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10/24/11 HOW TO GROW AS A GOOD MINISTER OF CHRIST JESUS Part 1 (Growing In The Grace Of Jesus)

HOW TO GROW AS A GOOD MINISTER OF CHRIST JESUS Part 1

(Growing In The Grace Of Jesus)

 1 Timothy 1:12–16,18–19a; 4:6–16; 6:11–12

Key Verses: 1:15                          Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF   10/24/11

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”

Paul encourages Timothy to grow as a good minister of Christ Jesus. The whole issue of why we should grow and how we should grow as a good minister, has been upon my heart lately. Does it entail following a set of rules and principles or maintaining a state of being? Why is it important? We will see that the growth of a minster of Christ is of utmost importance for the spiritual health of the minister and for the church. Paul’s encouragement is not just an encouragement for Timothy himself, but Paul was concerned with the growth and development of the whole ministry. He knew that when a minister is growing spiritually then the ministry also grows. But when a minister stops growing, the ministry stagnates. And so every good minister must pay close attention to their spiritual growth. In this study we will learn how to grow, focusing on four specific ways: 1) knowing Jesus’ grace and God’s calling personally; 2) holding on to faith and a good conscience; 3) developing integrity in one’s personal, family and social life; 4) what it means to train ourselves to be godly. I will be dealing with the first three parts, putting the most emphasis on part 1) “Knowing Jesus’ grace and calling personally.”

Part l: Knowing Jesus’ Grace And God’s Calling

First, let’s think about God’s grace and calling on Paul’s life. To grow as a good minister of Christ Jesus, we need to know two things; Jesus’ grace and God’s personal calling. They go hand in hand. (Rom 1:5) Paul had both. That is why he could write 1:12-14. Let’s read these verses together. “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Paul also knew that Jesus’ grace was not just exclusive to himself. Jesus’ grace extends to sinners in every nation of the world. And so Paul wrote, in 1:15a, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—…” He then points out that he was the worst sinner. Paul always remembered that he was a great sinner but that God poured out his grace on him through Christ Jesus. Jesus forgave his sins (1:13–15) and called him to be his servant (1:1,12; 2:7; Acts 9:15–16).This grace was poured out on him in abundance. Poured out like water from an overflowing bucket. Like Gatorade from a winning team’s drink dispenser. Actually, it was like water from a huge, unlimited reservoir. Paul always remembered that initial grace, but he also maintained that deep sense of grace. Paul did not just think that he was the worst sinner, decades past. He said “I am the worst.” He was not rattling off a nice Christian cliché. It was a heart-felt declaration which he was deeply aware of every day of his life. How could he say that he was the worst of sinners? He preached, served and planted churches in 40 cities. How could he be the worst of sinners? It had to do with his self-awareness. Paul constantly meditated on God’s holiness and his own sinfulness. We can see that in this letter as he set out to describe our great and holy God again and again.  When he did, he saw the truth that before the holy God, he was the worst of sinners whose life was maintained only by the continual grace of Jesus. The more he beheld the holy God the more he saw his sinful self and the more he clung to God’s grace and mercy. There was not even a hint of self-righteousness in Paul, rather his heart overflowed with joy and thanksgiving. This knowledge of God’s grace became the source of life for his ministry. Though he worked harder than anyone in proclaiming the gospel, his driving force was not himself. He said in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” His motive and catalyst for his gospel work was the grace of Jesus Christ.

Knowing God’s grace is linked to our knowledge of the holiness of God and our own sinfulness. Let me explain this with the aid of two charts (from a publication of “World Harvest Mission”, entitled, “The Gospel Centered Life.”) They show how the gospel of God’s grace, takes prominence in the hearts of growing ministers of Christ Jesus. They also make it very clear as to why we must keep growing spiritually. Let’s look at the chart entitled, “The Cross Chart.” This chart shows the ideal. Along the X-axis is time and along the Y axis is the awareness of holiness. At the time of our conversion we first become aware of the gap between God’s holiness and our sinfulness. We take hold of the gospel and put all of our hope and trust in Jesus. We thank God because we know that he bridged the gap that existed between my sinfulness and God’s holiness.

But these two arms diverge. At our conversion, we have limited view of God’s holiness and our sinfulness. But as we study the Bible, looking intently at Jesus, the Holy Spirit helps us to see, in every increasing measure, the gap between God’s holiness and our sinfulness. Time passes and we grow in deeper appreciation of what Jesus has done for us. We become more thankful for his mediation, his sacrifice, his righteousness, and his work of salvation. And so, in the chart, the cross gets bigger and bigger.

