A Word about the Church as A Ministering Creation

 

Today I want to share a word about the church as a ministering creation.

We have been looking at “Kingdom Qualities for God’s Church”.  In doing so, we’ve seen how the church has a divine nature, and we also have seen several operational qualities of the church. The fact that the church is both a worshipping creation and a praying creation gives it a solid foundation for ministry. In our last episode, we also saw that God intends the church to be a maturing creation as it grows in numbers and in discipleship, so that it can be effective as a missionary creation and a witnessing creation. In our focal passage for today, we will see another powerful aspect of our ministry, as we realize that the church is a ministering creation as well.

Sometimes the people we expect to help us turn out to do just the opposite.   Paul Harvey has told the story of a man who traveled often, and just about every time he was gone, his house was burgled.  One day the thefts stopped, because his travel agent had been arrested!

Among the charges Jesus has given to the church, an important one is to meet human needs, to help people.  As we continue to study Kingdom Qualities for God’s Church, today we are going to look at our commission to minister. Let’s read Isaiah 49:1-13:

Coastlands, listen to me; distant peoples, pay attention. The Lord called me before I was born. He named me while I was in my mother’s womb. He made my words like a sharp sword. He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow; He hid me in His quiver. He said to me, “You are My Servant, Israel; I will be glorified in him.” But I myself said: I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility; yet my vindication is with the Lord, and my reward is with my God. And now, says the Lord, who formed me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him so that Israel might be gathered to Him; for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God is my strength—He says, “It is not enough for you to be My Servant raising up the tribes of Jacob and restoring the protected ones of Israel. I will also make you a light for the nations, to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.” This is what the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, says to one who is despised, to one abhorred by people, to a servant of rulers: “Kings will see and stand up, and princes will bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel—and He has chosen you.” This is what the Lord says: I will answer you in a time of favor, and I will help you in the day of salvation. I will keep you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to make them possess the desolate inheritances, saying to the prisoners: Come out, and to those who are in darkness: Show yourselves. They will feed along the pathways, and their pastures will be on all the barren heights. They will not hunger or thirst, the scorching heat or sun will not strike them; for their compassionate One will guide them, and lead them to springs of water. I will make all My mountains into a road, and My highways will be raised up. See, these will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Sinim. Shout for joy, you heavens! Earth, rejoice! Mountains break into joyful shouts! For the Lord has comforted His people, and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

The Appointment to Servanthood:

Verses one through five tell us about an appointment from God to a role that may not be a natural one for us. My experience with people tells me that few folks seek out the role of servant. This is particularly true with Americans, because we have inherited a spirit of “rugged individualism” from our Revolutionary forefathers, but few people across the world would become servants voluntarily if other options were available to them.

Most servants in the Bible were captured in war or born into it as the children of bond servants. Others were sold into slavery to pay-off debts. Servanthood is not glamorous, nor is it sought after. Most people, when confronted with the idea of being appointed as a servant, would react like a child who had not done their homework, hiding from the teacher and afraid of being called.

In John 12:25-26, Jesus taught His disciples to have a different attitude towards service:

The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me. Where I am, there My servant also will be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

He echoed this thought during the Last Supper, in Luke 22:24-27.

Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest. But He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles dominate them, and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving. For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? But I am among you as the One who serves.

Whatever we may think of service, the reality is that our God is the Sovereign God of the universe and God calls servants. Some servants of God are individuals, like, Abram, Isaac and Jacob, but also David, Nehemiah, Isaiah, John the Baptist, the twelve disciples, Paul, or Priscilla and Aquilla. Some servants of God are nations, such as Israel, and others are congregations of people like the church. Regardless of whom God calls, He expects to be answered!

What Isaiah knew, and what we must come to grips with ourselves, is that God’s call cannot be denied. Isaiah knew he was called from the womb and so are we. We can resist God’s call, but it is still there. Once, after U.S. forces had captured some international terrorists, President Ronald Reagan advised potential terrorists in the world that, “You can run, but you can’t hide.” That may not always be true for terrorists, but it is true with God, as the story of Jonah attests!

