DATE: 5-4-25

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

INTRODUCTION

We’re continuing our series in Romans this weekend — taking a final look at the spiritual gifts that Paul mentions in his letter so we all understand what these gifts are and how they’re to be used in our faith family. These aren’t all of the spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible — just the ones Paul mentions here in Romans.

So — for the last time for some time — the purpose of the spiritual gifts is this: Spiritual gifts are abilities given to individual believers by the Holy Spirit in order to equip God’s people for ministry, both for the edification of the church and for God’s salvific mission to the world. – Lexham Survey of Theology

Here’s what Paul says about the gifts — in Romans chapter twelve — beginning in verse four. There we read…

Romans 12:4–8 ESV

4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

We took two weeks to explore the gift of prophecy. Then we looked at the gifts of service, teaching, exhortation, and giving. And — last week — we looked at the gift of leadership. Which means that — today — we’re going to look at the final spiritual gift that Paul lists in our verses — the gift of mercy, which he mentions in verse eight where he writes…

Romans 12:8 ESV

8 the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

WHAT IS THE GIFT OF MERCY?

So let’s begin by answering the question, “What is the spiritual gift of mercy?” The definition of this gift that I shared with you a few months ago is…

Mercy

The gift of mercy is the divine strength or ability to feel empathy and to care for those who are hurting in any way.

Like the other spiritual gifts that we’ve looked at — mercy is something that’s both a spiritual gift and is something that all Christians are to practice regardless if we have the gift or not. Which means — no matter if this is a spiritual gift you have — and regardless of your temperament or personality — being merciful towards others is something you’re to regularly practice if you’re a follower of Jesus.

Jesus made this clear when he told a parable — a parable is a short story meant to teach a moral lesson — and the parable I’m referring to is known as the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Luke 10:25–37 ESV

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Jesus purposely made the religious leaders — the priest and the Levite — merciless in the parable. And the individual — who the expert in religious law couldn’t even bear to say who he was — the despised Samaritan — is the one who is merciful in the story. So what’s the point of the parable? 

Jesus is telling us that we can be very religious and — yet — lack mercy. We can do rigorous religious activities and still miss the point of what it means to follow him.

This is what the prophets of the Old Testament had told the Jewish people.

Micah 6:8 NLT

8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

And…

Zechariah 7:9–10 NLT

9 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. 10 Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other.

And we’re to be merciful towards others because God has first been merciful towards us. As we also read in Scripture…

Psalm 103:8 ESV

8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

And…

Lamentations 3:22–23 ESV

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

And…

Psalm 145:8–9 ESV

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

And possibly the greatest display of God’s mercy is seen when…

John 11:35 ESV

35 Jesus wept.

We worship a merciful God — thus we’re to be people who are known for our mercy.

THE GIFT OF MERCY AND THE CHURCH

Yet — we want to better understand how the spiritual gift of mercy is a benefit to us as a local church. So let’s look at a few examples of this gift in Scripture. But — before we do so — I want to share a quote on mercy that I think paints a clear and compelling picture as to why this gift is so vital to our life as a faith family. Here’s the quote:

Mercy means to be led by God to be compassionate in our attitudes, words and actions. It is more than feeling sympathy towards someone; it is love enacted. Mercy desires to answer the immediate needs of others and alleviate suffering, loneliness, and grief. Mercy addresses physical, emotional, financial or spiritual crises with generous, self-sacrificial service. Mercy is a champion of the lowly, poor, exploited, and forgotten, and often acts on their behalf.

We’ve seen how mercy is something that all Christians are to live out — yet — for some among us — because of the Spirit’s empowering presence in you — you’ve been gifted with mercy in a way where you can’t help but desire to meet the immediate needs of others, to alleviate their suffering, loneliness, or grief. You can’t help it — it’s like you’re compelled — to serve those who are poor, exploited, or forgotten by others. What a needed and necessary gift if we want to be the church that Jesus gave his life for us to be.

THE GIFT OF MERCY IN SCRIPTURE: JESUS

Speaking of Jesus — here’s an example of mercy from his life. One day — as he and his disciples…

Matthew 20:29–34 ESV

29 went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

When you read the gospels — pay attention to how many times Jesus is stopped like this — where his plans are interrupted by the needs of others. And how — instead of moving on to the business at hand — he paid attention to the interruption — for often — the interruption was the business his Father wanted him to attend to.

