By Pastor Matt Black
12
November 2006
Lord's Day morning
Ephesians 2:10
Open your Bibles to Ephesians 2, and let’s read verses 1-10. The title of this morning’s message is “Fuel for Ministry”.
[Read Ephesians 2:1-10].
Main Text: Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Introduction: If God has something for you to do, then He’s going to be the driving force in your life to accomplish it. God’s ordained good works for you to do—but how do we know God’s working in and through us to will and to do of His good pleasure? I want to answer that for you this morning. What happens in salvation is God starts a fire in your soul. He regenerates you. He puts the warmth and fire of grace on a life that is lifeless and cold—dead in trespasses and sins. But He doesn’t stop there. He pours fuel on the fire.
Or think of it this way. What good is a race car without an engine? What good is a race car without fuel? It is good for nothing! It is good for a museum, but it will not win any races and is not worthy of displaying! God’s made you anew. You are a new creature in Christ Jesus. He’s made you to fulfill His purposes in this world, and He’s constantly fueling your spiritual life to function for Him. God’s got something for you to do—but how is that accomplished?
Outline: This morning’s outline is very simple:
So we come to our first point, and we know that God has something for us to do. He’s created us with a purpose and a design. Yet so often we find ourselves looking in the mirror saying—I can’t do it! That is why the first fuel that God gives us for ministry is ABILITY.
I. The fuel of Ability. Whatever God calls you to do, He gives you the ability to do. Jesus said, “without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).
You do not have what it takes to live right. You are bankrupt of ability, but God’s grace, His presence, and His promises are sufficient.
Look at our text again: Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
You are his workmanship—you are created anew by God in Christ, you are ordained to carry out a plan—a life of good fruit for God. You are specifically enabled to do a work for God.
In other words, whatever God creates you for and ordains you for, He EQUIPS you for!
Turn over to Psalm 138. God made you to do His work. He created you to accomplish His design in this world. David says in Psalm 138:8, “The LORD will perfect [accomplish] that which concerneth me”.
Listen, Whatever He’s planned for you, he plans to accomplish! He will accomplish it. As Philippians 2:13 says, it is God that works in you “both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” God’s designed you for a purpose, and He has designed to carry out His eternal purposes in and through your life.
God has called us and ordained us and equipped us to do good works. Do you know what works are? It’s another way of saying ministry! God has called you to do the good work of the ministry. You say, I’ve never considered myself called to the ministry.
A. God uses us according to His design. God formed you for the purpose of using you. We look again at our text. We are “His workmanship…created in Christ Jesus” and that He’s ordained “good works” for us to do. Look over at Ephesians 4:11-12, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…”
We are all called to the work of the ministry, and therefore we are all ministers.
B. God uses us according to the ability He supplies. What God calls you to do, He equips you to do! He give you the ability! Now according to Ephesians 4:12, you are an ordained minister of the Gospel! You are a minister, and God gives you the ability to accomplish His work for Him. Look over at 1 Peter 4:11. Peter writes, “…if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
We glorify God by resting in the power and ability of God to do the work He’s called us to do. God’s purposes for us are only accomplished in us as we rest on the ability that God supplies!
Illustration: Look over at 1 Corinthians 15:10. Paul the apostle understood this in His life. God called him to deliver the Gospel to the entire known world at that time. That’s a pretty monumental task. He knew He could not do that in his own finite strength. Look at 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
If God has “ordained” the works He wants to accomplish through us that we should “walk in them”, that means God is not only ordaining the specific events of our life, but He is also giving us the ability to live each of those events by the grace of God and for the glory of God.
What’s that mean? You CAN do anything God CALLS you to do! You can and you ought and you must do God’s will in your life!
God may not take away a broken heart, a sore back, a difficult spouse, but He will give you the ability to bear it!
II. Secondly, we must experience the power of Humility.
Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Look, it’s all God. He’s designed you, formed you, and ordained your functioning capacity. There ought to be no peacocks in the church strutting around as if they were the latest and the greatest thing. We ought to tackle every endeavor with humility. Why? If God designed you, formed you, and ordained your functioning capacity, then He can take it away. He can put you on the shelf, and He will. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble! Remember Saul was head and shoulders above the rest, and God used him until what? Until he got full of himself. The only way you will be used of God is if you know that you are expendable. You are not needed. You are secondary. God is primary. God uses only God-centered Christians. Why? Because God will share His glory with nobody! Every work you do, accomplish it by God’s grace knowing that without Him you can do NOTHING! It’s not about you or your ability. It’s all about Him, His plan, and His grace!
III. Thirdly, we see the fuel of Responsibility. “that we should walk in them”
Psalm 37:23-24, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. 24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”
God has overseen your creation, your salvation, the length of your life, and He has ordained every day that makes it up, from beginning to end. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord! Now what this means is that there is no luck, there is no chance, there is no fate; there are no mistakes on God’s part. He has crafted you. You are custom made for His purposes. He has “created you in Christ Jesus unto good works which [HE] hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, yet they are still his steps. He has appropriate them. The Lord has ordained the good works that we should walk in, yet we are responsible to make sure we are walking in them!!