What are we to do? We need to answer the call to servanthood.

The Authority of the Servant:

Verses two, five, and six show us the authority of a servant of God. The idea that a servant might have authority could be surprising to us, because of the very nature of servanthood. Biblical servants were personally insignificant. Generally, they had no money, power, or authority. Many did not even exercise control over their own body, spouse, or children.

Paradoxically, servants, who have no personal authority, can often exercise great authority, just not their own. Servants can, and usually do, have authority delegated to them from their master in varying amounts. When they speak in that instance it’s as if the master himself spoke. I once saw a housekeeper in Africa excoriating a watchman for being late to work and sleeping on duty. The housekeeper was a woman, and in that society, women would never speak to a man publicly in the way that she did. In that case, however, she was representing the owner of the property, and so she gave the watchman a thorough verbal thrashing!

In our case, we represent God. We are stewards of His name and His ministry on earth and because we represent Him, we have a certain authority. Verse two also tells us that He provides us the tools and training to do our work for Him, and Verse five says that He has our back!

I remember the first time I led the Lord’s Supper as a pastor. I met with the church deacons before the worship service to rehearse how we would administer communion. One of them must have thought that I looked a little nervous and said, “Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.”  I am not quite sure how that would apply in a worship service, but I took comfort in it, regardless!

What are we to do? We need to exercise the authority given to us by God as His servants. We need to represent Him well, and like Jesus, be about our Father’s business.

The Assignment of the Servant:

One very important thing that servants need to know is their assignment. When people are misused, their efforts are wasted.

In the late 1990s, a marble bust was discovered being used as a doorstop in a shed in the town of Invergordon, Scotland. It had been purchased by the town council back in the 1930s for the dollar equivalent of $6, but its significance had been forgotten over the decades. The bust was casually holding open a door until someone finally recognized its true value.

As it turned out, it was a masterpiece by Edmé Bouchardon, a celebrated 18th-century French sculptor who worked in the court of King Louis XV. The bust depicted John Gordon, a Scottish landowner believed to be the founder of Invergordon. Bouchardon sculpted it in Rome in 1728, and it had originally been housed in the Gordon family’s castle before being sold at auction.

After its rediscovery, the bust was authenticated and valued at around $3.2 million. The Highland Council eventually agreed to sell it to a private buyer through Sotheby’s, with proceeds going back to the town that unknowingly safeguarded a treasure for nearly a century.

That story ended well, but what if the correct nature of that marble bust had never been discovered? What a waste!

As servants of God, we must clearly understand our assignment. We must understand what it is we are to do, and that is this: it is to do the Master’s work for Him. It is to take care of the master’s business. It is to be an extension of the master. The British have a saying that applies here, 

Why have a dog and bark yourself?

God has called out people to be His servants, and we should not expect Him to do what He has asked us to do. 

What did God expect Isaiah to do? Isaiah was told to edify God’s people, and to witness to the Gentiles, and to minister to those in need. What does God expect us to do? The same types of things. We are to edify believers, witness to the lost, and to minister to those in need. These assignments are congruent with other passages of Scripture as well. Micah 6:8 says,

Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.

Of course, servants must be humble, but we also must do good as well! In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was clear and to the point, saying, 

You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Paul taught about our service in Romans 12:1-4 & 9-13:

Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one . . . Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.

What are we to do? We are to carry out our assignments!

The Accountability of the Servant:

Like every good master, God will hold us accountable for our service. Jesus told many parables which refer to this, such as: 

• The Parable of the Wise Servant in Luke 12 
• The Parable of the Unjust Servant in Luke 16
• The Parable of the Double-Duty Servant in Luke 17
• The Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25

All of these demonstrate that as servants, we are accountable to our Lord and Master, but Jesus taught us directly about this, in Matthew 25:31-46,

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’  “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you didn’t take Me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe Me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of Me.’ “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

James, the half-brother of Jesus and the pastor of the church at Jerusalem told his congregation that having a servant’s heart was evidence of salvation. James 1:27 says,

Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

In James 2:14-22 he went on to teach,

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe—and they shudder. Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?  You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected.

