Service
Series: Sword of the Spirit – Unit: Ministry in the Spirit
Lesson: Ministry in the Spirit – Topic 1: Ministry and Service
Teacher: Colin Dye
Announcer: Welcome to Sword of the Spirit, written and presented by Colin Dye, senior minister of Kensington Temple and leader of London City Church. Sword of the Spirit is a dynamic teaching series equipping the believers of today to build the disciples of tomorrow. We pray that you find these programs inspiring, and a catalyst in deepening your knowledge of God, your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and your intimacy with the Holy Spirit.
Colin Dye: Hello, and welcome to The Sword of the Spirit, a school of ministry in the Word and the Spirit. Our topic is Ministry in the Spirit. We’re looking at how you and I as followers of Christ are called to be servants, to serve Him and to serve one another. We’re following in the footsteps of Jesus who is the great servant. He loved people. He served people, even to the point of laying down His very life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Now because that sacrifice has been paid, there is no more sacrifice needed for the forgiveness of sins. So our service to God and to one another is not in order to make ourselves right with God or to make ourselves acceptable before Him. No, our service of God flows out of the loving gratitude we have in our hearts because He has saved us, because He has drawn us to Himself and given us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, so that we might be like Him. Now when we talk about ministry in the Spirit, we’re talking about serving God in the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s the only way that we can become like Jesus. In the last teaching, I was talking about some of the words that are used in the New Testament to describe servanthood or service unto God and we find that there is a rich vocabulary describing every aspect of our service to God. We are simple servants. The word is the same word used of those who wait at tables—simple servants, simply doing what we can to make life easier and more pleasurable for other people; to serve one another. We also see that there’s a stronger word used. It’s the word ‘slave,’ and a slave is totally the possession of the master. This means because we are totally owned by Christ, we are His slaves. But it’s not a slavery which brings pain and degradation, it’s not a negative slavery, it’s the slavery of love because we so love God and so love Jesus, we are ready to do His every bidding. You see, a slave obeys the master. The slave puts the master’s needs above his own. The slave is totally subject to the will of the master. So when we are ministers and servants of Christ by the Holy Spirit, it all begins with the surrender of our lives to the master. It’s a joyful surrender because we love Him, we serve Him, and we serve Him with all of our hearts. So as we continue in this teaching, we’re going to pick up on a few more words that describe our service.
Ephesians 6 verse 6, speaking of slaves actually, but it applies to all acts of service if you’ve been doing unto the Lord it says, “Not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” So he says you’re slaves. You are owned by your masters. He is speaking to slaves. But he says you are to serve your masters as if you were, as you really are, slaves of Jesus Christ. Now wouldn’t that have just revolutionized the ancient world? When the slaves, perhaps the most unjust form of all human relationships, didn’t stand upon their rights. They just said, “I have no rights, I belong to my master and I’m going to serve my earthly master as I would want to serve my heavenly Master because He really is my master.” And let me tell you something else. I’m coming this side again. If you are truly a bondservant of Jesus Christ, you can never ever be a slave to anyone or anything because serving, being a slave of Jesus, sets you free from every other form of slavery. Remember that. That’s for good measure today. All right. So we are owned by God and we are therefore called to serve God, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to serve one another. Look at Galatians 5 and verse 13, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh but through love, serve one another.” That’s the verbal form here. By love, be slaves of one another. Have you heard the expression, “I’m not your slave.” Hello? In the body of Christ, we are, because we love Jesus so much, we want to be like Him and He served in exactly that same spirit. He said, “The Father owns me totally. All that I have is His, I only say what He says, only do what He does, I’m serving Him.” So these words are vital for our understanding.
