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May 11, 2021 4:00 am
Can be challenging to serve as a past church part of your responsibility is to follow the example of Jesus to reflect his character and today on Truth for Life. Alastair beg describes the qualities that should be evident as part of a Christ shaped ministry were in Matthew chapter 12. Thirdly, and this is really how we were trying to get the servant acts not only in dependence upon God and in accordance with his mission, but in keeping with his character.
If you notice that were told what he doesn't do build my servant who doesn't. He will not he will not and what is this servant the great servant of the Lord. What we notice about. Remember Isaiah with what all of these proud characters, Cyrus and the rest with big trumpets is aware and big egos. In contrast to that this servant of the Lord will not cry aloud.
He doesn't draw attention to himself. I think probably the point. There is that he will not dominate the conversation by trying to talk over everybody. The way the sellers are tempted to do, he will not make his voice heard in the street quite staggering as to imagine what it was like to be there when Christ was moving in the lungs.
The crowd, the people that are said which one is no special role no large chair, going about his business who touched me, Jesus who touched you. Have you seen the crowd, but he knew that going out from it. He was the servant of the Lord. He didn't make his voice heard in the street. He'd already in the sermon regarding the sermon on the Mount remember he has warned the people who are who are listening to them in that mountain discourse. He says you know you don't want to be like these Pharisees who love to stand and pray at the street corners quotes that they may be seen by others. The ministry of the Lord Jesus, and thereby a Christ shaped ministry is not about putting ourselves forward, shouting, talking people down. Not if it's going to be Christ shaped very hard for me to imagine Jesus tweeting. I'm sorry I know you're a lot of twits here tweeting. I know you do is partly because I'm old and cold and settled in my ways at I mean nothing bad by it, but I can imagine Jesus coming to the end of a dancing to Peter and the rational items you put some of this up on Facebook not give either the people they would love to see this to me to be very very impressed with is hard to imagine. It never happened. The beginning of the gospel of Mark. The encounter with the demons the transformation of people's lives. The crowd gathering in the evening Bloom.
He is absent in the morning they come to look for him essentially to see. Last night was fantastic. We should just really keep this going were off to a flying start. Jesus is not were going to go to some of the other villages that I may preach there also for that is why I came in dependence upon God in fulfillment of his mission and in keeping with his character. The ministry of Jesus was devoid of quarreling, even when these Pharisees are given in the business. He withdraws some of is a rather pugilistic by nature should be aware of that his ministry was quiet.
It was unthreatening.
It was unassuming and it was not tall like Cyrus or Nebuchadnezzar to inherit all of those were insecure tyrants who insisted on their own way and you said about to intimidate those who are around know. In contrast, the servant deals gently with the week and with the helpless, gently Jesus reaction. Matthew is already recorded back in chapter 9's reaction to the crowd when he saw the crowd. He was moved with compassion because they were harassed and they were helpless and they were so clearly like sheep without a shepherd. Much against the run of play.
My wife came home from the pound with the cat that CAD has now produced for more. My life is spinning out of control.
But as I was shutting things down last night before I went to bed I noticed that this was this little cat had the four little kittens all completely nestled into her chest. She laid out on the on the back porch wonderful picture very can a feminine picture. Can you. First Thessalonians picture we were gentle among you as a mother with her children is an with her chicks as Christ with the harassed and helpless and then I'm so glad I have a couple of illustrations in here after the previous talk, whether in the text you see, you don't have to reach for these.
We've got a bruise reason we got a smoking wick wonderful these these readings were plentiful, they grew, they were inexpensive. It was natural for them if they were a tall, tarnished, just to be discarded after all they were so easy to replace. The picture is that if you like a type a kind of calm in place of insignificance.
The kind of thing that is disposable like a polystyrene cup from a coffee shop bruise dreams. We may like the church in Corinth yellow bit like that.
Consider your calling, brethren know many of your mighty many of you are noble.
Many of you are from the top echelon. Most of you are like a bunch of bruised REITs.
As far as I could see.
And while I'm mentioning that says Paul, I'm the biggest bruise readable as you remember when I came in here writing come in here blowing a trumpet know I came in here in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, strange, strange thing about this all this is that Jesus does not discard the bruised and the broken in the economy of God in the mission of Jesus. There are a few like no hopeless cases we're probably tempted to give up on people much sooner than does Jesus bruise reads and then smoldering wicks smoldering wicker smoldering flax he doesn't break the reason they won't quench the week. I don't know if you have a fireplace or if you try and do these things I remember from camp that you know you get them going on the distant far too much smoke and not enough light and somebody says this is a waste of time.
