God-Honoring Ministry Part 3

which is able to build you up
and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves
know that these hands minister to my own needs and to the men
who are with me. In everything I showed you that
by working hard in this manner, you must help the weak. And remember
the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, It is more blessed
to give than to receive. When he had said these things,
he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to weep
aloud and embraced Paul and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially
over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face
again. And they were accompanying him to the ship. As we’ve seen
in weeks past, Paul called the leaders of the church, the elders,
who were tasked with overseeing, shepherding the church. And the
second main feature that we noticed of this passage is how frequently
Paul references himself. And at the outset I said that
either Paul is an egotist, that all he can talk about is himself. But I think that was part of
Paul’s very purpose. And I think it was designed by
God. God had graced Paul. God had used him in their midst.
And now Paul was cementing that image in their mind of his example. Paul wasn’t afraid to say, do
as I do. And we count some 20 I statements
in this. Great indeed, as the Puritan
said, is the force of godly example. And we should not shy away from
presenting ourselves as examples. We should know that we are examples,
regardless of whether it’s a good example or a bad example. So,
Paul would say, you might as well be a good example then,
because people are going to watch. What I purpose to do, and I wonder
how you’re doing, I wonder as we’ve read through this passage
now three times, how many of those examples have you seen?
I’ve suggested that there are eight marks of a God-honoring
ministry in this passage. You could probably devise a few
more, but I think there are eight primary marks of a God-honoring
ministry. It’s Paul’s personal testimony
of his life and ministry, and the first thing that we looked
at was that A God-honoring ministry is a ministry characterized by
undaunted service. We reminded everyone that first
of all it is service, but it’s service unto the Lord. We serve
other people. We serve in various capacities,
but ultimately we serve the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s undaunted
service though also. There are going to be many things.
There are a thousand reasons usually to quit whatever ministry
we’re doing. There are a thousand reasons
to go do something else. There are a thousand reasons
to complain. Paul says there were many things
that came upon him. that he served with all humility,
with tears, with trials which came upon him through the plots
of the Jews. There were constant stresses
and pressures for Paul. But Paul didn’t quit. Paul kept
pursuing his service of Christ. It was undaunted service. But
that’s only the first mark. As we closed last week, I asked
you, who do you serve? Because if you’re serving anybody
other than the Lord Jesus Christ, if Jesus Christ isn’t in your
view, you won’t serve. How do you serve? Do you serve
as unto the Lord? Do you serve heartily? Do you
serve without a mind to quit? Why do you serve? Do you serve
only to be seen by men? Do you serve only to get accolades? That’s not how Paul served. Probably the biggest question
of all is, when do you serve? A lot of people talk about serving.
A lot of people talk about what they’re going to get to. When
they can only get certain things on the way. When they have all
of life performing as they would have it to perform, then they
will serve. I love the way my friend said
it, life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other
plans. And so often, the plans that we purpose to get to, we
never really do, do we? How do you serve? When do you
serve? Who do you serve? But that’s
only the first mark of a God-honoring ministry, that Paul served and
he did not quit. There’s a second mark that I
wanted to consider this morning. looking at Paul’s personal testimony,
the second mark of a God-honoring ministry, it’s a ministry that
honors God because of its commitment to proclaiming the gospel. If
you would glance down again, look at verse 17, rather verse
18, when those elders had come to Paul, he said to them, you
yourselves know, he called upon their memory bank. And he wanted
them to see and remember what it is he had done in their midst.
