Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Don't Squander Your Gift - Part IV

Our premise has been simple. God equips us for the job He give us. What God does to equip us is to give us a gift tailor made to allow us to do the job. OK, if that is true, why are so many churches dying on the vine? Could it be, at least in part, that believers in those churches don't know about their spiritual gifts, or that they are not using their spiritual gifts? Could that be it?

Why have 80% of the churches in this country either plateaued or gone into decline? Could it be that the majority of thoe congregations aren't engaged in ministry? Could it be they aren't using the spiritual gifts that God gave them? And why are some churches bursting at the seams with explosive growth? Could it be in those churches that a good share of the membership is actively engaged in ministry? Could it be that they are actively using the gifts God gave them?

Obviously, little churches stay Little for a reason. This could be one of the reasons: too few people are doing the work that God prepared for them. There is an old 80/20 rule of thumb that says that in a typical church 80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people. That it is true explains why 80% of the churches aren't growing. How can they grow if so many of their people are doing so little work? God never intended it to be that way.

A good place to look at God's plan is Ephesians 4:11-12, which says:
"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
Historically as Jesus built the church, He gave apostles to lay the groundwork, along with the prophets. He sent out evangelists to plant churches. And He called pastors to teach.

But what was the purpose? The pastor-teacher was to equip or train the saints, the congregation, so that they could do the work of ministry. In other words, he was to teach peole to recognize and use their spiritual gifts in ministry. Why? So those people could use their gifts for the edifying of the body of Christ, the church. Edify means to build up. That's God's master plan for building His church.

What is the pastor's job? It is not to do all the work, or even most of the work. It is to train his people how to do the work so they can get busy. it is to tain them to be a more effective work force. The pastor is the coach. We are all a team. And we have all been given gifts to use in ministry. What we need is to be trained how to use them. We need to be equipped through teaching. Teaching is the most important job of the pastor. Doing the work? That's your job. That's what you have been gifted to do.

The apostles recognized this. In Acts 6, when a complaint arose that the Greek widows weren't getting as much charity as the Hebrew widows, the apostles called a big congregational meeting. They asked the congregation to pick seven men who could help them because it wasn't a good use of resources for them to do it all themselves. This is what it says in Acts 6:2-4:
"Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, 'It is not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out form among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.'"
The disciples were to find some qualified people to do it. Let them administer the charity. That wasn't what God had called the apostles for.

Why, those slackers! How could they be so lazy? No! No! Not at all. God hadn't called them to wait tables, but to minister the Word of God. It would be a violation of their call to neglect it. They wisely chose to keep first things first. They were needed to teach. Other people could administer the charity. The pastor has a job that God has specifically called him to do - to teach the Word of God so you can be equipped to do the work. What work has God called you to do? Are you doing it?

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