Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to ask you a little question.
Have you ever run your own business? Maybe you had your own lemonade stand when you were a kid. Maybe you have a dairy farm, or do auto body work. Whatever it might be, whenever somebody runs their own business, the owner-operator tends to do everything by himself until he starts getting employees underneath him. As the business slowly starts to grow, he spends a lot of his time training and instructing others to do the things that he does. As they begin mastering those skills, he can begin to dictate certain jobs to them that will free up his time so he can concentrate on other more important things.
And this reminds me of the Christian Life.
The church is God’s building, but in a large building project, the main contractor doesn’t need to get down in the mud and start pouring concrete. He might do it momentarily to teach you something, but that’s what he did 25 years ago when he first started the company. It’s the new and upcoming people to whom those duties are dictated to, and it’s no different in the church.
“Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.” Acts 6:2
Any good works that you can do for the sake of our Lord Jesus are wonderful, and the more the merrier! But it’s not right for a man of God who is preaching and teaching God’s Word to be taken away from his duties, in order to do something that other people could be doing. This is because preaching God’s Word takes precedence over everything else. It would be like taking a trained Air Force pilot and putting him to work repairing tires in the hangar, or using an executive of a billion dollar corporation to clean bathrooms and mop floors. That would be foolish because their extensive qualifications and abilities could be used much better somewhere else. I can’t imagine hiring a successful manager and then giving them a position in the company that is far beneath their potential. Why would you hire a diesel mechanic to wash your car? In any type of worldly business, when people have certain abilities, they are used in places where they will best serve the company. In the church, the gifts that God has given need to be exercised in a manner that best benefits the needs of God’s sheep and the furtherance of the Gospel of Christ.
Romans 12 ³ For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. ⁴ For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: ⁵ So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. ⁶ Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; ⁷ Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; ⁸ Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
There is structure and order in the church, very similar to any Earthly company. Someone who hires you at a company is an authority over you, making sure that you are trained properly to do the job that is required. A drill sergeant in the military does the same thing, preparing you for what a soldier must do. A man of God takes you under his wing and instructs you in the faith and you need to obey and listen to him because he is over you in the Lord. They have a huge responsibility like no other, because these are matters regarding the salvation of your soul. With that in mind, do men of God really need to be cleaning windows? Don’t you think that God has more important things for them to be doing?
Here’s another example.
In the Christian home, the man is the head over his household, and has been ordained by God to rule over his wife and children as he sees fit. But imagine a man going off to work, spending a long day in a hot field to plant a crop. He’s soaked when he finally gets in from the field, changes his shirt and sits down for supper, but there is nothing to eat. The house is a complete mess. The wife has been reading books and playing games all day, and he has to spend time making his own food, washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen. These are simplistic things but there is a lesson to be learned here. The head of the house doesn’t need to be doing a wife’s duties. The Apostle Peter didn’t need to be waiting on tables either. We each have a certain function and purpose in the church, and in order to become pleasing unto God, we must walk in them. Men of God need to be preaching. There is no greater responsibility in the church or in the world.
Ephesians 4 ⁸ Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. ⁹ (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰ He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
¹¹ And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; ¹² For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: ¹³ Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Remember that the Lord Jesus taught that the laborers are few. There are not very many who are preaching the true gospel of Christ. These men by the grace of God have a very unique skill set, and they must not be pulled away from their duties to Christ.
1 Corinthians 12 ²⁸ And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? ³⁰ Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? ³¹ But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
Every man in the church needs to strive to be endowed with gifts from God, but until you receive them, you need to allow those who are over you in the Lord to do what they need to do. You need to fill in the gaps for things they don’t have time for. You need to support what they are doing, as they keep their eyes forward and their attention completely focused on….
….. Managing God’s House
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤️
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