For those who have the spiritual gift of mercy — you can’t help but read this passage from Matthew and think, “Yup. That’s exactly what you do. You stop and care for the person in need. And how dare the crowd try to get the two guys to be quiet!” If I may tap into your gift of mercy for one moment — for those of us without this gift — let me admit — it’s easy to miss the interruption as God’s business. I know this isn’t good of us — but — when you don’t have the gift of mercy — even when we know the commands about being merciful — it’s easy to be just like — not only this crowd — but Jesus’ own disciples — who once — when they were with Jesus and…

Mark 6:34–37 NLT

34 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. 35 Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. 36 Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.” 37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”

It’s easy to ask “With what” — or to tell some blind beggars to be quiet — before, “This is an opportunity to be merciful” crosses our mind. We’re working on it — but know that this is why we’re so thankful for the Spirit’s empowering presence in you through the gift of mercy. For those with this gift rarely ask “with what” when told to feed a large crowd — or shush those begging for Jesus to heal them — and this is the Holy Spirit at work in and through you for our benefit — especially when someone’s in desperate need of mercy. 

And — as Paul says — you do so — you show mercy — and you do so with cheerfulness. Meaning — unlike others of us — who don’t have the gift — sometimes our mercy comes off a little less cheerful — or lacks it altogether. But for you — because of God’s Spirit displaying himself through you in this way — you’re able to lift the spirit of those who are suffering. 

Again — we’re all growing together here — and thank you for your patience and mercy towards those of us without the gift.

THE GIFT OF MERCY IN SCRIPTURE: DEACONS

John Owen — a pastor who lived in the 17th century — wrote, “Mercy has to do with man’s misery.” Historically — in the church — the people who have been known as ministers — or servants — of mercy — whose ministry is often called “mercy ministry” — are the deacons. Our deacons have been brought up a few times in these sermons on the spiritual gifts and — as you’ve heard me say before — this is an important group of individuals in the life of our local church. Now we add to our running list of why they’re important: they are our ministers of mercy.

Deacons first appear on the scene in Acts chapter 6. We’ve looked at this passage a few times before — so we won’t turn there now — but here’s a snapshot of what was going on. The church had grown quite quickly and Christians — of both Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds — were all figuring out how to follow Jesus together. But they were still dealing with cultural hangups — like we all do — resulting in some of the widows in the church not having their needs met.

So the apostles — the key leaders in the church at this time — told the people to select individuals who would make sure the widows’ needs were met. Because — not having what you daily need to survive — is a recipe for misery. 

Seven individuals were selected and they are the first deacons — or ministers of mercy — in the church. And their important ministry of mercy continues today.

Here at Gateway we have 15 individuals — men and women — who serve as our deacons. To ensure that everything they’re responsible for is covered — they’ve divided themselves up into four teams. A group of deacons is responsible for preparing the communion elements and cleaning up after our monthly communion services. Each Gateway campus has its own communion team. In a few minutes we’ll be taking communion at both of our campuses and know that a deacon was the behind the scenes hands preparing the bread and juice for all of us. An act of service for which we should all be thankful.

Now — though important — preparing communion doesn’t fit the ministry of mercy that we’ve been looking at today. Again — deacons do many important tasks for us — not all are acts of mercy. But earlier I said that the deacons have divided themselves up into four teams. 

One of those is the Benevolence team which oversees the distribution of benevolence funds to those within our church family who are in need of financial assistance. Priority for assistance is given to church members — specifically those who are sick, handicapped, single parents, or elderly — though other members or active regular attenders may also be assisted through the fund. This is definitely a ministry of mercy.

There’s the Service team which helps with meeting a variety of hands-on, physical needs within our church family. These needs include setting up Kidway spaces each weekend, shoveling church entrances on a Sunday morning, and providing building access for a variety of events held at the church. Additionally, they handle requests for physical help such as yard work, help moving, or light construction work for people in need. There are definitely times when this team does acts of mercy.

Finally, there’s the Food team which is responsible for a variety of food needs within the church. These include funeral meals, as well as food and snacks for volunteer training and church or outreach events. One of our deacons also oversees our Meals Ministry, which comes alongside Life Groups to provide meals to people after a new baby is born, or someone has surgery, when there’s a death in the family, and so on. Again — many times when this is a ministry of mercy.