That is how it should be. But so often it is not like this. Which brings us to the next chart entitled, “Shrinking the Cross.” In this chart, after our conversion, for a time we do grow in our awareness of God’s holiness and our sinfulness and our appreciation of Jesus and the gospel grows also…but not for long. There is a point when we stop growing. Our knowledge of God’s holiness becomes shallow. Our own awareness of our sinfulness is muted. We think less about God than what the Bible says. We try to artificially elevate our own righteousness, through defending ourselves, faking a respectable image, hiding our sins, exaggerating our good points, blaming some external source for our sinfulness, or downplaying our sinfulness. When this happens, the immenseness of the cross, and the greatness of Jesus and his Gospel are diminished. The cross shrinks. Our joy in the Lord is lost and we fall into a myriad of sins and into the devil’s trap that plunge us into ruin. Also, those who are coming up behind us are influenced to take the path of the “Shrinking Cross” becoming crippled in their spiritual growth because of us. This is tragic.

To overcome our sinful tendency to make the cross “shrink”, we must decide to grow as good ministers of Christ Jesus. This entails growing in our awareness of God’s holiness and our sinfulness…in other words, growing in the knowledge of the grace of Jesus. When we do, we will experience the life that God wants us to live, a life marked by spiritual transformation, victory, power, fruitfulness, joy, hope and love.

Jesus also forgave me and called me to be his minister when I was sinning greatly against him. Though I grew up with a Catholic background, I did not seek Jesus, but rather pleasure. Eventually my hedonistic sins caught up with me. I went to university, partied, and failed. Though I eventually passed a college program, my heart oscillated between extreme boredom and extreme “fun”. I knew I was a junk man. My life was meaningless, requiring darker sins to satisfy my soul. I exploited others, leading them along the paths of sin. I abused the life that God gave me. One day, feeling alone, I cried in my pillow, “Oh God!”

Jesus heard my prayer. He sent a UBF missionary to teach me his word. At a summer Bible conference, Jesus showed me that I was a “Samaritan” man, quenching my thirsty soul with the things of this world. I repented of my unbelief. At that moment the knowledge of God’s presence overwhelmed me. I wept. Jesus completely forgave me and came to dwell in my heart through his Holy Spirit. He made me his child and granted me eternal life. Springs of living water flowed from within me quenching my spiritual thirst with his love and his grace. Jesus made it clear that I needed to leave my sinful life behind. By his grace, I accepted God’s calling to live as a minister to campus students. Who could love a sinner such as I? Only Christ Jesus my Lord who poured out his grace on me in abundance.

Just as God helped Paul to maintain his awareness of Jesus’ grace throughout his life, God set out to help me do the same. For four years with the Canadian missionaries, I learned their dedication to meditate on the words of God so sincerely that they shared them with tears. Through seven years with Pastor Teddy at Triton UBF, I learned to study the Bible in great detail focusing on Christ.  For the first three years at NIU, God showed me that the buck stopped with me. If I didn’t prepare the word of God then nobody did. Later on, God helped me to meditate on the word of God in a more determined fashion through the leader’s meetings at the Chicago center. Through these activities God was helping me to grow in my knowledge of his grace. When I did, I found great joy and God always blessed my ministry.

God was trying was trying his best to help me grow as a minister of Christ. But I just didn’t get it. Though I was blessed when I mediated on God’s words and shared them, I just didn’t understand the whole point. (I was told the point and saw the point, but I didn’t get it.) I thought Bible study was good for so many reasons…to learn correct doctrine, the meaning of the text, principles to live by, to understand God’s will, his heart and his history and to learn how to live by faith. Studying the Bible satisfied me and gave me peace and strength. These are all valid reasons to study the Bible but I was treating Bible study like self- help book on how to live a Christian life and get into heaven, only. I used the Bible to maintain my faith and not to enter in the fullness of God’s grace and love. It didn’t dawn on me that I should be focusing on the holiness of God and my own sinfulness and let Jesus and his gospel take ever increasing prominence in my life.

Dr. John Piper explains it well, in book, “God Is the Gospel”. He said, “The gospel of Jesus and his many precious blessings are not ultimately what makes the good news good, but means of seeing and savoring the Savior himself. Forgiveness is good because it opens the way to enjoying God himself. Justification is good because it wins access to the presence and pleasure of God himself. Eternal life is good because it becomes the everlasting enjoyment of Jesus.”  In my ignorance and pride I ignored this in my study of the Bible…to my detriment. Let me tell you what happened.

Basically, I stopped growing in the grace of Jesus and my calling as a minister of Christ. The last two years I stopped meditating on the word of God deeply. Daily bread was reduced to an occasional, quick reading of the passage. Message preparation was a routine chore. I have substituted Bible reading for casual reading of Christian books.  I stopped sharing my meditations on the passage with my family. (I made them do it, but not me.) I focused on doing Christian activities rather than being in Christ. Bible study had become a means to an end, rather than a spiritual exercise to keep God’s grace afresh in my own heart for I was not trying to discover the holiness of Jesus and I surely wasn’t trying find out how I was the worst of sinners. In fact, I was building up my self- righteousness by defending myself, upholding an image, exaggerating my good points, blaming other things for my sins. I caused the cross to shrink and as a result Jesus and his Gospel took a place of less prominence in my life and ministry. I was falling into the devil’s trap, who sought to shipwreck my faith and family and my ministry.

