By Garold Andersen
God has made us to be yeast to those around us. We need to be ready to take the message of His love to those we meet every day.
My heart is filled with so many thoughts from the Lord regarding this group of people, this portion of the body of Christ. I want us to take a few moments to consider the idea of this song. It was a song saying “We will work the fields together – one person does this, one that”. It’s the uniqueness of this relationship with God called Christianity, this following of the ways of Christ. The ways of Christ say each one of us is called individually and yet we fit together. Each of us is involved in very different aspects. I want you to consider where your involvement is – the place you work, the faces you meet. I’d like to pray:
“Father this is the field that you have given me, and I don’t know how to work in that field, but I give all of my heart to be your representative in that field. Where my talents and ability take me, I want to be your representative of your goodness, grace and compassion.”
Parable of the yeast: I don’t know if you can call this a parable. It’s a little piece of wisdom which Jesus throws out. I love the statement, “What can I compare the kingdom of God to?” From a theatrical point of view, this is very significant. Jesus often said this. What I see is Jesus, the son of God, who is doing everything He does by listening to the spirit of the Lord – “I'm only doing what my Father says.” He could have done everything Himself, but He’s trying to give us an example.
He asks “What can I use to give you a picture of the kingdom of God?” and God says, “This is what these people need to hear.”
He says it’s like yeast which a woman took and hid in 50 lbs of flour. She mixes it until it influences the entire mix. That’s the kingdom of heaven. Flour. Flour is wheat, life, bread. It’s life that is not alive. It’s crushed. There’s nutrients in it, but the grain has been picked crushed, and there it is. The possibility of something coming together and giving life is there. Yeast is something different. Yeast is a living organism. It’s life. This is what Jesus was saying. The kingdom of God is like that yeast. It’s small. It seems insignificant, but when it’s mixed into the loaf ... You can put flour together with water, and you have a dough. But you add yeast, and that little bit of dough you had has grown, because you’ve added to it something of life. The kingdom of God is about life.
What I want to leave us with is the simple idea, that you have a field of influence, but you also have this yeast, this life. I honestly believe that this is such an amazing time for this body. I think there has been a lot of transitioning, and I am filled with expectation for you. You have considered where God has brought you. The things you have learnt have been good things. They are good foundational ideas. And now you are open to say, “Where exactly do we go from here?” There is an expectation. And I want to plant a seed for what God has for you – an excitement.
The early church ... The church was in Rome, and in Rome, the early church was facing a great deal of persecution. The Roman government was based on using the worship of the gods to control its people, and now along comes a group of outsiders – Roman citizens, but blasphemers, because they believed in only one true God. The Christians faced persecution. They were sent at times to be fed to the lions, to be burnt. And something happens in Rome, because of bad water supply, bad sewage disposal. The plague enters Rome, and people begin to get sick. In the pagan religion, the idea was that the person who is sick is cursed of the gods – and if you leave that curse in your home, the curse will come on you. So people took their own sick children and threw them into the streets. The sick and the dying were lying everywhere in the streets, and you had to go other places to avoid them.
What is the need of the person lying in the street dying a horrible death? One of the leaders of the church in Rome gathered together the believers and said, “Though these people have hated and persecuted you, we have an inheritance of mercy and grace. Go into the streets and show those people love. Help them to die with compassion and mercy.”
And as they beginning to go an minister, pagan family members saw what they were doing, saw that they were taking care of their own family, and they asked, “What is this hope that you have in your lives? Who is this God that you serve?” It was one of the great moments of transformation in the Roman empire. At this point, the Christian faith entered into Caesar’s own household. Through the difficulty of the world they were in, the Christians rose to the occasion and showed compassion. And that changed the hearts of those around them. It was the beginning of the true Gospel of compassion penetrating into the world.
Isaiah 52:7
I really want us to grasp this. Isaiah is speaking truth. Within the world, the feet of the messenger who says, “I’m sorry to say you have to pay an extra $50,000 in taxes.” “I’m sorry you’re going to lose your job.” ... those are not lovely feet. The lovely feet belong to the messenger who comes and says, “Here’s a message for you – peace.” Good things. Good news. I like that message. Who in the world does not like that message? What is that message? Good news.
I want to go back to the idea of the pagan gods. We had gods for eating. We also had very strong gods who were the gods of war. And Isaiah is saying, “The news we have is that there is one God and He is not the God of war, but of peace, mercy and compassion.”
I was about ready to go on tour one year. I was performing in normal theatres. I would ask God, “What message would you give me to speak to the people?” As I would speak to people, God would give me a foundational idea of what to say. This time, God said, the message is “Our God reigns.” When God spoke that to me, it clicked. I know this message was to Zion, but through Christ it becomes the message to the entire human race. And it is not my God reigns, but our God reigns.
In the neighbourhood where you live, they may not know that. Maybe they think God is the god of war, or of religion. But the good news is that our God, the God of peace and good things is truly God, and our God reigns.” Our God reigns.
When I first began to speak to people about my beliefs, I would see them as someone distant from God. I would approach people thinking, how could I break through and reach them with the message? This thing changed my idea. It changed the position in my thinking. I was always viewing things in this way – “me and them”. But the transition God gave in my heart was this ... our God reigns. Even though you may not understand that, our God reigns. God wanted me to find a relationship with those people so I could speak to them that message – our God reigns.
That needs to be our understanding. But for many people we will meet, it’s not that easy. I want to end with a very quick concept, challenge, hope, encouragement ...
In Nigeria there are young people who are having visions and dreams – and those visions and dreams ... God is very specific. He works through humans. He said He looked through the world to see if He could find someone to stand in the gap. God made us kings and lords of this planet, and He’s asking if we’ll partner with Him. Ask Him for His power and mercy on your neighbourhood. Those visions and dreams are coming because of prayers – beyond a shadow of a doubt. These people are being discipled and are going back to the field from which God has called them, with a message – our God is not the harsh Allah, but the God of peace, grace and mercy.
Daniel faced a very interesting situation. He grew up at a time when the children of God were a mess. This is so significant. The church that Daniel was a part of – they were a mess. And yet, in the midst of this, some people were mentoring Daniel and his three friends. Those four young men had a foundation which was a rock. We need young people who have foundations in their lives which are rock solid. We need people like that who can be world leaders – leaders from this body. World leaders, who understand peace, good things, life.
Daniel and his friends were taken and were brought into the kingdom. In ancient cultures this was done for this reason. I conquer a tribe. But I don’t want to bring them all back to Babylon. So I look for the best young people and bring them as hostages. And now I infiltrate them with the yeast of my culture. So now your next generation of leaders will be from my cultural perspective.
Daniel and his friends were given food to eat and did not know how it was prepared. They didn’t know if blood had been mixed into the wine, as it often was. The children of God had been told that life was in the blood and they should not eat.
Daniel asked permission from the chief official. God granted Daniel favour and compassion. But he said, “You’re asking me to put my neck on the chopping block. You want to eat only vegetables and water. But my captain will notice, and you’ll be skinny. And my captain will ask what is going on, and it will be my neck.” And Daniel says, “Just test your servants for ten days. Test our appearance. And deal with us afterwards based on what you see.”
After ten days they looked healthier than all of the others.
And God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of wisdom.
I want to look at a verse which tells us the heart of who Daniel was. When the king has a dream, and can’t remember it, Daniel is given the dream and the interpretation. He reveals it to the king, and the king says he’s amazing. But Daniel says God is amazing – but God gave you the dream.
Eventually Daniel becomes one of the main leaders in Babylon and influences Babylon with the yeast of God’s kingdom. But He did it by serving, bringing news of good things.
I pray with all my heart that I can leave you with this simple picture, and this challenge. There is truly a power of life which is the yeast of the kingdom of God. It is the power which brings people back from the dead. So many people have lives which, behind the busyness, are empty. And the yeast of God’s kingdom is real and is life. We must begin to be like the people I spoke of in Rome, who take out of the goodness of God’s blessing and life. This is what you already do, but I believe God is calling you to do even further. The yeast is not doctrinal ideas. It is the yeast of life, the yeast of heaven – heaven, life, goodness, compassion, mercy.
I believe in the world right now there are many changes happening. And we can either remain in a place of safety, of saying, “I’m a Christian, praise God, and I come together with nice people and we do nice things.” That’s good. But the challenge now is that we should rise to the occasion. It’s not something difficult, but it is something real. Believe you have the power of the yeast of the kingdom of God in your life. And take that yeast into your neighbourhood. And live the power of that yeast in the world. Have beautiful feet. And be people of good news of great joy.
The message is not that you get to go to church every week. The good news is life and peace. Daniel wasn’t removed from persecution and difficulty. But it is the good news of life.
Micah 6:8
Love mercy, love compassion, walk humbly with God. It was humility which opened the heart of the officials around Daniel. Serve your community with this yeast of power and life.
Sunday 31 May 2009
Friday 29 May 2009
God is Never Finished with us
By Garold Andersen
I want to remind you of how wonderful ministry is. A little outreach from people can bless someone so deeply. The kindness that we can extend to people is a body of living water. It doesn’t have to be extreme, it is simply kindness. If you give a cup of water in Jesus’ name, your reward will be eternal.
My background is theatre, so when I communicate from the Gospel I like to bring it to life. I think this is one of the most theatrical moments in the Bible, in 1 Kings 18.
The people of Israel have been pulled away from worshipping God. The prophet Elijah said God was going to cause a drought in the land, and it happened. In Chapter 18 Elijah comes back and meets with the people of God who are serving the gods of the land they are in. Baal was one of these gods. They had a god for everything. And Elijah was calling them back to the one true God. he comes to the people and says, ‘Who do you want to serve? All these foreign, stone gods? Or the one true God?’
Then Elijah tells the prophets of Baal to sacrifice to their gods, and if fire comes down and consumes the sacrifice, it will prove that their gods are real. They tried everything they could. They danced; they even began to cut themselves, but nothing happened. Then Elijah pours water on the sacrifice, prays, and fire consumes the offering, the water, and the stones. Then Elijah destroyed the prophets who had been misleading the people. He then prays for rain, and rain begins to come.
Now we get to Chapter 19. Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, so she sent a messenger to Elijah.
1 Kings 19:2
She would sacrifice her own life to destroy his.
1 Kings 19:3-5
Imagine that you are at this scene, and Elijah knows that God is real. He knows what God has spoken to him, and he brings the word of the Lord to the people. But the words of Jezebel struck fear in his heart. As he ran something happened in his heart. He thought he had failed God.
Sometimes when we’re facing the things that we believe God has called us to, we think we only have one chance. We think that if we fail now, it’s over. Elijah has just experienced the power of God in the greatest moment of his life, and the fear of the enemy gripped his heart. Now he says to God that he is worthless.
Consider the response of God. Elijah is asleep, and all his energy was gone. He feels fear, failure, depression, and he is sleeping.
1 Kings 19:5
What’s the most spiritual thing that can happen to him now? An angel tells him to get up and eat some food. We think ministry is the moment where Elijah is calling down the fire from heaven, but now the angel is ministering to Elijah simply with kindness.
1 Kings 19:6-7
In the reality of what this scripture is saying, in Elijah’s exhaustion, he needed food. Sometimes the greatest ministry is to find out what people need.
I once met a couple in Germany who were having terrible problems in their marriage, and my wife went to their house, and they were living in a construction zone. Their floor was cement and the carpet was a roll in the corner. The sink wasn’t working so the wife had to wash the dishes in the bathtub. What these people didn’t need was counselling of some spiritual kind. They needed someone to fix their sink and lay their carpet, and so we did. It transformed their lives. Sometimes ministry isn’t something supernatural. It’s giving someone a ride somewhere. It’s something simple.
Elijah is refreshed, and he knows where he’s going. There has been this fascinating miracle with fire coming down, and now fear is in his heart so he runs to the wilderness. He could run on to Mount Horeb to meet with God, but he doesn’t want to because he feels like he’s really let God down. And this God brought down fire from heaven.
God had told him to come to Mount Horeb to meet him, but Elijah sat there wondering for forty days.
1 Kings 19:9
I often find a question comes into my heart from God when he has a task for me to do. God isn’t going to give Elijah an easy answer because the answers we need are already within ourselves. Questions bring them out of us.
In France we have a house where we invite people who are going through difficult times. It’s a ministry of hospitality and asking questions. When people are really stuck and they don’t know which way to turn, they need to listen to the question.
Elijah finally arrives at the mountain, and God speaks to him and says, ‘What are you doing here?’
1 Kings 19:10
Elijah’s response doesn’t answer God’s question. He talks about all the terrible things that have just happened to him. But God is asking what he is doing here. What is this moment about and how do we go on from here?
I find it so beautiful that the angel ministers to him through food, and the first thing that God does is ask him a question.
1 Kings 19:11-12
One pastor in America, A W Tozer, said that nothing twists or distorts the soul like a misunderstanding of who God is. When we fail, if we understand who God really is, that he is a God of compassion, love and mercy, we are drawn to him. But in this moment, Elijah thinks he is the fire, the earthquake and the wind. God was certainly able to use these things to demonstrate his power, and to lead the children of Israel, but when Elijah comes here feeling so desperate and so down, he lets the wind come, and Elijah realises the power of the wind is not the nature of God.