So that’s a snapshot of what our deacons do — generally speaking. But — specifically — here are some ways these mercy ministers have allowed the Spirit of God to display himself through their acts of mercy for people in our faith family.

There’s the young mom who’s part of our church. Her husband wasn’t able to work for over a year — due to health issues — and her availability to work was limited because their toddler also had health issues requiring regular appointments at Nationwide in Columbus. How did the deacons help this family? They worked with our local partner — the Women’s Resource Center — and got them diapers. One of our deacons gave them some hand-me-down clothes for their toddler. Meals were coordinated. Gas and grocery cards were provided. And the deacons coordinated eight weeks of childcare while the husband recovered from a surgery.

For two elderly men in our congregation — who were both limited by health issues — the deacons lined up people to mow their lawns and take care of yard work. Similarly, the deacons put a team of six people together to do some fall landscaping for one of our elderly couples who aren’t able to keep up with the yard work as easily as they used to.

For one of our single women — who needed a new roof but didn’t have the funds — the deacons helped her to pay for the new roof through our benevolence fund.

For a family who had some hot water issues — one of our deacons helped them out twice. Once to repair their old hot water heater and then — five months or so later — to help them install a new one.

For one of our young families — who needed some financial help — the deacons were able to help them cover some medical and dental bills, provided them with some food gift cards, and helped them with some car maintenance issues. The deacons provided similar help to an international student studying at the University of Findlay who needed some help with their car.

They helped another of our young couples move. And — if all of that wasn’t enough — one of our deacons even went and helped deter a pesky skunk from one of our church member’s property.

And — oh by the way — that’s just some of the ways the deacons have done acts of mercy in the past year. What a group of deacons we have — ministers of mercy who are allowing the Spirit of God to use them to be a blessing for us.

CONCLUSION

Now — as we wrap up this series on spiritual gifts — something that’s been encouraging to me — over the past few months — has been the increase among you all in signing up to volunteer in areas of ministry. The church staff have mentioned that more of you have signed up to serve as you desire to allow the Holy Spirit to use you — with the gifts he’s given you — to be a blessing to the rest of us. This has been such an encouragement to me.

I’ve also been encouraged to hear about many of you wanting to explore what gifts you’ve been given. From asking for advice on spiritual gifts tests and how to discern which gifts you have — I’m thankful for the curiosity and interest in wanting to know how the Spirit of God has gifted you for God’s glory and all of our good. Keep searching. Keep serving in different ways. Keep praying and asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to you your gifts.

Finally, I want to thank our elders. They’ve made themselves available to pray with you throughout this series on the spiritual gifts. They all serve in many other ways — but they didn’t hesitate to stick around after our worship services to bless you — and lay their hands on you in prayer — as you’ve come forward desiring a particular spiritual gift. And so many of you have come forward for prayer — which has been incredible to see.

Your shepherds pray for you — I hope that encourages you — your elders care about you and there’s no group of men I’d rather have by my ministry side than the men we’re blessed with as our elders. 

Would you please pray with me?

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, you are the God of all comfort who comforts all of us in our afflictions. And your mercies are new to us every morning. There’s not a day that’s gone by that we haven’t experienced your mercy. What a thought to behold. I wonder how we’ve already experienced your mercy today?

Holy Spirit, thank you for empowering some among us with your gift of mercy. A unique and impactful way you use your people in the most difficult days of life. When sorrow abounds — your stewards of mercy bring healing as you use them to lift us up. When the darkness doesn’t lift — your ministers of mercy bring the light of Christ to shine in our dark world. When our grief is an overwhelming burden — too heavy for us to carry — your servants of mercy put their shoulders under our burden and lift it up — giving us some reprieve.

And — Jesus — this is all possible because of the mercy you displayed in giving your life on a cross for our sins. When mercy was the last thing we deserved — you gave it to us anyway. In fact — when we held back mercy from you — you gave us mercy anyway. What a faithful and merciful Savior you are — thank you for your mercy towards us. And — Jesus — if there are any here who’ve yet to receive your mercy — may you faithfully offer it to them again today. 

Right now — Jesus is offering you mercy — forgiveness of your sins — reconciliation, joy, hope, peace — a light shining in the darkness around you. Will you receive his mercy? Will you run to the One whose arms are open — ready to embrace you with unending love?

We pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

DATE: 4–27-25

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

INTRODUCTION

After a short break for Easter — we’re returning to our series in Romans this weekend — taking a look at the spiritual gifts that Paul mentions so we all understand what these gifts are and how they’re to be used in our faith family. The purpose of the spiritual gifts is something I’ve reminded us of many times before: Spiritual gifts are abilities given to individual believers by the Holy Spirit in order to equip God’s people for ministry, both for the edification of the church and for God’s salvific mission to the world. – Lexham Survey of Theology

Here’s what Paul says about the gifts — in Romans chapter twelve — beginning in verse four. 

Romans 12:4–8 ESV

4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

We started off by taking two weeks to explore the gift of prophecy. Then we looked at the gifts of service, teaching, and exhortation. And — just before Holy Week — we looked at the gift of giving. Which means that — today — we’re going to look at the spiritual gift of leadership, which Paul mentions next in his list where he writes…

Romans 12:8 ESV

8 the one who leads, with zeal;

WHAT IS THE GIFT OF LEADERSHIP?

So let’s begin by answering the question, “What is the gift of leadership?” The definition of this gift that I shared with you a few weeks ago is…

Leadership

The gift of leadership is the divine strength or ability to influence people at their level while directing and focusing them on the big picture, vision, or idea.

Now — in the original language of Greek — the word that we translate as “leads” — similar to other gifts we’ve looked at — has both a general application in Scripture — meaning — regardless if you have the gift there’s some “leading” that God expects you to do — and — the word also has specific uses that would appear to be for those who have this spiritual gift. Let’s briefly look at the general application — ways that leading applies to all who follow Jesus.

Paul — who wrote Romans — wrote many of the letters in the New Testament. One of his letters was to a man named Titus who was pastoring on the island of Crete. After reminding Titus of the ways sin had control over us — before we had faith in Jesus — Paul writes…

Titus 3:4–8 ESV

4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

A few verses later — Paul writes…

Titus 3:14 ESV

14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

Now — you probably noticed that you didn’t hear me say the word “lead” anywhere in those verses. That’s because a different English word was used to convey a similar idea: the word “devote”. So here’s the general principle: Because of all that Christ has done for his people — in saving us not by our works — but by his perfect work — those who believe in him are to devote themselves — or lead themselves — to do good works — which Paul repeats a few verses later.

So again — in a very general sense — all Christians are leaders because — at the very least — we’re to be leading ourselves in living a life that’s a proper response to all that Christ has done for us. We’re not to live life on auto-pilot. We’re not to be passive and “let go and let God.” We’re to be actively engaged in putting our faith into practice. For that’s what it means to follow Jesus — we follow the One who intentionally and actively lived his life in love for us and calls us to intentionally and actively live our lives in love for him in return.

Here’s another general application for all of us — even those who don’t have this spiritual gift. To the Christians living in Thessalonica, Paul writes…

1 Thessalonians 5:12–13 ESV

12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

Another case where we don’t explicitly see the word “lead” but the same Greek word is used — but here it’s translated as “over”. So the general application here is to respect those who are over us — those who lead us. We’re to hold them in high regard because — in leading us — they’re displaying care for us — even when they admonish or warn us.

For many years — and it’s still a bit of a struggle for me today — allowing others to hold me in high regard was hard. I don’t like attention. I prefer to disappear in a crowd. But this is an area that God has — and continues to — grow me in. Especially to not dismiss or prevent you from obeying this biblical principle. So — thank you for your patience with me. And I’m still gonna be awkward — when you hold me in high regard — but hopefully less awkward than I once was.

One last general application — still Paul — but this time we’re looking at his letter to Timothy who’s pastoring the church in Ephesus. Paul writes…

1 Timothy 5:17–18 ESV

17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”

The word “rule” is the same Greek word as “lead” in Romans. Here — similar to what we just read — the application for all of us is to honor those who lead us. For those who rule — or lead — well — and this is specifically referring to leading in the church — should be considered worthy of double honor — a reference to the financial pay they receive — as made evident by Paul quoting something Jesus said in Luke chapter 10.

So to recap: All Christians are to — one — lead themselves in doing good works in response to being saved by Jesus — two — respect and hold in high regard those who lead us and — three — honor those who lead by taking care of them financially.

