Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20061231.htm

NEW YEAR'S EVE SPECIAL: TAKING GOD'S CHRISTIAN MINISTRY APPRAISAL
(Luke 12:42-46 et al.)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Since today, December 31, 2006, is New Year's Eve Sunday, typical of the practice in our culture that tends to become introspective and make "New Year's resolutions", it is wise for us to stop today as we really ought to do throughout the year to evaluate the direction of our Christian lives, and to make needed adjustments to please God.

After all, as the Apostle Paul noted, following the rapture of the Church when we believers are taken to heaven by God, we will all give an account at Christ's Judgment Seat (the New Testament Greek word for it is "bema") for the quality of the workmanship of our spiritual service as Christians, cf. 2 Corinthians 5:10! Now, no Christian will stand before Christ's "Great White Throne" judgment to see if he will go to heaven. No, that latter judgment is only for the unsaved (cf. Revelation 20:11-15), but we Christians will have the quality of our works as believers judged at Christ's "Bema" seat mentioned in passages like 2 Corinthians 5:10 and receive reward or the lack of reward for that service.

Thus, in view of our coming accountability, we Christians with Paul should "labor that . . . we may be accepted of him," 2 Corinthians 5:9.



We may then ask, "Since I as a believer will one day stand before the Lord to give an account of my life and ministry unto Him, HOW may I KNOW whether He NOW approves of my service so that I can TODAY make any needed adjustments?!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Since I will give an account for my Christian life at Christ's Bema Seat' and I wish to appraise it this New Year's Eve Sunday to adjust if need be, WHAT does God expect from ME TODAY?!"
  1. The MINISTRY God gives to EVERY believer is INVOLVEMENT in MAKING DISCIPLES for Jesus Christ, Matt. 28:18-20a NIV.
  2. Now, the SPECIFIC TASK God assigns to the believer DIFFERS from that of every OTHER believer due to God's ASSIGNMENT and SPIRITUAL ENABLING for service, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.
  3. Also, every believer's work requires him to FOLLOW and RELY on CHRIST to serve Him WELL, Matthew 28:20b; Romans 8:3-4.
  4. Yet, for OUR ERA, there is a WRONG WAY and a RIGHT WAY for EACH of us to serve the Lord (as described as follows):
    1. In a past lesson on Revelation 3:21-22, we found that to "overcome" in our era of Church History as Christ did (Rev. 3:21) is to function well in cases illustrated by the parable Jesus gave in Luke 12:41-48!
    2. That parable shows the wrong way for US to disciple today follows:
      1. Christ does NOT want us to forget our accountability to Him lest it lead us to oppress disciples with legalistic pressure, Luke 12:45a,b:
        1. The errant beating of the master's slaves in Luke 12:45b arises from the steward's lack of a sense of accountability to his master, for these are the master's slaves, not the steward's!
        2. Thus, Christ wants us to recall our disciples belong to God, not us, so we are not legalistically to oppress them, Romans 14:4.
      2. Christ does NOT want us to forget our accountability to Him lest it lead us to indulge our lusts versus doing His will, Luke 12:45a,c:
        1. As the bad steward's failure to recall his accountability to his master leads to his eating and drinking in place of sensible job performance, his accountability lack may lead the steward to indulge in his sinful lusts, Luke 12:45a,c with 1 John 2:15-16.
        2. Thus, Christ does not want us to forget that we will give an account to him, and that we are thus expected not to indulge our (worldly) lusts of pride, the flesh and the eyes in ministry, but to heed our Lord's Scripture commands of service unto Him!
    3. That parable also shows the right way for US to disciple today:
      1. Christ DESIRES that we recall we will give an account to Him (Luke 12:45a) so as to stay faithful in our assignment, 12:42a.
      2. Christ DESIRES that we recall we will give an account to Him (Luke 12:45a) so as to make the most of the opportunities we have even in very trying circumstances of service, Lk. 12:42b with 16:8:
        1. The word "wise" (phronimos in the Greek New Testament) in Luke 12:42b exists in Luke's writings elsewhere only at Luke 16:8 (Moult. and Mill., Concordance to the Greek Test., p. 995).
        2. There, it describes a steward who "shrewdly" (NIV) makes the most of the opportunities he had in a bad situation to prepare for the future (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Luke 16:8).
        3. Hence, even if facing bad situations, God expects us to do our best in serving Him with what opportunities we have in view of our coming reward from Him for doing so!
      3. Christ DESIRES that we recall we will give an account to Him (Luke 12:45a) that we disciple others regularly with great patience and careful instruction, Luke 12:42c; 2 Timothy 4:1-2:
        1. Luke 12:42c NIV reveals the good steward gives to his lord's household "their food allowance at the proper time."
        2. This implies a regularity of function in CONTRAST to the selfish, oppressive activity of the bad steward in Luke 12:45.
        3. Paul asserts in 2 Timothy 4:1-2 (NIV) that this regularity ("in season, out of season" of 4:2) is to be accompanied by great patience and careful instruction of the expounded Word.
    4. For guidance in this discipling process, God signals His approval by supplying us disciplers with personal satisfaction and blessing (2 Tim. 2:6) and also expanding our discipling influence (Luke 12:43-44).
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ to become a true Christian, John 3:16. (2) Then, may we disciple those God assigns us (a) in His power (b) with a sense of our coming accountability to Christ so that we (c) avoid legalistically oppressing disciples or indulging our lusts at their expense, but (d) faithfully doing (e) our best for God's reward under even severe trials, we (f) patiently with (g) careful instruction DISCIPLE. (f) We will see God's approval as He rewards our efforts and extends our influence!