1 Kgs 19:12-13
Now his heart has been prepared, because in that soft voice he heard the voice of God. Elijah realises it’s not over.
It’s the same question, and Elijah gives the same response, but something has changed. Because now Elijah isn’t trying to defend himself, he is talking about the nature of God towards him.
1 Kgs 19:15-16
There are many people who have said Elijah disappointed God and so God was replacing him. But no. This was the highlight of Elijah’s life.
God said, ‘What are you doing here?’ And then God tells him what he is doing here. He was here to receive the next orders. He wasn’t over. He was getting ready to set up a system that was going to take over from the corruptness. Elijah had not failed, he had done a great work.
If we see God as the heavy task master, we are so fearful of coming to him. Elijah was encouraged by the angel and he faced his fear. He faced the wind and the earthquake and the fire. But God wasn’t in that.
It is so important that we understand the heart and the nature of God. One of the greatest things that Jesus did when he spoke to people was to communicate to them who God is.
Luke 12:36-37
The God that we serve, the God that Elijah went to face, is not a God who is looking to curse us. He is a God who calls us to do great things. When fear is in our heart, God is a God of mercy and compassion. He is a God of service. Elijah came to hear the voice of God, and it is in a whisper that gives him courage.
I don’t know what dreams and thoughts that you have had in your life. I don’t know if you think that you have missed your opportunities. I want to remind you that the reality of God is to be ready with service in your heart. We might think that we’ve failed, but we are ready to do the next thing. The master brings the food and serves us.
Elijah saw a God of power. But he comes down upon his knees to whisper to his children and to ask us questions and to encourage us. That is our awesome God.
God is never finished with us.
I want to remind you of how wonderful ministry is. A little outreach from people can bless someone so deeply. The kindness that we can extend to people is a body of living water. It doesn’t have to be extreme, it is simply kindness. If you give a cup of water in Jesus’ name, your reward will be eternal.
My background is theatre, so when I communicate from the Gospel I like to bring it to life. I think this is one of the most theatrical moments in the Bible, in 1 Kings 18.
The people of Israel have been pulled away from worshipping God. The prophet Elijah said God was going to cause a drought in the land, and it happened. In Chapter 18 Elijah comes back and meets with the people of God who are serving the gods of the land they are in. Baal was one of these gods. They had a god for everything. And Elijah was calling them back to the one true God. he comes to the people and says, ‘Who do you want to serve? All these foreign, stone gods? Or the one true God?’
Then Elijah tells the prophets of Baal to sacrifice to their gods, and if fire comes down and consumes the sacrifice, it will prove that their gods are real. They tried everything they could. They danced; they even began to cut themselves, but nothing happened. Then Elijah pours water on the sacrifice, prays, and fire consumes the offering, the water, and the stones. Then Elijah destroyed the prophets who had been misleading the people. He then prays for rain, and rain begins to come.
Now we get to Chapter 19. Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, so she sent a messenger to Elijah.
1 Kings 19:2
She would sacrifice her own life to destroy his.
1 Kings 19:3-5
Imagine that you are at this scene, and Elijah knows that God is real. He knows what God has spoken to him, and he brings the word of the Lord to the people. But the words of Jezebel struck fear in his heart. As he ran something happened in his heart. He thought he had failed God.
Sometimes when we’re facing the things that we believe God has called us to, we think we only have one chance. We think that if we fail now, it’s over. Elijah has just experienced the power of God in the greatest moment of his life, and the fear of the enemy gripped his heart. Now he says to God that he is worthless.
Consider the response of God. Elijah is asleep, and all his energy was gone. He feels fear, failure, depression, and he is sleeping.
1 Kings 19:5
What’s the most spiritual thing that can happen to him now? An angel tells him to get up and eat some food. We think ministry is the moment where Elijah is calling down the fire from heaven, but now the angel is ministering to Elijah simply with kindness.
1 Kings 19:6-7
In the reality of what this scripture is saying, in Elijah’s exhaustion, he needed food. Sometimes the greatest ministry is to find out what people need.
I once met a couple in Germany who were having terrible problems in their marriage, and my wife went to their house, and they were living in a construction zone. Their floor was cement and the carpet was a roll in the corner. The sink wasn’t working so the wife had to wash the dishes in the bathtub. What these people didn’t need was counselling of some spiritual kind. They needed someone to fix their sink and lay their carpet, and so we did. It transformed their lives. Sometimes ministry isn’t something supernatural. It’s giving someone a ride somewhere. It’s something simple.
Elijah is refreshed, and he knows where he’s going. There has been this fascinating miracle with fire coming down, and now fear is in his heart so he runs to the wilderness. He could run on to Mount Horeb to meet with God, but he doesn’t want to because he feels like he’s really let God down. And this God brought down fire from heaven.
God had told him to come to Mount Horeb to meet him, but Elijah sat there wondering for forty days.
1 Kings 19:9
I often find a question comes into my heart from God when he has a task for me to do. God isn’t going to give Elijah an easy answer because the answers we need are already within ourselves. Questions bring them out of us.
In France we have a house where we invite people who are going through difficult times. It’s a ministry of hospitality and asking questions. When people are really stuck and they don’t know which way to turn, they need to listen to the question.
Elijah finally arrives at the mountain, and God speaks to him and says, ‘What are you doing here?’
1 Kings 19:10
Elijah’s response doesn’t answer God’s question. He talks about all the terrible things that have just happened to him. But God is asking what he is doing here. What is this moment about and how do we go on from here?
I find it so beautiful that the angel ministers to him through food, and the first thing that God does is ask him a question.
1 Kings 19:11-12
One pastor in America, A W Tozer, said that nothing twists or distorts the soul like a misunderstanding of who God is. When we fail, if we understand who God really is, that he is a God of compassion, love and mercy, we are drawn to him. But in this moment, Elijah thinks he is the fire, the earthquake and the wind. God was certainly able to use these things to demonstrate his power, and to lead the children of Israel, but when Elijah comes here feeling so desperate and so down, he lets the wind come, and Elijah realises the power of the wind is not the nature of God.
1 Kgs 19:12-13
Now his heart has been prepared, because in that soft voice he heard the voice of God. Elijah realises it’s not over.
It’s the same question, and Elijah gives the same response, but something has changed. Because now Elijah isn’t trying to defend himself, he is talking about the nature of God towards him.
1 Kgs 19:15-16
There are many people who have said Elijah disappointed God and so God was replacing him. But no. This was the highlight of Elijah’s life.
God said, ‘What are you doing here?’ And then God tells him what he is doing here. He was here to receive the next orders. He wasn’t over. He was getting ready to set up a system that was going to take over from the corruptness. Elijah had not failed, he had done a great work.
If we see God as the heavy task master, we are so fearful of coming to him. Elijah was encouraged by the angel and he faced his fear. He faced the wind and the earthquake and the fire. But God wasn’t in that.
It is so important that we understand the heart and the nature of God. One of the greatest things that Jesus did when he spoke to people was to communicate to them who God is.
Luke 12:36-37
The God that we serve, the God that Elijah went to face, is not a God who is looking to curse us. He is a God who calls us to do great things. When fear is in our heart, God is a God of mercy and compassion. He is a God of service. Elijah came to hear the voice of God, and it is in a whisper that gives him courage.
I don’t know what dreams and thoughts that you have had in your life. I don’t know if you think that you have missed your opportunities. I want to remind you that the reality of God is to be ready with service in your heart. We might think that we’ve failed, but we are ready to do the next thing. The master brings the food and serves us.
Elijah saw a God of power. But he comes down upon his knees to whisper to his children and to ask us questions and to encourage us. That is our awesome God.
God is never finished with us.
Sunday 24 May 2009
Leaders Serving God
It is vital that we are sensitive to the will of Christ, so that we in no way hinder what God is doing in the church. We need a leadership team that consists of people who are willing to wholeheartedly lay their lives down for the church. Certain characteristics are lay down by Paul, of the type of person that God wants in leadership; we must make sure that, as we prayerfully consider, we choose people whose lives are in line with those characteristics.
Firstly I want to refer to the foundation we have in Christ. The one thing that was the foundation of Paul’s testimony was the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, it means that everything has become new. You have a different way of looking at things, a different reason for living.
If I’m a Christian it means that He is the Lord of my life; I am a new creation in Christ. The future is how God will work what He wants to do in His church. As time marches on the church will be added to. The church is people. There are a lot of people outside of the church worldwide who have a great need in their life. It’s true that for some people, when they meet you, it is as if they are meeting a representative of the Kingdom of God. You know what God has done in your life and through you He can meet other people who need help because they are without God.
2 Corinthians 5:17
God is building His church in His way and in His time. It is God that gives the increase, not he that plants or he that waters. We are labourers together with God. When we talk about sharing our faith, the sharing of our faith is to do with what God wants to do in meeting the needs of others. Anyone who is involved with leadership in a church is simply in line with what God wants to do in His church. This morning I’m going to refer to various aspects of church leadership. One thing which is apparent, as you read the New Testament, is that there is no set template. I can’t turn to a chapter in the Bible and say here are the verses, this is what we must do today. What there are though, in Scripture, are specific guidelines and principals, bearing in mind that this is all set in the context of what God wants to do.
I’ve explained before that when the apostles were alive, they could refer to what Jesus had told them. When they got older and the church grew, it went from Jerusalem, to Judea, to the uttermost parts of the earth. As the church grew buildings weren’t immediately built. There were just houses, people’s houses, in which people gathered. As the church grew, Paul and Peter, wrote various letters to ensure that there was an input to steer things the right way; to ensure that Jesus Christ was the one that was uplifted; that He was the focus. Obviously, as people were added to the church, there was a growing need for some sort of order. So various things needed to be done to ensure this happened. You find that in different letters Paul wrote, he wrote of specific situations to put right what had gone wrong. For example, in the problem of the widows:
1 Corinthians 7:8-9
1 Timothy 5:11-14
From Corinthians it would seem that it were better for widows to stay single, but in Timothy it shows that it is better for them to remarry. So, he spoke specifically according to the situation. Elsewhere it talks about whether women should have a head covering. In Corinthians Paul’s conclusion was that it was better that women should have a head covering in the church. That was just what Paul thought was appropriate in the religion and customs of that time, so that the Gospel could be furthered.
1 Timothy 2:8-15
That is all to do with a particular situation in the church that Paul wrote to Timothy about. Does that mean that, if you are woman here, you have sinned because you have opened your mouth? No it doesn’t. Some people lift that up out of context and consider it to be very important. The letter to Timothy was written for a specific reason:
1 Timothy 3:14-16
Paul wrote this because he was worried that he was not going to be able to see Timothy. There’s something about the church, which is the bride of Christ, which is of utmost importance to the future. The church is where it’s at as far as God displaying His glory. It’s the church, by God’s Holy Spirit, the love of God. ‘Behold how they love one another’, it was said of the early Christians. There was a common cause between them, and a willingness to lay down their lives for each other.
The second book of Timothy was written to address the issue of the false doctrine that had been brought into the church. Paul wanted Timothy to know how to deal with those people who had brought in the false doctrine.
In the way that Paul wanted Timothy to know how to organise things, it was the more the case that he wanted Timothy to appoint leaders. In similar vein, he wrote letters to Titus, to appoint leaders to all the churches in Crete. In Timothy, when Paul wrote to him, he outlined various pointers that he should note when choosing leaders. We want to get the right people to be part of a pastoral team. There are a few verses in Timothy which point what a pastor should be like:
1 Timothy 3:1-12
So there are certain characteristics of the type of person that God wants to be involved in leadership. Paul also wrote Titus, saying similar things:
Titus 1:5-10
This isn’t someone who is chosen at random, this is someone who has a heart for doing what God wants, someone who is prepared to lay down their lives for the church. We don’t want someone who is appointed, and then feels it isn’t really something that they want to do wholeheartedly. Jesus Christ lay down His life for the brethren. I want the leadership to become less of me, and more of others. The fact that there is a team means that there is an accountability built in there. The bottom line is that there needs to be the right people in leadership.
1 Peter 5:1-4
In the letter to Timothy Paul told him not to appoint a novice. He didn’t say that to Titus because that weren’t actually that many older people in the church at Crete. So you can seen that Paul was keen for it to be right in each place, according to the contextual situation of that place. I do not think that there is a set number of leaders per size of church; no, you want the right number of leaders. It is paramount that everyone is cared for in the church, so it is obvious that as the church increases in size, the leadership group will also increase in size.
The review group also discussed the role of women:
Romans 16:1-16
There are nineteen men and nine women mentioned there. They were probably not all in leadership, but it does show that women had a role to play in God’s church. If we are thinking about the leadership, must it always be male? There are particular things that Paul attributed to particular locations, but overall the ultimate authority in a church should be male. So, I think we should make sure we nominate people who have the right qualities, male or female. But I do think, that the males in the leadership will have the final word in a decision.
I don’t want for us to hinder God’s purposes in any way. I do not have a hidden agenda. The agenda is: to lift up Christ and share our faith with others, so that He may draw people to Himself through us. We may start with a small team and then that will be added to later, as God wants.
This is all set in the context of our desire to be sensitive to what God wants to do, so that He may fulfil His will.