THE GIFT OF LEADERSHIP IN SCRIPTURE: DEBORAH

Now let’s look at a few potential examples of this spiritual gift at work in Scripture. We’re going to look at two passages from the Old Testament. First, we’ll look at a woman named Deborah. This is her story as found in Judges chapter 4.

Judges 4:1–10 NLT

1 After Ehud’s death, the Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. 2 So the Lord turned them over to King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite king. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. 3 Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. 4 Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet who was judging Israel at that time. 5 She would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment. 6 One day she sent for Barak son of Abinoam, who lived in Kedesh in the land of Naphtali. She said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: Call out 10,000 warriors from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun at Mount Tabor. 7 And I will call out Sisera, commander of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and warriors, to the Kishon River. There I will give you victory over him.” 8 Barak told her, “I will go, but only if you go with me.” 9 “Very well,” she replied, “I will go with you. But you will receive no honor in this venture, for the Lord’s victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 At Kedesh, Barak called together the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, and 10,000 warriors went up with him. Deborah also went with him.

So Deborah goes with Barak into battle. And things happen just as Deborah said they would. At one point in the battle she has to urge Barak on with the words…

Judges 4:14 NLT

14 “Get ready! This is the day the Lord will give you victory over Sisera, for the Lord is marching ahead of you.” So Barak led his 10,000 warriors down the slopes of Mount Tabor into battle.

Being in a position of authority doesn’t mean someone’s a leader — that’s one lesson we learn. Barak’s a cowardly man in a leadership position — while Deborah — who definitely had the spiritual gift of prophecy — and likely leadership as well — led Barak — and his army — into a victorious battle.

I bring up Deborah as an example to make it clear that — though we’re a church that holds a complementarian view of the office of elder — that’s a fancy theological word that means we believe that the office of elder is reserved for men only — though we’re complementarian — we do believe that women are empowered by the Holy Spirit with the gift of leadership. And we need women — who are empowered by the Spirit in this way — to use their gift of leadership for our good as a congregation.

Now — you may wonder, “Why are you complementarian? If you believe that women can be empowered with the gift of leadership why don’t you allow them to serve as elders — the highest office of leadership in the church?” Here are two reasons why but — for more information — I suggest grabbing a copy of the booklet on leadership that’s available at your campus resource center.

Why don’t we allow women to be elders at Gateway — and I know that our friends in Bucyrus hold a different position — so feel free to put me on mute for the next minute or so. And — by the way — this is one of the characteristics of the EPC — our denomination — that I so appreciate. That churches can hold different views on this topic and not go their separate ways. Because — no matter our view on this topic — we all hold a high regard for Scripture — its authority, sufficiency, inerrancy, and so on — yet come to different interpretive conclusions.

So back to why Gateway doesn’t have female elders — I’ll give two reasons. First, nowhere in the New Testament do we see a woman referred to as an elder in a local church. Though the reason why we have female deacons is because we do see Phoebe — in Romans 16 — referred to as a deacon.

Second — and most compellingly — Jesus chose twelve men to be his apostles who originally held the highest office of leadership in the church. Some argue that Jesus chose only men because he was a man of his time — and rabbis didn’t pick women to be their followers. This argument always baffles me because…Jesus was not a man of his time! Jesus allowed women to financially fund his ministry, allowed a woman who was a prostitute to wash his feet — which was scandalous — had no problem having a private conversation with a Samaritan woman — just as equally scandalous — and so on. Jesus did not conform to the cultural expectations when it came to his relationship with women. Yet he only chose men to be his apostles — something we have to seriously consider when thinking through this topic.

But — here at Gateway — we honor women. We encourage women who have the spiritual gift of leadership to use their gift for God’s glory and our good — as we do our best to apply what we see in the New Testament when it comes to who God calls to the highest office in the church.

And — if you don’t know — on staff — three of our six departments — worship, connect, serve, go, next gen, and business/ops — three of the six departments are led by women — Lindsay, Kristi, and Ashely. And — our executive director — “the boss” as we like to say — is as well — Laura — who’s heart is filled with joy every time I call her the boss. I kid. You see — we believe that God gifts women with the gift of leadership for our good — as we hold a complementarian view of the office of elder.

