needs of the mission field oversees
E. Jesus has us where He wants us to minister where we are planted.
F. Yet we have enough excuses why we cannot minister to the very people we are near.
• Jesus could have used the excuse “she is a woman”
• Jesus could have used the excuse “it’s the Sabbath”
• Jesus could have used the excuse “let someone who knows her”
G. We will always see someone who is better, smarter, more fruitful and we will feel like “if we were just there, or …”
H. Remember, God wants to use us right where we are.
II. THE PRAYER OF MINISTRY v. 35-37
A. Jesus set the example of prayer for ministry.
So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. Luke 5:16
B. Some say that Jesus, being divine, did not need to pray for ministry, that is was just an example for us. I disagree.
I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. John 5:30
• Jesus need intimacy with the Father – John 1:30, 38; 14:10; 17:11
• Jesus needed direction from the Father – John 5:19-20
• Jesus need affirmation from the Father - Matt 26; Luke 22; Mark 14:36
Jesus was asking, “If there is anyway that this can be done differently because nothing is impossible with You. But if not, YOUR WILL BE DONE!”
He needed that affirmation of the plan of salvation again from the Father.
C. Jesus show us the importance of prayer.
“The tense of the verb ‘prayed” indicates a continued action, not just a brief moment. Jesus prayer life was successful because it was planned, private, and prolonged. He got up early enough, got far enough away, and stayed long enough!” The Nelson Study Bible
D. Our ministry can only be energized by the strength of our prayer. So many times we are not ministering as we should because of the lack of prayer!
Note: Simon and his companions “searched” NKJV for Jesus.
Barklay: “they tracked him down”
“followed him eagerly. They had now begun to taste the good word of God, and thought they could never hear too much of it. Many possess this spirit when first converted to God. O! what a pity that they should ever lose it!” Adam Clarke Commentary
E. We need to possess the eagerness of being with Jesus in our prayer time and that is what makes us eager for ministry.
III. THE PURPOSE OF MINISTRY v. 38-39
A. Jesus knew what His purpose was: “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10
B. Jesus modeled singleness of purpose. Paul followed this example:
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:13-14
C. We have so many things to distract us. Sometimes good and honorable things, and then sometimes not so good and honorable.
D. What is your priority of ministry?
I have a long list, but it basically comes down to this:
First, God!
Second, Family: Wife, then children.
Third: Integrity. I will not become someone I am not just to please others.
Fourth: Church
E. Jesus lived out His priority –
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; Isa. 61:1
CONCLUSION:
A Share In America
In the 1950s, marketing whiz Stanley Arnold was working at Young & Rubicam, where he was asked to come up with a marketing campaign for Remington Rand. The company was among the most conservative in America. Its chairman at the time was retired General Douglas MacArthur. Intimidated at first by a company that was so much a part of America, Arnold also found in that phrase the first inspiration for a campaign.
After thinking about it, he went to the New York offices of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Beane, and placed the ultimate odd-lot order: “I want to purchase,” he told the broker, “one share of every single stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange.” After a vice president tried to talk him out of it, the order was finally placed. It came to more than $42,000 for one share in each of the 1098 companies listed on the Big Board at the time. Arnold now took his diversified portfolio into a meeting of Remington Rand’s board of directors, where he argued passionately for a sweepstakes campaign with the top prize called A Share in America.
The conservative old gentlemen shifted around in their seats and discussed the idea for a while. “But Mr. Arnold,” said one, “we are not in the securities business.” Said another, “We are in the shaver business.”
“I agree that you are not in the securities business,” said Arnold, “but I think you also ought to realize that you are not in the shaver business either. You are in the people business.”
The company bought the idea.
Peter Hay, The Book of Business Anecdotes, in Bits and Pieces, Oct., 1990