Matthew 16:18
‘The gates of hell’ in those days referred to death. It doesn’t matter what voices are being sounded against it, God will build His church.
Ephesians 4:15-16
This applies to each one of us. We must not have any thoughts of scoring points off each other; we must love one another. That means being willing to lay down your lives for each other; it’s not about me, it’s about others.
Firstly I want to refer to the foundation we have in Christ. The one thing that was the foundation of Paul’s testimony was the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, it means that everything has become new. You have a different way of looking at things, a different reason for living.
If I’m a Christian it means that He is the Lord of my life; I am a new creation in Christ. The future is how God will work what He wants to do in His church. As time marches on the church will be added to. The church is people. There are a lot of people outside of the church worldwide who have a great need in their life. It’s true that for some people, when they meet you, it is as if they are meeting a representative of the Kingdom of God. You know what God has done in your life and through you He can meet other people who need help because they are without God.
2 Corinthians 5:17
God is building His church in His way and in His time. It is God that gives the increase, not he that plants or he that waters. We are labourers together with God. When we talk about sharing our faith, the sharing of our faith is to do with what God wants to do in meeting the needs of others. Anyone who is involved with leadership in a church is simply in line with what God wants to do in His church. This morning I’m going to refer to various aspects of church leadership. One thing which is apparent, as you read the New Testament, is that there is no set template. I can’t turn to a chapter in the Bible and say here are the verses, this is what we must do today. What there are though, in Scripture, are specific guidelines and principals, bearing in mind that this is all set in the context of what God wants to do.
I’ve explained before that when the apostles were alive, they could refer to what Jesus had told them. When they got older and the church grew, it went from Jerusalem, to Judea, to the uttermost parts of the earth. As the church grew buildings weren’t immediately built. There were just houses, people’s houses, in which people gathered. As the church grew, Paul and Peter, wrote various letters to ensure that there was an input to steer things the right way; to ensure that Jesus Christ was the one that was uplifted; that He was the focus. Obviously, as people were added to the church, there was a growing need for some sort of order. So various things needed to be done to ensure this happened. You find that in different letters Paul wrote, he wrote of specific situations to put right what had gone wrong. For example, in the problem of the widows:
1 Corinthians 7:8-9
1 Timothy 5:11-14
From Corinthians it would seem that it were better for widows to stay single, but in Timothy it shows that it is better for them to remarry. So, he spoke specifically according to the situation. Elsewhere it talks about whether women should have a head covering. In Corinthians Paul’s conclusion was that it was better that women should have a head covering in the church. That was just what Paul thought was appropriate in the religion and customs of that time, so that the Gospel could be furthered.
1 Timothy 2:8-15
That is all to do with a particular situation in the church that Paul wrote to Timothy about. Does that mean that, if you are woman here, you have sinned because you have opened your mouth? No it doesn’t. Some people lift that up out of context and consider it to be very important. The letter to Timothy was written for a specific reason:
1 Timothy 3:14-16
Paul wrote this because he was worried that he was not going to be able to see Timothy. There’s something about the church, which is the bride of Christ, which is of utmost importance to the future. The church is where it’s at as far as God displaying His glory. It’s the church, by God’s Holy Spirit, the love of God. ‘Behold how they love one another’, it was said of the early Christians. There was a common cause between them, and a willingness to lay down their lives for each other.
The second book of Timothy was written to address the issue of the false doctrine that had been brought into the church. Paul wanted Timothy to know how to deal with those people who had brought in the false doctrine.
In the way that Paul wanted Timothy to know how to organise things, it was the more the case that he wanted Timothy to appoint leaders. In similar vein, he wrote letters to Titus, to appoint leaders to all the churches in Crete. In Timothy, when Paul wrote to him, he outlined various pointers that he should note when choosing leaders. We want to get the right people to be part of a pastoral team. There are a few verses in Timothy which point what a pastor should be like:
1 Timothy 3:1-12
So there are certain characteristics of the type of person that God wants to be involved in leadership. Paul also wrote Titus, saying similar things:
Titus 1:5-10
This isn’t someone who is chosen at random, this is someone who has a heart for doing what God wants, someone who is prepared to lay down their lives for the church. We don’t want someone who is appointed, and then feels it isn’t really something that they want to do wholeheartedly. Jesus Christ lay down His life for the brethren. I want the leadership to become less of me, and more of others. The fact that there is a team means that there is an accountability built in there. The bottom line is that there needs to be the right people in leadership.
1 Peter 5:1-4
In the letter to Timothy Paul told him not to appoint a novice. He didn’t say that to Titus because that weren’t actually that many older people in the church at Crete. So you can seen that Paul was keen for it to be right in each place, according to the contextual situation of that place. I do not think that there is a set number of leaders per size of church; no, you want the right number of leaders. It is paramount that everyone is cared for in the church, so it is obvious that as the church increases in size, the leadership group will also increase in size.
The review group also discussed the role of women:
Romans 16:1-16
There are nineteen men and nine women mentioned there. They were probably not all in leadership, but it does show that women had a role to play in God’s church. If we are thinking about the leadership, must it always be male? There are particular things that Paul attributed to particular locations, but overall the ultimate authority in a church should be male. So, I think we should make sure we nominate people who have the right qualities, male or female. But I do think, that the males in the leadership will have the final word in a decision.
I don’t want for us to hinder God’s purposes in any way. I do not have a hidden agenda. The agenda is: to lift up Christ and share our faith with others, so that He may draw people to Himself through us. We may start with a small team and then that will be added to later, as God wants.
This is all set in the context of our desire to be sensitive to what God wants to do, so that He may fulfil His will.
Matthew 16:18
‘The gates of hell’ in those days referred to death. It doesn’t matter what voices are being sounded against it, God will build His church.
Ephesians 4:15-16
This applies to each one of us. We must not have any thoughts of scoring points off each other; we must love one another. That means being willing to lay down your lives for each other; it’s not about me, it’s about others.
Friday 22 May 2009
Servanthood
As far as the apostle Paul was concerned, he was keen to do anything where the gospel was not hindered. He didn’t want to hinder, and categorically, I don’t want to hinder what God wants to do going forwards.
Colossians 1:19-23
He was a minister of the gospel. I didn’t want to let anything be known to you, people of Colossus, but Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus Christ is where it's at and the work of the Holy Spirit is reaching out to Jew or Gentile, whoever it is, reaching out with the gospel of Christ.
Colossians 1:24-29
That’s what made him tick. He was the apostle, Paul. As far as I’m concerned, what makes me tick is for God’s name to be glorified here and his word to be preached here openly; and for you to be able to bring people here to hear, so that people who are in great need of a change, a solution to their life, can come and have their hearts and minds changed by the power of Jesus Christ and the work of his Holy Spirit.
I just want to outline the role of the members of this team.
Acts 6:4
So this person needs to be fully acquainted with the word of God. There is a responsibility involved in being a member of this time in giving themselves to prayer and preaching the word. It doesn’t have to be to a large group, it can just be to one person or a small group.
So prayer and ministry of the word.
1 Timothy 5:17
Now that implies that in that time there are those who preach and doctrine but others who don’t; so it’s a team which is responsible before God for the spiritual direction of the church. They want to be completely sensitive to God, what He wants them to do.
1 Timothy 3:4-5
So it matters to a member of this team, how you all are. We’re all one in Christ but it so happens that various people want to care for you in such a way so that you fulfil what God wants to do in your life. I don’t want to be a hindrance if God wants you to do something.
There is care.
Hebrews 13:17
“for they watch for your souls”. So I and the future members will do this; not in a forbearing way but in a caring way.
Hebrews 13:7
So there is a case of living an exemplary life because you want to care for the flock of God so that they in turn will pick up something, not from me, but of God within me.
Acts 20:28
“to feed the church of God”. I want to get before God because I want to do it right and not communicate something that I’m not meant to; so that God can communicate what he wants.
1 Timothy 5:1
James 5:13-14
Well once we’ve got a team, that will be the team that one will call for. There’s a sense in which, knowing the Bible and his word, the leadership also work as a protection and pastoring of the flock and keeping them safe from someone who might come in a spread wrong things from a biblical point of view.
Acts 15:6
Acts 15:22
We’re talking about a spiritual sense and direction of the church.
It will be the leadership that I’m talking about who will be the ones who set the direction of the church.
1 Peter 5:1-4
Feed the flock of God, willingly, not to make money out of it, not in any other way but being willing and a servant of all. And it’s the servant hood, Jesus’ example; that’s the heart we want. We all want to be someone who puts others first, but particularly the ones who are going to be the pastors, it is those at heart who are prepared to lay down their lives for everyone.
We want the right people to become part of the leadership team.
Colossians 1:19-23
He was a minister of the gospel. I didn’t want to let anything be known to you, people of Colossus, but Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus Christ is where it's at and the work of the Holy Spirit is reaching out to Jew or Gentile, whoever it is, reaching out with the gospel of Christ.
Colossians 1:24-29
That’s what made him tick. He was the apostle, Paul. As far as I’m concerned, what makes me tick is for God’s name to be glorified here and his word to be preached here openly; and for you to be able to bring people here to hear, so that people who are in great need of a change, a solution to their life, can come and have their hearts and minds changed by the power of Jesus Christ and the work of his Holy Spirit.
I just want to outline the role of the members of this team.
Acts 6:4
So this person needs to be fully acquainted with the word of God. There is a responsibility involved in being a member of this time in giving themselves to prayer and preaching the word. It doesn’t have to be to a large group, it can just be to one person or a small group.
So prayer and ministry of the word.
1 Timothy 5:17
Now that implies that in that time there are those who preach and doctrine but others who don’t; so it’s a team which is responsible before God for the spiritual direction of the church. They want to be completely sensitive to God, what He wants them to do.
1 Timothy 3:4-5
So it matters to a member of this team, how you all are. We’re all one in Christ but it so happens that various people want to care for you in such a way so that you fulfil what God wants to do in your life. I don’t want to be a hindrance if God wants you to do something.
There is care.
Hebrews 13:17
“for they watch for your souls”. So I and the future members will do this; not in a forbearing way but in a caring way.
Hebrews 13:7
So there is a case of living an exemplary life because you want to care for the flock of God so that they in turn will pick up something, not from me, but of God within me.
Acts 20:28
“to feed the church of God”. I want to get before God because I want to do it right and not communicate something that I’m not meant to; so that God can communicate what he wants.
1 Timothy 5:1
James 5:13-14
Well once we’ve got a team, that will be the team that one will call for. There’s a sense in which, knowing the Bible and his word, the leadership also work as a protection and pastoring of the flock and keeping them safe from someone who might come in a spread wrong things from a biblical point of view.
Acts 15:6
Acts 15:22
We’re talking about a spiritual sense and direction of the church.
It will be the leadership that I’m talking about who will be the ones who set the direction of the church.
1 Peter 5:1-4
Feed the flock of God, willingly, not to make money out of it, not in any other way but being willing and a servant of all. And it’s the servant hood, Jesus’ example; that’s the heart we want. We all want to be someone who puts others first, but particularly the ones who are going to be the pastors, it is those at heart who are prepared to lay down their lives for everyone.
We want the right people to become part of the leadership team.
Sunday 17 May 2009
The Qualifications for an Elder
Pastor Linnecar shows how we can draw out from the life of Timothy details of the qualifications for eldership – and how those qualifications also apply to us as individual believers.
If you’re a Christian, you know that as you live your life, the Lord God, living inside you reaches out through you to those He wants to speak to. Some people have come this morning to have a specific need met. You have come to the right one – not the right place, but the right one – Jesus Christ.
I want to talk about the character of Jesus Christ and what it means to be someone who has Jesus Christ living inside – a new person with Him inside.
We are in the process of sorting things out for the way forward. I’ve been doing a lot of reading to do with leadership and with the character of an individual who wants to be and is being like Jesus Christ. It’s His life inside.
If you’re not a Christian, then today it might be a different slant to realise that Christianity is a relationship with the living God, made possible because God works in an individual’s life. We see many glimpses of the nature of Jesus.
Ephesians 5:25-27
Jesus Christ gave Himself for the church. When we consider what the church is, it’s people, not a building. In the early church, there were no buildings – people met in houses. It wasn’t until a few hundred years later that there were specific buildings. Church was the people, and Jesus Christ gave Himself for the people. He gave Himself for the church, and the result was that over time there will be a glorious church – one fit for glory because He will have sorted everything out, and the people in the church will be ready, as will those who have already died. God is sorting things out in our own lives. We may face various pressures, and these are all to do with Jesus Christ preparing things and getting things ready. A glorious church – no spot or wrinkle. He was holy, pure and without blemish.
When we look at the structure of the church, the nature of Jesus Christ is sacrifice, putting others first before ourselves.
As the church developed, from Jerusalem, to Judea, to the whole world, so they appointed people to oversee the church in each locality. In any locality where people gathered together in His name, so through the Holy Spirit, He Himself was there. And as the church developed, they needed the right kind of people to take responsibility for the church going forward.
Acts 14:23
There was an ordination of elders / pastors / leaders / overseers. They prayed with fasting, because they wanted to get it right. And they commended them to the Lord.
