Col No.10 Service

We're going to be talking about serving Jesus, and in this particular incident, two close colleagues of Jesus had got the whole business of service and discipleship completely skew, so Jesus sorts it out for them, and indeed for us, in the 1970s. Mark 10, 35. Now, please join me in reading this, and if you take the even-numbered verses.

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, the Lord Jesus, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. They said unto him, We can.

And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized, withal shall ye be baptized. And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. But so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your servant, your minister.

For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, came not to be served, but to minister, to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. Amen. Now, I would be grateful if you will turn to Colossians chapter 1, and I read again to you the 24th and 25th verses.

And those of you who have not got a Bible with you, or the authorized version, or the new international version, then my secretary's typed out verse 25 on the bulletin, and you will be able to follow, I believe, as a result of looking at it, the gist of our study this morning. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church, whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. You remember it was my intention last week to bring you a study which would embrace both these verses under the general title of suffering and serving, but we got so taken up with the first part of that address that I reserved what I wanted to say on serving until today.

And really, I make no apology for taking a long period of time in working our way through this epistle to the Colossians. Bible study can be performed in two different ways, at two different levels. There is, if you like, the telescopic fashion in which you survey a great compass of the word of God, and then there is the microscopic way in which you look down into a text, and as you do in a microscope, you see a world that is somewhat concealed and hidden, but opens out into being very rich in teaching, magnificent in revelation.

So that is what we are doing here on a Sunday morning, as opposed to, for instance, a Thursday evening in our Bible school, when we shall be looking with a broad sweep at the teaching of the book of Deuteronomy. Well, let me just remind you of one or two things that we had to say last week from the 24th verse, which will prepare those friends who weren't with us then for a look into this 25th. And the main item for our consideration last week was to explore what the Apostle Paul meant by that very vexed, that rather difficult at first glance phrase, fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.

And I made reference to the fact that there are those who have fastened upon this particular piece of phraseology, and they have suggested that the work of the Lord Jesus and the cross was not sufficient, was not complete. It needs something adding to it. This is basically the position historically of the Roman Catholic Church.

It gives rise to the whole system of penances and indulgence, the idea of the transference of grace on the part of one saint to another sinner. You may sometimes read, if you take the paper that I subscribe to, in the personal column, thanks unto Saint Jude or thanks unto Saint somebody else for helping me in answer to prayer. And the idea is this, that these particular people who lived sometimes quite recently, sometimes centuries ago, lived a life so wonderful that they banked up more grace than was required to add to what Jesus did on the cross.

And so you can transfer from that grace to somebody else. So that's why you have prayer for the saints. And all this different system of penances to acquire more grace or masses for the dead, so that when we're in purgatory, we may be helped to be lifted out of that state and prepared for heaven.

Now, this system of theology is based upon this text of Scripture and one or two other references which are often cited, but on examination appear to be very much manipulated and misquoted. And we can have no dealings with this particular interpretation at all. It is against the main sweep of revelation in the Bible.

It is against the very context of what the apostle has to say in the second chapter of this letter, when he refers to Jesus taking our sins and nailing them to the cross. The writer of the Hebrew epistle oftentimes makes reference to the supremacy of the sacrifice of Jesus. Once, in the end of time, hath he appeared to put away sins forever.

No more will the Nazarene climb the hill called Calvary. There are no works of righteousness which we can nail to the cross to improve upon what Jesus has done. Well then, having said that, what is the point of the apostle here making reference to these afflictions of Christ, which he is helping to fill up, that which is lacking? Well, I spelt it out for you, did I not? Though the Lord Jesus Christ is in glory, though he never again will be pinned to a Roman gibbet, his body is still here on this earth.

That is his mystical body. Men and women who acknowledge him as Lord and Savior, they are joined to him. The church, I've repeated it on many occasions and will continue to do so, is not an international organization.

It is an international organism. It is linked up to the Lord Jesus. When the church suffers, Jesus suffers.

So his words to Saul before his conversion, why do you persecute me? I'm feeling what you did at Jerusalem. I will be feeling what you intend to do in Damascus. Leave it alone and commit yourself to me and start kicking against the pricks.

