WHAT
IS YOUR MINISTRY?
(Acts
5: 41-42)
By
Shelby
G. Floyd
It is
great to see all of you and to participate in the great worship service to our
great and mighty God and our wonderful Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
I am
asking the question: what is your ministry?
Some might say, "my ministry is to children," or "my
ministry is to the sick and suffering."
There are many ministries in which we can all be involved. “What is your ministry” really means, “what
are you doing to serve God?” The word
ministry means to serve. What area are
you serving the Lord Jesus Christ?
Let
us notice several scriptures:
In those days when the number of disciples was
increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because
their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the
Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be
right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on
tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of
the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will
give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.
Acts 6:1-4
NIV
The
church had a problem. The problem was
that certain widows were being taken care of and others were being neglected on
a daily basis. It was not on
purpose. The church was growing very
rapidly and in some way the Grecian widows were being overlooked, while the
Hebrew widows were being taken care of, and it created a problem. The apostles heard about this and we read of
their solution:
Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are
known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.
We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our
attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.
Acts 6:3-4
NIV
Here
is a ministry! What is your
ministry? Your ministry and my ministry
and the ministry of all of us, is the ministry of the word. We may be involved in other ministries, but
this ministry is a responsibility of every child of God—the ministry of the
word.
Let
us notice another statement on the ministry of the word. The church was
undergoing a great persecution after the death of Stephen. Stephen was martyred and a young man by the
name of Saul of Tarsus was holding the garments of those who stoned him to
death. After much lamentation devout men
came and buried Stephen. It is at this
point that the disciples took the ministry of the word seriously:
Therefore those who were scattered
went everywhere preaching the word.
Acts 8:4
NKJV
What
is your ministry? What is my
ministry? Our ministry is preaching the
word wherever we go. Let us look at our
main text. We encourage you to take your
Bible and examine the Scripture:
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because
they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day,
in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and
proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.
Acts 5:41-42
NIV
What
is your ministry? May I suggest to you,
that your ministry and my ministry, is the ministry of the word of God to a
lost and dying world. Without this word
of life and without us being a part of taking this word to everybody in this
world, there will be no salvation. So
our ministry at the Heartland church of Christ above all other ministries is
the ministry of the word.
Let
us now focus on Acts
SEVEN
ESSENTIALS OF MINISTRY
1. Daily Ministry
First,
the ministry of the word must be daily.
Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house,
they never stopped
teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.
Acts
NIV
We are in such a habit of thinking in terms of weekly ministry: once a week, twice a week, and three times a week. We must get out of the mode that our religion of serving God is only weekly. If you do not get out of this weekly mode of serving God, then our service to God is going to be weakly. And I spell weekly with a different spelling—WEAKLY!
The
Scripture says they were teaching and proclaiming Jesus Christ “day after
day.” We are commanded to have daily
prayer for our daily bread. “Give us
today our daily bread” (Matthew
Then he said to them all: If anyone would come after me,
he must deny himself and
take up his cross daily and follow me.
Luke 9:23
NIV
And the apostle Paul recommends that Christian people die daily: die to self, die to sin, and die to this world.
And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour?
I die every day-I mean that, brothers-
just as surely as I glory
over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:30-31
NIV
Truly Paul himself had died to sin, self, and the world:
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who
live,
but Christ lives in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself for me.
Galatians 2:20
NKJV
The
ministry of the word must be a daily matter.
At this point we get nervous. At
the Heartland
God has mandated that all of us meet together on the first day the week to worship him as he directs. (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2; Revelation 1:9.) The teaching of God’s word requires the Lord’s Day worship. But if this is the only scheduled service for the church each week, we become nervous and ask, "But what am I going to do Sunday night? And what are we going to do Monday, Tuesday, and especially Wednesday, since we have been in the habit of meeting on that night? What am I going to do? We start wringing our hands and we don't know what to do since the church hasn't planned any collective meetings other than the Sunday service.
My question is, "what are you going to do since you have six days and nights until we all come together again?" What did the early church do? Was the religion of the New Testament church a weekly religion only or a daily religion? This is what we all must do. We must have a daily ministry of the word. So that is the first essential. Therefore, our ministry will be on a daily basis and not just weekly.
2. Ministry Begins In The
Assembly
Secondly,
this ministry of the word began in the worship assembly. It is said they were preaching and teaching
Jesus Christ in the temple courts, which was the Jewish temple. There were three temples that had been built
in
This building is where God's Old
Testament people came to worship on the Sabbath or Saturday. And since people were in a habit of coming
there, the early church had their worship and the ministry of the word in the
outer courts of the Jewish temple. Today,
the church meets wherever there is a suitable place for God's people to
come together for worship. We may meet
in a Signature Inn, a
3. Ministry From House
To House
In
the third place, the word must be carried to every house:
Day after day,
in the temple courts and from house to house,
they never stopped teaching and
proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.