This weekend I want to bring attention to the fact that we want to have a pastoral team. So far, we have a pastor – myself. And the Review Group have met three times, and at this point we’ve accepted we need that team. So over the next meetings, I will be describing from scripture, what the qualifications are of someone who should be part of that team. I cannot do it all. So a team is needed – in the same way as they appointed people in Acts 14.
There is no “thou shalt” in the New Testament as to how you should do this. But there is enough in scripture for us to get it right. We definitely want to make sure that God by His Holy Spirit is able to do what He wants to do here.
It’s all to do with what God wants to do through you, reaching out to those in need. We don’t want to create an empire for ourselves. But we are aiming to glorify the name of Christ in everything we do. We want to lift Him up and to let Him fulfil His purposes in what has happened and as we go forward.
We have various groups (Jam, Logos, Ark, Heritage) and that went well – we studied scripture, and people want to get it right for their lives. Not only want to, but will. God doesn’t play secret squirrel. He doesn’t deprive you of the things you need. When Jesus Christ gave Himself for the church, He gave Himself utterly and completely.
Over the next two meetings, I’ll talk about what it means to be an overseer / elder / pastor. We want to get this right, and in the New Testament people prayerfully considered this. Often they fasted. As far as I’m concerned, I think it would be good to suggest a day when we specifically consider and pray about this matter. It’s an important thing.
I want this morning to consider the life of someone who helped Paul – Timothy. In Timothy we’ll see the character and traits of someone who was an overseer.
Acts 16:1-3
Note: “well reported of by the brethren”. When it comes to thinking about an overseer, or a pastor, it has to be that the report of that individual – by the brethren, not those who aren’t Christians – is a good report. It’s no good getting a report from those who perhaps are having a go at the church. Jesus said blessed are you when all men speak ill of you. You’re bound to get a bad report. But this is from the brethren.
When Paul wrote later, he helped us understand the character of the right kind of person.
1 Timothy 3:7
Make sure there is a good report from those who are close to the person. And he must have a good report from those outside. It’s no good electing an MP on the basis of trust, if you then find he’s been taking money.
1 Timothy 3:2
“Apt to teach” doesn’t mean it has to be someone who teaches like this on a Sunday. You might advise someone in a small group. We’re not saying that people have to be a teacher to a large group, but they have to be apt to teach.
Various verses describe Timothy.
1 Corinthians 4:17
Timothy was faithful in the Lord, and Paul was confident that Timothy would communicate his ways which were in Christ. He had a particular way of talking to people – the character which esteems others better than yourself, which looks for the work of God in a person.
1 Corinthians 16:10
You won’t find Timothy putting things ahead of the work of God. He won’t be besotted with anything but the work of God.
2 Timothy 1:1-5
Timothy was a man of unfeigned faith. If you bore through to the heart of Timothy, there was a faith in God, big time.
2 Timothy 3:14-15
Someone who is overseeing needs to know the scriptures. Someone who is part of the pastoral team needs to understand that this book is the one upon which we are dependent. We are dependent on Jesus Christ – in the beginning was the Word and the Word was in God.
1 Thessalonians 3:1-3
Brother, minister of God ... to establish and comfort. Timothy was concerned for the people of God and for the church. His heart was to care for the people. And when he spoke to someone it was to help that person increase their faith in God, to point out the way God was involved.
In Philippians 2, we get an idea of the nature and spirit of Jesus Christ. He is the senior pastor of His church – He is in control, He is building His church, the bride of Christ.
Philippians 2:1-5
As we go through this, you’ll see ... caring, loving other people. As far as Jesus Christ was concerned, He laid down His life for other people, for the church.
“... being of one accord, of one mind. / Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory” Let’s not have anyone doing anything to score points.
When you think about someone is your immediate thought, “How can I help that person?” or do you think, “That confirms what I thought. I must pass this information on.”
Philippians 2:5-8
“This is about Jesus, but it’s not applicable to me.” But Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit lives within you. “Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.” He made Himself of no reputation. But didn’t we say earlier that someone had to be well reported of? What we’re saying is that Jesus Christ set aside His glory. He told the disciples that the greatest among them should be their servant.
The key word in verse 8 is that He became obedient. The character of Jesus and of any individual in a church is that they should be obedient to what God wants, laying down their lives for the brethren.
Philippians 2:9-11
“To the glory of God the Father” Set yourself this coming week to bring glory to His name, to have God live through you, to make you sensitive, to help someone. Someone may be facing particular pressures. God is your Father. He will make provision. Let’s stop thinking about ourselves, but about the ones He wants to reach through us.
Philippians 2:12-13
For those of you who are taking exams, it’s incredible pressure at this time. You can pray to God to organise things in your life, so that in the pressure of it all, God’s peace can rule your heart. It doesn’t mean you sit there and look at the paper dwelling on God’s peace – you do have to write the answers. But it’s God who works in you, even in exam time, to will and to do of His good pleasure. “I want You to help me get the grades I need to fulfil Your purposes for my life.”
Philippians 2:14-17
The character of Jesus Christ – laying down your life for others. And the more Paul talked about the character of Jesus, so Timothy came to his mind again. He was with Paul when he wrote this.
Philippians 2:19-24
An overseer / pastor is someone who naturally by the Spirit of God will care for the people, will have a heart for the people. We can apply that to an overseer, but what about in your life? What would Paul say when it comes down to “All seek their own”? I don’t want to condemn you, but I’m encouraging you to consider what is the priority of your life. What could I point to in my life to say that I’m seeking not my own but the things of Jesus Christ? I’m not filling my head with wrong music just ahead of the meeting; in the week I’m not cramming myself with wrong thoughts, not so bound up with “me” that no one else gets a look in.
Before we are a Christian, it’s all about me and mine. But when Paul thought of Timothy, he knew he was speaking about someone who put God and the people of God first.
You may say that was Timothy’s job. You may say as pastor, it’s my job. But we’re talking about the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ in you. Let me urge you to think about how you want God number one in your life, how you will prioritise your time appropriately.
Philippians 2:13
God loves you and He wants you to live and be right. And He is the one who is working in you actively, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. He’s not against you.
It is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. As we go forward together as brothers and sisters in Christ, so I have complete confidence in God who will outwork His purposes. And I have a continuing sense of how God is so careful to make sure that as there are those whom He would draw to Himself through you, so He will fulfil His purposes here for His glory.
Think about the character of Timothy, and about the nature of who Jesus is. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. There was no subordination in the Trinity. God was in Christ.
If you’re a Christian, you know that as you live your life, the Lord God, living inside you reaches out through you to those He wants to speak to. Some people have come this morning to have a specific need met. You have come to the right one – not the right place, but the right one – Jesus Christ.
I want to talk about the character of Jesus Christ and what it means to be someone who has Jesus Christ living inside – a new person with Him inside.
We are in the process of sorting things out for the way forward. I’ve been doing a lot of reading to do with leadership and with the character of an individual who wants to be and is being like Jesus Christ. It’s His life inside.
If you’re not a Christian, then today it might be a different slant to realise that Christianity is a relationship with the living God, made possible because God works in an individual’s life. We see many glimpses of the nature of Jesus.
Ephesians 5:25-27
Jesus Christ gave Himself for the church. When we consider what the church is, it’s people, not a building. In the early church, there were no buildings – people met in houses. It wasn’t until a few hundred years later that there were specific buildings. Church was the people, and Jesus Christ gave Himself for the people. He gave Himself for the church, and the result was that over time there will be a glorious church – one fit for glory because He will have sorted everything out, and the people in the church will be ready, as will those who have already died. God is sorting things out in our own lives. We may face various pressures, and these are all to do with Jesus Christ preparing things and getting things ready. A glorious church – no spot or wrinkle. He was holy, pure and without blemish.
When we look at the structure of the church, the nature of Jesus Christ is sacrifice, putting others first before ourselves.
As the church developed, from Jerusalem, to Judea, to the whole world, so they appointed people to oversee the church in each locality. In any locality where people gathered together in His name, so through the Holy Spirit, He Himself was there. And as the church developed, they needed the right kind of people to take responsibility for the church going forward.
Acts 14:23
There was an ordination of elders / pastors / leaders / overseers. They prayed with fasting, because they wanted to get it right. And they commended them to the Lord.
This weekend I want to bring attention to the fact that we want to have a pastoral team. So far, we have a pastor – myself. And the Review Group have met three times, and at this point we’ve accepted we need that team. So over the next meetings, I will be describing from scripture, what the qualifications are of someone who should be part of that team. I cannot do it all. So a team is needed – in the same way as they appointed people in Acts 14.
There is no “thou shalt” in the New Testament as to how you should do this. But there is enough in scripture for us to get it right. We definitely want to make sure that God by His Holy Spirit is able to do what He wants to do here.
It’s all to do with what God wants to do through you, reaching out to those in need. We don’t want to create an empire for ourselves. But we are aiming to glorify the name of Christ in everything we do. We want to lift Him up and to let Him fulfil His purposes in what has happened and as we go forward.
We have various groups (Jam, Logos, Ark, Heritage) and that went well – we studied scripture, and people want to get it right for their lives. Not only want to, but will. God doesn’t play secret squirrel. He doesn’t deprive you of the things you need. When Jesus Christ gave Himself for the church, He gave Himself utterly and completely.
Over the next two meetings, I’ll talk about what it means to be an overseer / elder / pastor. We want to get this right, and in the New Testament people prayerfully considered this. Often they fasted. As far as I’m concerned, I think it would be good to suggest a day when we specifically consider and pray about this matter. It’s an important thing.
I want this morning to consider the life of someone who helped Paul – Timothy. In Timothy we’ll see the character and traits of someone who was an overseer.
Acts 16:1-3
Note: “well reported of by the brethren”. When it comes to thinking about an overseer, or a pastor, it has to be that the report of that individual – by the brethren, not those who aren’t Christians – is a good report. It’s no good getting a report from those who perhaps are having a go at the church. Jesus said blessed are you when all men speak ill of you. You’re bound to get a bad report. But this is from the brethren.
When Paul wrote later, he helped us understand the character of the right kind of person.
1 Timothy 3:7
Make sure there is a good report from those who are close to the person. And he must have a good report from those outside. It’s no good electing an MP on the basis of trust, if you then find he’s been taking money.
1 Timothy 3:2
“Apt to teach” doesn’t mean it has to be someone who teaches like this on a Sunday. You might advise someone in a small group. We’re not saying that people have to be a teacher to a large group, but they have to be apt to teach.
Various verses describe Timothy.
1 Corinthians 4:17
Timothy was faithful in the Lord, and Paul was confident that Timothy would communicate his ways which were in Christ. He had a particular way of talking to people – the character which esteems others better than yourself, which looks for the work of God in a person.
1 Corinthians 16:10
You won’t find Timothy putting things ahead of the work of God. He won’t be besotted with anything but the work of God.
2 Timothy 1:1-5
Timothy was a man of unfeigned faith. If you bore through to the heart of Timothy, there was a faith in God, big time.
2 Timothy 3:14-15
Someone who is overseeing needs to know the scriptures. Someone who is part of the pastoral team needs to understand that this book is the one upon which we are dependent. We are dependent on Jesus Christ – in the beginning was the Word and the Word was in God.
1 Thessalonians 3:1-3
Brother, minister of God ... to establish and comfort. Timothy was concerned for the people of God and for the church. His heart was to care for the people. And when he spoke to someone it was to help that person increase their faith in God, to point out the way God was involved.
In Philippians 2, we get an idea of the nature and spirit of Jesus Christ. He is the senior pastor of His church – He is in control, He is building His church, the bride of Christ.
Philippians 2:1-5
As we go through this, you’ll see ... caring, loving other people. As far as Jesus Christ was concerned, He laid down His life for other people, for the church.
“... being of one accord, of one mind. / Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory” Let’s not have anyone doing anything to score points.
When you think about someone is your immediate thought, “How can I help that person?” or do you think, “That confirms what I thought. I must pass this information on.”
Philippians 2:5-8
“This is about Jesus, but it’s not applicable to me.” But Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit lives within you. “Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.” He made Himself of no reputation. But didn’t we say earlier that someone had to be well reported of? What we’re saying is that Jesus Christ set aside His glory. He told the disciples that the greatest among them should be their servant.
The key word in verse 8 is that He became obedient. The character of Jesus and of any individual in a church is that they should be obedient to what God wants, laying down their lives for the brethren.
Philippians 2:9-11
“To the glory of God the Father” Set yourself this coming week to bring glory to His name, to have God live through you, to make you sensitive, to help someone. Someone may be facing particular pressures. God is your Father. He will make provision. Let’s stop thinking about ourselves, but about the ones He wants to reach through us.
Philippians 2:12-13
For those of you who are taking exams, it’s incredible pressure at this time. You can pray to God to organise things in your life, so that in the pressure of it all, God’s peace can rule your heart. It doesn’t mean you sit there and look at the paper dwelling on God’s peace – you do have to write the answers. But it’s God who works in you, even in exam time, to will and to do of His good pleasure. “I want You to help me get the grades I need to fulfil Your purposes for my life.”
Philippians 2:14-17
The character of Jesus Christ – laying down your life for others. And the more Paul talked about the character of Jesus, so Timothy came to his mind again. He was with Paul when he wrote this.
