Read the word.
Teach the word.
Preach the word.
- 1 Timothy 4:13
The scribes and the Pharisees thought they were righteous because they followed and endeavored to fulfill the law. But righteousness can’t be acquired by following and fulfilling the law unless you follow and fulfill all of the law perfectly. Jesus is the only person who will ever live a life of perfect righteousness.
The Bible says that we all fall short of following or fulfilling all of the laws all of the time. But right after that, it says that “all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (see Romans 3:21-26). In 2 Corinthians 5:21 it says, “God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” This verse helps us to understand what Jesus was talking about when He said our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. The entirety of the Bible is about God loving the world that He gave His one and only Son to live a perfect life to fulfill the law and the prophets and then to be the sinless substitutionary sacrifice for those who repent from sin and turn towards Him to receive from Him His righteousness.
The people listening to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount weren’t “religious professionals”. They were common, everyday, ordinary people—all of them sinners. And yet, Jesus called them the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
But He was just getting started. Soon after, He told them, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Just how were these ordinary people supposed to exceed the righteous “religious professionals” who centered their entire lives around following the law—especially if Jesus wasn’t going to abolish the law? There must be another way! Watch our study of Matthew 5:17-20 as we consider Jesus’ words in light of His fulfillment of the Laws and Prophets. In Acts 8, we read that Philip preached Jesus to an Ethiopian official. Does that mean that Philip stood behind a wooden box and raised the volume of his voice? No—but it does mean that he opened his mouth and, from the Word of God, talked to this man about Jesus.
Erase in your mind the cultural definition of a preacher because all that this word means is someone willing to open their mouth and talk to someone about Jesus. When God sends a person by the power of the Holy Spirit to preach Jesus, you never know when or where that will happen—but God does! That’s the best part! He knows who He has been prompting and preparing—and then He sends YOU. And before you know it, you are speaking and telling others about Jesus. And just like that, another life is eternally altered and can be sent by God to preach Jesus to someone else.
The preaching of the word of God is mentioned seven times in Acts 8. At the center of most of those mentions was a man named Philip. He was one of seven men who were appointed by the apostles to serve physical food so that the apostles could continue to serve spiritual food.
While Philip served, God was teaching, training, and forming him in preparation for what was next. Philip didn’t know it, but God was training him not only to be the first great missionary in the church but also to be the first great evangelist in the church. Watch our study from Sunday as we consider this man Philip and how the Lord works through His willing servants. Before refrigeration, salt was the primary means of preservation. The use of salt stalled the process of deterioration or decomposition. This use of salt allowed society to grow and expand as it provided a way to transport food on long journeys. Salt was considered valuable because it was powerful.
Just as powerful is light. Light drives out darkness. You can go into a dark room and beat the darkness with a baseball bat—but despite all that effort, the darkness will remain. But if you simply turn on a light switch, strike a match, or light a lamp, the darkness is eliminated. When you live out the Beatitudes, you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. You live in such a way that the watching world takes notice as you influence the people around you for the glory of God.
Light and salt were two sermon illustrations Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount. But He didn’t use them at random. He chose these because they illustrate the Beatitudes and help us see what our attitudes must be if we continue in this beautiful, worthy difficulty called ‘ministry’ and what kind of influence these attitudes have on those around us.
That influence may come in one of two ways: first, we may slow down the sinful deterioration of others or society, and second, we may be used to see God transform a person or society to drive out the darkness. Watch our study of Matthew 5:13-16 as we consider what could happen if we intentionally lived out what we learned at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Ministry can only be a work of the Holy Spirit and not of the human will. If it were up to the human will, we would be in a constant state of victim mentality. If ministry depended upon our skills, abilities, or strength, happiness would evaporate the moment persecution comes along.
And yet, Jesus told us that these things would happen. He said that persecution is part and parcel of ministry—and He said that we can be really happy when they inevitably do occur. So when we are persecuted for righteousness sake, we are not victims. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37). We can face persecution and be blessed through it. We can survive it with the help of the Holy Spirit—for ministry can only be a work of the Holy Spirit.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus not only prepares us for ministry, but He also tells us how to be really, really happy. To be genuinely content, we must not be self-serving, but self-sacrificing. We must be gentle, merciful, pure in heart, yearn for righteousness, and seek to make peace on God’s terms.
This is what we endeavor to do—even if these attitudes cause persecution and suffering. Jesus gives us full disclosure as we serve others and lets us know that as we love and care for people in this way, we can anticipate and expect persecution. The heart of God is that all men and women would turn from their sins and find peace in Him. When this becomes our heart, we find ourselves as sons and daughters about our Father’s business, wanting to be found faithful to the task He has given us—testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
We have the ministry of reconciliation from God, who has committed to us this message of reconciliation: God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is the message we bring as ambassadors to as many as possible—that they might hear the good news and receive the gift of grace found in Christ Jesus, experiencing peace with God and the very peace of God.
We were once enemies of God, but Jesus took the penalty for our sins and our rebellion. Now that we have peace with God, we want others to know Jesus so they can have peace with God also.
We receive this ministry of reconciliation to bring the message of reconciliation to as many as possible. As we continue to work through the Sermon on the Mount, we consider what it means to be a maker of peace in our study of Matthew 5:9. The Lord is our shepherd. He cares for us. He guides us. He provides for us. He serves us. He restores us. He protects us. And because He, as the Good Shepherd, laid down His life for us, we also have eternal life awaiting us!
When you are tempted to wander from His care, wonder how good our Good Shepherd truly is! Each of us has two lists at any given time—one list is of the things that we don’t have, and the other is a list of the things we do have. Unfortunately, our enemy is a master of tempting us to focus and to obsess on things we don’t have so we fall for his trap and ignore what we do have. But if we take a moment to honestly and thoroughly work through those lists, we will quickly find out that the list of what we have far exceeds the list of the things we don’t. David put it this way in Psalm 23: “My cup runs over.” Our cup is not half empty. It isn’t even half full. It’s more than full—it runs over! Why? Because goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of this life and we will dwell in the house of the Lord with Him forever! Is the Lord your shepherd? Can you make these claims about Him in your life? Maybe you’ve wandered from His care. Return to Him—He is looking for you! Cry out to the Good Shepherd—confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. The Bible says that if you do this, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). Ask God for forgiveness. Believe that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him to life. Trust Him as your Savior and follow Him as the Lord and Shepherd of your life.
Psalm 23 is usually read at somber and solemn occasions in an effort to bring comfort to those who are mourning or grieving. While this isn’t inappropriate, there is certainly more to this psalm that we can appreciate. Within its lines, we see a celebration and declaration concerning the many blessings of having the Lord as our Shepherd.
We paused our study in Matthew this past Sunday to turned our attention to Psalm 23 and appreciated all that our Good Shepherd does for us! There is no separate class of believers who are in “ministry.” We are all in ministry if we continue to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. And if we continue to be His followers, He will continue to purify us—then we will continue to see God at work in us.
Consider this about all we have studied so far in the Sermon on the Mount. When we recognize our spiritual poverty, we get to see God’s power through our weakness. When we mourn over our sins, we get to see His grace. When we lean into meekness, we see Him as He defends us. When we let go of caring about what benefits or advances us and hunger for what’s right, we see God at work in us. When we find ourselves being genuinely kind to the unthankful and the evil without even a hint of the desire to defend ourselves without any bitterness, Jesus is purifying us and we get to see God at work in us and through us. As we continue to follow Him and as He continues to purify us, we get to see God! “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
God purifies us as we follow Him. He works in our lives to remove the things that contaminate us and then refines us with what He gives us. Through His refining work in our lives, we start to see Him—just as Jesus said: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8). Watch our study as we continue to work through the Sermon on the Mount.
If we want to thrive and not just survive in ministry, we must understand what being merciful to those who mistreat us is and what it is not.
Being merciful is relinquishing your right to retaliation or revenge. Being merciful is not being silent when sin is sin. Being merciful is being kind when communicating the correction of that sin. Being merciful is not being a doormat and enabling that sin. Being merciful is being kind to the unthankful and the evil. Being merciful is not being manipulated by the unthankful and the evil. Being merciful is the active portion of being meek (not being touchy or retaliatory). Being merciful is not being touchy or retaliatory but actively being kind to your enemies—especially to enemies as the result of doing the right thing in ministry. “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.“ –Luke 6:35-36
Sometimes, in the beautiful worthy difficulty of ministry, you will make enemies. Even as a broken, humble, and others-centered servant endeavoring to do the right thing, others will actively oppose you with hostility.
Which is why mercy is a core component of ministry. Being kind, even and especially to your enemies, is essential. Jesus gives us a whole new way to be merciful to enemies who would mistreat us. “Blessed are the merciful,” Jesus said, “for they shall obtain mercy.” Watch our study of Matthew 5:7 as we consider the importance of mercy in ministry. |
From Pastor Dom...When I first gave my life to Jesus, there were friends in my life who helped me to grow in my understanding of God, through His word, and for those friends Archives
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Strengthened by grace is the Bible Teaching ministry of Pastor Dominic Dinger.©2022 - All rights reserved.
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