Acts 5:41-42
NIV
I
challenge you to verify that most of Christ’s recorded teaching was not in a
public assembly, but one on one. For
example, his teaching to the woman at Jacobs well was one on one (John 4: 1-24).
Christ didn't have a house, so he
went to other people’s homes, he taught out by the seaside, he taught from a
boat, and he shared the word of God from a mountaintop. Do you see the idea? The ministry of the word is not limited to a
weekly service. This is a problem we
have today. If we can get out of the
mode of thinking that our ministry of the word is a weekly service only, and
adopt the idea of the New Testament church, that our ministry is to be on a
daily basis, the church will grow more and more. It starts in the house of God—the public
assembly, but also reaches out to every house, "from house to house."
You may ask, “how
am I going to have a ministry of the word in my house or somebody else's
house?” Let me give you some
suggestions. What about your
children? Do you know where the real
Christian school is located today?
According to my Bible the Christian school is in the home. The main responsibility for bringing up the
children is given to the parents, especially the fathers.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is
right.
"Honor your father and mother,"
which is the first commandment with
promise:
"that it may be well
with you and you may live long on the earth."
And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to
wrath,
but bring them up in the training and
admonition of the Lord.
Eph 6:1-4
NKJV
Therefore,
what are you going to do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday at the Heartland
The
family today is in great trouble and the divorce rate increases almost every
year. You may be asking what must I do to minister the word throughout the week. You could purchase some good literature on
marriage and study your Bible on how you can be a better husband or wife.
And then when you are ready to
minister the word beyond your family, think about those you can invite into
your house or go to their house and teach them about Christ. We commend those who have reached out and
invited guests to be with us each Sunday.
If we will all get busy and have a daily ministry of the word we will
fill every seat on Sunday at our worship service.
4. Ministry Involves Everyone
Fourth,
this ministry should involve everyone in the church.
Day after day, in the temple courts
and from house to house,
they never stopped teaching and
proclaiming the good news
that Jesus is the Christ.
Acts
NIV
Who
are “they?” Have you noticed when
everything is going well in the church we do not say “they,” we say “we,” “us,”
etc. But when there's something we're
not comfortable with, we say, "What are they going to do at the
church?" Who are “they?” I suppose “they” refers to the evangelists,
the elders, the deacons, and the Bible school teachers. Who are “they?” "They" means I,
you, me, we and us. "They" refers to every person in
the congregation of God's people at
5. Teaching and Preaching
The next
essential involves teaching and preaching.
"They ceased not to teach and
preach" (Acts
6. Ongoing
In
the next place, our ministry must be ongoing:
"They ceased not" to preach and teach Jesus Christ (Acts
7. Must Glorify Christ
The
seventh essential of ministry is the glorifying of Jesus Christ. We must not glorify ourselves or anyone
else. So many times it is, "what
can you do for me?" It is we, and
I. “It is I and my wife, my son John,
his wife, us four and no more."
This is a selfish spirit, which must not be a part of this
congregation. The spirit of the
Heartland church must be that we are here to glorify Jesus Christ. Therefore, what was the subject of the daily
ministry of the
Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to
house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is
the Christ.
Acts
NIV
What is the subject of their ministry? What is the central plank in the platform of ministry? "Jesus is the Christ." So how do we preach, teach and glorify Jesus Christ?
JESUS
IS THE CHRIST
When we leave here on Sunday, how do we go out and preach and teach Jesus Christ on a daily basis? Do we go up to someone and say, "Jesus, Jesus, and Jesus?" Is that what it means to teach and preach Jesus Christ? In teaching and preaching Jesus Christ, Christ must be the center of our teaching. The central proposition of preaching Jesus Christ in the early church was: "Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God” (Matthew 16: 13-19; Acts 8: 35-39). Just as every system must have a center; Christ is the center of the Christian system. But the farther we are removed from the early church, the easier it is for all people to get away from that central proposition. Men then begin to teach and preach this opinion and that opinion instead of the doctrine of Christ. And we are all aware of how opinions can be divisive and destructive. The answer to all of this is to go back to the central proposition. And what was that proposition? Jesus is the Christ! He is God's anointed; he is our Lord and savior!
“They did not cease teaching and preaching
Jesus as the Christ.”
(Acts
NKJV
Now how do we go about preaching Jesus Christ? How did Paul and the other apostles teach and preach Christ?