THE GIFT OF LEADERSHIP IN SCRIPTURE: MOSES

Now let’s look at a moment from the life of Moses. As you may be aware, Moses was called by God to lead the Israelites out of their enslavement in Egypt. But — if you know their story — the people left Egypt only to become a grumbling, complaining, distrusting in God’s ability to provide for them — kind of people. And — a people like this — end up with all kinds of disputes, disagreements, and arguments among themselves. And Moses — because he was the leader — found himself being the judge for all of the disputes, disagreements, and arguments going on among the — wait for it — few million Israelites! Talk about a never-ending, exhausting job for Moses. 

Thus — in one of the few positive in-law stories in known history — I kid — Moses’ father-in-law — a man named Jethro — has an idea. This is what we read in Exodus chapter 18.

Exodus 18:13–27 NLT

13 The next day, Moses took his seat to hear the people’s disputes against each other. They waited before him from morning till evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What are you really accomplishing here? Why are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from morning till evening?” 15 Moses replied, “Because the people come to me to get a ruling from God. 16 When a dispute arises, they come to me, and I am the one who settles the case between the quarreling parties. I inform the people of God’s decrees and give them his instructions.” 17 “This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. 18 “You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself. 19 Now listen to me, and let me give you a word of advice, and may God be with you. You should continue to be the people’s representative before God, bringing their disputes to him. 20 Teach them God’s decrees, and give them his instructions. Show them how to conduct their lives. 21 But select from all the people some capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes. Appoint them as leaders over groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten. 22 They should always be available to solve the people’s common disputes, but have them bring the major cases to you. Let the leaders decide the smaller matters themselves. They will help you carry the load, making the task easier for you. 23 If you follow this advice, and if God commands you to do so, then you will be able to endure the pressures, and all these people will go home in peace.” 24 Moses listened to his father-in-law’s advice and followed his suggestions. 25 He chose capable men from all over Israel and appointed them as leaders over the people. He put them in charge of groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten. 26 These men were always available to solve the people’s common disputes. They brought the major cases to Moses, but they took care of the smaller matters themselves. 27 Soon after this, Moses said good-bye to his father-in-law, who returned to his own land.

Moses was wearing himself out by not delegating leadership to others. He apparently mistook God’s calling on him to lead the people to mean that he alone was to do all the leading. And God has never intended leadership to be an individual endeavor — and Jethro understood this. So he gave his son-in-law some good, godly advice. Using language we find throughout the Bible — about the kinds of characteristics we’re to look for in those who lead in the church — Jethro tells Moses to select some capable, honest men who fear God and have integrity and appoint them as leaders over groups of various sizes. Because — again — one man — Moses — can’t do all the leading. And he’s not the only one gifted to lead. For the Spirit of God uses many to lead the people of God.

But notice the structure and hierarchy. Some are gifted to lead ten people. Others fifty. Others a hundred. Others a thousand. The leader of ten isn’t less significant than the leader of a thousand — both are needed! Just ask people who are in the group of ten if the one who leads them is important. But — at the same time — those being led have to understand that structure and hierarchy are needed because one man can’t handle the responsibility and time it takes to lead and care for every single individual when a group — apparently — gets bigger than around ten people. We’ll see how this plays itself out at Gateway in a moment.

THE GIFT OF LEADERSHIP IN THE CHURCH

But this story in Exodus — is very similar to what we read about those who led the church in the New Testament. For example, to Timothy Paul writes…

1 Timothy 3:1–13 ESV

1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. 8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

We’ve looked at these verses in previous sermons on the spiritual gifts — but we return to them now looking at the importance of the spiritual gift of leadership among those who are in positions of authority in the local church. Both elders and deacons are to be good managers of their homes. Manager is the same word translated as lead in Romans — so managing in your homes — or leading in your homes — is a prerequisite for leading in the church.

And selecting capable individuals — who have the character to match — reminds me of how the church chose the first deacons.

Acts 6:1–7 ESV

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Did you notice the similarities in the situation Moses found himself in and the apostles situation here in Acts? And how a similar solution is agreed upon? I bring this up to remind us of the different leadership roles in our church, what they do, and how we all benefit when each of these groups are leading in the way God has gifted and called them to lead. Again — you can read more about this in the booklet on leadership that’s available at your campus resource center.

But here at Gateway — we’re blessed with a group of faithful men and women who serve in leadership. There are the elders — men who spiritually protect and shepherd the congregation. There’s the staff — whose role is to equip, train, and resource the members of Gateway to do the work of ministry. And there are our deacons — our lead servants. The elders, staff, and deacons all have a leadership role to play in our church.