Well, Paul learns this lesson and sometimes in the letters that he writes to the various churches, he will go back to what he has grasped of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ being continued by the redeemed community. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 5, for instance, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us. And then in the 10th verse, who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.

And there he's referring to the sufferings that he as an apostle is enduring in the name of the Lord Jesus. And the sensitivity of the Savior is spelt out in that context. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 17, the apostle makes reference to bearing in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

Revelation chapter 7 refers to those who have come through the great tribulation and who have their garments washed in the blood of the lamb. They have known tribulation because they have lived for Jesus and he has not been removed from the circumstances through which they have passed. So right down to the 20th century, there are Christian people who are helping to continue the ministry of Jesus on this earth.

And the opposition party is there. The opposition will get more intense before the day of his return and the redeemed community can expect pressure upon pressure, but it can rejoice in the midst of affliction. And why? Because they're following the steps of the master.

They hated me, said Jesus, they'll hate you. They treated me roughly, so they will treat me. And the apostle gathers all the teaching up and he says, yeah, all those who live godly by Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

But, and this is the hinge between the 24th and the 25th verse, this suffering that one endures, argues the apostle, is a privilege. It's a glorious responsibility. He thanks God that he's counted worthy to suffer.

Whereof, he says in this 25th verse, I'm made a minister. I'm made a minister of the church. I'm suffering for the church.

Here I am in Rome. The very manacles are pressing down into my skin. I can feel the metal in my body.

And I'm going through all this because I preach the Christian faith around the Roman world. But I glory in my deprivation. I'm glad that I've been counted worthy to follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus.

So the apostle twins to his teaching on suffering for Jesus, his concept of serving the Lord. And you will see, and we will deal with this, I promise you with a degree of brevity for movements in this verse, as he describes all that he understands as to what it means to be a minister of the Lord Jesus. He gives us, if you please, a job description.

I am made a minister. He continues on that by showing the derivation of his calling according to the dispensation of God. I derived my authority from the Father.

He shows us the direction in which he is going to apply his ministry. I received this which was given to me for you. I will apply it, my office as a minister, towards gentile people in the world.

And he also concedes what is his determination, that he will fulfill the word of God. So in those very four easy headings, you have a break up of this particular statement on the ministry of the own approach to serving the Lord Jesus. Take the first word, a description.

Wherefore, or whereof, I am made a minister. Now, there's an emphasis there in the original. Here is the apostle saying, I am made a minister.

And yet that emphasis is not one of pride, and it's not one of arrogance. It's one of incredulity. It's one of unbelief.

This church for which I am suffering, this Christ whose representative I am, this gospel that I believe, I am made a minister of it. And it surprises me. And it should never cease to cause surprise in the heart of the sensitive Christian that he or she has been brought into the family of God and entrusted with a task to perform.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I'm in the gospel blessing. I'm in the redeemed community.

I've been made a member of the family of God. Me, less than the least of all the saints. Paul writes that at the end of his life, the incredulity, the unbelief, the amazement of what God has done for him in Jesus, it never leaves him at all.

I am made a minister. But that word minister perhaps needs to be adjusted and brought up to 1970 understanding as opposed to the writing when this particular version of the Bible was translated. The original is diochemous, and it really gives us the word servant.

This is Paul's job description, whereof I am made a servant. And he emphasizes that. Now, I say that's strange.

Do you remember the television series Upstairs and Downstairs? And the ones who were downstairs were always rather jealous of the ones who were upstairs. Here were the aristocracy. He was the lady.

He was the gentleman. But downstairs, well, there were the proletariat, the servants. And very often their conversation was concerned with what the people upstairs had.

And what they did. And there was more than a tinge of jealousy and a wanting to be like them. Who glories in being a servant? On the human level, nobody.

But you see, we're not on the human level as Christian people. And this is the lesson that the Savior had to spell out for the disciples. And the reason why we read from Mark's gospel in the 10th chapter, here were James and John, and they got it all wrong.

Jesus was going to bring in his kingdom, that they believed in a more wonderful way than they had seen it heretofore. And they said, Master, when that happens, can we be on your right hand and on your left hand? Their mother was concerned that her boys should be so recognized that one can understand the wrong, but perhaps natural desires of a mother. And Jesus had to correct their understanding.