And he says, first of all, that he was with them the whole time
serving the Lord. That was point one. But he’s not finished with
that image drawing on their memory. Look at verse 20. You yourselves
know how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that
was profitable. teaching you publicly and from
house to house, solemnly testifying both to Jews and Greeks of repentance
toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now Paul doesn’t
say specifically, he doesn’t identify what he’s even talking
about here. If you note, he never mentions
the gospel specifically. But he does provide us some very
unmistakable clues. Look down at the verse. He says,
first of all, whatever it was that he was talking about was
profitable. Whatever it was he was talking
about was both for Jews and Greeks. Whatever it was he was talking
about involves repentance. Whatever it was he was talking
about involves faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When he says profitable, a lot of times we think, you know,
we think in those terms, what’s in it for me? I remember years
ago I reviewed a lot of the gospel tracts and they all started with
that kind of what’s in it for me mentality. Heaven is a wonderful
place. Heaven is a free gift. Oh, if
you could only have heaven. And that’s true. Ultimately that’s
true. But we have a tendency to think
in that mindset. But this word profitable isn’t
just talking about some benefit that accrues to us, but what
is ultimately beneficial. I think I’ve shared it before.
I remember seeing a billboard one time that says, life is better
with Christ. I thought, no, that’s not even
accurate. Life is Christ. It’s not just
that it’s better, it’s ultimate. And what Paul says is that he
was going about talking about what was ultimately profitable
to those with whom he spoke. The biblical use of this word,
Paul uses it on many different occasions. But it speaks of that which is
inherently profitable. That which is superlatively profitable. We talk about a lot of things
that are just unprofitable. We talk about a lot of nonsense.
We talk about a lot of things that are really going nowhere,
that will do nothing for anybody at any time. Life has its mundane things.
Life has It’s entertainment. Life has its things that we can
talk about. But what Paul was most about
was talking about what was most profitable to people. He was
talking about the gospel. When Paul began to talk about
the gospel, he says secondly in this passage that it was for
Jews and for Greeks, that’s the gospel. Over and over again in
the book of Romans, he talks about what was not only for the
Jew, but also for the Greek, the Gentiles. Paul speaks of
that gospel which came to as a light to the Gentiles that
came into that dark world of the Gentiles who had no hope
of God’s mercy. God had never promised them,
as he had to the nation of Israel, his mercy, his grace, salvation. But now that salvation had opened
to them. And that this gospel now, this
good news, was not only for the Jew, but it was also for the
Greek. But the fourth element, or the
third rather, element in that little section, he says that
it was about repentance. This, whatever subject it is,
Whatever Paul is talking about is profitable. It’s for both
Jews and Greeks. But it’s about repentance. That’s
at the very nature of this topic of discussion. It’s about repentance. Somewhere along the line, the
church got off track on what repentance even is. Somewhere
in the 70s or 80s, people began to speak of repentance as merely
a change of mind. that we just had to change our
thinking, that all we had to do is adjust course a little
bit in our thinking. But the way repentance is spoken
about in the Scriptures, it’s a work of God, it’s a work that
God brings, where a child of God does a complete turnaround. I love the way it’s spoken of
in 1 Thessalonians 2, where Paul is commending the Thessalonians,
remember, how they turned to God from idols. That’s repentance. It’s a complete turning. And
the image that you have there in that verse is that you cannot
turn now from God back to the idols. It’s a complete turning, that
repentance. It is a turning to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It’s a turning to God in faith
for salvation. And that brings up the fourth
element that Paul alludes to the Gospel. He alludes to it
by faith. He just says that it’s by faith.
Not only repentance toward God, but faith in something tangible,
faith in something specific. See, faith gets messed up in
our thinking too sometimes. Sometimes we think that we just
got to have faith. Faith in faith. We just got to be more faithful.
We just got to believe stronger. Paul says that this faith, this
belief was something tangible. It was in something specific.
It was faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in nothing else for
salvation. You see, it’s the gospel that’s
in view. Paul never says that word throughout this section,
but that’s precisely to what Paul is alluding. It’s the gospel
that Paul was dedicated to preaching and teaching. It’s the gospel
that Paul put all his hope for the salvation of humanity. Even though the word isn’t used
in verses 20 to 21, that’s precisely what’s in view. Paul speaks of
the gospel as profitable. Paul speaks of the gospel, the
gospel is for both Jews and Greeks. Paul speaks of the gospel involving
repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. in our little class on evangelism,
we’ve been talking about what is the gospel? You see, until
we really know what the gospel is, we’re going to have a difficult
time sharing it. We’re going to have a difficult
time sharing our testimony unless we know what the gospel is. That’s
why years ago we wrote that little box on our membership application
that just asks you to put your testimony in that box. Get down
to an understanding of the gospel and how it touched your life.