Not Mysticism!
You may be here today thinking, well if God’s going to give me the ability to do what He calls me to do then I’m going to sit around waiting for that ability. Listen, if that is your philosophy, you’ll never accomplish anything for God. If you know God wants you to do something, you must obey. You must appropriate, or respond to God’s truth!!
A Showcasing of God’s abilities!
Many people look at ministry as a way of showcasing their gifts and abilities. Not so. You were not made for you. Put all your purposes and designs in file 13! The circular file is in need of use in your life.
Application: The reason you have major tensions in relationships, whether it is friendships or marriage, is because you want to make them like you. You want to make someone else in your image. People were not made for you. They were made for God! Or maybe you have the opposite problem. You want to be like someone else. You were not made for other people’s purposes. You are “His workmanship created in Christ Jesus” to do His work!! Every time you try to rearrange God’s custom design you create chaos in your life and in the lives of others!
Don’t try to live to other’s expectations! Live to God’s expectations! You are responsible for God’s expectations!!
You see, God custom made you for His design and purposes, for His good works, His ministry. Therefore to want to be anything else than that which God created and saved you to be is to want to be the wrong thing. You are uniquely crafted and designed to service the purposes of God. You’re not like any one else. He has “created you in Christ Jesus unto good works which [HE] hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
God didn’t make you for you, He made you with His purposes in mind.
You have a responsibility to appropriate God’s grace.
God’s grace is available, but you must appropriate it! That means if you just can’t get out of bed, you ask for God’s grace, and then you appropriate it by putting your feet on the ground, trusting Him for ability. That means if you don’t want to face work, or child rearing, or some responsibility that you didn’t ask for but got stuck with, you need to ask for God’s grace, and then appropriate it by putting your hands to the task. God’s ability can only flow through your response to Him. Without response, you quench the grace of God.
How do we appropriate?
1. It is your responsibility to have the Correct Locality
A “C” battery is not going to power a car!
A car battery will NOT fit in an IPOD.
A finger is very helpful on the hand, but put it in the center of your forehead, and it becomes a distraction.
An engine is great if it is in the right place, like under the hood of a car, but put it on my desk, and it’s in the wrong place!
To use another illustration, you cannot run track with steel toed boots on. There’s nothing wrong with steel-toed boots, but they must be used in the right function. You need to have track shoes to run track.
Maybe you are in an unfulfilled life this morning because your locality is not right. You are working hard, but you are working in the wrong place. I’ve not talking about your occupation, but your calling to function in the Body of Christ. God’s got something for you to do, and if you are not in the right locality, you’re not happy. You might be working hard, but you are not fulfilled.
2. It is your responsibility to have the Correct Functionality
You need to be in a place where God can use you! You need to commit to specific responsibilities in the church.
If you stop using something, it will atrophy. Atrophy means it starts to break down. So, if you don’t use a house—nobody lives in it for years—it will atrophy. The pipes will begin to break. The dampness will begin to set in. There’s no climate control—and it begins to deteriorate.
If you stop using your mind, you will atrophy and die. Many times a spouse will die, and soon after the other will die. What happens? They lose their will to function. They die from literally not functioning.
Maybe you’ve stopped functioning correctly. Your spiritual life is suffering atrophy because of lack of use. The quickest way to heal depression, anger, and negativity in your life, is to start seeing God work in and through you.
IV. The fuel of Accountability.
Your ministry is God’s work in and through you from beginning to end. God is your sovereign—He’s the one in charge—He’s the Judge of all the earth to whom you will give account.
Turn over to Matthew 7:21-23. We are going to give an account. True faith will result in you doing the will of the Father. You were created in Christ to do the work of the ministry. His ministry of reconciliation. Lots of people say they’re doing the work of the Lord. But look at Matthew 7:21: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
You see, when it is all over, God’s going to inspect your life from beginning to end. If Christ is the author and finisher of your faith, then it will look like Christ given and Christ sustained faith. James said, “Faith without works is dead.” You cannot have God as the source of your faith unless there is God’s fruit coming through your life.
V. All of this ends up in our Dependability. Our identity becomes intertwined with our service for God. We become known as dependable faithful servants for God. We become not simply consumers but providers for spiritual needs in the congregation.
Conclusion: We love to quote that verse in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” So many of us seek first all these things, and then the Kingdom of God. You see, God did not make you primarily to raise a family. That’s a good thing, but that’s not what you are here for. Some of you act like you are here to work a job. God didn’t make you to work a job. That’s a good thing, but that’s not what you’re here for. Seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God! You are here to do a work for God’s Kingdom, and your family, your job, your everything is to be a tool for getting God’s Kingdom established in all the world!
Next week, we are going to have a ministry and service questionnaire. I want you all to pray about what God would have you to do.
Closing Hymn: 374 Be Thou My Vision