THE APPRENTICE
MINISTRY AND SERVICE
DR. JIM DIXON
EPHESIANS 4:10-13
OCTOBER 15, 2006
I want to tell you a story that may or may not be true. I have read the story in a number of books, secular history books and religious history books, but I also know that the story is sometimes disputed. The setting for the story is the South Atlantic Ocean and the year is 1891. The story concerns a whaling vessel that was called the Star of the East. This whaling vessel was in the South Atlantic and they came upon a giant sperm whale. This whale was eighty feet long and it weighed more than 150 metric tons. The captain ordered that two boats be sent out with harpooners and these two boats went out with the harpooners seeking to kill the whale. The whale came up underneath one of the boats and just lifted the boat up into the air. The harpooners capsized. There was a scramble to make sure everybody was safe and one man, a man named James Bartley was not found. They could not find him. In desperation they sought to save his life, but he just disappeared at sea.
The whale was killed and brought alongside the Star of the East and in the course of time brought up onto the deck. The following morning, they opened up the whale, and as they opened up the whale, you know what they found? They found James Bartley, and he was alive. He was alive but he was bleached white. His skin turned white from the acid in the whale’s stomach. According to many reports he lived another nine years. He died in the year 1900, and for those nine years he traveled around the world and he spoke. He was always billed as “The Second Jonah.” I do not know whether that story is entirely true, but I do know this: James Bartley was nothing like Jonah.
Jonah was a prophet of God. Jonah lived in Joppa in the land of Israel. Today Joppa is a suburb of Tel Aviv. Of course, God came to Jonah and had a ministry for him, had an act of service he wanted Jonah to render. What God wanted was for Jonah to go to Nineveh, which was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and to minister to those people, warning them that their lives were displeasing to God and they were living in rebellion against God and that they needed to repent and that if they did not change judgement was going to fall upon their city and their empire. Jonah did not want to go. He did not want to render this ministry. He did not want to render this service. He hated the Assyrians. He did not like the people of Nineveh and in truth he would just as soon that they would all be condemned.
Jonah took the wrong boat out of Joppa, and he headed for Tarshish. You know the story. You know how he was thrown overboard, how he was swallowed up by a great fish and how he was ultimately tossed ashore. He came to his senses and he realized he had better do what God had told him to do. And he went and he ministered to Nineveh, and he did it reluctantly. In fact, today oftentimes people refer to Jonah as the “reluctant prophet,” the “reluctant minister,” the “reluctant servant.”
I think many people today in the church of Jesus Christ are like Jonah. I think there are a lot of reluctant servants. I think there are a lot of reluctant ministers. I think there are a lot of people in Christian churches who are running away, running away from ministry and from service and the things that God wants them to do. But we are apprentices of Jesus Christ. We are His disciples, and He has called us into ministry and service. If we take the name of Christ, if we call ourselves Christians, then we need to be servant-hearted people who enter into ministry. So Christ is seeking to grow us together. He is seeking to grow all of us that we might become increasingly servant-hearted and that we might enter increasingly into ministry.
This morning I have two teachings and the first teaching is this: Through your service, the church of Jesus Christ is built. This is a simple teaching and yet very powerful if you believe it and submit to it. Through your service, the church of Jesus Christ is built.
In the year 306 AD, Constantine ascended the throne of the Roman Empire. In the year 312, Constantine had his alleged vision of Jesus Christ and the cross. In the year 314, Constantine signed the Edict of Milan and Christianity was made legal. Freedom of religion was granted and for the first time in the Roman world and the Roman Empire it was legal to become a Christian. This changed everything for Christians. It was a whole new world, a whole new opportunity.
In the year 325 AD, Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea, and Orthodox Christianity was more clearly defined. In the year 330, Constantine moved the capital of the Empire from Rome to the city of Byzantium, and he renamed it Constantinople. In the year 337, Constantine the Great was baptized into the Christian faith on his deathbed but he kind of changed the Christian world. And through Constantine, as he began to build churches and as Christians began to be empowered, Christians began to dominate the Western world. In the aftermath of Constantine, we saw Christianity grow to dominate nations and to seek control over the Western world. In fact, for 1,500 years after the death of Constantine, we see Christianity rising over societal institutions, over earthly governments and nations. During the time of the Holy Roman Empire, the church of Jesus Christ had power to raise up nations or cast them down. During the Holy Roman Empire, the church of Jesus Christ had power to appoint kings or to remove them. It was called Christendom. And of course, things are different today.