The gospel is known by many different terms in scripture. It is called
the gospel of the kingdom. The good news of the kingdom
of God. It is known as the good news
of Jesus Christ. It is known as the gospel of
God, the good news about God. It is known as the gospel of
the grace of God, the good news that speaks of the magnanimous
goodness of God Himself. It is known as the gospel of
the glory of Christ, where Christ has come and taken on human flesh
and now has returned, risen in glory to cry to God. It is known
as the gospel of your salvation. This is the good news that no
longer do we have to languish in our sin, but now our sin has
been dealt with and we can truly know God. We can truly enjoy
salvation. It is known as the gospel of
peace. Not just peace with the world, not just peace politically
speaking, but peace in our souls, peace with the Holy God. It’s
the gospel of peace. Paul is all about the gospel.
The interesting thing is that this word, the gospel, the term
can refer to the act of preaching. We go about gospelizing essentially. We go about good newsing. That’s
essentially what you’re talking about when you begin to talk
about evangelism, the good news. But it can also refer to the
content of that good news. And that’s what Paul is speaking
about here. It’s that particular aspect that
he’s focusing on. What is the content of the gospel? In the four gospel accounts,
that word occurs only about 19 times. This is a lot of times
the Lord Jesus just mentioning it in passing. The good news. only in about six contexts, all
those 19 occasions. And so you have to
look to Paul’s epistles to really come to a full understanding
of what is the gospel. In Paul’s epistles it occurs
about 60 times. And most of the times, that’s
where we have to look to begin to grasp a total understanding
of what Paul refers to when he speaks about the gospel. The
gospel is good news, in short. It’s the good news from God regarding
God’s plan of redemption for mankind. The plan was conceived
by God in eternity past. And from the very moment of the
fall, God has been actively working to save people from their sin. That’s good news. It’s good news
that God didn’t turn His back. It’s good news that God didn’t
just let us wallow in our own sin and in the consequences of
it. The most glorious element of
that good news is that God sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to
take on human flesh, ultimately dying on the cross as a payment
for our sin, for the sin of the whole world. That He was buried,
raised on the third day. That’s an element of the Gospel,
and a glorious one at that. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the
cross secured forgiveness and eternal life for all who repented
their sin and placed their faith in Christ alone for salvation. And all of that, all of that
redounds to the glory of God. God gets pleasure from the exercise
of His great plan of redemption. Every time a soul places their
faith in Christ, God is pleased. God is glorified. So it’s amazing to me. Saddening. It’s amazing and almost sickening
what is now in our day and age called ministry. Because for
Paul ministry was the gospel. So oftentimes now you can have
almost any activity. that is somehow referenced in
the context with church or God, quite generically, called ministry. But for Paul, the only ministry
there was, was that which was profitable. The only ministry
there was, was that which was grounded in the good news of
Jesus Christ. In promoting that, in publishing
that, in proclaiming that. There is no ministry without
the gospel. It doesn’t mean that we don’t
open a soup kitchen. It just means that we don’t leave
the gospel out of the ingredients. You know, for all our focus in
our society and even in the so-called church in our day and age, there’s
a lot of attention, a lot of focus a lot of verbiage, a lot
of attention being given to the quote-unquote gospel. But it’s an interesting phenomena
if you look at the gospel that’s preached, if it can even be called
such. Because it’s not fully declared,
it’s not fully proclaimed. There’s much of the current gospel
that is promoted out there that really cuts out the heart of
the gospel. Where is the high view of God?
Where is the high view of God’s Word and doctrine? Where is the
high view of the church, the most precious institution in
God’s eyes? Where is the high view of preaching?