Philippians 2:19-24
An overseer / pastor is someone who naturally by the Spirit of God will care for the people, will have a heart for the people. We can apply that to an overseer, but what about in your life? What would Paul say when it comes down to “All seek their own”? I don’t want to condemn you, but I’m encouraging you to consider what is the priority of your life. What could I point to in my life to say that I’m seeking not my own but the things of Jesus Christ? I’m not filling my head with wrong music just ahead of the meeting; in the week I’m not cramming myself with wrong thoughts, not so bound up with “me” that no one else gets a look in.
Before we are a Christian, it’s all about me and mine. But when Paul thought of Timothy, he knew he was speaking about someone who put God and the people of God first.
You may say that was Timothy’s job. You may say as pastor, it’s my job. But we’re talking about the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ in you. Let me urge you to think about how you want God number one in your life, how you will prioritise your time appropriately.
Philippians 2:13
God loves you and He wants you to live and be right. And He is the one who is working in you actively, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. He’s not against you.
It is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. As we go forward together as brothers and sisters in Christ, so I have complete confidence in God who will outwork His purposes. And I have a continuing sense of how God is so careful to make sure that as there are those whom He would draw to Himself through you, so He will fulfil His purposes here for His glory.
Think about the character of Timothy, and about the nature of who Jesus is. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. There was no subordination in the Trinity. God was in Christ.
Friday 15 May 2009
Be Sensitive Towards the Holy Spirit
It is vital that we are sensitive to what God is doing, so that He can work through us to expand the church and reach the lost. In the times of the Early Church the apostles went only where the Holy Spirit led them; they were sensitive to God’s will. We each have a role to play in the church and that is to be right in the centre of what God wants us to do, standing fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, by faith which worketh in love. If we do this, God’s name will be lifted up.
I just want to set the scene of what went on in the Early Church. There was a situation where God expanded the church. There was no way that any one of the apostles wanted to stand in the way of what God wanted to do in the church; that was paramount. In the same way as Paul later, when he wrote to the church in Galatia, the point of that letter was for people to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free. We should not fall into legalism, we live in the liberty that God has given us.
In Acts it talks about the emergence of the church from just being for Jewish people, to going on to the Gentiles. The disciples and the apostles had to sort things out as things emerge.
Acts 15:1-2
Acts 15:6-11
Peter knew that God had opened up the way to the Gentiles, and he knew that if there was this intrusion of legalism, whereby there should be a ‘yoke’ put on the neck of the disciples, it would totally stop what God wanted to do in the church at that time.
Acts 15:12-20
So the dispute was resolved. They decided that a Gentile did not have to be circumcised, but that they had to: “abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.”
I want to convey how important it was that all of the disciples, at this time of the foundation of the church, were sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to what God wanted to do. Woe betide us, if in the development of what God wants to do here, we thwart His purposes in any way so that He cannot carry out His will.
Acts 16:1-3
A decision was made that you shouldn’t circumcise Gentile people. Now, because Paul knew that if Timothy was going to travel with him in two areas that there were going to be Jews and Gentiles, he knew that Timothy had to be circumcised. He was sensitive to what God wanted, because he knew that if Timothy had not been circumcised, it would have caused problems amongst the Jews.
Acts 16:4-7
Wherever the Holy Spirit wanted them to go, they went. There was a constant sensitivity to what God wanted to do. In our church here, the church of God, what we need to be is totally sensitive to what He wants to do. I don’t want us to be in a situation where we don’t do something that He wants us to do or where we end up disputing over something that actually is of no consequence when it comes to the bottom line of God’s will. We abide by the principles in this book.
Acts 16:9-15
That Acts of the Apostles are really the acts of the Holy Spirit, of God expanding the church. I know that what God is going to be doing here, in the way that He wants to do it, will be to His glory, to benefit His name in the expansion of His church. I want to remind you what it means for God to be in control of His church.
Ephesians 4:1-7
That means that everyone in this room tonight has a vital part to play in the church of God. What is that part?
Ephesians 4:8
Ephesians 4:11-12
So any role I undertake in the church is for the edification of the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:13-16
A church isn’t a group of factions. A church is a place where there are men and women saved by Christ to fulfil His purposes. We need, as a church, to realise that each one of us, joined together, according to what God wants to do, means that there will be an increase of the body unto the edification of the body in love. My aim is to lift up the name of Christ. As we glorify His name, and share our faith with others, God will seek and reach those who are in desperate need. Part of our work is to share our faith with others so that God can speak through us.
Acts 14:21-23
Titus 1:5
Galatians 5:1-6
‘Faith which worketh by love’; that is what we want in the church. We are involved with the One who gave Himself for His church. He is the answer to any individual who is in desperate need. Our mission is to be right in the centre of what God wants us to do, standing fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, by faith which worketh in love. We are conscious of the need to work at it, to work at faith which worketh by love. I am confident that God knows what He’s doing. He knows the end from the beginning and He knows that if we are open to what He wants to do, it will result in His name being glorified.
I just want to set the scene of what went on in the Early Church. There was a situation where God expanded the church. There was no way that any one of the apostles wanted to stand in the way of what God wanted to do in the church; that was paramount. In the same way as Paul later, when he wrote to the church in Galatia, the point of that letter was for people to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free. We should not fall into legalism, we live in the liberty that God has given us.
In Acts it talks about the emergence of the church from just being for Jewish people, to going on to the Gentiles. The disciples and the apostles had to sort things out as things emerge.
Acts 15:1-2
Acts 15:6-11
Peter knew that God had opened up the way to the Gentiles, and he knew that if there was this intrusion of legalism, whereby there should be a ‘yoke’ put on the neck of the disciples, it would totally stop what God wanted to do in the church at that time.
Acts 15:12-20
So the dispute was resolved. They decided that a Gentile did not have to be circumcised, but that they had to: “abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.”
I want to convey how important it was that all of the disciples, at this time of the foundation of the church, were sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to what God wanted to do. Woe betide us, if in the development of what God wants to do here, we thwart His purposes in any way so that He cannot carry out His will.
Acts 16:1-3
A decision was made that you shouldn’t circumcise Gentile people. Now, because Paul knew that if Timothy was going to travel with him in two areas that there were going to be Jews and Gentiles, he knew that Timothy had to be circumcised. He was sensitive to what God wanted, because he knew that if Timothy had not been circumcised, it would have caused problems amongst the Jews.
Acts 16:4-7
Wherever the Holy Spirit wanted them to go, they went. There was a constant sensitivity to what God wanted to do. In our church here, the church of God, what we need to be is totally sensitive to what He wants to do. I don’t want us to be in a situation where we don’t do something that He wants us to do or where we end up disputing over something that actually is of no consequence when it comes to the bottom line of God’s will. We abide by the principles in this book.
Acts 16:9-15
That Acts of the Apostles are really the acts of the Holy Spirit, of God expanding the church. I know that what God is going to be doing here, in the way that He wants to do it, will be to His glory, to benefit His name in the expansion of His church. I want to remind you what it means for God to be in control of His church.
Ephesians 4:1-7
That means that everyone in this room tonight has a vital part to play in the church of God. What is that part?
Ephesians 4:8
Ephesians 4:11-12
So any role I undertake in the church is for the edification of the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:13-16
A church isn’t a group of factions. A church is a place where there are men and women saved by Christ to fulfil His purposes. We need, as a church, to realise that each one of us, joined together, according to what God wants to do, means that there will be an increase of the body unto the edification of the body in love. My aim is to lift up the name of Christ. As we glorify His name, and share our faith with others, God will seek and reach those who are in desperate need. Part of our work is to share our faith with others so that God can speak through us.
Acts 14:21-23
Titus 1:5
Galatians 5:1-6
‘Faith which worketh by love’; that is what we want in the church. We are involved with the One who gave Himself for His church. He is the answer to any individual who is in desperate need. Our mission is to be right in the centre of what God wants us to do, standing fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, by faith which worketh in love. We are conscious of the need to work at it, to work at faith which worketh by love. I am confident that God knows what He’s doing. He knows the end from the beginning and He knows that if we are open to what He wants to do, it will result in His name being glorified.
Sunday 10 May 2009
Children of God
We make life very complicated. But at the basis of life for a Christian are Jesus’s words that to enter the kingdom of God, we need to come as little children. And coming in that way, we can have absolute confidence in God as our Provider.
Galatians 3:23-26
This shows that before someone becomes a Christian, there’s a way of living which is demonstrated by the law. There’s a way to live which is right, and a way that’s wrong. But before we become a Christian we find we can’t keep that law because our nature keeps failing. But the law is there for a purpose. It’s a schoolmaster. It brings us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. The schoolmaster is the means by which God shows us we can’t live a good life, that our thought life is completely awry. And as we realise that, God uses the law by His Holy Spirit to convict us and make us realise we can’t keep it. When we admit that, it’s often the time when God reveals that eternal solution – faith in Him, His faith in what He did for you and me.
Galatians 3:23-26
Sometimes we rattle off that phrase, but as Christians we are all a child of God. We’re not a mature man or woman of God – we’re children of God. When Jesus was with His disciples, it was a voyage of discovery to realise exactly who Jesus was and His nature on the inside. His reaction to circumstances was often completely the opposite to their reaction. They tried to get it right, but they didn’t because inside they were as they were born – contrary to the things of God.
In Galatians, Paul was writing after Jesus had died, and risen and the Holy Spirit had been given. So he talks in terms of faith coming to a person. After that, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. We are all children of faith.
Galatians 3:27-28
The common denominator is that we are children of God. It isn’t that I’m a man, that my wife’s a woman, not that I’m free or in bondage, not that I’m a Greek or a Jew. All that is washed away. You are all one as children of God in Christ Jesus.
Brilliant! Because each person as an individual given life by God is able to completely trust our heavenly father, to have His life living through us. And as we go forward in life, we have to maintain that knowledge that we are a child.
I want to look at three times when the disciples were with Jesus, and He zeroed in on their heart condition. It’s all to do with you and me as a Christian being a child of God. To be a child isn’t complicated. I don’t have to work everything out. If I think of a youngster aged two, enjoying life to the full, everything is a discovery. Is that child worried about the things that I’m concerned to provide for them? No. Their existence is complete and utter trust. They wouldn’t term it trust. They just live and enjoy life to the full in complete trust. There’s no worry with a youngster where the next bit of food is going to come from, whether there will be a bed to sleep in. There’s no worry in a youngster at all.
So when I say that you are a child of God and I am a child of God, and we are all one in Christ, it’s important we keep that attitude in mind. Yes, difficult questions can be thrown at someone, to try and destabilise them in their faith. We don’t reject intellect. But I want to look at the fact that we as a Christian are a child of God. So when I think about this coming week, are two-year-olds worried about Thursday, about that meeting on Friday, that bill that’s due on Saturday? No – they’re just enjoying life to the full, getting on with life. Life is a voyage of discovery. And it hit the disciples big time when Jesus focused in on this.
Jesus had just been talking about Himself, and the disciples were concerned as to which of them would lead the pack.
Luke 9:46-48
Mark 9:33-34
Jesus knew what they had been talking about. But none of them would admit to it.
Mark 9:35-37
Jesus knew what they had been talking about – who had the rightful claim to be number one, dog-eat-dog. And it was as foreign to Jesus as the east is from the west.
When Jesus picked up the child, He said :-
Mark 9:37
To be child-like is not something to be sneered at, disciples. What you need to be, what you will be, the spirit you will exhibit, is this. You won’t desire to be first. But inside you will be that spirit which wants to be the servant of everyone. That’s the greatest.
So this extends practically into what happens if I learn some information about someone – “How can I help that person? I can pray for that person even if I can’t get near them to speak to them.” It’s not a waste of time – I can get in line with what God wants for that person. “Lord, bless them. Cause them to learn what you want them to learn at this time. Reveal Yourself to them.” That’s the spirit of Christ.
Jesus was identifying Himself with the child. In Philippians, Paul says He made Himself of no reputation. To him, Jesus’ thoughts were always for someone else, never for Himself. The only time He thought about Himself was to ensure He was fulfilling Father’s will.
Was Jesus fun to be with? You bet! He was good to be around. Did He enjoy life to the full? Yes. During the three years they were together, it was a reorientation of thinking.
As He sat there with a child in His arms they felt very small. He wasn’t trying to score points off them. But He was trying – and succeeding – to convey to them the nature of the kingdom of God.
Matthew 18:1-6
Except ye be converted and come as little children, you shall not come into the Kingdom of heaven. This is back a step. We’ve been saying that as a child of God, you can have complete trust in Him. It’s not complicated – so much so that coming into the kingdom of heaven, we have to come as children. There’s something about the nature of a little child, the understanding of a child, the way a child relates to the parent. I don’t have a list of forty questions that I need to have answered to the nth degree before I become a Christian. At some stage will come the realisation that it comes down to a simple faith. We don’t dispel questions. But except ye become as a little child, ye shall not come into the kingdom of heaven.
“Offend one of these little ones” I don’t think this refers just to children, but also to those who have a childlike quality of faith. Do you have that quality? Very simple – in the world’s eyes, simplistic. In God’s eyes, I’m a child of God.
