Partners in Ministry
Philippians 2:1-4 – People matter to God and should matter to you.
I Peter 4:10 - “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”
I Corinthians 3:9 “We work together as partners who belong to God. You are God’s field, God’s building – not ours.”
God created each of us for a purpose. God endowed us with certain gifts, unique to us alone. We can use these gifts for the building up of the Body of Christ or use them for selfish ends.
God is all sufficient. He doesn’t need us for His fulfillment, but God does want us to become His partner in the ministry of reconciliation-helping people find and experience God’s love and forgiveness. God gives gifts to all Christ followers. God does not measure our success in life by our titles or positions or accomplishments, but by how well we use the gifts He has gifted us with.
Our goal as a local church is to give permission and encourage people to use their God given gifts in ministry. Ephesians 4:11-16 describes a healthy church as one where individuals are using their gifts to build up the Body of Christ. Under the direction of Christ each person uses his or her gift to partner with others so the whole body is healthy and grows.
As Christ followers we each have a choice to make. We either choose to live a mediocre below average life or choose to live an extraordinary life using whatever spiritual gifts God has given us to use in advancing the cause of Christ. Our theme song might be: “Let me burn out for You dear Lord, let me burn and wear out for You. Don’t let me rust or my life be a failure my God, to You.”
The Scriptures teach several truths concerning our partnership with God in ministry.
I. God Expects His gifts to be used in service to others.
The Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 12 makes it clear that all spiritual gifts are important in the Body of Christ. No one should boast that the gift he has is better than the gift someone else has. A person with the gift of teaching should not lord it over someone who has the gift of helps. All gifts are equal in the Body of Christ, the community of believers.
The primary point scripture teaches is that whatever gift you have, you are to use it. You are held accountable for the gifts you possess. Romans 12:6-8, “God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So, if God has given you the ability to prophesy (proclaim God’s Truths) speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift of showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” Everyone in this room has at least one of the 7 gifts mentioned in Romans 12.
Whatever your gift is, don’t bury it. Jesus told the parable of the talents to illustrate the importance of using what God has given you. In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus told about a Master giving three of his servants money to invest for him while he was gone on a trip. He gave one servant 5 talents, the second 2 talents and the third 1 talent. John Ortberg in his book “If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat,” says one talent was worth about fifteen years’ wages. So, even the one talent servant was given a huge amount of money. The servant with five talents doubled the money, the servant with two talents doubled the money, but the third dug a hole in the ground and buried his talent. The servant with one talent failed to take advantage of a once-in-a-life-time opportunity.
When the master returned he praised the five talent and two talent servants for being good and faithful. The one talent servant who buried his talent he condemned as being lazy and gave his one talent to the servant who had doubled his five talents to ten.
God cares a great deal about whether we use the gift he has given us, but what we do with it is our choice, not His. We can use our gift and multiply it, or we can pack it safely out of sight.
We are stewards and managers of all that God has given us. God is owner of all we have. We are either faithful or indifferent in our management of God’s gifts. Psalm 24:1 says:
“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.”
Use what you have and God will bless your efforts. Because Antonio’s voice was high and squeaky, he did not make the Cremona Boys’ Choir. When he took violin lessons, the neighbors persuaded his parents to make him stop. Yet Antonio still wanted to make music.
His friends gave him a hard time because his only talent was whittling. When Antonio was older he served as an apprentice to a violinmaker. His knack for whittling grew into a skill of carving and his hobby became his craft. He worked patiently and faithfully. By the time he died, he left over 1,500 violins, each one bearing a label that read, “Antonio Stradivarius.” They are the most sought-after violins in the world and sell for more than $100,000 each. Antonio couldn’t sing or play or preach or teach but he could whittle and his responsibility was to use his ability, and his violins are still making beautiful music today.
God expects us to use what gifts He gives us. The parable of the talents teaches that God will hold us accountable for what we use and do not use. . A day of accountability is coming. None of us wants to be audited by the IRS, but we’ll all be audited by the Almighty. We’ll have to give an account of how we’ve used what we’ve been given. Look at verse 19: “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.” Jesus is coming again and there will be a day of reckoning. While most of us believe this in our heads, we don’t always live with eternity in our hearts. If we would think more about His return, we’d be more focused on making an eternal return on our investments. Romans 14:12: “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” It was the duty of servants to always bear in mind that the master would be returning and would settle his accounts with them.
When it comes to using our gifts in ministry we need to remember that Jesus is not a hard task master. That was one of the problems of the lazy servant. He said to his master, “I know that you are a hard task-master.” (Matthew 25:24) The fact is, Jesus is not a hard task-master. We do not serve the Lord as volunteers in ministry because we feel it is our duty, but rather we serve the Lord because we see our service as an opportunity to be partners with Jesus in ministry.
Whether you are cooking for “Breakfast and Worship with Jesus,” teaching a Sunday School Class, helping with “Kidmo” in children’s ministry, sweeping sidewalks, leading a ministry team, you are serving as volunteers for Jesus. We do not serve out of fear, but out of joy and delight.
God expects us to use His gifts in service to others, but the Lord leaves the choice up to us whether we put our gifts into action or bury them.
II. God Uses Teams in Ministry to Carry Out His Mission
The Apostle Paul said, “We work together as partners who belong to God.” I Corinthians 3:9
One of the core values of our church is: “Ministering in teams is preferable to ministering alone.”