And the bad fruit of my lack of growth as a minister has been painful. I frequently fell back into fatalism, despair and even anger at family members. My angry reactions have emotionally alienated me at times in my home from my family members. I felt all alone. I enforced my rigid program instead of building relationships. I lacked deep understanding and awareness of the purpose of ministry. A few times I prayed for God to take me early from this life. So often I was reduced to sobbing in tears. And the ministry stagnated. My angry and depressed words to Julie caused her spirit to be hurt. What was wrong with me? Was I entering into a major depression? Did I need to go on medication? How proud I am to ignore the way! How ignorant I was to carry on with my Christian life not understanding the foundational principles behind all of my spiritual exercises. I am a great sinner before God but thank God that Jesus is a greater Savior.

God, through this passage, properly diagnosed my problem and is providing the best solution. It is clear that my joy in Jesus originated through deep, meditative Bible study and sharing what I learned with others. When I was engaged in these pursuits, I was very happy. I grew and the ministry grew. I know I must get back to the primary purpose of Bible study and keep the grace of God alive in my heart and share that grace. When I think about my sins, especially the anger, depression and despair, and the effect that these were having on Julie and my kids I can begin to see that I am the worst of sinners who needs the grace of Jesus. Practically, I need to get back to the basics. May God grant me the strength to implement these measures immediately and to help me grow in this way as a good minister of Christ Jesus.

Part ll: Hold On To Faith And A Good Conscience

Timothy was facing serious problems in the church. False teachers were spreading false doctrines (1:4,6,7–10; 4:3,7; 6:4–5,20). They had let go faith and a good conscience like Alexander and Hymenaeus. They set out to destroy the efficacy of the gospel by making changes and additions to it. Paul concerned about the believers’ sincere faith. He did not want anyone else to become shipwrecked. And so he encouraged Timothy and church leaders to hold on to the deep truths of the faith and a good conscience (1:19; 3:9).

Faith and a good conscience are related. Faith in Jesus produces a good conscience. Hebrews 9:14 reads, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” When we come to Jesus, repenting of our sins, the blood of Jesus cleanses our hearts and our guilty consciences become healed. Once again we can hold onto faith and a god conscience and our spiritual influence of ministers of Christ will be great.

Holding onto faith with a good conscience is a growth area for ministers of Christ. We must not compromise with the world, nor the people of the world, nor with sin. How easy it is for us to compromise, deriving some small benefit by not standing on Jesus’ side. When we do this we loose the power of faith and our godly influence. There is something to be said for a person whose faith and conscience are congruent. Martin Luther was a great example. He made the good confession while on trial at the Diet of Worms. In his speech he mentions about holding onto a good conscience. He said, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason…my conscience is captive to the word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.” His insistence to holding onto faith and a good conscience cost him dearly. After this trial he was hunted down to be assassinated. But God protected his life and used him to change the world. We may not change the course of history, like Martin Luther. Actually we may not be able to do many things in this world, but if we hold onto faith with a good conscience then we can be spiritually victorious and stand as good ministers of Christ Jesus.

Part lll: Develop Integrity In One’s Personal, Family And Social Life

In chapter 3 Paul talked about the standards for those aspiring to the noble task of being overseers. Nestled within these standards we find out what it means to grow in our personal, family and social life as ministers of Christ. In regards to our personal lives, we need to aspire to the noble task of being a good minister (1Pe2:2; 1Cor 14:1), and discover ways that God specifically wants us to carry it out. In regards to our family, Paul gives the standard of managing one’s own children and family well (3:4–5,12). No matter what the present dynamic of our family, we can still manage our family well, for God will give us wisdom and will be faithful to send good counselors as well. Finally, Paul gives the standard of having a good reputation with outsiders (3:7). We should live such good lives among non-Christians that the enemy may not get a foothold and Jesus may be glorified.(1 Peter 2:12)

The problem for growing minsters is keeping everything in balance. There is a tendency to focus mostly on ministry, neglecting other areas. Recently, I realized that I was too focus on ministry and neglecting my family. Don’t get me wrong, I saw my family every day. But I was simply plugging them into my ministry without developing deep interpersonal, love relationships. In a sense I was using my family members for my own glory. But recently Julie and I have started praying each night for the kids and on Sunday night, we have cleared the board to make time to talk freely and pray for each other. Our first meeting a couple of us laughed until we were in tears. Good ministers of Christ Jesus must grow to achieve balance in their lives.

Thus far we learn the importance of knowing Jesus’ grace and his calling on our lives. This grace and calling must be forever new on our hearts and continually flowing from our lips. We must grow in this knowledge, by meditating on the words of God, so that the gospel will take prominence in our lives. Our joy will be complete, our spiritual influence will be great. We will live lives marked withspiritual transformation, victory, power, fruitfulness, joy, hope and love.

 




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