1 John 4:4
As a little child, greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. It doesn’t matter what the enemy might throw at me. Greater is He that is in me. How big is your problem, that circumstance you can’t get your head round to work out the solution? Well if you come as a little child to God, He has the solution. It’s not a worry to Him, something He has to work out. It’s not impossible. Your future is in His hands. He loves you.
The enemy makes things complicated, so that cause and effect comes into our lives, bringing law back in again, so that we have to do things in a certain way before God will save us. No – that’s not God. The grace of God is sufficient for you and me. Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.
Except ye be converted and come as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven ...
Is a two-year-old self-reliant? No – he’s reliant on his parents. Is He self-sufficient, able to sort everything out? Not at all. A child has complete trust. He has complete peace. There’s no worry about the future. He has complete awareness of having no anxiety, no worries, nothing to worry about.
2 Corinthians 5:17
It’s as if you have been born again. In Christ you are a child of God, all things become new. Life is a constant voyage of discover, because He knows what He’s doing. And the spirit of life working within you will enable to you share your faith with others who are in desperate need.
There’s an answer in Christ that only He can give.
The discovery which is going on as regards parliamentary expenses – it’s just another expression of man’s nature without God.
You and I are children of God.
If you’re not a Christian, that’s what God wants to do for you – to make you become something which is different on the inside. It’s the failure to fulfil His law, that paralysis inside which frustrates you. You know what you ought to do, but you can’t. God in Christ broke all the habits of sin. He took into Himself the power of sin. He took the power which causes us to do the wrong thing.
In Christ, we are a new creation and we are children of God.
I’m a child of God. He’s my Provider in every way – physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, every way. He’s my Provider.
Galatians 3:23-26
This shows that before someone becomes a Christian, there’s a way of living which is demonstrated by the law. There’s a way to live which is right, and a way that’s wrong. But before we become a Christian we find we can’t keep that law because our nature keeps failing. But the law is there for a purpose. It’s a schoolmaster. It brings us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. The schoolmaster is the means by which God shows us we can’t live a good life, that our thought life is completely awry. And as we realise that, God uses the law by His Holy Spirit to convict us and make us realise we can’t keep it. When we admit that, it’s often the time when God reveals that eternal solution – faith in Him, His faith in what He did for you and me.
Galatians 3:23-26
Sometimes we rattle off that phrase, but as Christians we are all a child of God. We’re not a mature man or woman of God – we’re children of God. When Jesus was with His disciples, it was a voyage of discovery to realise exactly who Jesus was and His nature on the inside. His reaction to circumstances was often completely the opposite to their reaction. They tried to get it right, but they didn’t because inside they were as they were born – contrary to the things of God.
In Galatians, Paul was writing after Jesus had died, and risen and the Holy Spirit had been given. So he talks in terms of faith coming to a person. After that, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. We are all children of faith.
Galatians 3:27-28
The common denominator is that we are children of God. It isn’t that I’m a man, that my wife’s a woman, not that I’m free or in bondage, not that I’m a Greek or a Jew. All that is washed away. You are all one as children of God in Christ Jesus.
Brilliant! Because each person as an individual given life by God is able to completely trust our heavenly father, to have His life living through us. And as we go forward in life, we have to maintain that knowledge that we are a child.
I want to look at three times when the disciples were with Jesus, and He zeroed in on their heart condition. It’s all to do with you and me as a Christian being a child of God. To be a child isn’t complicated. I don’t have to work everything out. If I think of a youngster aged two, enjoying life to the full, everything is a discovery. Is that child worried about the things that I’m concerned to provide for them? No. Their existence is complete and utter trust. They wouldn’t term it trust. They just live and enjoy life to the full in complete trust. There’s no worry with a youngster where the next bit of food is going to come from, whether there will be a bed to sleep in. There’s no worry in a youngster at all.
So when I say that you are a child of God and I am a child of God, and we are all one in Christ, it’s important we keep that attitude in mind. Yes, difficult questions can be thrown at someone, to try and destabilise them in their faith. We don’t reject intellect. But I want to look at the fact that we as a Christian are a child of God. So when I think about this coming week, are two-year-olds worried about Thursday, about that meeting on Friday, that bill that’s due on Saturday? No – they’re just enjoying life to the full, getting on with life. Life is a voyage of discovery. And it hit the disciples big time when Jesus focused in on this.
Jesus had just been talking about Himself, and the disciples were concerned as to which of them would lead the pack.
Luke 9:46-48
Mark 9:33-34
Jesus knew what they had been talking about. But none of them would admit to it.
Mark 9:35-37
Jesus knew what they had been talking about – who had the rightful claim to be number one, dog-eat-dog. And it was as foreign to Jesus as the east is from the west.
When Jesus picked up the child, He said :-
Mark 9:37
To be child-like is not something to be sneered at, disciples. What you need to be, what you will be, the spirit you will exhibit, is this. You won’t desire to be first. But inside you will be that spirit which wants to be the servant of everyone. That’s the greatest.
So this extends practically into what happens if I learn some information about someone – “How can I help that person? I can pray for that person even if I can’t get near them to speak to them.” It’s not a waste of time – I can get in line with what God wants for that person. “Lord, bless them. Cause them to learn what you want them to learn at this time. Reveal Yourself to them.” That’s the spirit of Christ.
Jesus was identifying Himself with the child. In Philippians, Paul says He made Himself of no reputation. To him, Jesus’ thoughts were always for someone else, never for Himself. The only time He thought about Himself was to ensure He was fulfilling Father’s will.
Was Jesus fun to be with? You bet! He was good to be around. Did He enjoy life to the full? Yes. During the three years they were together, it was a reorientation of thinking.
As He sat there with a child in His arms they felt very small. He wasn’t trying to score points off them. But He was trying – and succeeding – to convey to them the nature of the kingdom of God.
Matthew 18:1-6
Except ye be converted and come as little children, you shall not come into the Kingdom of heaven. This is back a step. We’ve been saying that as a child of God, you can have complete trust in Him. It’s not complicated – so much so that coming into the kingdom of heaven, we have to come as children. There’s something about the nature of a little child, the understanding of a child, the way a child relates to the parent. I don’t have a list of forty questions that I need to have answered to the nth degree before I become a Christian. At some stage will come the realisation that it comes down to a simple faith. We don’t dispel questions. But except ye become as a little child, ye shall not come into the kingdom of heaven.
“Offend one of these little ones” I don’t think this refers just to children, but also to those who have a childlike quality of faith. Do you have that quality? Very simple – in the world’s eyes, simplistic. In God’s eyes, I’m a child of God.
1 John 4:4
As a little child, greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. It doesn’t matter what the enemy might throw at me. Greater is He that is in me. How big is your problem, that circumstance you can’t get your head round to work out the solution? Well if you come as a little child to God, He has the solution. It’s not a worry to Him, something He has to work out. It’s not impossible. Your future is in His hands. He loves you.
The enemy makes things complicated, so that cause and effect comes into our lives, bringing law back in again, so that we have to do things in a certain way before God will save us. No – that’s not God. The grace of God is sufficient for you and me. Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.
Except ye be converted and come as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven ...
Is a two-year-old self-reliant? No – he’s reliant on his parents. Is He self-sufficient, able to sort everything out? Not at all. A child has complete trust. He has complete peace. There’s no worry about the future. He has complete awareness of having no anxiety, no worries, nothing to worry about.
2 Corinthians 5:17
It’s as if you have been born again. In Christ you are a child of God, all things become new. Life is a constant voyage of discover, because He knows what He’s doing. And the spirit of life working within you will enable to you share your faith with others who are in desperate need.
There’s an answer in Christ that only He can give.
The discovery which is going on as regards parliamentary expenses – it’s just another expression of man’s nature without God.
You and I are children of God.
If you’re not a Christian, that’s what God wants to do for you – to make you become something which is different on the inside. It’s the failure to fulfil His law, that paralysis inside which frustrates you. You know what you ought to do, but you can’t. God in Christ broke all the habits of sin. He took into Himself the power of sin. He took the power which causes us to do the wrong thing.
In Christ, we are a new creation and we are children of God.
I’m a child of God. He’s my Provider in every way – physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, every way. He’s my Provider.
Friday 8 May 2009
Walking in Grace
By Dr Kent Hodge
Romans 8:1
We walk by the grace of God and not by the law. Walking by the law means by our own power and ability to keep the law, but walking by the spirit means the life of Christ and the grace of God.
Romans 8:2
Sin and death is a law – it is something that is not voluntary and that we have to be set free from. We don’t have power over it otherwise. The law of the spirit of life is Christ’s presence in us.
Romans 8:3
The law was only a letter, it had no power. The wonderful love of God, what the law couldn’t do, He did for us through His son Jesus Christ. God in Christ condemned sin in our flesh. He did it. This is the new law. Where the law of sin and death was involuntary, we now have a different law operating in us which is His son, who lives our life through us. We can’t live His life through us, He lives it.
When Jesus was on earth, He was saying this and talking about the law. He stunned the disciples on many occasions, and they asked who could be saved. Jesus said, with man nothing is possible but with God all things are possible. With God it is more than a possibility: it is a new life.
God is the one who condemned sin in our flesh. We have a new destiny in Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:4-9
This is not an exercise that we need to do, but if Christ dwells in us, we are in the spirit, by virtue of being born again.
Romans 8:10
Romans 6:6
What Paul was speaking about was the body of sin. If Christ is in you, the body of sin that controlled your life is now paralysed by your life. it doesn’t mean you will be perfect, but it means you will overcome with Christ’s faith in your life. The spirit is life in us because of His righteousness.
Matthew 19:16
They asked the wrong question. Jesus didn’t correct the question, because the man probably wouldn’t have understood Him. He also didn’t explain, He just answered him according to where the man was.
Matthew 19:16-21
When I was a teenager, we left our church and bought a farm, and went to work on the farm on weekends, so we stopped going to church for a while. Later on I started going back for Bible study groups. The Bible study said to look at Jesus and follow Him. You have to live the Christian life perfectly, and I knew I didn’t have a chance.
When I read this passage, it looked like bad news to me. I thought to myself, I hadn't got a chance. I believe what Jesus was showing this man here:
Matthew 19:22
I believe what Jesus was doing, was putting his finger on the man’s need. He could not be saved by the Ten Commandments; there had to be a Plan B. The default nature of man is idolatry. The idol is basically ourselves. What we are serving is what we can get. We are the god of our life until we get born again. Salvation comes to fix that in our life. It is impossible for the law to fix the need.
We can be set free from who we are and be brought into His fellowship and into life with Him. Only His gift can do that. There is no number of laws that can change one iota of our character.
The issue isn’t what enters into the man that defiles him, but what comes out. There is no amount of law that can change what comes out.
Law and legalism becomes idolatry, because we are worshiping and depending on our own ability.
Matthew 18:23-26
The Bible so accurately portrays the nature of man. Man thinks that outside of the Gospel, he can get right with God somehow. This man underestimated the extent of the law, and he didn’t see how rigorous that law was, and how far short he fell from it. This man thought that if he had time, he would be able to pay. I read somewhere that ten thousand talents is equivalent to something like the debt of a nation. This man overestimated his own ability. He didn’t know the law, and he didn’t know himself.
A lot of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel was to point these two things out to us, and to give us a proper understanding of the law. It isn’t just paying tithes.
Jesus explained the law. Murdering wasn’t just killing, it also meant to hate. Unless you accept Christ you will die in your sins. Unless you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him. There is no way we can keep the law or take up our cross, without Christ. You can’t get perfection on your own. He preached the law in order to lead us to Christ.
I am crucified with Christ. It is the power that changes our hearts and turns us to God.
Romans 5:15
This grace is much more. Does that mean we will never stumble? No, but this grace will bring us home. It is much more than this world or the devil.
Romans 5:21
Sin is reigning as king in my life, before Christ. There’s nothing I can do about it. I have a new thing reigning in me now. Just as sin reigned involuntarily, and I had no say in my destiny, now I have grace reigning. It brings me to the destiny that God has planned. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
We are baptised into that fountain and we become an avenue to that fountain in our church. It’s God’s mission and He is moving in our nations.
Romans 8:1
We walk by the grace of God and not by the law. Walking by the law means by our own power and ability to keep the law, but walking by the spirit means the life of Christ and the grace of God.
Romans 8:2
Sin and death is a law – it is something that is not voluntary and that we have to be set free from. We don’t have power over it otherwise. The law of the spirit of life is Christ’s presence in us.
Romans 8:3
The law was only a letter, it had no power. The wonderful love of God, what the law couldn’t do, He did for us through His son Jesus Christ. God in Christ condemned sin in our flesh. He did it. This is the new law. Where the law of sin and death was involuntary, we now have a different law operating in us which is His son, who lives our life through us. We can’t live His life through us, He lives it.
When Jesus was on earth, He was saying this and talking about the law. He stunned the disciples on many occasions, and they asked who could be saved. Jesus said, with man nothing is possible but with God all things are possible. With God it is more than a possibility: it is a new life.
God is the one who condemned sin in our flesh. We have a new destiny in Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:4-9
This is not an exercise that we need to do, but if Christ dwells in us, we are in the spirit, by virtue of being born again.