The high view of God’s word practically given to the saints of God. Where
is the high view of sanctification? You see, the current gospel,
the gospel that is in focus today, allows us really to take God
on our terms. It allows us to take God on his
terms, on our terms. It allows us to worship on our
terms. It allows us to really take or leave doctrine. It leaves
us a gutted view of the local church. It mocks the view of
the preached word as passe and outmoded. Here’s what one, and
I mean prominent, prominent shepherd wrote about the gospel. In his
attempt to describe the gospel, he said this, the gospel is a
plan. And he goes on to point out that
it’s God’s plan and so far so good. He goes on to say that
it’s an event that Christ died. It’s an achievement. That of
Christ securing atonement. It’s an extended offer. It’s
an application by faith, he says. It’s a bringing to God and forgiveness. And that’s not a bad start. But that’s as far as it went.
And in that sense, it’s incomplete. Where is repentance? Where is a complete turning from
sin? Where is sin? Where is our understanding that
sin is offensive to God? And that sin is what sent Christ
to the cross for our sin. Where is repentance? Where is
sin? Where is obedience? How do you come out of that list
without a purposing to follow Christ, to follow hard after
Christ, and to apply His grace to your life? In obedience. Where is obedience? Where is
death to self? Where is the old word discipleship? Where is that purposing to follow
hard after Christ in what He commands us to do? Ultimately, we don’t like the gospel. And so we essentially write a
new gospel in the way that we want to approach God, in the
message that we want to take to the world. One Puritan said
it this way, while in reality there is no just cause to be
ashamed of the gospel, there is in it something which is not
acceptable. and that it is generally hated
and despised among men. These things run counter to the
natural man’s most fondly cherished notions, those of independence. They abase in the dust all of
the pride of his self-reliance, and stripping him of every ground
of boasting and demanding implicit submission, they awaken all the
enmity of the carnal mind. And the average Christian plays
to that. The average Christian gives in to that and capitulates
into the new gospel, a softer gospel. A more palatable version. We call it politically correctness.
Where we hold back for fear of offending someone else. See, with regards to the gospel,
there’s a whole lot. There’s potentially a whole lot
about which we can be ashamed or to hold back that which Paul
says he would not do. God knows it. That humanly speaking,
there are parts of the gospel, there are elements of the gospel
that are indeed shameful. And to the human mind, there
are elements that cause the average person, and even Christians,
to blush with shame. You say, well that’s, you know,
you’re overplaying your hand here. Really? Think of all these
things that potentially offend our sensibilities, that the gospel
is declared in, of all places, this book. 2,000 years old, and
you try it, that’s one of the first, you’re gonna tell me that
you’re gonna come with this fisherman thing? 2,000 years old? The Carpenter’s Son? Written
by men, it’s full of stories written by men. You’re gonna
tell me that because I merely was born into this world, that
I bear the burden of these people that allegedly lived in some
mythical garden, Adam and Eve, because they ate a piece of fruit, and that from that comes all
this stuff, sin, if you even can say the word, sinners, and
that because of that we’re dead in our sin and totally inable
To incline ourselves to God, you mean you’re going to come
to me with that? It’s easy to leave that one off, isn’t it?