Today there are some Christians who wish we could go back and do it all over again. Today there are some Christians who wish the church of Jesus Christ could kind of run the Western world again (or maybe the whole world). There are some Christians today who would like Christianity and the church to control societal institutions, earthly governments and nations, and seek control over the world. But it was never meant to be. From a biblical standpoint, it was all misguided.
It is true that one day Jesus Christ is going to come again, and He will judge the nations. But until that day, in this time, in this age, the church of Jesus Christ is not called to control the world. Isn’t that a bummer? Christians really are not biblically called to control the world. In fact, Jesus said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight. But My kingdom is not of this world.”
So what then are we as Christians to be doing? What should be our primary focus? If we are not out controlling the world, what is our primary purpose? The Bible’s answer is very clear. Our purpose is to serve and build the church of Jesus Christ. If you are His apprentice, if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, this should be your primary focus: To serve and build the church of Jesus Christ. And the Bible makes this clear in many, many passages. We are not thinking of the church of Jesus Christ narrowly. We are not just talking about the local church. We are certainly not talking about buildings. Certainly, churches use buildings, but the church consists of the followers of Christ, wherever they are. The word for church in the Bible is the Greek word “ecclesia.” This word means “assembly,” and the church exists wherever Christians assemble. When you get together with other Christians in your home to assemble, that is the church. When you get together with other Christians at work, that is the church.
On Monday morning I had a Board Meeting for Valor High School. And Valor High School is an expression of the church. The students who will go there, the Christians who assemble there, they are a manifestation of the church. The Christian teachers who will teach there are the church. Friday all day I was in a Board Meeting for Colorado Christian University. And Colorado Christian University is an extension and an expression of the church. The students at Colorado Christian University assemble and they are the church. The teachers assemble and they are the church.
Oftentimes in the Christian world today you see this distinction between church and parachurch ministries. It is a false distinction. It is all part of the church and our purpose as the apprentices of Christ, as His disciples, is to serve and to build the church. So in Ephesians, chapter 4, in our passage of scripture for today, Paul says that “In the church, Christ has appointed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.” That is my purpose under God, under Christ, to equip the saints for the work of ministry that we might all serve together in the building up of the church of Jesus Christ. So you have Romans, chapter 12, and 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, and these passages tell us that God has given us all gifts and they are all to be used in service of each other and in service of Christ and in service of the church. This is our great call. The power of the Holy Spirit is released through our ministry and service. God brings the increase to the church as we give our time, talent, and treasure to His service.
In Matthew 16, we have the statement of Jesus Christ, “I will build My church, and the powers of hell will not prevail against it.” “For this He was born. For this He came into the world, that He might build His church.” And we now, as His disciples, are tied to this purpose. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, we are clearly warned that if we do anything that hurts the church, we invite judgement upon ourselves because the church is the Body of Christ. It is His temple in which He dwells, so we are warned not to do anything to hurt or damage the church.
In 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, we see mentioned the household of Stephanas. I think it is true that most Christians do not read the last chapter of any book. 1 Corinthians 16 is the last chapter. I think most Christians just kind of skip that—a lot of farewells and different people named. So most people do not read it, but there is interesting stuff there. In 1 Corinthians 16, the household of Stephanas is mentioned and we are told that the household of Stephanas had devoted itself to the service of the church. And then Paul says, “Honor all those who do this who are devoted to the service of the church.” The word for devoted in the Greek is “tasso,” which literally means, “addicted.” In the King James Version, it is actually rendered that way, that the household of Stephanas is addicted to the service of the church and therefore honor them. You see, there is something that God does want you to be addicted to, and it is the service of the church. So, this is the call that is upon Christ’s people, but of course it is hard to motivate Christians to actually enter into service and ministry.
In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II issued a papal bull called “The Incarnationis Mysterium.” This papal bull, this directive, The Incarnationis Mysterium, declared a kind of semi-indulgence, a gift of God’s grace that would be given to every Christian who would make pilgrimage either to Rome or to Jerusalem and the Holy sites, and a semi-indulgent and special expression of God’s grace to every Christian who would give to the cause of Christ in the world and to every Christian, particularly every Catholic, who would roll up their shirtsleeves and minister and serve for the sake of the church. This papal bull was kind of controversial because it reminded a lot of folks of Julius II who, centuries before, had sold indulgences and declared time off from purgatory for all those people who would give. Of course, he was trying to raise money to build St. Peter’s Basilica. That was part of what prompted the Protestant Reformation, or the Protestant Protest, and Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg.