Romans 8:10
Romans 6:6
What Paul was speaking about was the body of sin. If Christ is in you, the body of sin that controlled your life is now paralysed by your life. it doesn’t mean you will be perfect, but it means you will overcome with Christ’s faith in your life. The spirit is life in us because of His righteousness.
Matthew 19:16
They asked the wrong question. Jesus didn’t correct the question, because the man probably wouldn’t have understood Him. He also didn’t explain, He just answered him according to where the man was.
Matthew 19:16-21
When I was a teenager, we left our church and bought a farm, and went to work on the farm on weekends, so we stopped going to church for a while. Later on I started going back for Bible study groups. The Bible study said to look at Jesus and follow Him. You have to live the Christian life perfectly, and I knew I didn’t have a chance.
When I read this passage, it looked like bad news to me. I thought to myself, I hadn't got a chance. I believe what Jesus was showing this man here:
Matthew 19:22
I believe what Jesus was doing, was putting his finger on the man’s need. He could not be saved by the Ten Commandments; there had to be a Plan B. The default nature of man is idolatry. The idol is basically ourselves. What we are serving is what we can get. We are the god of our life until we get born again. Salvation comes to fix that in our life. It is impossible for the law to fix the need.
We can be set free from who we are and be brought into His fellowship and into life with Him. Only His gift can do that. There is no number of laws that can change one iota of our character.
The issue isn’t what enters into the man that defiles him, but what comes out. There is no amount of law that can change what comes out.
Law and legalism becomes idolatry, because we are worshiping and depending on our own ability.
Matthew 18:23-26
The Bible so accurately portrays the nature of man. Man thinks that outside of the Gospel, he can get right with God somehow. This man underestimated the extent of the law, and he didn’t see how rigorous that law was, and how far short he fell from it. This man thought that if he had time, he would be able to pay. I read somewhere that ten thousand talents is equivalent to something like the debt of a nation. This man overestimated his own ability. He didn’t know the law, and he didn’t know himself.
A lot of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel was to point these two things out to us, and to give us a proper understanding of the law. It isn’t just paying tithes.
Jesus explained the law. Murdering wasn’t just killing, it also meant to hate. Unless you accept Christ you will die in your sins. Unless you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him. There is no way we can keep the law or take up our cross, without Christ. You can’t get perfection on your own. He preached the law in order to lead us to Christ.
I am crucified with Christ. It is the power that changes our hearts and turns us to God.
Romans 5:15
This grace is much more. Does that mean we will never stumble? No, but this grace will bring us home. It is much more than this world or the devil.
Romans 5:21
Sin is reigning as king in my life, before Christ. There’s nothing I can do about it. I have a new thing reigning in me now. Just as sin reigned involuntarily, and I had no say in my destiny, now I have grace reigning. It brings me to the destiny that God has planned. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
We are baptised into that fountain and we become an avenue to that fountain in our church. It’s God’s mission and He is moving in our nations.
Sunday 3 May 2009
Satan in Perspective
There is no doubt that before we are Christians, Satan’s influence on our lives is very real – as real as it was in the life of Peter. But when Jesus comes inside everything changes.
I want to get the weighting right on talking about the enemy of our souls today. I don’t want to give glory to him – in fact the reverse: I want to give glory to Jesus Christ.
We come to a topic in 1 Peter which was very real to Peter. His letter was to do with the persecution which they were already facing and which was to get worse. Sometimes you get to a seemingly impossible situation, where it seems the enemy is laughing at you, where what you thought was a certain way has been blown out of the water.
The change brought about by the Resurrection took you from the hold of darkness on your life to light and freedom and power to live the right way. Before you become a Christian, there is no option. Essentially you are under the prince of the power of the air – a name for the enemy, the devil, Satan. He kicks you around as he will. That’s who you are serving. He’s a fallen angel, not a god.
But Jesus Christ has set me free form the power of sin and darkness, and I’ve come into the power of His marvellous light.
There were two occasions in Peter’s life where it hit him and he never forgot it – when Satan suddenly became personal. Earlier in 1 Peter, he refers to how things were before God changed him :-
1 Peter 2:9
1 Peter 4:3
In chapter 5, what Peter wrote was very significant :-
1 Peter 5:8
He’s against what God wants. These two occasions which hit home to Peter I want you to look at.
Matthew 16:21-23
This is before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, before the change in Peter’s heart. But suddenly words which he thought would help Jesus were recognised by Jesus as coming from Satan. All Satan thought about was the things of this world. He didn’t relish the things of God.
I can imagine when Jesus said this, it would have come as a shock.
Now, towards the end of Jesus’ ministry we have :-
Luke 22:31-34
1 Peter is really Peter outworking Jesus’ injunction to strengthen the brethren.
The oldest book in the Bible is Job. At the start of that book is a conversation between Satan and God. God asks him what he had been doing, and he said he had been walking to and fro. And Satan became personal in his confrontation with Jesus.
Matthew 4:1-5
That was personal. So we learn here that the enemy is real, and here Jesus, tempted in various ways ... from His first response ...
What I say this morning is that Jesus Christ has defeated the enemy of our souls. But the enemy is not yet in the lake of fire. What has happened – and that’s why we have an empty cross on the wall – is that Jesus Christ on the cross broke the power of sin, defeated the power of the enemy, and Satan and his hordes are defeated. And ever since then, so any Christian walks in victory and has power over the enemy. When James writes and says to resist the devil and he will flee, it’s true – he has no power over you.
Ezra 28 refers to the nature of Satan. There was Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer, and a third of heaven sided with Lucifer. We’re told how beautiful Satan was. But our next text shows us how his nature caused Satan to do what he did ...
Isaiah 14:12-14
“I will ...” You can see what Satan is all about – “I will be above God.” Before a person is a Christian, that’s the person’s nature. They’re under the dominion of Satan. They can come out from that – it’s not a matter that you’re stuck there forever. But I’m explaining the nature of Satan. “I will do what I want. I will be above God and His moral law.” It’s horrible.
Paul was aware of how Satan was.
2 Corinthians 11:13-14
Satan deceives. He was a murderer from the beginning, the dragon, the wicked one, the prince of this world. The deception he brings to those who are not a Christian is to make black white and white black. It’s the total reverse of what God wants. Jesus is the light of the world. The enemy only presents himself as something which entices, which is good, but it isn’t good.
So when something comes on Facebook which then develops ... “I must get involved with that” ... the nightclubs on Friday night “That looks good, I must get involved.” And the enemy of our souls who has control before anyone becomes a Christian, presents things which are enticing. “I’ll have a drink, another drink, what the hell?” And that phrase itself sums up the origin.
It’s significant how Paul describes the state of someone who does not have Jesus Christ inside as Lord and Saviour.
Ephesians 2:1-2
That’s how it was before someone is a Christian, before they available themselves of what Jesus Christ did at Calvary.
2 Timothy 2:25-26
In the New Living Translation, it says they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. The snare and power of the devil ... he’s not omnipresent, but he uses legions of demons (that’s how he gets round the place), he’s not omnipresent, although he would tell you he is. He uses demons and other things to outwork what he wants.
When Jesus hung on the cross, this was the ultimate. Satan thought he’d won. All the way through he knew who Jesus was. It was as if Jesus was in the position that Satan wanted to be in, and there was envy and hatred there – complete hatred. When Jesus hung on the cross, Satan gloated, and he worked through the voices of those around, and they mocked Him. “You saved others, now save yourself!” There was a watershed where the enemy thought that was it – Jesus, the son of God was finally nailed. And yet, I read ...
Colossians 2:14-15
Jesus took upon Himself the form of a servant, and said “A new commandment I give you – that you love one another.” Satan’s commandment would have been that we hate one another. He wanted darkness, uncleanness.
It’s interesting that Satan had no friends, no one he could trust, because his nature was entirely selfish. There were no friends. Inside he was isolated. And the funny thing is, when Jesus Christ triumphed on the cross and through the resurrection, He came back to life. The enemy thought he had the power of death – scripture says as much – and he thought Jesus was gone: “I’ve done it.” When Jesus was crucified and came back to life, He conquered death. Death wasn’t the end any more. Why? Because He came back to life. And the shock and horror and realisation of the enemy of our soul to realise that was it! And when Jesus said, “It is finished”, that was it. He had accomplished what He came to earth to do – to destroy the works of the devil.
So if you’re sitting here and you’re not a Christian, the fact that you’re hearing about this is because God does love you and doesn’t want you to go wrong. He knows more about you than you realise. He’s put that desire inside you, because naturally we don’t desire that. From the natural perspective, it’s a case of, “I’m going to do what I want to do – and You’re not going to stop me.”
Perhaps you’re taking the events of last year to permit you to do exactly what you want to do. But what is this [the Bible]? It’s the Word of God, a manual for right living, the news of salvation. It points us to Jesus Christ. It is the truth.
“I’m not under any authority now.” But this is the Bible, the law, the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. No wonder Peter writes “Be sober, be vigilant.” He’s writing to Christians, remember.
I’ve been talking about the character of the enemy. If you’re a Christian here this morning, these verses are particularly relevant to you.
1 Peter 5:8
I’m not in fear. But the enemy is such a fool that he thinks he can make you look at things the wrong way, when the truth is real, when Jesus Christ is the Rock on which I am founded, when Jesus Christ does live inside me, when, enemy of my soul, you are defeated. You aren’t going to win – you’ve lost already.
The enemy of our souls is on a leash. If you walk down the road and a dog appears and barks, it startles you until you realise that the fence is between you and he can’t hurt you. Maybe a thought comes into your mind – “You’re not a Christian. It’s not going to work for you or your children. Look what’s happened. It’s not going to work in your family. You’ve done that again – you’re not a Christian.” These are all barks from the dog. Or someone calls you and they drop in a piece of information in their conversation, and you think inside that if you dwell on it, it won’t be right because they’re just pulling someone down. That’s another bark. Or someone rings you up and asks if you’re going to a particular place, and you know you shouldn’t ... Put the phone down. Turn your mobile off. I’m a Christian, and He’s given the power to live right and clean. I’m not bragging, but I’m able to say this because of Him and what He has done.
1 Peter 5:9-11
He’s called us unto His eternal glory. When God looks at me, He can see the work of His son fulfilled in my life. He’s cleansed me and made me clean. And when I see Him face to face, I shall be like Him. There’s a purified character, the glory of seeing His glory in my life.
“Make you perfect” – make you thoroughly complete.
“Stablish you” – becoming resolute in a certain direction, going God’s way.
“Strengthen you” – confirm you in spiritual knowledge and power.
“Settle you” – consolidate your whole life, founded on a rock.
“I’m seventeen. I know what’s right and wrong. I don’t know if God has changed me on the inside, but I’m aware on the fact that I’m fed up of living in this twilight zone, and at times it gets to me, because I readily accept going the wrong way, and I know I shouldn’t.” God is speaking to you this morning. In your heart of hearts, God is putting His finger on your thought life, and what you really think, and He’s saying you’re right – it shouldn’t be this way, and it doesn’t have to be. And because He’s speaking like this, I’m confident that it won’t be like that. You need to open your heart – be open, turn inside and think differently. Accept by faith what we’re talking about here. Maybe you don’t want to take a stand in front of your friends. But let’s talk about you on your own. You don’t want things to be as they are. You try to sort things out, and they go wrong. Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit is saying this morning that it can be different for you.
And for all of you, no matter what the circumstances look like in your life, no matter the extent of the impossibility of you’re looking at, you need to reaffirm in your heart what God has done in your life, He is the one who has saved me, put my feet on a rock, who has prepared good things for me to walk in, who is the Lord of my life. And no matter what the enemy is barking about off-stage – that’s the truth. No matter what the enemy may throw at you, stay firm in the faith. We’re talking about Jesus Christ, the power of God, someone who is all powerful and has provided an eternal solution. That’s who we’re talking about.
To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
1 Peter 5:11-14
I want to get the weighting right on talking about the enemy of our souls today. I don’t want to give glory to him – in fact the reverse: I want to give glory to Jesus Christ.
We come to a topic in 1 Peter which was very real to Peter. His letter was to do with the persecution which they were already facing and which was to get worse. Sometimes you get to a seemingly impossible situation, where it seems the enemy is laughing at you, where what you thought was a certain way has been blown out of the water.
The change brought about by the Resurrection took you from the hold of darkness on your life to light and freedom and power to live the right way. Before you become a Christian, there is no option. Essentially you are under the prince of the power of the air – a name for the enemy, the devil, Satan. He kicks you around as he will. That’s who you are serving. He’s a fallen angel, not a god.
But Jesus Christ has set me free form the power of sin and darkness, and I’ve come into the power of His marvellous light.
There were two occasions in Peter’s life where it hit him and he never forgot it – when Satan suddenly became personal. Earlier in 1 Peter, he refers to how things were before God changed him :-
1 Peter 2:9
1 Peter 4:3
In chapter 5, what Peter wrote was very significant :-
1 Peter 5:8
He’s against what God wants. These two occasions which hit home to Peter I want you to look at.
Matthew 16:21-23
This is before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, before the change in Peter’s heart. But suddenly words which he thought would help Jesus were recognised by Jesus as coming from Satan. All Satan thought about was the things of this world. He didn’t relish the things of God.