Throughout the New Testament we see teams serving together in ministry. Paul and Barnabas then Paul and Silas, and then Paul and Timothy served as teams in ministry. A husband and wife team, Aquila and Priscilla, served as a team and made an important contribution to the early church.
Jesus demonstrated team ministry when He chose 12 disciples to partner with Him in ministry. His team was quite a diverse team. Twelve men were from several socio-economic backgrounds. They had different personality profiles from quiet to boisterous, timid to impulsive. Members of His team had one common characteristic…they were teachable. When they saw Jesus at prayer they requested: “Lord teach us to pray.”
Jesus was their coach and mentor. He gave them on-the-job training. They learned how to witness by watching Jesus witness to a Samaritan Woman. They learned how to pray by watching Jesus spend long hours in prayer. They learned how to handle conflict by observing how Jesus confronted those who were going to stone a woman caught in adultery. Jesus said, “He who is without sin; cast the first stone.” They learned how to love by seeing how Jesus loved his friend Lazarus. When Jesus learned of the death of Lazarus he traveled to the home of the family. The Scriptures report that when Jesus saw the family grieving at the loss of Lazarus, “Jesus wept.” The disciples at the end of Jesus’ life witnessed His ultimate love as he died upon the cross.
Our goal as a local church is to have every ministry covered by a team. Teams are different from committees. Teams are action and task oriented.
Hans Finzel in his book, “The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make,” says that the best way to take the wind out of the sails of visionaries is to send their ideas to a committee. Finzel gives this definition of a committee:
• A elephant is a horse designed by a committee
• A committee keeps minutes and wastes hours
• The best committee has three members, with two of them out of town.
• A committee is made up of the unfit trying to lead the unwilling to do the unnecessary.
• A committee is a collection of individuals who separately do nothing and together decide that nothing can be done.
When you serve on a team you serve others not for what you get in return, but you serve and continue to serve even when you get nothing in return.
Ministering in teams is preferable to ministering alone because in a team you find mutual accountability and support. When you serve alone it is easier to get discouraged and quit.
The Bible teaches several basic principles concerning teamwork:
1. No individual can function as effectively by himself or herself as the individual can function on a team
2. No member of the Family of God should feel he or she is more important than another member of Christ’s Body.
3. Christians should work hard at encouraging and building up others in the Family of God.
• God expects His gifts to be used in service to others.
• God uses teams in ministry to carry out His mission
III. God Calls us to serve with Passion and Love
Romans 12:6,11, “God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well…Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.” (NLT)
What do you get passionate about? What do you get excited about? What will you sacrifice for and go to any lengths to get involved in? For some it’s sports: hockey, basketball, football, tennis, fishing, making money, you name it. When you get involved in your passion you may become another person – normally you are very controlled, but when in your passionate zone you yell, scream, shout, boo, and generally get out of control.
You gain passion when you become focused. Paul stated his life mission in Philippians 3:13-14, “One thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press toward the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Paul said, “This one thing I do, not these 100 things I dabble in.”
Your goal should be to serve in the areas of your passion.
#Mickey Jenkins is going to share how the Lord has led her and allowed her to serve in her areas of passion. (Mickey is multi-talented and uses her talents in serving the Lord. She arranges the flowers for the front of the church. She gives leadership to church dinners and teaches S.S. and paints backgrounds for church programs.)
Mickey is one who serves the Lord out of love and not out of duty.
We serve out of passion and love for the Lord. The hymn we sometimes sing says it this way:
“I will serve Thee because I love Thee, You have given life to me;
I was nothing before You found me, You have given life to me.
Heartaches, broken pieces, Ruined lives are why You died on Calvary;
Your touch was what I longed for, You have given life to me.”
#Peter Wagner for years was a professor of missions at Fuller Seminary. I heard him tell one time how he felt called to serve on the mission field. He traveled to South America to serve as an evangelist. He wanted to be the Billy Graham of Bolivia and win many people to Christ. He said the problem was he seemed to make more people mad than win them to the Lord. He realized he was not gifted as an evangelist.
He applied for a teaching job at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA and began teaching in the Department of World Missions. He found his true passion was in teaching. He was a successful teacher and writer now having written nearly 50 books on missions, evangelism, church growth and prayer.
Sometimes we serve the Lord when we see a need and do our best to meet that need. It’s a cop out when we see something that needs to be done and we have the ability to make a difference and do what we can to help and yet say, I can’t help because I don’t have a gift to help or that’s not my job.
When walking around the church grounds and you see a scrap of paper we can pick it up. We can help out when needed. As Pastor I could say, “That’s not by job to help fold chairs or tables. My job is to pray and preach.” I see my position as lead Pastor as a player – coach. I’m willing to pitch in and help wherever I can. My primary task is equipping and training and teaching, but I also get in the game and help.
The local church is healthy and grows as everyone does his or her part. Eph. 4:16
Here’s a suggested prayer to pray: “Lord guide me to areas of ministry where I have passion and skills. I’m willing to serve and use my God given gifts in ministry to help build up the Body of Christ.”
Before we sing the closing song I want to highlight the words of the song:
Hear you the Master’s call, ‘Give me your best.” For be it great or small, That is His test. Do then the best you can. Not for reward, not for the praise of man, but for the Lord.
Every work for Jesus will be blest, But He asks from everyone his best. Our talents may be few, these may be small, But unto Him is due our best our all.