Of course, even though there is controversy surrounding these things, there is also understanding and sympathy. I can sympathize with Pope John Paul II (who was a great Pope) and even with Julius II, because they were just trying to motivate people. They were trying to motivate people to get them to serve, to get them to give. Of course, that is not always easy.
In Matthew, chapter 21, verses 28 through 32, we have the Parable of the Two Sons. This was just a short parable that Jesus told. Jesus said that there was a man who had two sons and he sent them both into his vineyard saying, “Go work in my vineyard.” The first son said, “No!” and he stomped off but later he did go and work in the vineyard. Jesus said the second son said, “I go, sir. I’ll do it.” And then he didn’t do it. Then Jesus posed this question, “Who did the will of his father?” It was the first son who went reluctantly to serve but at least he served.
I would love it if we all served and ministered out of love for each other and out of love for Christ and if we all served and we all ministered out of joy and gratitude and overflowing appreciation. But what Jesus is telling us is even if you do it reluctantly, it is better than not doing it at all. Jesus calls His people into ministry and service and through that ministry and service the church of Jesus Christ is built.
Today, in London, England, a mosque is being built and it will be the largest Islamic mosque in the world. Inside of its worship center it will seat 70,000 people. This mosque in London is to be completed by the year 2012 when the Olympics are held in London. This mosque is being built right next to the new Olympic Stadium which is also being built. The mosque, which is called “Markaz,” is being built by an Islamic group called the Jama’a Nusrat. The Jama’a Nusrat, according to the FBI, is kind of a training ground for Al-Qaeda operatives. According to the French Secret Services, the Jama’a Nusrat is actually an ante-chamber for radical Islamic Fundamentalists and the money is all coming out of Saudi Arabia where many terrorists find their genesis.
The irony is that the new Olympic Stadium which is right next to this mosque (and both are being built at the same time), to build this new stadium they tore down a Christian church. They tore down a Christian church which was called the Kingsway International Christian Center and at one time it was the largest church in Europe. A magazine called The Week, which is a secular publication, kind of pointed out the irony of all this just this last week—that the largest mosque in the world is being built in London and what was the largest church in Europe being torn down. It is a changing world.
Islam is growing rapidly in Europe. With regard to Christianity, there are pockets of revival, but over the last hundred years Christianity has been in decline in Europe. Of course, there are parts of the world where Christianity is certainly growing. This is true in Africa, true in South America and true in parts of Asia, as Billy Kim shared so powerfully with us last week. Christianity is growing and there are, nominally speaking, 2.2 billion Christians in the world, a third of the world’s population.
I can tell you this: Wherever Christianity is in decline, Christians are not serving and wherever Christianity is growing and booming, Christians are ministering and serving because this is what we are taught in the Word of God, that through the service of the saints, the church of Jesus Christ is built. It is tied to you. It is upon you. This church is only going to be as strong as your willingness to serve. If we are not a congregation mobilized in ministry and service, this church will never be all that Christ wants it to be. It is all about service.
There is a second teaching this morning, a final teaching, and it too is simple. The second teaching is this: Through your ministry, through your service, you attain greatness. This is what Jesus tells His apprentices. This is what Jesus tells His disciples. If you want to be great, if you want to be truly great, then you must become a servant. You must minister.
I know all of you have heard of Spartacus. Spartacus was perhaps the most famous gladiator in Roman history. Spartacus was born in the region of Thrace, north of Greece, and he was, as a young man, powerful and strong and he was a great leader of men. Spartacus joined the Roman Legions, he joined the Roman Armies, and he rose. But for a diversity of reasons he defected, and he left. Roman authorities apprehended him and then forced him into gladiator training, and he became the most famous gladiator in the Roman world.