Lesson: In view of our accountability to Christ at His Judgment Seat, we at NEPAUG CHURCH in OUR era are to DISCIPLE those God assigns us in the TASK He gives us NOT with LEGALISTIC OPPRESSION or FEEDING our LUSTS, but, doing our BEST for God's REWARD under even SEVERE trials, FAITHFULLY to give out His TRUTH with all PATIENCE and CAREFUL INSTRUCTION. In so doing, God will show His approval by encouraging us in the effort and extending our influence so we can be confident we will face Christ's Judgment Seat with JOY!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

In keeping with the Biblical prophecy for us that is found in Revelation 3:21, the Lord applied this message in my life right as I had typed up its first draft, and here is how it all happened:

Since we have had two missionaries minister in our Sunday services this month of December, 2006, and Christmas Caroling and the Christmas Eve services were both on Sunday evenings in place of the regular service times, I had an unusually large amount of extra time in December to prepare lessons, and so worked ahead on my sermons. Thus, I typed up the first draft of this message back on December 15th!

Well, while having just typed up the first draft of this message and while it was still on the computer monitor, a phone call came in from a believer who needed to speak with me for advice on a crisis in his life. In the process, the Lord allowed me to apply this sermon for blessing: (a) First, this believer noted God had directed him to repent in an area of endeavor in his life! In so doing, he said he felt very guilty for his need to make this repentance! Well, I had just been reminded in preparing these sermon notes that Christ wants us in our era at Nepaug Church not legalistically to oppress disciples, so I dared not add to his guilt, but replied that no Christian is perfect in his life, but that his decision to make the correction in his life was a very good thing! To encourage him further, I testified of similar failures that I had experienced in my own life, and of my own need to have repented as well! (b) Relieved, this member expressed his appreciation for my ministry, and I immediately realized as he spoke from recalling these sermon notes that Christ was thus encouraging me through this appreciation that I was properly not adding false guilt to this believer!

When the phone call ended, I was full of joy! By understanding and applying the Biblical truth relative to this very incident, I knew through God's experiential "signal" that this discipling effort in this incident would be rewarded at Christ's "Bema" seat! Accordingly, as 1 John 4:17 puts it, I could "have boldness in the day of judgment" before the Lord regarding this incident! [I typed up this report right after the event had happened for your instruction and edification!]

So, may we heed the directive of Luke 12:42-46 so that we may have confident JOY in our ministries that what we are doing in 2007 will meet Christ's APPROVAL at His Judgment Seat! Then, may we obediently serve the Lord with JOY in 2007!