Every Member A Minister - LET THE LAITY “MOVE UP”

I Peter 2:4-5, 9-10, I Peter 4:10-11

Ministry is a special word within the church.  Ministry is an act of service given in Jesus name.

It’s not a special office.  It was never used in the Bible to mean a special office like an ordained minister.   It is never used to mean that this person is a professional.

It is a special function: 

·         A function that everybody can practice by using the gifts that God has given us. 

Let me share with you some info before we go any further:   Any act of service that you do in the name of Jesus is a ministry.   The gift of helping others, helping in the Nursery, children’s church, driving the bus etc.. And you do it in the name of Jesus, is that Ministry?  Yes!

We tend to make ministry something very high, almost mystical, and unattainable. 

·         But that’s not what ministry is. 

·         Ministry is using your gift for the glory of God in the name of Jesus Christ.

·         Everyone has gifts, and this morning you are going to be challenged to use them for God.

This morning I’m going to give you some reasons why every Christian should use their gift for ministry:

Listen to how Peter describes us as followers of Jesus Christ:  I Peter 2:4-5, 9-10

Living Stones:  Jesus is the chief cornerstone, But we are Living stones.

A Holy and Royal Priesthood:  We have direct access to God.  In the OT, only the priest could enter the Holy of Holies and have that direct access to God.

·         All the rest of the people stood outside the tabernacle and waited to see what would happen.

·         But as a Royal priesthood, we have direct access to God. 

·         We can go straight to him, we don’t need a pastor or SS teacher

A Chosen Race:  It’s wonderful to realize that God Chose us.  Even when we were unlovable and undesirable,  he chose us.   . 

ILL:  I remember when I was a kid, when I used to play with my older brother and his friends and they were picking teams for Baseball, Basketball, Football and all the guys were older than me, and they chose me to be on their team.    I can tell you a greater thrill than that is:  We were chosen by God.

A Holy Nation:   Our spiritual citizenship transcends political and geographical boundaries. 

For God’s Own Possession:   We are God’s own possession.  Possessions are valued and cherished.

These 6 titles raise all believers to the status of minister. 

·         They put all Christians in the role once performed by the OT priest.

Back to the reasons why every Christian should be a minister:  Use your gifts for God.

Spiritual Growth Will Never Happen Unless We Use our Gifts:  Romans 12:6-8   

·         We will never grow spiritually like we need to unless we use the spiritual gifts God has given us.

We grow spiritual through:

·         Our time spent with God—Prayer and the Word.

·         Our time spent with other Christians—Fellowship

·         Our time spent using our spiritual gifts—Ministry

Some people believe that using their spiritual gift is to come to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night.  That’s not using your gift.   That is equipping your gift.

Success Is Only Possible If Every Christian Has a Ministry:

·         Jesus knew that the only way the harvest would ever be reaped is if the laborers were motivated.   He said the problem isn’t the harvest; it’s the laborers.

·         He said if we can just get the church to move out and do what it’s supposed to do, we won’t need to worry about the harvest, because it will be reaped.

ILL:  When Lefty Gomez was inducted to the baseball hall of fame, they asked Lefty what his secret of success was.  He said “I had two secrets:       1) Clean living and   2) a fast infield”

·         We can’t do it without each other.  It takes a lot of people to make a Sunday Morning service happen here at Davis Park.  We need each other.

Many Needs Will Never Be Met Without Lay Ministry:  Read the 6^th chapter of Acts.

It’s a fact of life.  If lay people in this church don’t minister, many needs will never be met. 

In fact lay ministry began in Acts 6, when widows were being neglected. 

That’s when lay ministry began.  The pastor said they couldn’t continue to meet all those needs.

·         That’s the reason for lay ministry.

ILL:  There like what they call “barefoot doctors” in China.  China realized many years ago that they had more people than they could ever take care of, so they instituted what the called barefoot doctors.  They trained them to take care of the basic physical needs of the people, and they found that they could take care of about 90% of the needs this way.  The other 10% they put in the hospitals to give them the professional care that they needed. 

They found out that really solved their problems of meetings the needs of the people.

·         That not only works for China and physical needs; it works for the church!