And the rest of the disciples, they were so incensed. Why? Why should these two, James and John, why should they steal it over us? Why didn't we get in first? And Jesus called them to him and said, you know, the Gentile world, they exercise lordship over one another. They want to be upstairs, but it shan't be the same with you.

Whoever will be great among you shall be your servant. Whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. For I, the Son of Man, came not to be served, but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many.

I speak reverently. Jesus Christ was a downstairs man. I, says the apostle, I've been made a minister.

That's my job description. But where, Paul, did you get your authority from? Where does this power derive from? Well, he answers quite plainly in my text, I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God. It's God who put me there.

It wasn't the College of Cardinals. It wasn't the FIEC executive, thank God. It was the Lord.

He put me there. He called me to be a minister on the Damascus road. I got my credentials and I was ordained.

As later on, Ananias and the church in Damascus and Jerusalem received me as I was a servant of God. And the authority that I have, it doesn't come from the apostles or my fellow Christians, although they recognize it. It comes basically from the Lord, a derived authority.

He says I was given the dispensation of God. Let's unravel that word dispensation because there are too many Scofield Bibles around in this tabernacle and you may get the wrong idea. And I say that lovingly.

I was brought up on the Scofield Bible myself. But the word dispensation here is not in the sense of epochs and ages. Rather, the word dispensation is a household word.

It's got the idea of the man who is the steward of the house. A biblical example would be that of Joseph in Potiphar's household. And later on, when he was in charge of Pharaoh's possessions and indeed the prime minister of Egypt.

Now, Joseph was handling for Potiphar and for Pharaoh their possessions. He was their steward. Now, as the servant of God, says the apostle Paul, to me has been given the stewardship to look after, in part, the family of God on this earth.

So he refers to being made a servant for the body of the Lord Jesus, which is his church. Now, what was the apostle's concern in respect to exercising his stewardship? Well, he tells us in the letter that he writes to the Corinthians that it is required of a steward that he be found faithful. That he be found faithful.

There were, said the Lord Jesus, some people in a parable that he told, who were stewards. And yet, they didn't do what they should have done with their master's goods. They didn't use them.

They didn't invest them properly. They didn't handle them aright. And he refers to one wicked and slothful servant who was negligent about his master's business.

But not the apostle. To me has been committed the stewardship of God to exercise pastoral concern in the body of Christ, and to preach the everlasting gospel. I tell you, my friend, you who know the Lord Jesus as Savior, have an authority which derives from God himself.

To do what? To proclaim the gospel of redeeming grace around this world. You're called to be a steward. You know, there's a difference between stewardship and ownership.

There is not a Christian who was ever called to be an owner. We are stewards. Stewards of the money that is in our pockets.

Stewards of the time that God gives us. Stewards of the health which he blesses us with. Stewards to use these different things for the glory of God, and for the benefit of the redeemed community, which takes me to the third aspect of this text.

For here is direction. Paul, how are you using this stewardship? These blessings you receive from the Lord, in what way are you applying them? Well, he says, I made a servant according to the stewardship of God, which is given to me for you. It is given to me for you.

Did you ever play when you were a child a game of Monopoly? I think I used that illustration not so long ago. The idea was that you became a sort of property tycoon and bought up the whole of London. So everyone who threw a dice and moved his counter finished up on your space and had to spend 300, 400, 500 pounds.

You remember? And eventually you were controlling the whole thing and you felt so powerful. The whole of London, the whole Kent Road right through to Piccadilly belongs to me. I got a monopoly on it.

Well, says the apostle, that's not the way that you look upon the blessings of God. Everything God has invested me with, my understanding of the gospel, the fullness of his spirit, all these things are not basically for my enjoyment alone, which is given to me for you. Now it's the case, of course, that we're not all entrusted with the same things.

Some may be given more responsibility or so it would seem on the human level to others. But nonetheless, we all have a certain measure of trusteeship to exercise. So the little lad who comes with his packed lunch of loaves and fishes and gives them to Jesus discovers that in the hands of Jesus they multiply and they reach many with physical need.