In the year 73 BC, Spartacus escaped, and he was angry at Rome. His leadership gifts were so strong that slaves throughout the Roman world fled to him, and he gathered an army of 70,000 to 100,000 men. The numbers vary depending on the history book you are reading but they all agree on this: He gathered this vast army, and he trained them in the region of Mt. Vesuvius. Then for three years—73BC, 72BC, 71BC—he fought battles with Rome, and he defeated many Roman armies. Finally, of course, Spartacus himself was cast down by Marcus Licinius Crassus and he died. But the word “slave” continued to be a hated word throughout the Roman world. Even when you came to the birth of Christ and began to move into the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd centuries AD when slaves were better treated, still the word slave was a despised word. Nobody wanted to be called a slave.
In the Hellenized world the word for slave was the word “doulos.” The amazing thing is that Jesus took this word and changed everything. Jesus turned the world upside down. He just kind of put the world on its head. He took the word “slave,” and he made it a noble word and He used it as a descriptive of Himself. He used it to describe His will for His people.
So you go through the Bible, and you see Peter and Paul. What do they call themselves? Slaves. Doulos. Slaves of Jesus Christ. The Greek word, the Hellenized word for servant was “diakonos,” and “konos,” in terms of its derivation, probably means “dust,” although it might mean, “trouble.” So diakonos would be “through dust” or “through trouble,” but a servant was somebody willing to get their hands dirty or willing to be troubled. Diakonos. This word was hated. The Romans hated this word. The Greeks hated this word. The whole Hellenized world hated this word diakonos. And again, the Bible gives the word nobility, and we are told to be diakonos. We are told to be servants of one another, and we are called to be servants of God.
The word deacon comes from this word diakonos. I was talking with Billy Kim a week ago Friday and Billy told me that in his church they have 2,500 deacons. Incredible! But in a sense every Christian is called to be a deacon because we are all called to this word diakonos. We are all called to be servants and we are all called into ministry. What was true of the Greek language was also true of Latin. Jesus and the early church just turned the world on its head.
So, in the Roman world, in the Latin-speaking world, the most honored word was the word “magister.” What did magister mean? Magister meant “master.” Everybody wanted to be a master. Everybody wanted to be magister. Of course, magister came from the Latin word “major” which meant “great.” Everybody wanted to be great. Of course, the hated word was “minister.” Minister was the opposite of magister, and minister did not mean master. Minister meant “servant” and it came from the word “minor,” which meant “small,” and nobody wanted to be small.
So, what did Jesus do? He just turned it all around. He called us all to be ministers, not magister. So, you have Matthew, chapter 20, and in Matthew, chapter 20, Jesus calls the disciples to Himself, and Jesus said, “You know how the rulers of the Gentiles like to Lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so amongst you. He who would be greatest among you must be your servant, and he who would be first among you must be your slave.” Diakonos. Doulos. Jesus turned it all around. If you want to be great, Jesus said, serve. If you want to be great, minister, because in His sight that is what greatness is.
I have always hated the term “megachurch.” In this modern day, ecclesiologists sometimes speak of certain churches as “megachurches.” They call large churches “megachurches.” It seems kind of proud or arrogant or something, but it comes from the word “megas,” which Jesus uses in Matthew 20. Megas is the word for “great.” Jesus is saying if you want to be really great, really megas, then be a servant. I would love us to be a megachurch in that sense. Wouldn’t you? Just a church filled with servants, ministers every one of us. That is the call of Christ, and of course, that is His desire for us.
I have had a few people from time to time who come up to me and they say, “Jim, why aren’t you wearing a robe? Aren’t you clergy? Don’t clergy wear robes?” Of course, it is true that some clergy wear robes. It is also true that at one time I wore a robe. Our church is 25 years old and for the first seven years I did wear a robe and I liked it. I liked wearing a robe for a number of reasons. First of all, you could gain weight and you still looked okay. Secondly, you did not have to worry about a wardrobe. You just put your robe on. And thirdly I thought some robes kind of looked cool.
But then people began to come up to me about seven years after the church started and they said, “Jim, why are you wearing a robe? It seems elitist. It seems like you’re elevating the clergy above the laity.” Etymologically the clergy comes from a Latin word meaning, “learned” or “educated” because only the clergy were educated back then. The word laity comes from a Greek word which simply means, “the people.” You do not want to elevate the clergy above the people, and so I quit wearing a robe. I am not sure I really bought the argument, but I quit wearing a robe. I do know this: We are all equals, and we are all servants, and we are all called to ministry. There is no difference.
Sometimes in some parts of the world, clergy are called ministers. Is that not true? In many parts of the world, clergy are called ministers. That is kind of ironic because in the Bible the opposite is true. The laity are called ministers. And so in our passage of scripture in Ephesians 4, “In the church Christ has appointed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.” You are called ministers, and you are called to the ministry. This is the key to everything, and it is also the key to greatness.
I want to tell you a little story about a guy named Stephen Palmer. Stephen Palmer, in the year 1886, was walking down the street in Newberg, Oregon where he lived. He was 24 years old, a young man and a Christian. He wanted to serve, and he wanted to minister. He was walking down the street and he ran into four kids, four boys who were playing. Stephen thought, “Maybe I can recruit these four kids to be in a Sunday school class with me and I could kind of serve them and minister to them.” He asked these kids if they would do this and they said, ”Sure,” because Stephen looked kind of cool and he was a big young man. Then Stephen Palmer went to the local church, and he asked if he could start a new Sunday school class and that he had recruited four kids. They said, “Sure,” and so he did that, and the four kids all accepted Christ.
In the year 1932, Stephen Palmer was 70 years old. It was his birthday and he got letters from those four kids that he had recruited when he was young. One of the four kids had become a missionary to China. Another one of the four kids had become the head of the Federal Reserve Bank and then the President of the Federal Reserve Bank. Another one of the kids had become the personal secretary to Herbert Hoover, and the fourth kid WAS Herbert Hoover, President of the United States. You never know who is in your Sunday school class, right? That is one of the cool deals. You just do not know who you have in your class and what they are going to become. It is exciting to serve them, to minister to them.
I suppose in the eyes of the world those four kids attained greatness, but in the eyes of God it was Stephen Palmer that was really great because he served and he ministered. And that is what we are called to. Certainly, the missionary served and ministered, and I am sure they all did, but you understand that greatness is tied to service. When you teach Sunday School or when you sing in the choir or when you lead a small group or when you help with our student ministries or when you go into the inner city and you tutor one of those children through our inner-city churches… When you do anything for the cause of Christ, in the sight of Christ you are moving toward greatness. He wants His people to understand this.
There is a story I want to conclude with, and it concerns Robert Moffat, who is one of my favorite people in Christian history. In fact, as the choir sang its song today about an offering and about presenting ourselves as an offering to God, I thought, “How appropriate because of Robert Moffat.”
Robert Moffat was a pioneer missionary to Africa, one of the greatest missionaries this world has ever seen. It was Robert Moffat who translated the New Testament into African languages and it was Robert Moffat who translated the Old Testament into many African languages and dialects. Moffat did the same with some of the great hymns of the faith. He translated them. He did the same with some of the classics, like Pilgrim’s Progress. He translated them so the African peoples could read them. He led countless people to Christ, and it was Robert Moffat who motivated David Livingstone to become a missionary to Africa. Robert Moffat was on leave back in his native Scotland speaking at a little church. He told them how many times he would climb up in the early evening to the top of the hill and he would look out on the African continent, and he could see the smoke and the lights of a thousand villages, none of which had heard the name of Jesus Christ. When David Livingstone heard that, he felt the call of God to be a missionary. Of course, Moffat’s daughter Mary married David Livingstone. Robert Moffat was just an amazing man.
It all began for Robert Moffat when he was 11 years old and he was in a church in Scotland. This was in the year 1806. Robert Moffat was Bobby Moffat. He was 11 years old, and the offering was being taken. I think you know the story of how Bobby Moffat took the offering plate and he set in down in the aisle and stepped into it. The usher said, “Bobby, what are you doing?” He said, “I’m giving my whole self to God.” Isn’t that cool? So he stepped into the offering plate and his life was never the same.
In the year 1872, Edinburgh University gave him an Honorary Doctorate. They deemed that he had become great. But in the sight of God, he became great the moment he stepped into the offering plate and said, “I’m offering my whole self to God.”
So how about you? Have you ever stepped into the offering plate? Have you stepped into that plate and offered your whole self to God? We are apprentices of Jesus Christ. We are His disciples, and He wants us to serve Him. We are busy. We have busy lives. The Western world is kind of crazy, but our primary focus should be serving the church, that the church of Jesus Christ might grow and thereby we become great.
After we close in prayer, Mark is going to share with you just a little bit about how you can discover more with regard to opportunities to serve. But let us look to the Lord with a word of prayer.