Our God has saved us through the blood of Christ, and because we are bought with a price, we are not our own. We belong to God, and our God will discipline us as Proverbs 3:11-12 teaches,

Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe His discipline; for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, just as a father, the son he delights in.

Hebrews 10:31 reminds us that,

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

What are we to do? We are to serve our Lord with dedication and honor!

Conclusion:

It is a common practice for church pastors to give a vision of their church which proclaims, “Every member is a minister,” or that “Every member is a missionary.” This is a good concept, but some, or maybe many members might say, “Not me! I am not a preacher! I don’t even want to pray aloud in public.”

The key issue is not what we do, but the attitude of our heart. We must first become servants of the Almighty God, and then we can be used of Him in ministry. As 1 Peter 4:10-11 says,

Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God. If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt 

A Word about the Church as a Maturing Creation

 Today I want to share a word about the church as a maturing creation.

We have been looking at “Kingdom Qualities for God’s Church”.  In doing so, we’ve seen how the church has a divine nature, and how it has a commission from God to witness for Him and to make disciples of all nations.  We’ve seen how the foundation of our ministry must be prayer, and how worship is our “Job 1”.  Today we will see how God expects the church to be a maturing creation.  A mature disciple is a follower of a teacher, a learner.  God is calling us to be life-long learners of His thoughts and ways.

We all have things we need to learn in life. “F Troop” was a 1960’s television comedy show about an inept cavalry troop set in the Old West of the mid-1800’s. Ken Berry played its clumsy commander, Captain Wilton Parmenter. One show opened with a scene in which he did not know how to fold a map.  He became frustrated and flustered until he just crumpled the map into a ball. After that, he sent for and received the instructions about how to fold a map, but then he discovered he could not fold the instructions! He became frustrated and flustered again until he just crumpled the instructions into a ball.

Our text for today gives us a clarion call to grow and mature in Christ and become His disciples.  Let’s look at Ephesians 4:11-24 as we investigate this Kingdom Quality for our church and our lives:

And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head—Christ. From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part. Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more. But that is not how you learned about the Messiah, assuming you heard about Him and were taught by Him, because the truth is in Jesus. You took off your former way of life, the old self  that is corrupted by deceitful desires; you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.

First, Let’s See the Absence of Maturity:

As much as we should be grateful to God for the world that He made for us, we must remember that the world is a broken and dying place. This is understood in the physical sciences as well as in human relationships.

Science has observed a universal tendency in the universe of decline towards dysfunction and disintegration. The term for this is “entropy.“

In one of the earliest scientific papers which discussed entropy, the French mathematician Lazare Carnot said that in any natural process there exists an inherent tendency towards the dissipation of useful energy. In other words, without intervention, things tend to fall apart. Unmaintained vehicles rust. Untended gardens become choked with weeds. Unattended homes crumble. Left to natural processes, things degrade and die and decay.

Entropy also occurs in human relationships as well. Passion cools unless it is rekindled. Discipline fails unless it is enforced. The way forward is lost unless guidance is provided. Unity disintegrates unless leadership unites. Unguided organizations become confused, dysfunctional, and they lose direction.

The story is told of an old and grizzled Army sergeant who was looking forward to retirement. After he received his discharge, he moved off-base and tried to integrate into civilian society. Within a week, he showed up at a recruiting office wanting to re-enlist. When he was asked why, he gestured towards the big window at the front of the office and sputtered, “There’s nobody in charge out there!”