“But we preach
Christ crucified:
a stumbling block to
Jews
and
foolishness to Gentiles,”
1 Corinthians
1:23
NIV
And I, brethren,
when I came to you,
did
not come with excellence of speech
or
of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
For I determined
not to know anything among you
except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
1 Corinthians
2:1-2
NKJV
In Acts
of Apostles we have an excellent example of what it means to preach Jesus
Christ. Philip had been called from
So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I ask
you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or
of some other man?" Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this
Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to
some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from
being baptized?" Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your
heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God." So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And
both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now
when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away,
so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But
Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he
preached in all the cities till he came to
Acts 8:34-40
NKJV
Philip
began in Isaiah 53 and preached unto him Jesus Christ. How does one go about teaching Jesus
Christ? Let us look at the context. Earlier, Philip went down to
We could answer, "Jesus Christ existed before he was ever brought into this world. He was the word, he was the eternal word, and he was the word of God that was made flesh."
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came
into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come
into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 1:1-5
NAS
And then we could describe the birth of Christ to them according to the gospel record.
But when the
time had fully come,
God sent his
Son, born of a woman, born under law,
Galatians 4:4
NIV
Next, you could say, "he was a man, he was a real man." We need to make Jesus Christ personal. Some religious groups have made Christ very personal by emphasizing the birth of Christ. When one thinks about a little child you think of a person. Another way some groups make Christ personal is by depicting Jesus on the cross. We should glory in the cross of Christ! The problem is this is where most religions stop. We do not worship Christ as a little child. We worship a risen savior! He is now in heaven, seated at the right hand of God the father. He is the only go-between, the only mediator between God and man. He is King of kings and Lord of lords.
Because we live in a human kingdom, there are certain laws we must live by. As citizens of these human kingdoms we must pay our taxes and obey the laws of these human kingdoms. But there is no government on earth that can order the church concerning its work and worship. We may appeal to Caesar concerning our personal citizenship in a human kingdom, but in religious and spiritual matters we must appeal only to Christ who is Lord of lords and King of kings.
This is how we preach Jesus: we preach his infinite godhead, we preach his humanity, we preach that he is the only mediator between God and man, and we preach that he is the only Lord, the only King. And then of course, we preach Jesus Christ by preaching the plan of salvation.
REACTIONS TO THE MINISTRY
Finally, we must present the different reactions that you are going to receive when you go out to preach and teach Jesus Christ in your daily ministry. We must be prepared for all possible reactions to our work of ministering the word.
1. Hostility
The first possible reaction to your gospel ministry may be hostility on the part of some people. By hostile we mean that they will not be favorable to you or your message. Do not let that bother you. Notice this reaction to the apostolic daily ministry:
Having brought the apostles, they made them appear
before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. "We gave you
strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have
filled
Acts 5:27-33
NIV
Friends, in our daily ministry there will be some people who will be openly hostile to your work. Christ instructed that when this happens, "shake the dust off your feet" and go to someone else. He also said, "Do not cast your pearls before swine." This simply means we must minister the word and if we meet with hostility, we must turn to someone else.
2. Neutrality
The second possible response to your daily ministry is neutrality. This perhaps is one of the most difficult reactions to deal with. Some will be neither for you nor against you:
Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named
Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded
them to put the apostles outside for a little while. And he said to them:
"Men of
Acts 5:34-39
NKJV
Gamaliel was neutral. What was the recommendation of Gamaliel? "Don't fight against them, don't be for them, just leave them alone." Is that good advice? Can we follow that recommendation today? Can we just leave every false religious movement alone and if it is not of God it will fail? No! Neutrality was not good advice then and it is not good advice today. Be prepared for many people will be neutral toward you and your message. Learn to read people and recognize what they are actually saying to you. They may be saying “just leave me alone.”
3. Obedient and
Loyal
The last possible reaction to your gospel ministry could be obedience and loyalty. There will always be people who have good and honest hearts and are ready to obey the gospel and be loyal to Jesus Christ when the message is presented to them. Those who will be loyal are those who will obey the word of the gospel.
So they departed from the presence of the council,
rejoicing that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.
And daily in the temple, and in every house,
they did not cease
teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
Acts 5:41-42
NKJV
What is
my ministry? What is your ministry? What are "we" going to do at the
Heartland
*Shelby G. Floyd delivered this sermon Sunday September 17, 2000 at the Heartland Church of Christ, 1693 West Main Street, Greenwood, Indiana.46142 Copyright © 2001, 2002, 2010 Shelby G. Floyd, All Rights Reserved