Now there’s another word which is also not translated ‘minister.’ I’m giving you three words that are translated minister, and I’m giving you two words that are not translated to minister. The first word is doulos; the second word is latreias. It’s not translated ‘minister’ in English Bibles, but it is, has to do with ministry. Now latreias is a hired servant. It’s from the verb latreuo, which means ‘to serve,’ and it was used, especially in the New Testament, of the service of the priests and Levites. They were paid to serve God in the temple and to worship. And when it’s used of believers, it’s used of our worship to God. Let’s look at some of the uses. Luke 1 and verse 74, “To grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear.” Serve Him. That’s the verb latreuo. Have a look at Acts 27 and verse 23, “For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve.” Here the apostle Paul is giving his testimony during that time of the great storm and his missionary journey and he says, “God has spoken to me. An angel came and the angel came from the God whose I am and whom I serve.” He’s using this rather technical use, using this rather technical word, which describes priestly, Levitical worship. Priestly, Levitical service. Now, very important point to grasp here. In the New Testament, priestly language is used of the whole body of Christ, not just of individuals. So we’re not talking about a few people who are set aside as priests—not in the New Testament. We’re talking about the whole body of Christ being a priestly body, the body of believers. And this also shows us that latreias service is corporate rather than individual. So when we serve as priests, we’re doing it together. That’s why the priestly anointing rests most frequently upon the body of Christ when the body of Christ assembles together and it is characteristically seen when we are worshipping the Lord. And that anointing comes down. But the worship of God, as we sing and praise Him and worship Him, must be translated into corporate acts of service that are equally worship as far as God is concerned. We are all called to serve and worship God like priests and Levites, with prayer, with praise, with thanksgiving, with spiritual sacrifices and also in practical acts of service. Now the difference is, is that the priests and Levites were paid and supported for that. We are servants anyway. We don’t get paid for worshipping God. We don’t get paid for serving God. Do you know that? Nobody can ever get paid for serving God, otherwise it’s not serving God. Now, when ministry is supported financially, that’s another matter. The Bible makes it clear that you shall not muzzle the ox that treads the corn. But you know, I don’t receive a salary. I have never received a salary because nobody has ever paid me for what I do for Jesus. Nobody. I do that for Jesus anyway. Do you hear what I’m trying to say? Now, for many years I have been supported in my ministry, but that support in my ministry is not pay. You see the difference? And so when we serve Him, we’re not serving Him for money. We’re serving Him because we love Him and if we start serving Him for money, we’re not serving Him. Those two things cannot coexist. We are kings and priests to the Lord. Now we see, therefore, at the heart of ministry is this servant attitude and let me take you back to Matthew 20 and verse 28 because this to me is the great key text in all that I’m saying today. “Just as the Son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Jesus came not to be ministered to. He came to minister to others and that’s the pattern. He is the great servant. And when you think about it of who He was, God manifest in the flesh, when you think of such great pictures of the messianic ministry that we read about in Daniel chapter 7, look at it there in verses 13 to 14, when we think of this great picture of messianic ministry, no wonder Jesus shocked them when He said, “I didn’t come to be served but I came to serve.” It says, Daniel 7:13 and 14, “I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the ancient of days and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and the kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom, the one that shall not be destroyed.” So who is this speaking of? It’s speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, and every word of it is true. He is the King, the one whom nations shall serve, the one whom angels worship. And if He, the Lord, the Master, the King of glory, the Lord of heaven, if He was amongst us as one who serves and that His primary purpose of ministry on this earth was to give His life as a ransom for many; to give His life to serve others, we cannot take in our mind ruling models of ministry. I don’t care how big your ministry is. You could lay hands on a hundred dead people and they all could be running around living, that doesn’t make you anything other than a servant of God. A servant. How is it that when a few of us get anointed with some charismatic endowment, which means a gift of God’s grace, why do we attract attention to ourselves and say, “Look at me, look at my ministry, here’s my glossy magazine, buy sweatshirts on the counter on the way out.” All me, me, me, me, me. That’s prostitution of God’s gifts. That’s merchandizing the anointing of God. And that’s why the anointing is so rarely seen in its genuine and fullest