In fact, the world doesn’t know how to think or act. As an example, we can consider what the world has told us about what our proper diet should be. In the 1970’s, Dr. Robert Atkins promoted eating proteins, but then in the 1980’s we were told to eat salads and avoid red meat. Now in the 21st Century, the Paleo diet says we should eat meat again. For every scientific study that promotes a certain diet, another is published that asserts the opposite is true.

In the same way, the world is a poor model for knowing how to act. In oriental cultures, people are rude to strangers, but they are polite to family and friends. Westerners are rude to family and friends, but they tend to be polite to strangers. In the Middle East we can find a long history of hospitality towards strangers, as well as a long history of murderous rage towards them also. In founding the United States, our leaders discovered a genius for political compromise that allowed us to establish a democratic republic, only for our leaders to abandon that genius for political compromise over the issues that led to the Civil War, the bloodiest and most destructive war we have ever fought. Americans managed to fight the last of the Napoleonic-style wars and the first of the modern wars at the same time against ourselves . . . and we laughed at the commander of F Troop because he couldn’t fold a map?

What are we to do? We need to answer the call to maturity.

Next, Let’s See the Call to Maturity:

What Paul was doing here was to issue a clear call for the Christians in Ephesus to grow-up in Christ.  

Paul was no stranger to new Christians. On his three missionary journeys he saw an untold number of converts, and he planted an untold number of churches. None of these were instantly mature in Christ and they all needed to grow and to become disciples.

Sometimes, Paul and his team helped people grow one-on-one. For example, one convert was a man named Apollos, who had a great talent for oration. The problem was that he was teaching some things that were not true. Apollos was not intentionally teaching false doctrine, he simply was ignorant of the truth. Two of Paul’s colleagues, Priscilla and Aquilla, took Apollos aside, and taught him more accurately about Jesus, and then he was used by God in a powerful way. Acts 18:27-28 tells us that,

Then he wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers wrote to the disciples urging them to welcome him. After he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace. For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.

In this way, a loose cannon was turned into a powerful weapon against the powers of darkness.

Paul also mentored his sons in the faith. He invested himself in Timothy and Titus, and Luke, and others. He wanted them to grow in Christ and to help others grow also. We often refer to 2 Timothy 2:2 in relation to this, which says,

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

And, although Paul and John Mark went through a rough patch after Mark went home in the middle of the first missionary journey, in the end even that relationship bore the fruit of the call to maturity.

Likewise, Paul urged entire congregations to grow in the Lord. In fact, this is the purpose of most of his epistles. Often, the first half of one of his letters was devoted to teaching doctrine with the second half devoted to the practical application of doctrine in the lives of believers. His entire purpose, however, was to call those churches to maturity. We can see that call in the epistles to the Thesalonians, the Corinthians, the Colossians, and here, to the Ephesians. Even Romans, which many Christian writers believe to be a very theological work, is actually a call to the church at Rome to grow-up in the Lord and to work together to grow God’s Kingdom.

Paul’s message to the Ephesians and to us today is to remember we are in the world, but we are not of the world. Because of this, we must learn to live as if we are from God: We must learn His truth. We must learn His attitudes. We must learn His way of treating people. We must learn and apply His way of love. All of this requires that we become life-long-learners.

We have much to learn about God. I clearly remember the testimony of a young college student who had recently come to Christ. She said, “There is so much I don’t know!” This is true for more seasoned saints as well.

After being a Christian from the age of 8, after attending a strong Bible teaching church, after attending seminary, and after being a church pastor for several years, I discovered that there was more to Luke 2 than the Christmas story that Linus reads in “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” I discovered Simeon, a righteous man who was told by the Holy Spirit to look for the Messiah. I also discovered Anna, a widow who prayed daily in the Temple and who was probably a living connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament. I was amazed and saddened by my ignorance of these important figures in the story of the birth of Jesus!

In fact, all of us can say, “There is so much I don’t know!” It is possible that one thing we will do in eternity is to learn more and more about the majesty and love of God. Why don’t we start that process now?