I can imagine when Jesus said this, it would have come as a shock.
Now, towards the end of Jesus’ ministry we have :-
Luke 22:31-34
1 Peter is really Peter outworking Jesus’ injunction to strengthen the brethren.
The oldest book in the Bible is Job. At the start of that book is a conversation between Satan and God. God asks him what he had been doing, and he said he had been walking to and fro. And Satan became personal in his confrontation with Jesus.
Matthew 4:1-5
That was personal. So we learn here that the enemy is real, and here Jesus, tempted in various ways ... from His first response ...
What I say this morning is that Jesus Christ has defeated the enemy of our souls. But the enemy is not yet in the lake of fire. What has happened – and that’s why we have an empty cross on the wall – is that Jesus Christ on the cross broke the power of sin, defeated the power of the enemy, and Satan and his hordes are defeated. And ever since then, so any Christian walks in victory and has power over the enemy. When James writes and says to resist the devil and he will flee, it’s true – he has no power over you.
Ezra 28 refers to the nature of Satan. There was Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer, and a third of heaven sided with Lucifer. We’re told how beautiful Satan was. But our next text shows us how his nature caused Satan to do what he did ...
Isaiah 14:12-14
“I will ...” You can see what Satan is all about – “I will be above God.” Before a person is a Christian, that’s the person’s nature. They’re under the dominion of Satan. They can come out from that – it’s not a matter that you’re stuck there forever. But I’m explaining the nature of Satan. “I will do what I want. I will be above God and His moral law.” It’s horrible.
Paul was aware of how Satan was.
2 Corinthians 11:13-14
Satan deceives. He was a murderer from the beginning, the dragon, the wicked one, the prince of this world. The deception he brings to those who are not a Christian is to make black white and white black. It’s the total reverse of what God wants. Jesus is the light of the world. The enemy only presents himself as something which entices, which is good, but it isn’t good.
So when something comes on Facebook which then develops ... “I must get involved with that” ... the nightclubs on Friday night “That looks good, I must get involved.” And the enemy of our souls who has control before anyone becomes a Christian, presents things which are enticing. “I’ll have a drink, another drink, what the hell?” And that phrase itself sums up the origin.
It’s significant how Paul describes the state of someone who does not have Jesus Christ inside as Lord and Saviour.
Ephesians 2:1-2
That’s how it was before someone is a Christian, before they available themselves of what Jesus Christ did at Calvary.
2 Timothy 2:25-26
In the New Living Translation, it says they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. The snare and power of the devil ... he’s not omnipresent, but he uses legions of demons (that’s how he gets round the place), he’s not omnipresent, although he would tell you he is. He uses demons and other things to outwork what he wants.
When Jesus hung on the cross, this was the ultimate. Satan thought he’d won. All the way through he knew who Jesus was. It was as if Jesus was in the position that Satan wanted to be in, and there was envy and hatred there – complete hatred. When Jesus hung on the cross, Satan gloated, and he worked through the voices of those around, and they mocked Him. “You saved others, now save yourself!” There was a watershed where the enemy thought that was it – Jesus, the son of God was finally nailed. And yet, I read ...
Colossians 2:14-15
Jesus took upon Himself the form of a servant, and said “A new commandment I give you – that you love one another.” Satan’s commandment would have been that we hate one another. He wanted darkness, uncleanness.
It’s interesting that Satan had no friends, no one he could trust, because his nature was entirely selfish. There were no friends. Inside he was isolated. And the funny thing is, when Jesus Christ triumphed on the cross and through the resurrection, He came back to life. The enemy thought he had the power of death – scripture says as much – and he thought Jesus was gone: “I’ve done it.” When Jesus was crucified and came back to life, He conquered death. Death wasn’t the end any more. Why? Because He came back to life. And the shock and horror and realisation of the enemy of our soul to realise that was it! And when Jesus said, “It is finished”, that was it. He had accomplished what He came to earth to do – to destroy the works of the devil.
So if you’re sitting here and you’re not a Christian, the fact that you’re hearing about this is because God does love you and doesn’t want you to go wrong. He knows more about you than you realise. He’s put that desire inside you, because naturally we don’t desire that. From the natural perspective, it’s a case of, “I’m going to do what I want to do – and You’re not going to stop me.”
Perhaps you’re taking the events of last year to permit you to do exactly what you want to do. But what is this [the Bible]? It’s the Word of God, a manual for right living, the news of salvation. It points us to Jesus Christ. It is the truth.
“I’m not under any authority now.” But this is the Bible, the law, the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. No wonder Peter writes “Be sober, be vigilant.” He’s writing to Christians, remember.
I’ve been talking about the character of the enemy. If you’re a Christian here this morning, these verses are particularly relevant to you.
1 Peter 5:8
I’m not in fear. But the enemy is such a fool that he thinks he can make you look at things the wrong way, when the truth is real, when Jesus Christ is the Rock on which I am founded, when Jesus Christ does live inside me, when, enemy of my soul, you are defeated. You aren’t going to win – you’ve lost already.
The enemy of our souls is on a leash. If you walk down the road and a dog appears and barks, it startles you until you realise that the fence is between you and he can’t hurt you. Maybe a thought comes into your mind – “You’re not a Christian. It’s not going to work for you or your children. Look what’s happened. It’s not going to work in your family. You’ve done that again – you’re not a Christian.” These are all barks from the dog. Or someone calls you and they drop in a piece of information in their conversation, and you think inside that if you dwell on it, it won’t be right because they’re just pulling someone down. That’s another bark. Or someone rings you up and asks if you’re going to a particular place, and you know you shouldn’t ... Put the phone down. Turn your mobile off. I’m a Christian, and He’s given the power to live right and clean. I’m not bragging, but I’m able to say this because of Him and what He has done.
1 Peter 5:9-11
He’s called us unto His eternal glory. When God looks at me, He can see the work of His son fulfilled in my life. He’s cleansed me and made me clean. And when I see Him face to face, I shall be like Him. There’s a purified character, the glory of seeing His glory in my life.
“Make you perfect” – make you thoroughly complete.
“Stablish you” – becoming resolute in a certain direction, going God’s way.
“Strengthen you” – confirm you in spiritual knowledge and power.
“Settle you” – consolidate your whole life, founded on a rock.
“I’m seventeen. I know what’s right and wrong. I don’t know if God has changed me on the inside, but I’m aware on the fact that I’m fed up of living in this twilight zone, and at times it gets to me, because I readily accept going the wrong way, and I know I shouldn’t.” God is speaking to you this morning. In your heart of hearts, God is putting His finger on your thought life, and what you really think, and He’s saying you’re right – it shouldn’t be this way, and it doesn’t have to be. And because He’s speaking like this, I’m confident that it won’t be like that. You need to open your heart – be open, turn inside and think differently. Accept by faith what we’re talking about here. Maybe you don’t want to take a stand in front of your friends. But let’s talk about you on your own. You don’t want things to be as they are. You try to sort things out, and they go wrong. Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit is saying this morning that it can be different for you.
And for all of you, no matter what the circumstances look like in your life, no matter the extent of the impossibility of you’re looking at, you need to reaffirm in your heart what God has done in your life, He is the one who has saved me, put my feet on a rock, who has prepared good things for me to walk in, who is the Lord of my life. And no matter what the enemy is barking about off-stage – that’s the truth. No matter what the enemy may throw at you, stay firm in the faith. We’re talking about Jesus Christ, the power of God, someone who is all powerful and has provided an eternal solution. That’s who we’re talking about.
To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
1 Peter 5:11-14
Friday 1 May 2009
The Servant of All
In a church structure, there should be a number of leaders, or elders. The leadership of the church is a group of people, although there is a leader amongst that group. We need to be sensitive to what God wants to do. He is building His church, and we need to build a structure that allows Him to do what He wants to do among the congregation. We are ambassadors for Christ and we should share His good news with others who don’t know Him. There is a hurting world out there. We should share our faith and proclaim the Gospel. That is always paramount with what we do in the church because that is what Jesus wants us to do.
1 Peter 5:1-3
That is a description of what an elder is, or the leader of a church. They have a responsibility to feed the flock. What is an elder’s function? What are the qualifications for being an elder? They are the servant of all. God appoints whom He will, so He inspires who we appoint as elders.
The word ‘feed’ can be translated as to shepherd the flock of God. All the words used in the Bible to describe leaders in the church – overseer, pastor, bishop – are essentially describing one job. It isn’t that there are separate jobs in the functioning of a church. There have to be people who are in leadership over individual churches.
Titus 1:5
Acts 14:21-23
Appointing elders was not something random – it was very serious. It was the church of God, and it wasn’t done lightly. There are many other scriptures that show that the early church appointed elders.
Acts 6:3-4
God is directing his church, so those leading the church must be able to minister the word.
1 Timothy 5:17
There is no point having someone in leadership who does not know the Word of God and who is not clear on doctrine.
1 Timothy 3:4-5
Hebrews 13:17
The leaders of the church need to watch for the church’s souls. They are accountable for people’s souls and they have to look out for them. They should be aware of the circumstances in a person’s life that God might be working them through for the benefit of their souls.
Hebrews 13:7
It matters how the leader lives his life.
Acts 20:28
It is God’s church. It is not the leader’s church.
Ephesians 4:11-12
Elders are leaders which have the capacity to teach the Bible correctly.
1 Timothy 3:2
At the end of Jesus’ life He spoke to Peter and told him three times: ‘Feed my sheep’.
Jashua 5:13-15
Titus 1:9
There is a protection, where you have the leadership of the church who know about sound doctrine. Part of caring to the flock of God is protecting them from false teachings.
There is also a certain amount of discipline involved in being an elder or a teacher.
Matthew 18:15-17
If someone will not put something right, the leadership will be involved with it.
1 Peter 5:2-3
Someone in leadership does not have the church as his private workforce.
1 Timothy 3:1-13
The qualifications in leadership are very clear from that passage.
Titus 1:6-9
The job description for someone in leadership is clear. It should be that with a leader, what you see is the truth. There is no double life. They should be faithful, and fully aware of their responsibility before God to outwork what He wants from them, as God builds his church in his way and his time.
1 Peter 5:1-6
It is God who exalts you. All of us should be faithful, reliable and trustworthy. God will help us progress in our lives because all that we are and do is as unto God.
Matthew 23:11-12
Jesus, as our example, made Himself of no reputation. He took upon Himself the form of a man, so that He could go through life and end His life on the cross as the servant of all.
Leaders should be beyond reproach both inside and outside the church, and should be the servant of all.
John 10:9-11
Cast all your care upon him, because He cares for you.
1 Peter 5:1-3
That is a description of what an elder is, or the leader of a church. They have a responsibility to feed the flock. What is an elder’s function? What are the qualifications for being an elder? They are the servant of all. God appoints whom He will, so He inspires who we appoint as elders.
The word ‘feed’ can be translated as to shepherd the flock of God. All the words used in the Bible to describe leaders in the church – overseer, pastor, bishop – are essentially describing one job. It isn’t that there are separate jobs in the functioning of a church. There have to be people who are in leadership over individual churches.
Titus 1:5
Acts 14:21-23
Appointing elders was not something random – it was very serious. It was the church of God, and it wasn’t done lightly. There are many other scriptures that show that the early church appointed elders.
Acts 6:3-4
God is directing his church, so those leading the church must be able to minister the word.
1 Timothy 5:17
There is no point having someone in leadership who does not know the Word of God and who is not clear on doctrine.
1 Timothy 3:4-5
Hebrews 13:17
The leaders of the church need to watch for the church’s souls. They are accountable for people’s souls and they have to look out for them. They should be aware of the circumstances in a person’s life that God might be working them through for the benefit of their souls.
Hebrews 13:7
It matters how the leader lives his life.
Acts 20:28
It is God’s church. It is not the leader’s church.
Ephesians 4:11-12
Elders are leaders which have the capacity to teach the Bible correctly.
1 Timothy 3:2
At the end of Jesus’ life He spoke to Peter and told him three times: ‘Feed my sheep’.
Jashua 5:13-15
Titus 1:9
There is a protection, where you have the leadership of the church who know about sound doctrine. Part of caring to the flock of God is protecting them from false teachings.
There is also a certain amount of discipline involved in being an elder or a teacher.
Matthew 18:15-17
If someone will not put something right, the leadership will be involved with it.
1 Peter 5:2-3
Someone in leadership does not have the church as his private workforce.
1 Timothy 3:1-13
The qualifications in leadership are very clear from that passage.
Titus 1:6-9
The job description for someone in leadership is clear. It should be that with a leader, what you see is the truth. There is no double life. They should be faithful, and fully aware of their responsibility before God to outwork what He wants from them, as God builds his church in his way and his time.
1 Peter 5:1-6
It is God who exalts you. All of us should be faithful, reliable and trustworthy. God will help us progress in our lives because all that we are and do is as unto God.
Matthew 23:11-12
Jesus, as our example, made Himself of no reputation. He took upon Himself the form of a man, so that He could go through life and end His life on the cross as the servant of all.
Leaders should be beyond reproach both inside and outside the church, and should be the servant of all.
John 10:9-11
Cast all your care upon him, because He cares for you.
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