Oh, we don’t want to talk about total depravity, do we? That the gospel, we certainly
aren’t going to find it in tracts, that the gospel threatens and
promises escape from hell. It, on one hand, threatens hell
and promises that if you place your faith in Christ, that that
is the one escape from it. We’re not going to talk about
hell, are we? That the gospel proclaims that the great and
only remedy for all of man’s troubles and problems come from
a man who was crucified, a carpenter’s son, a relative nobody. A man who was allegedly conceived
of a virgin? You’re not going to come to me
with that, are you? And we back away even further. We don’t want
to use the Bible. We don’t want to talk about Adam
and Eve. We don’t want to talk about original sin. We don’t
want to talk about hell. We don’t want to even talk about
Jesus. And this whole sacrificial system
that Christ’s penalty paid our sin, that His blood, oh, do we
even use that word? And then, then it gets really
absurd. You mean to tell me that you’re gonna say that simply
by placing my faith in this Savior that you mention, whose name
you won’t mention, Simply by placing my faith in Him, all
my sins are forgiven. And then you’re going to call
me to repentance? You’re going to say that unless I turn from
my way of life as I know it, unless I turn my back on sin
and turn my face to God and call out to Him for salvation, that
I can’t be saved? No wonder one modern pastor said,
the gospel itself is disagreeable. It’s unattractive, repulsive,
and alarming to the world. It exposes sin, condemns pride,
convicts the unbelieving heart, and shows human righteousness
to be worthless, defiled, filthy rags. It affirms that the real
problems in life are not because of anyone but ourselves. We are
fallen sinners with deceitful hearts, evil motives, pervasive
pride. It comes as bad news to those
who love sin and many who hear it for the first time react with
disdain against the messenger. No wonder we back away. No wonder
we modify our gospel. Heaven forbid we offend. And so the question here is Paul
talking about this simple tendency that we all seem to have that
we’re chicken when it comes to discussing the serious things
of God. We talked about this in our evangelism
class. Why don’t we evangelize? Well,
we’re just afraid. We’re afraid that we don’t know
enough. We’re just afraid we don’t want to be, we don’t want
to lose a friendship after all. Listen to this, they called him
Golden Mouth Chrysostom because of the way that he, just his
ability with words. Listen to what he said. One of our early church fathers,
he said, in truth it is often a higher effort and evidence
of fearlessness to face disgrace than it is to face danger. Listen
to how he illustrates this. There is many a man who would
march up to the cannon’s mouth for the honor of his country,
yet would not face the laugh of his companions for the honor
of his Savior.” We’re scared to death. We’re petrified. We’re just plain fearful. And
that much is true. Not only about the content, but
now of our own fearful nature. The gospel itself. But Paul says, you know what?
I didn’t shrink. I didn’t fall back. I didn’t
shrink back from declaring to you anything that was profitable.
It’s a fascinating word. The word was used in the wrapping
up the furling of sails. And they would roll them, fold
them, roll them again, and stow them away. That’s what the word was used
for, this shrink. And so in a metaphorical sense,
it was used of cloaking or covering up or rolling up folding up and
putting away that which should be spoken. Also, there’s all kinds of reasons
why I shouldn’t proclaim the gospel. And I didn’t shrink from
any of it. In other words, with regards
to the gospel, Paul was full sail ahead. Paul was going to
proclaim the gospel. That’s what he said to the Thessalonians.
He called them to remember how he conducted himself. 1 Thessalonians 2, 4, just as
we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel,
so we speak not as pleasing men, but God who examines our heart.
We speak boldly with the gospel. 2 Corinthians 4.2, we have renounced
the things hidden because of shame. I’m not going to be ashamed
of the gospel, not walking in craftiness. I’m not going to
manipulate it and fold it down to where it’s no gospel at all.
Not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God,
but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every
man’s conscience in the sight of God. I’m going to preach the
gospel. Galatians 1.10, am I now seeking the favor of men or of
God? Romans 1.16, I am not ashamed
of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation. See, for Paul, there was no lack
of readiness because there was no cause for reserve, no cause
for holding back. The gospel was the one great
hope of humanity. And Paul, not only was he not
ashamed of the gospel, he gloried in it. Look at verse 20, I did
not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable.
I’ve already told you what he’s talking about here is the gospel.
But if you look at the average Christian book, The average counseling
session called Christian Counseling, all the fads that have now embraced
and engulfed and are devouring the church, it’s anything but
the gospel. How refreshing is that? To hear
Paul say, I gave you what was profitable to your soul. Paul wasn’t afraid to preach
the gospel. Paul was afraid not to preach the gospel. Paul knew
that the gospel was the power of God to salvation, and he wasn’t
going to be dallying around the peripheries. Paul wanted to provide
men what they needed for their soul. Look at verse 20. I did not shrink from declaring
to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from
house to house. We’ll close with this. All he
lays out here is that there’s a difference between proclaiming,
that initial opportunity to proclaim the gospel, and then to sit down
and walk through the nuts and bolts. To really get down and
talk about the deep things of God, publicly. I mean, you could
basically describe it quite simply as the pulpit. The teaching in
the church, Sunday school class, those are the public opportunities.