We also Must See the Goal of Maturity:

The goal of maturity is not just to gain knowledge. The goal of maturity is to change our lives and our way of living. 

During one of Alexander the Great’s military campaigns, a soldier fled from battle out of fear. After the fighting ended, the man was brought before Alexander himself. The general asked why he had run, and the soldier admitted he was afraid. Then Alexander asked the soldier’s name. The man replied, “Alexander.” Upon hearing this, the general sternly declared: “Then either change your behavior or change your name.”

We learn the things of God to put them into practice. Knowledge in the abstract is a dead end. I once went to a conference and became certified to teach an illiterate adult to read. It was interesting information, but I have never gotten a chance to use it.  Likewise, I went to another event where we were trained and certified to operate in international disaster relief situations. Again, I never had the opportunity to use that information. It was interesting and challenging instruction, but knowledge that is not used is wasted.

So, what are things we need to learn about so that we can do them? First, we need to learn the Bible so that we can share its truth. One training that I attended that I have used was about how to teach. The most important thing I learned there was the truth that the best cure for nervousness is knowledge of the subject. If you know the subject, you only have to relate what you, yourself have learned. That’s not that hard.

Another thing that we must learn is how to become united. As Abraham Lincoln paraphrased Jesus, “A house divided cannot stand.” If we learn what truly matters, we will not be splintered by diverse interests and beliefs. A denominational leader I know was called to serve a fractured and fractious group of churches. He led them to become more involved in missions, and he found to his delight that their focus on missions unified them.

We need to learn how to become mature and reflect that maturity in our actions. When the church that my wife and I grew-up in lost our pastor, our worship leader stepped up and provided great leadership to the church in the interim time. We all knew that he was musically talented and that he was a good worship leader, but we didn’t see his depth of maturity until he had to step into the gap when we were without a pastor. Engineers test the strength of materials by stretching them and by putting them under pressure. Our worship leader was stretched and put under pressure, but he passed the test because he had matured.

We need to learn our spiritual gifts and how to use them for God’s kingdom. Paul told Timothy,

Therefore, I remind you to keep ablaze the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.

I clearly remember that same worship leader talking about a gifted musician and singer who had once been involved in leading worship, but who had stepped away from the church. Over a period of time, but not a long one, that person’s ability to sing deteriorated, and then it disappeared. The lesson that our worship leader took away from that was that gifts are like muscles. If we use them, they develop and mature, but if we don’t they atrophy and become weak. All of us in Christ have at least one gift, and like Paul taught Timothy, we must keep it lit up for service to God!

One other thing we need to learn is how to become Godly people and how to act as Godly people. The behavior of the soldier who had the same name as Alexander the Great reflected upon the emperor.  In the same way, we are Christians, and we bear the name of Christ. What we do reflects on Him, for better or worse. Also, the strain of living in a way that is not natural to you is great, even debilitating, but if we learn Christ, then it will become second nature to live like Him!

We have seen the absence of maturity, the call to maturity, and the goal of maturity, but how can we mature? What can help us grow-up in Christ?

Finally, Let’s See the Tools of Maturity:

We need tools to do the work of maturing. Every job requires the right tools to complete the work. I remember seeing a mechanic in Africa who arrived to do some work on a neighbor’s vehicle. His tool kit consisted of a blue plastic carrier bag from the local shop, which contained a kitchen knife, a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, and a few strips of rubber from an inner tube. I am not disparaging his efforts, and in fact he was able to repair the vehicle, but this was despite his tools, not because of them!

We have so many tools at our access for growth and maturity. First, we have the best manual of all, God’s Word. Next, we have prayer, which is our technical help line. Third, we have well-trained instructors to teach us, pastors, deacons, teachers, and elders. Finally, we have the Holy Spirit, who is our live-in, full-time mentor, the one Who teaches us from inside our very own hearts, and minds, and lives. 