God’s Work is Limited Without Ministry Commitment:

ILL:  During the WWII, a small French community had in the center of their town a statue of Christ.  It was the focal point of the community.  When the bombing came, the statue was broken into several pieces.  They carefully collected the pieces and stored them until after the war.    After the war with great care they began to rebuild that statue of Jesus, they were so excited.  It wasn’t a beautiful statue now; It had a lot of cracks and flaws now.   And when they had almost all the pieces together, they discovered that they couldn’t find the hands of Jesus.     This was really tough on them, because the hands had the nail prints and were very significant.     

In fact they were going to have to take the statue down, until one person slipped a gold plaque at the bottom of that statue that read “He has no hands but ours”

·         We are the Hands and Feet of Christ.  We limit God’s work when we don’t use them.

The Church Is Incomplete Without Everyone Using Their Gifts:   I Corinthians 12

·         The church will never be a whole body unless everybody uses their gifts. 

In I Corinthians 12:14 Paul talks about the fact the body has many parts.

·         He say’s it foolish for the eye to say, were not part of the body because they’re not the ear. 

·         He say’s it foolish for the foot to say they don’t need the hand.

We need each other, and were not really complete without everyone using their gifts.

Let me read a parable to you:   “ A group of animals decided to improve their general welfare by starting a school, and the curriculum included swimming, running, climbing and flying.   The Duck, an excellent swimmer, was deficient in the other areas, so he majored in climbing, running and flying, much to the detriment of his swimming.  The rabbit, a superior runner, was forced to spend so much time in the other classes that he soon lost much of his famed speed.  And the squirrel, who had been rated an A as a climber, dropped to C, because the instructor spends hours trying to teach him to swim and fly.  And the eagle was disciplined for soaring to the tree tops when he had been told to learn how to climb, even though flying was the most natural for him.”

This parable illustrates what often happens in the church.  We each have a gift, and our gifts differ.  Some of us are trying do things we shouldn’t be trying to do, and aren’t doing the things we should.

If God made you a duck, you’re a duck.  Swim like crazy and don’t get mad because you waddle when you run.

Every Christian Has A Gift And Is Expected To Use It:    In I Peter 4:10-11: Peter teaches us that each one has received a special gift, and to use it in serving one another.

USING YOUR GIFT GLORIFIES:  I Peter 4:11 

NOT USING YOUR GIFT DISPLEASES GOD.  Do you remember the Parable of the Talents in  Matthew 25:14-30.  The manager gives 10, 5 & 1 talents.  To the one who had been given one talent and did not use it, God was very greatly displeased.

GOD expects us to use our Gifts for him!!     No matter how small your gift is, it should never go unused.

Using Your Gift For Ministry, Ministers To God:      In Matthew 25 Jesus said “I was hungry and you gave me food to eat, and I was in naked and you clothed me, and I was in prison and you visited me” And the people said, Lord, when did we see you naked and in prison, or hungry and feed you or thirsty and gave you something to drink?

·         Remember what Jesus said?  “When you did it unto other, even to the least of them, you did it unto me.

It’s time for us all to get busy and start using our gifts for the Glory of the Kingdom of God Today.

Pray!

God has given me the privilege of sharing and working with the greatest people in all the world. 

·         I’m grateful that God believes in us so much, that he lets us use the gifts he’s given to us for the Glory of God.

My hope and prayer is that DPCC will be a church that everyone is a minister and every minister is using their gift for the glory of God.

Closing ILL: 

In the movie City Slickers, Curly (Jack Palance) tells Billy Crystal that the secret of happiness is in one thing. "What's the one thing?" Billy Crystal asks. Curly says, "You have to find out that for yourself."

Paul defined the one thing for himself: "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)

His "one thing" was winning the prize -- the prize of knowing and being known by Jesus.

·         That goal was the driving force behind all that he did.

Paul wasn't driven by the idea of success in the ministry, of building growing congregations, of reaching unchurched people with the gospel. He did these things -- and he did them well -- but he was driven first by the desire to know Jesus.

His devotional life, not his ambition, fueled his ministry. 

Here's how this plays out in my life. When I'm driven by the desire to see results, I'm frustrated most of the time. Nothing, not even success, is quite good enough. When I'm driven -- as I always should be -- by the desire to know Jesus, two things happen.

One, I tend to work harder. Two, I have peace in the process.

·         Ministry is this.  Passionately putting into practice what you believe in your heart.