And as you work through the book of Acts, you see that Paul was
perfectly at home in that setting. Over and over again in the synagogues,
he’d walk into the synagogue in Salamis, into Antioch, Iconium,
Thessalonica, Athens, Ephesus. The first place that he went
was a public setting to proclaim Christ. Even the Areopagus. a Gentile theater, essentially,
where Paul took opportunity to proclaim the gospel, but then
it says that he began to go about house to house. That’s where
you do discipleship. That’s where you do counseling.
That’s where you do admonition. That’s where you do exhortation.
That’s where you do rebuke. You don’t do that from the pulpit.
You’re not able to do that. You’re not able to get into individuals’
lives. What Paul says is he took the
gospel and he did it not only publicly, but he did it privately.
As you watch the book of Acts as it unfolds, those intimate
moments where Lydia invited him into her home, the businesswoman
there in Philippi, and then the Philippian jailer had Paul into
his home. One pastor said of that, observation. Not even the apostolic office,
widely as extended as it was in its sphere of operations,
had its duties fully discharged by merely public preaching.”
Do you hear what he says? Even if you look at the Apostle
Paul himself, most of us would consider ourselves right happy
to have sat there in the Areopagus and have heard Paul preach. I’ve
heard Paul preach. Have you ever met people like
that? They’re quick to tell you who they’ve, I’ve sat under so
and so. I heard so and so preach. Not
just tapes, mind you, but I sat under his ministry. But what he says is, even the
apostle said, that’s not enough. Not enough, not enough to preach.
You’ve got to get into people’s lives. You’ve got to sit one
on one. You’ve got to work with them and disciple them and love
them and pray with them. And admonish them. And if need
be, rebuke them. But the whole time it’s in the
context of the gospel. You’ve got to teach the gospel.
You’ve got to exhort the gospel. You’ve got to admonish in the
gospel and pray through the gospel. Charles Spurgeon said it this
way. We must confess the faith at
all proper times and seasons, and we must never hide our colors. There are times when we must
dash to the front and court the encounter when we see that our
captain’s honor demands it. Let us never be either ashamed
or afraid. Our Lord Jesus deserves that
we should yield ourselves as willing sacrifices in the defense
of the faith. ease, reputation, life itself
must go before the name and faith of Jesus. If in the heat of battle
our good name, our manner of life must be risked to win the
victory, then let us say in this battle some of us must fall,
why not I? I will take part I will take part
in lot with my master and bear reproach for his sake. Only brave
soldiers are worthy of our great Lord. Those who sneak to the
rear, that they may be comfortable, are not worthy of the kingdom.”
What will our captain say of cowards in that day when he distributes
rewards to all faithful ones? Brethren, we must be willing
to bear ridicule for Christ’s sake. even that peculiarly envenomed
ridicule which the great culture so apt to pour upon us. We must be willing to be thought
great fools for Christ’s sake. Let’s examine our hearts before
Him. Our merciful King, we humble
our selves before you. Because we find this label that Spurgeon uses, cowards,
to be all too appropriate. We vacillate between being brash
and almost obnoxious and being so cowardly so as to call it shame. Lord
God, grant us, grant us to be, by Your grace, what Paul modeled. Eager to proclaim Christ, eager
to proclaim the gospel. May that be a true mark of our
church. Those who take their testimony,
no matter how simple, and trust You with it as we open our mouths
and share with our friends the good news about the Lord Jesus
Christ. God grant us that grace. Make
an impact on this city by means of our own simple testimonies.
The good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you and praise
you in Jesus’ name. Amen.