Have you ever seen inside one of the car haulers that NASCAR teams use to transport their race cars? Inside of one of these 53-foot-long trailers is space to hold up to three cars, but along both sides are toolboxes. Those teams bring to each race an untold number of tools. These include hundreds of hand tools like wrenches, sockets, torque wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, etc. They also bring dozens of power tools, including impact guns, drills, grinders, and air tools for quick repairs. Finally, they also bring specialty equipment like alignment tools, suspension tuning gear, engine diagnostic scanners, and welding and fabrication gear and much, much, more. Those are great assets if they are used, but they weigh more than a ship’s anchor if they are neglected.

In the same way, we must use our tools as well. We must read the Bible, attend Bible study, and pray and reflect on God’s Word. Like our spiritual gifts, if we neglect our tools, they will not do us any good, and like the principle of entropy dictates, they will eventually deteriorate into uselessness for us.

Conclusion:

Jesus was not just a model for us, He is our Savior. That said, Jesus is our model to follow. At the wedding at Cana, Mary told the servants to do what Jesus told them to do. We know that the baby Jesus grew in wisdom and knowledge and in favor with God and man. We must do the same!

So, let’s not be a bunch of hapless people from “F Troop”!  Instead let us grow into disciples of our Lord, and confident and competent members of His Kingdom and His Family!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about the Church as a Witnessing Creation

 

Today i want to share a word about the church as a witnessing creation.

In our last episode about the qualities of the church, we observed that the church is a missionary creation. From Genesis 12, we saw that God expects His people to be on mission for Him. From Matthew 28:18-20, we learned that God has given us the authority to be missionary, and in addition to that, in His authority He requires us to be missionary. We also learned that our goal is to make disciples of all peoples by teaching them all that we learned ourselves from walking with Christ. Finally, we learned that while this task is immense, we are not alone in pursuing it. We have each other, and even more importantly, we have the presence of God Himself as we work together with Him in pursuit of His mission.

Today we will look at a very important element of how we are to be on mission with God. God not only expects His people to be a missionary creation, but inherent to that quality, He also expects us to be a witnessing creation. We will see that clearly as we read Acts 1:4-11

While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After He had said this, He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. While He was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”

As I began thinking about this message, I was reminded of a joke sent to me by a friend. One morning, a mom was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin age 5, and Ryan age 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw this as a chance to teach a moral lesson, and so she said, "If Jesus was sitting here, He would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.'" Kevin then turned to his baby brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus." 

So often, that is our attitude about witnessing, evangelism, missions, and outreach. Like our trash, we're glad that those things are taken care of by somebody else. But that's not the Biblical attitude though. So, let's consider Acts 1:4-11 and see what our attitude ought to be.

Who is Jesus Speaking To?

When asked to proclaim the Gospel, people often ask, “Who, me?” This reminds me of a bad old joke about the Lone Ranger and Tonto. 

The Lone Ranger and Tonto were surrounded by an Indian war party.  They were lying beside one another behind the body of Silver, sheltered temporarily from the bullets and arrows of the hostile Indians.  Realizing they were out of ammunition, the Lone Ranger turned to Tonto and said, “It looks as if this is it, Tonto.  I think we’ve had it this time.”  Tonto turned to the Lone Ranger with a tight smile and said, “What do you mean ‘we,’ white man?”

Another way to describe how some people respond to Acts 1:8 is the same way that General Tecumseh Sherman responded when he was approached to become a candidate for President in 1884. He said, “I will not accept if nominated and I will not serve if elected.”

Who was Jesus talking to here? Not pastors, they didn’t exist yet. Not deacons, they hadn’t been selected yet. Not missionaries, they hadn’t been called out yet.  Not to the world, they didn’t believe in Jesus. He was speaking to those He had called to follow Him, the church.

You are aware that I am from the south, and there, like in every localized culture we have our own vocabulary. For example, when I moved to Covington County, AL, I learned that there they call wheeled trash cans, “hobos.” I don’t know why, they just do. 