form. We get just a touch and we get carried away. When Jesus was anointed, He knew His major purpose was to go to the cross. And in going to the cross, He did things on the way. He talked, preached, He laid hands on the sick, cast out devils, called the dead back to life. His purpose was the cross. Now when we understand, therefore, that this word diakonos, I’m coming back to the main word that’s here in Matthew 20:28, when we understand that this is the word that Jesus used, “I’ve come not to be served but to serve. I’ve come to be a servant, a deacon, a diakonos; I’ve come for that.” That’s the central idea behind all ministry. It tells us two things. It tells us it’s the foundation of all true Christian ministry and secondly it tells us that it’s possible for everyone to be a minister, to serve. If it used these other words, huperetes [stutters] or rather leitourgos, if he used those words, high office, exclusive, some people set apart for that, we wouldn’t have understood it. But Jesus used this word and He spoke to His apostles, to those who were going to be used in the greatest way imaginable. Peter was there, used so powerfully that his shadow healed the sick. He said you’re a servant. You’re a servant and you minister as a servant and if that’s the case, then we all can do it and we all must do it because it applies to us all. Do you understand that? Let’s get that really clear in our minds. Okay. Acts chapter 6 and verse 2, let’s have a look at this. And this is a very good passage to study, the whole of Acts chapter 6 here in those opening verses because [stutters] and especially when you know that when you read the word minister, behind it is this word diakoneo, to serve as a waiter, to serve as a servant, a humble servant. And it’s used, in this context, of two different forms of ministry. One ministry which is serving tables because the whole issue here was that the Greek speaking Jews, their widows were being neglected, and the Aramaic speaking Jews, their widows were getting all the best things, all the best supply, and so they had to meet together and sort it out and the apostle said it’s not right for us to leave the ministry God has given us to do something that can be done by others. And he says, they say there that that is serving tables which is the word diakoneo, he says but our ministry is the word and prayer, which is the same word diakoneo. So this word is used of what we may think of as spiritual ministry and what we may think of as practical ministry. It’s the same word. And that’s vitally important. So let’s read Acts 6:2, “Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, ‘It’s not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables.’” Verse 4, Acts 6, “’But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.’” So God will give us different ministries, but it is ministry nonetheless. That’s what it is for everyone. Okay. So whenever we minister, we serve, whether by polishing or preaching. We follow the same pattern and example of Jesus Christ who humbly and lovingly served all people. And we see this pattern throughout the whole of the New Testament. Angels ministered to Jesus, women ministered to Jesus, Jesus is ministered to in the person of the needy, believers ministered to each other, ministry therefore helps reveal the gospel. 1 Peter 1 verse 12 is a very important text. “To them it was revealed, not to themselves but to us, that they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.” Here we have the revelation of the gospel through ministry. Ministry helps accomplish reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 18, it says “Now all things of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” The ability to minister is a gift from God. Acts 20 and verse 24, “None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” The ministry I received from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a gift from God. So I want to speak to you briefly about the understanding of ministry and spiritual gifts – gifts from God. Now there is a passage of, which speaks of spiritual gifts, in Romans chapter 12 verses 3 to 8 and in that passage, there is a special gift of ministering, of serving. And it’s the word diakonia. And so what this teaches us is that ministry is a gift rather than just a duty. It’s a gift. We’re privileged to minister. And also, when we see that these gifts are placed—the gift of service is placed alongside some of the other gifts such as prophecy and showing mercy and so forth, leading and giving, those are some of the other gifts mentioned in Romans chapter 12—what we are talking about is that God will gift us in ministry in certain ways. And now here we have the distinction. The term ‘ministry’ applies to everything that is done in service to Jesus. That’s the general use of the word. But there are particular manifestations of that ministry and that’s when the Holy Spirit leads us to do particular things. And that’s what this course is going to really be about from now onwards. We’re going to be looking at how the Holy Spirit will take the general ministry that is given to us and make it a specific and particular ministry into our lives [stutters] well, for other people, but ministry flows from us to them. And I want now to turn again please to Ephesians chapter 4 and verses 10 and 11, very, very important verses. So we get this idea absolutely