Snuff it out and get rid of it and will get another one when he comes across that this servant of God, he does not do that we may be tempted to do that which is why we think about what it would be like to have a Christ shaped ministry. Consider the time and the patient's and the pain and the love that is involved in making something like this useful, useful is that it is not as doesn't discard, but he actually does something in the 60s he used to sing in the in the in the in the student population of the world used to sing that song that he gave me beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for spirit of heaviness I'm searching for the words never went like this all I had to offer him was brokenness and strife and he made something beautiful out of my life, brethren, unless our congregations are prepared to admit that on our best day. We are a congregation of bruised REITs and smoking wicks do not anticipate.
We should not anticipate making much of an impact on the world that has concluded that it is broken doesn't know why can't fix it and doesn't know where to turn, but they will not be coming along to listen to our admonition, but they may respond to our mission. If our mission is a Christ shaped mission what was routinely discarded. The servant redeems, and Jesus does this. If you think about the disciples, I mean what a group of bruised REITs and smoking wicks one.
Jesus is is is exercising ministry and ended there.
A couple of them in the front line going. Would you please get these children out of here Jesus is doing evangelism using hues that were involved in a major event and and pardon what Jesus actually would like the children to come up and see said, suffer the little children to come to him. That's right.
See I told you not to tell him to get rid of the children. Lord, there was not much response to our mission. Do you think we should call down fire from heaven and torched the place. Jesus said no I don't think so not. At least not this afternoon. Philip masterful asking dumb questions. Jesus has just said from now on you know the father and you have seen him which Philip replies. If you could just show us the father you Philip Thomas unless I put my fingers in the nails on your Galilean as well. Your accent sounds like his own. No said Peter. I never knew them. Can you imagine if the Christ then were to discard the dispensable REITs and fortifies what advice tempted try often wondering.
Wondering facing the challenge of ministry aware of the fact that were involved as the Westminster confession of faith reminds us in a continual and irreconcilable war and sometimes faltering, often fainting, don't you get up in the morning and say to yourself is not a miracle that I'm both a life physically and alive spiritually that the Lord Jesus Christ has not done me even get rid of me for somebody else. I would have.
I would have. I guess that's why that that line from the that the Rutherford him him that was created appointment was created by cousins, the wife of his friend.
You know the sands of time, or sinking an end. She took from the first journals and created that that stanza with mercy and with judgment.
My web of time, he will and I are always the Jews of Sorell were lost, stirred by his love flustered by his life in tenderness. He saw me weary and sick with sin and on his shoulders. He brought me back to his home again all the love softly or the blood upon the other. Grace that brought me to the fold while here's the question with which we conclude our way then to treat those under our care with less love and attention than the gentle Shepherd has shown to us that again in Isaiah that he gathers the lambs in his arms he carries them in his bosom close to his heart. He gently leads those who have young so if our ministry is to be clothed with Christ, then it must have the sky mention to it at least in some measure gentleness, not quarrelsome kind to everyone kind to everyone.
Don't you hate it when you get something like that say don't. You're about to say yes admin is not sacrilegious. You look at his why couldn't say in second Timothy time to as many people as you can because I don't quarrel but just be kind to the people that you like, or in your are in your life group or whatever is no. The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, but I don't like everyone, I'm the pastor and they clearly don't like me. So what am I going to do well. Just saying Bill Gaither songs and feel happy about it. You know, I am so glad that your bar all the family of God you believe that the way we see in our part site is. I'm surprised that you're part of the family is far more honest look in the mirror when you shave and sing it to yourself. I'm surprised that you are part of the family of God, or how the grace of God amazes me and loose me from my chains and set me free. How did this happen.
How did God do this.
How would you choose certain bruised people such smoldering wicks to have the awesome responsibility of Sunday by Sunday by Sunday retreating again to the Scriptures and saying all God led me independence upon you fulfill the mission that you have entrusted to me. And may I do it and it's some kind of Christlike character.
Charles Bridges always recommend a better book if you come to the banner conference Charles Bridges on the Christian ministry is is is fantastic.
Here's this little section before I wrap this up. We must be pastors of the whole flock not of a select few, not indulging ourselves with the most hopeful and interesting but laboring for those whose urgent need cries loudly for our instruction, like the good Shepherd restoring our primary attention upon the lost sheep in detail. We shall all of often have much to bear from their ignorance and weakness sometimes also from their impertinence and unreasonable demands, but the grand object of winning their souls will restrain even the appearance of harshness or petulance which might turn the Lehman diseased out of the way when rotted out to be healed. The meanest of our people must have his full share of our consideration led him a free access to us at proper even at inconvenient times.