In the South the plural of you is “y'all,” and the plural of y'all is “all y'all.” The plural form of us is “us'ns,” and the plural form of we is “we'uns.” So, who was Jesus speaking to? Us’ns and we’uns.  He is speaking to His church and saying that all y’all are to be my witnesses. 

What is Jesus Asking us to Do?

So, what was Jesus asking us to do? Simply this: to be witnesses for Him. 

When asked to give a verbal witness, people often quote a saying that has been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. He is reported to have said, “Preach the Gospel always; if necessary, use words.” St. Francis probably didn’t say this, and it isn’t a Biblical statement.

God wants to communicate His love to people. He invested all that He has in saving mankind, and this effort would be wasted if people did not hear about it. As the old riddle goes, “If a tree falls in the forest, but no one sees it, does it make a sound?” 

As the second half of 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” He wants everyone to come to Him, but to do that they must hear about His love. Romans 10:9-15 puts it this way,

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. Now the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame,” for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

We simply have been asked to tell what we know.  To witness is just to tell what we've experienced first-hand. Even physical evidence, forensic examinations, and documentary evidence must come into court by the way of a verbal witness. Thus, a verbal witness is extremely important, and our personal testimony is powerful because no one can deny what we have personally experienced. 

Many years ago, I deployed with my unit from Hawaii to an exercise in Korea that took place in the month of March. I and my fellow soldiers flew out of balmy Oahu into wintery Osan Airbase. We all suffered from the cold, but one of my colleagues had a particularly difficult time. 

On the day the exercise started it was 10 degrees Fahrenheit with a strong north wind. I was wearing every item of clothing I could fit onto my body, and so was my friend. The difference was that I was out in the field, and he was in the rear in a well-heated operations center in a building.

When my friend was seen wearing multiple layers of clothes in a steam-heated building, he was accosted by someone asking, “Why do you have on all those layers. You can’t be cold in here.” My colleague replied, “You can’t know how cold I feel. I am freezing, and that is why I am bundled up.” In the same way, no one can tell us that we have not experienced the love of God through Christ.

It's also portable because we can take it anywhere that we ourselves can go. Many countries of the world prohibit the importation of Bibles and Christian literature, and not just Muslim countries. Other countries censor television and radio broadcasts as well as the internet. The forces of darkness erect every type of barrier imaginable, but wherever we can go, our witness can go as well.

Finally, our witness is persuasive, because the best way of promoting something is by word of mouth. As missionaries to South Vietnam used to say, "What was whispered in Hue in the morning would be shouted in Saigon by the afternoon." 

The truth is we will be witnesses whether we like it or not. But what kind of witnesses will we be? As a hospital marketing director told the board of directors, "Everything our employees do is marketing. Some of it good and some of it bad.” 

As God’s people, we must give a good witness to Christ.

Where is Jesus Asking us to be Witnesses?

In short: all over.

We can view Christ's commandments symbolically. Jerusalem can become our neighborhood. Judea is our state. Samaria is our country. The ends of the earth can be the mission field. This is a very common way that evangelicals interpret Acts 1:8.

On the other hand, we can view Christ's commandments sociologically.  In this case, Jerusalem represents people who are like us, and Judea represents folks who are a little like us. Samaria would be those people that really despise us, and those whom we despise, humanly, while the ends of the earth would represent folks who aren't like us at all. 

I prefer simply to take Jesus literally. We are to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, which is where most of us live and work today. Regardless of how we view Christ's words, obedient followers of Christ obey His command to take the gospel to the entire world. 

As we witness to people from all over, we will face cultural differences, and we must do our best to be culturally appropriate whenever possible. At the same time our witness for Christ must be clear.  I once served with a missionary couple who admitted that their ministry had gotten out of balance, saying, “Sometimes we try so hard to be culturally appropriate that we forget to share the Gospel.”   In the 21st Century this can happen in our ministry as well.  Therefore, we must realize that the Gospel can be offensive to some people. In 1 Corinthians 1:18 Paul said, 

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.