And whether it's just a bit of fish or an old crust of bread that you've got, given back to God, it's useful. And in his service, your talents, whatever they are, can be employed to reach another. You see, I come back to this whole business of ministry.

I really think it was a terrible day in the history of the church when someone concocted the title reverend and started to apply it to a certain group of men. Only God is really a reverend and holy is his name. And this whole idea of a laity and a clergy, it really is quite ridiculous.

It's completely unbiblical because it gives the idea that there's a professional ministry over against the laity. Whereas the New Testament most definitely preaches that everyone is a minister to the Lord God, but the area of their ministry, the aspect of their trusteeship, that may differ in degree to some extent. Well, says the apostle, these things which the glorious God has given me by an uncommon act of mercy, I am using for your benefit.

And it was true. Why did he go down the highways and byways of Turkey why did he hear that call into Macedonia and respond? Why did he come down into Greece and eventually over into Italy and possibly on to Spain? Someone has said that you can follow the footsteps of the apostle Paul, just like tracking the steps of a bleeding rabbit in the snow. And the analogy is acceptable for he was often bloodstained as a result of the ministry that he was exercising.

Constantly he was filling up that which was lacking in the afflictions of Christ, manhandled to a degree that the majority of Christians have never known as a result of his commitment to the Savior. Why was he doing this? Well, the stewardship of the gospel, the blessings of God which have been given to me are really not just mine alone. I want to share them with other people.

And my friend, that is your responsibility and mine to this very, very day. The job description, the derivation of authority, the direction of ministry, and look at the determination with which he discharges his obligations to fulfill the word of God. That's got nothing to do with prophetic speculation.

What does it mean? Well, it means that wherever the apostle Paul went, he wanted to unroll the canvas of the gospel. People have got, or some of them have got, the general idea of salvation. But the gospel tapestry is a rich one.

There are many colours that are there. And so he fills it all out like some artist who's been used by God. And with inspired hands, he uses his brush and his palette.

And he builds up the doctrine of justification, and redemption, and glorification, and sanctification. Spells out the whole drama of the gospel message. Fills it out so that all people, whether they're in Colossae, or whether in Rome, whether in Macedonia, it doesn't matter, wherever the apostle Paul is, wherever sensitive Christians are, they're painting the fullness of the word of God.

And that's one of the reasons why we have Bible study in this church. One of the reasons why I'm so concerned in the pastor's workshop to teach others, to teach other people, so that they in turn can have the word of God filled out, and come to a full understanding, and be able to cope with the questions of those who are caught up in the sects, or cope with the questions of those who are unbelievers or agnostics. It says the apostle describing his aim, and the way that it was being realised as he writes to the church in Corinth, he said, you know something? My life is like a censer, c-e-n-s-e-r, censer.

And from the censer comes incense, the perfume of the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus. Like a lady with some very pungent scent on, and we all can smell the aroma. So says the apostle, my life and my communication of the ministry is like that.

I want to diffuse it through my personality, I want to diffuse it through my lifestyle, I want to spell it out with words that fall from my lips, I want to fulfil the word of God. And sometimes he uses another analogy, he takes the idea of a casket in which are gems, and says, Paul, I've got the gems of the gospel, but they're not going to stay in that casket. I'm going to wear them in my personality, and if wearing them in turn makes me wear out by the lifestyle that I adopt, it doesn't matter as long as others come to see the beauty and the value that there is in Jesus.

Paul was a good servant of Jesus. He knew that stewardship meant serving, and serving often means suffering. But when the race was run, when the fight was through, when the finale of his life occurred, there was Paul responding to the heavenly summons.

Come up here, Paul, where you've often wanted to be with Christ, which is far better. And Paul steps out of time into eternity, and from the heavenlies were heard the words, well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord. As it was with Paul, so may it be with us, to the glory of God.

Amen. Now, Father, we ask that the job description of Paul as a servant and a steward, that it might fit us not just nominally, but accurately, and help us to be able to bring to others what you have in turn given to us, and may our determination to be, be to live out the gospel message, and proclaim it in truth, until the moment when our Savior returns, or calls us to be with him. Amen.