right. Now in verses 10 and 11, it says “He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things.” Verse 11, “And He Himself,” Christ, that’s the risen Christ, “He Himself gave some to be apostles; He gave some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.” Okay. These are the ministries that most people think about when we talk about ministers. Okay. Now that’s, it’s right to acknowledge that these ministries exist because they are given by Christ to the church. But that is not the ministry; not really. Those gifts are given to the church to equip the body of Christ for the ministry. So it says in verse 12, these ministries are there for the equipping of the saints. Who are the saints? The few people selected by some individual as especially holy? No, no, no. That’s not the Bible teaching at all. Saints are all believers. Turn to the person next to you and say, “Hello saint.” There’s Saint Joan, there’s Saint Thomas. You are holy by faith in Jesus. That makes you a saint. This is speaking about believers. Okay saints; don’t have too much fellowship now. All right. “For the equipping of the saints.” What this really means is ordinary believers for the work of ministry, for the work of ministry; it’s a practical purpose to equip you practically for your ministry as a believer. Now there will be those under the sound of my voice here in this setting, in this Sword of the Spirit set, there will be also those watching on television, those listening to the audio cassettes, those watching the videos, and you know God has called you and separated you to be one of those—apostles or prophets and teachers and so forth. Let me remind you that your purpose in ministry is to equip the body of Christ for ministry. You exist for them. They don’t exist for you. You are there to serve them and equip them for ministry. And for all the others who may not be called to that special role of apostle or prophet, evangelist and so forth, not called to one of the fivefold ministries as a full time, whole life-consuming calling. You nevertheless have a ministry, a ministry that must not be neglected. And you must work in that ministry because you will be held accountable for that ministry. When you stand before Jesus in heaven, He will say, “What did you do with what I gave you?” And that ministry is the ministry of Jesus Christ. It’s doing what Jesus did. It includes the practical acts of service—feeding the hungry, which Jesus did; washing the feet, which Jesus did; caring for people practically, which Jesus did; touching people’s lives, helping them, speaking to them, blessing them, sharing with them, spending time with them, listening to them, all these things Jesus did as well as laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover, casting out demons in the name of Jesus Christ, doing all of these things. That’s ministry. So I want you to extend your understanding of ministry. It applies to all of these things, all of these things. And to be really flowing with the Holy Spirit, you will need to move in at some times in every one of the things I’ve just mentioned.
Okay. So let me summarize for you four principles that we’ve been looking at in this opening session to do with diakonos or diakonia ministry or serving. Number one, it’s more the work of ordinary saints than of apostles, pastors, prophets, teachers and so forth. Number two, it is the real purpose of the saints, real purpose of believers just as Jesus came to serve. Number three, it’s distinct from teaching, prophesying, pastoring, training. It’s distinct from those things. It can include them, but when you minister particularly, you find that it’s distinct from those things. In other words, it’s not just about preaching, teaching, and pastoring and so forth. It’s about all that you do in serving Jesus. Number four, it’s a general expression, a term for all of Christian service, but also there is an opportunity that the Holy Spirit gives you to minister particularly, so it’s for you. It’s for you in your life and in your experience. And so we will be looking at how to minister in the Holy Spirit, and we’ll be concentrating from here onwards probably more on the gifts of the Spirit that are found there in the book of Corinthians and how to minister in that. We’ll be looking at how you can be laying hands on the sick, ministering to the sick, how you can be setting people free from demons, how you can be speaking prophetic words of authority in people’s lives, how you can be releasing people from curses and hereditary bondages, how you can be counseling and touching people’s lives. But I gave you this opening session to make you understand that it’s not just about those highly charged, charismatic operations of the Holy Spirit. It includes that, thank God, but it includes everything that you do for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well that’s the introductory session and we’re going to pause right now, come to an end and then we’re going to come back for the next sessions when we’re going to go more deeply into ministry in the Holy Spirit. God bless you.
And that brings today’s teaching on Ministry in the Spirit to a close. I pray that over these programs, God has begun to show you what it means to minister for Him, to be a true servant of Jesus Christ, and to do so in the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Till next time, God bless you.