Paul also wrote in Romans 9:33 that,

As it is written: Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over and a rock to trip over, yet the one who believes on Him will not be put to shame.

We must not let our fear keep us from witnessing for Jesus, because the best gift we can give anyone is not our friendship, but to be saved by grace through the work of Christ. 

How can Jesus Ask us to be Witnesses?

Because we do this work by God's power, not ours. 

Doing a job without the right tools is both frustrating and dangerous. For example, many people have cut themselves badly while trying to use a knife as a can opener. I remember how eye-opening it was for me the first time I cut a loaf of bread with a real bread knife. It was so much better than using a butcher knife or a steak knife. 

God knows that witnessing for Him is difficult. Jesus witnessed and He was reviled by His enemies. Not only that, but Jesus also witnessed, and He was misunderstood by His friends. In the end, Jesus witnessed, and He was killed by a distant, unfeeling government. God has made provisions to help us, though. 

First, He sent the Holy Spirit to us, and through the Spirit, He gives us both power and also spiritual gifts. He has also given us pastors and teachers to train us and to lead us. Finally, He promised He would give us the words to say in our time of need. 

One of my favorite heroes in the Bible is found in Judges 3:31, which says,

After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath became judge. He delivered Israel by striking down 600 Philistines with an oxgoad.

You may have heard it said, “Never bring a knife to a gunfight,” but all that Shamgar had was a sharp stick, yet he was used of God to protect His people. So, if we say that “We can't,” we are right. If we say that “God can't use us,” then we are wrong.

Why does Jesus Ask us to be Witnesses?

Because the need is great.  First, we live in a world of hurt. 

• COVID-19 killed untold numbers of people who died without Christ. 
• We have a continuing problem with substance abuse and the resulting addictions that come from that destructive practice. 
• Suicide is becoming a serious problem in Western society. 
• Political and social unrest are common.

Our society desperately needs the grace and peace of God through Jesus.

Next, we live in a world filled with lost people. 

• There is no county in the United States which has more Christians today than it did 10 years ago.
• Our birth rate is outstripping the rate of baptisms., so we are getting farther and farther behind.
• Overseas baptisms now top baptisms at home in the United States, but over a billion people in closed countries have never heard the gospel.
• People are dying and going to hell. 

Our world desperately needs to be redeemed by the love of Jesus.

In addition, we live in a world that will come to a terrifying end. In recent weeks we have been studying Revelation, and what we have learned is that after Jesus comes to rapture His church, all hell will break loose on this earth. The people without Christ who remain will suffer plagues and all types of disasters. All the world’s water will turn to blood, and huge hailstones will fall from the sky. People will cry out and wish that they were dead. The world which God made specifically for us will not be fit for man nor beast. We would not wish that fate on our worst enemies!

While all the facts above are true, it also remains true that we live in a world where God’s church is present and in a world in which God has chosen to work through His people.  So, what do we need to do? 

• As members of the Bride of Christ, we need to be good witnesses for God in our words and our deeds. 
• As followers of Jesus, we need to take every opportunity we are presented to be witnesses for the Lord. 
• As members of God’s church, we need to invite people to our fellowship.
• As workers in God’s field, we need to realize that God is calling us to visit prospects and to pray that the harvest will increase. 

Everything in nature that is healthy reproduces. That’s why God has made His church a witnessing creation, to grow His kingdom and His reign over the hearts of people.

Conclusion:

 So, based on our Scripture for today, what should our commitment to Christ be? To be good witnesses for God in our words and deed and take every opportunity we are presented to witness for the Lord. 

 As I have said before, Acts 1:8 is both prophetic and prescriptive. We will be witnesses for Christ. The only question is what kind of witnesses we will be.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt