Posts
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Last week I shared with you my take
on Dr. Peter Reid's message for the closing rally of Oasis 2015.
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If you were not here and you want a
copy of that message, just let me know or you can read it on my blog.
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For the next few weeks, I want to
share what we heard in Dr. Ed Stetzer's messages from Oasis 2015.
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Ed Stetzer is the Executive Director
of LifeWay Research, a prolific author, and well-known conference and seminar
leader. Stetzer has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches, trained
pastors and church planters on six continents, holds two masters degrees and
two (earned) doctorates, and has written dozens of articles and books.
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Stetzer is a contributing editor
for Christianity
Today, a columnist for Outreach
Magazine, and is frequently cited or interviewed in news
outlets such as USAToday and CNN. He is the Executive Editor of The Gospel
Project, a curriculum used by more than 400,000 people
each week. Stetzer is also Executive Editor of Facts
& Trends Magazine, a Christian
leadership magazine with a circulation of more than 70,000 readers.
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Stetzer serves as Visiting Professor
of Research and Missiology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Visiting
Research Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has taught
at many other colleges and seminaries.
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He also serves as Lead Pastor
of Grace
Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., a congregation
he planted in 2011.
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The Scripture lesson is 1st Peter
4:10-11.
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"As each has received a gift,
use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever
speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by
the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be
glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and
ever. Amen." (ESV)
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Dr. Stetzer is an enthusiastic
researcher and he conducts research on Canadian and American churches.
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In his research in Canada after
surveying 70,000 church members, Ed found
that the majority of people in the
majority of churches are not engaged in ministry.
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Those surveyed were members of
Protestant evangelical churches like us.
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What it means that the majority of
people in the majority of churches are not engaged in ministry is that they're not using their spiritual gifts to
serve others.
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They
come for the Sunday service, but not to serve.
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Somewhere along the way, perhaps
from the very beginning of their journey, many churchgoers bought the idea that
serving the Lord doesn't actually require service.
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However, that idea is not what the
Bible actually teaches.
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Peter wrote in verse 10, "As each
has received a gift…"
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In other words, all have gifts! Every believer in the church has received a
spiritual gift from God for use in the life and ministry of the church.
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Therefore, every Christian is
capable of serving others within the body of Christ.
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Just as Peter wrote, "As each
one has received a gift, use it to serve one another".
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When
the Lord Jesus saved you, he gifted you, and sent you to serve.
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Many people think, "I'm a good
person and I do things for others."
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But this is not enough! Doing things
for others is not the same as using our gifts to serve.
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We need to use our gifts to serve as
part of God's mission.
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Oftentimes, we need to give up what
is good in order to do what is best. We need to give up what is good in order
to do what is best.
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An older pastor once confessed to me
(personally): I am tired of serving
churches where the members feel they pay the pastor to live their Christianity
for them.
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That confession is very telling
about the majority of people in that particular church. It agrees with Dr.
Stetzer’s research.
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They were not using their gifts to
serve one another.
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1st Corinthians 12:7, the words of
the apostle Paul, says, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit
for the common good."
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The apostle Paul and the apostle
Peter agree on this point.
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Each
one
is gifted by the Holy Spirit and each
one is to use their gifts for the benefit of everyone else.
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Some people think that the job of
laypeople is to pay, pray, and stay out
of the way, and let the clergy do the real work of the ministry.
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They are thinking: after all, that's
what we pay him for.
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I've heard that exact phrase used: "That's what we pay you for pastor."
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Again, some people think that the
job of laypeople is to pay, pray, and control the way.
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They are thinking: after all, we pay him; he works for us.
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That shows an an attitude of
ownership and control over the pastor.
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These
attitudes are unbiblical, false myths.
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When you repented of your sins and
turned to Jesus Christ in faith, you were called to ministry!
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Each
is gifted by the Spirit of God, so that each can serve!
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As Peter wrote, "As each has
received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied
grace..."
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Why
serve?
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First, to bring glory to God; and
second, to benefit others.
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The gifts of the Spirit are,
literally, grace gifts. We have received
God's grace so that we can extend God's grace to others. That’s what good
stewards do.
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What God has given to one as a grace
gift is for the benefit of the whole congregation.
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Let's listen to what the apostle
Paul says in 1st Corinthians 12:18: "But as it is, God arranged the
members in the body, each one of them, as he chose."
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There's that word again, each!
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All of us are here together on
purpose, according to God's plan.
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God has a plan and a purpose for us
as a church.
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He has a mission for us to accomplish.
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He
made sure that we had people with the gifts we would need to carry out the
mission he planned for us.
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If we are trying to do things that
we are not gifted to do, then it is probably not God's mission for us.
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If we find ourselves longing to have
the gifts of others so that we can do what they are doing (i.e., duplicate
their ministry), then it is probably not God's mission for us.
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However, God calls us to step
outside our comfort zones to use our gifts.
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When
pastors do for God's people what God has called his people to do, everybody
gets hurt.
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When pastors do for God's people
what God has called his people to do, it
robs people of their ability to bring glory to God and the joy and growth
service brings.
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God
empowers us to use our gifts.
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As the apostle Peter wrote, "whoever
speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by
the strength that God supplies".
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But we need to be willing.
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We need to be diligent and attentive
to God's leading, so that we use our gifts for his purposes.
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For example, if our gift is helping
others, then we need to the willing and available to help those who God calls
us to help not just our friends and family, and not just when it is convenient
or easy.
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Again, why? To bring glory to God!
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As Peter wrote, "– in order
that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong
glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."
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As each of us exercises the gifts
the Holy Spirit has given with an attitude of dependence upon God for the
benefit of the whole congregation, God receives glory.
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As each of us uses the gifts God has
given responsibly, God is glorified.
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If we speak for our glory and if we
serve in our own strength for ourselves, then God does not get the glory, we
do; and that is not why God has called and gifted his people, each one, to work
building up the church.
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The Lord Jesus said, "Let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
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It is through Jesus Christ alone that
we even have a relationship with God and are enabled by his grace gifts to work
for the benefit of the church and the glory of God.
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If the majority of people in the
majority of Protestant evangelical churches are coming to Sunday services but
not to serve, if they are not using their spiritual gifts to serve others, then
we need a change!
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We
need a change.
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In Ephesians the apostle Paul
reminds the church of God's purpose in giving leadership gifts.
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According to Ephesians 4:11-13, God's
purpose for pastoral leaders is "to equip God's people to do his work and
build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come
to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in
the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ."
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Since the role of pastoral leaders
in the church is to equip God's people and the role of God's people is to do
God's work and build up the church until everyone is united and mature and
completely like Christ, then we need a change.
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Our goal in life must be to
bring glory to God through faithful service.
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We need to move from being
spectators to being participant's.
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We need to be willing to grow and
learn and to work together as the body of Christ, which God has put together so
that we can grow in our faith but also so that we can serve others and bring
glory to him.
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This
change will involve giving up control to God and being willing to serve where
he says, how he says, and to whom he says.
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This change will not be easy. It will
make us uncomfortable, but...our goal in life is not comfort.
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Our goal in life must be to
bring glory to God through faithful service.
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When we repented of our sins and
turned to Jesus Christ in faith to receive the forgiveness of sins he purchased
through his blood, we surrendered control of our lives to him.
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The apostle Paul wrote, "You
are not your own; you were bought at a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a).
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The Lord Jesus didn't purchase our
freedom from sin and death with his blood so that we could do our own thing.
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The truth is that when we repent of
our sins and turn to Christ in faith we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves
of Jesus Christ.
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As Paul says in Romans 6, "You
have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. …you have
been set free from sin and have become slaves of God" (18 & 22 a).
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Our goal in life must be to
bring glory to God through faithful service.
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