Let us carefully weigh his every scruple and difficulty.
What seems trifling to us may be important to him. His doubts and perplexities are sacred to him and require the same tender sensibility of's treatment as if they were sacred to us. This exercise of sympathy will not only tell on the success of our ministry will also form us into a style of experimental preaching which will be far more effective part of our furniture than any classical learning or even than the critical knowledge of Scripture itself because then there say well he commanded Christ to me than I wish that I had learned this when I was younger in the early days in ministry II look back on it under and you can have these dates back but it took me a long time to realize you do not drive your congregation from behind, you must lead them from the front and they need to know of the love of the great Shepherd for Charles war was the minister's and Giles in Edinburgh in the 1930s and in the course of his ministry, his clock of session wrote him a note and he wrote it to his minister and he said to me said that Rev. war. I know we are not everything we ought to be no doubt, we need a lot of scolding, but we'd all be a great deal better than we are. If only you would try sometimes instead of lecturing us to show us that you love us. Show us Christ choice Christ as I was driving here today. My thoughts were going to Banner of truth conferences.
I haven't been that many but the first one I ever went to was he in the borders of Scotland and it was a day conference. The speakers that they were Eric Alexander and the late Douglas McMillan. Eric gave an address in the first hour in the morning on the nature of an expository ministry which you may, it may actually be in that book is his material on that my eight and the work of Ezra and so on, and it was just it was classically Eric and it was masterful and then next stop was filling and heat. He paid no attention to the to to all that Eric and said just he was. He was his. He was his own man and he told one story that I found profoundly challenging. And with this I conclude he was a minister. First, I believe in Aberdeen and then from Aberdeen. He went to St. Vincent Street free church in the center of classical when he moved into the man's in Glasgow. The his study was up at least one flight. If not two flights of stairs and he said that on the day that they were moving in. He had the responsibility of lugging his books up from the ground level up to where they were going. One of his sons or his son. I can remember, but her son said to him, daddy, I want to help you with the books and he then out of kindness to his boy given just a few magazines probably Banner of truth magazines alt all tied together to carry and he went and he went about his business as he was growing up and down. He wasn't paying much attention. Many came. He had his son crying and he found him on the stairs and his son had began to get a little adventuresome and he had like a copy of EJ Young's analytical concordance of the Bible that heat that he thought he could manage up the stairs with and the burden was too great for him and it said him down and cause him to cry and Douglas said so I just reached down and I picked up my boy and I picked up his bundle and I carried them both safely to their destination. Surely that is what Christ us to stone, picks us up picks up our burden brings her safely to our destination a prophecy from Isaiah fulfilled entirely in Christ and by the Holy Spirit to be read reproduced in some measure in the ministries that God has called us to this time. What a challenge to privilege father, thank you for your word and that which is true helpful kind necessary, may be a source of recollection.
Anything that is unhelpful or unkind banishment from our thinking. Thank you in Christ's name on that is Alastair back with a special message for pastors titled Christ shaped ministry. This is Truth for Life. If you are a regular listener, you have probably heard us talk about the basics conference that is held during the month of May for the past two decades, Alastair has hosted this conference at Parkside church as a way to encourage pastors and ministry leaders which is right in line with Truth for Life's desire to see local churches strengthened, but like so many large conferences during the pandemic basics, 20, 21 has been canceled.
So in an effort to fill in the gap and encourage pastors. Today's program is one of four this week that focuses on gospel ministry. We've also posted several new blog articles on topics like preaching theology dealing with opposition find all of these articles and other resources available online@truthforlife.org or in the recent posts section of the Truth for Life app.
If you've not yet requested your copy of the book were recommending you still have a few more days. The book is called God's Bible timeline. The big book of biblical history book filled with photographs and illustrations and dates that trace the entire story of the Bible, we have posted some sample pages from this book on our website so you can take a look inside and when you make a donation to Truth for Life we want to invite you to request your own copy of God's Bible timeline. Visit us@truthforlife.org/donate call 888588788 Bob Lapine were Paul's expectations of Timothy and ministry listen. Tomorrow is Alastair explains what it means to be a good servant of Christ Jesus Bible teaching of Alastair beg furnished by truth or lying where the Learning is for Living