Let’s begin with elders. Elders spiritually protect and shepherd the congregation. The way we elders describe our role is in a vision statement we have for ourselves. 

Our primary responsibility, as elders, is to represent the mind of Christ as we spiritually lead Gateway Church. We’re to collectively discern his will for Gateway in all our decisions. Additionally, we’re called to be men who…

1) study, learn, and teach the Word of God,

2) shepherd the sick, lonely, elderly, and those in need,

3) disciple the children and adults of the church and seek after those who become inactive,

4) guard against dangers to the faith and life of those under our care,

5) warn, admonish, and reclaim those who stray and, when necessary, enact church discipline,

6) and seek out and raise up new leaders within the church.

We didn’t come up with this on our own — this is what our church constitution — what’s called the Book of Order — tells us is our role as your elders. 

The elders — collectively — represent the mind of Christ for this church. 

Together — we seek Christ’s vision for what we’re to be doing. 

This isn’t a one man at the top of the org chart kind of team — the vision and direction of Gateway isn’t any one person’s responsibility or authority — it’s the responsibility of the elders together. 

As is the teaching of God’s Word, and the shepherding of the people — that’s why we’ve divided our members into shepherding groups — and the discipleship of the next generation, and the guarding against false doctrines, and the disciplining of those who are ensnared by sin, as is the raising up the next generation of church leadership. 

What about the church staff? The church staff are to equip, train, and resource the church members to do the work of ministry. The staff’s primary role is not to do the ministry work, but to serve the church members by resourcing and equipping them — making sure church members have what they need to do the ministry work of the church. 

Now we turn to the deacons. The deacons are our lead servants. They assist the staff and elders to make sure the ministry work — that the staff has equipped the congregation to do — gets done. Deacons are key in both freeing up the elders — so we can focus on our role of shepherding and protecting — while also freeing up the staff so they’re able to equip, train, and resource the church members to do the ministry work of the church. 

But there’s one more important leadership role in our church — our Life Group leaders. Those who lead a small group of people — helping them spiritually grow and follow Jesus more faithfully — so they love God and each other more passionately.

CONCLUSION

And when elders are fulfilling their leadership role, and staff theirs, and deacons theirs, and Life Group leaders theirs — and when we all see the beauty of having leaders responsible for tens, and fifties, and hundreds, and thousands — we’ll all be better served and cared for and led by those the Spirit has empowered with the gift of leadership. We’ll feel the intimacy of being led by our Life Group leaders — of course we’ll need to be in a Life Group to experience this leadership — and — as we serve we’ll be led by the staff — of course we’ll need to be serving to experience this leadership — and we’ll be shepherded by our elder — of course we’ll need to be a member to be part of a shepherding group — some gentle reminders that the care that we often desire comes by means of submitting to those who serve in a leadership role in the church.

That’s how care and discipleship work at Gateway — it can’t really work any other way. Which takes us back to where we began — and those general principles of leadership that we saw earlier. How each of us is responsible to lead ourselves — to devote ourselves to good works — including the good work of being a fully engaged member of the local church that we’re part of. Worshipping, connecting, serving, and going are what you hear us say around here a lot. And how each of us is responsible for growing as a follower of Jesus who’s a Word and Spirit Christian, who’s generous and Kingdom-minded, who makes disciples, and who makes it clear that they’re a member of this faith family.

If you’re in leadership — whatever your role may be — thank you for leading. Thank you for allowing the Spirit of God to empower and use you for our good. And to those of you who — your only leadership responsibility is that of leading yourself well — thank you for doing so. And may we all grow in our thankfulness to God for the leaders he’s appointed over us. Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you for the way you lead your people. You lead us through your Word — the Bible — where you tell us what to do, how to live, and what to believe. You lead us through those you’ve called to serve in roles within the church. And you lead us through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit, thank you for empowering many with the gift of leadership. For those you’ve called to lead thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens — all are needed for us to be the church you’ve called us to be. Empower more — we ask — for the glory of our great Savior and for our good.

And — Jesus — we thank you for not abandoning us when you ascended to Heaven — but you called men and women to be the leaders of your church. And you — with your Father — sent the Holy Spirit to empower these leaders. Jesus — as we follow you as a church — may we follow you faithfully in whatever role we’ve been called to. For then we’ll grow in our spiritual maturity — and will care well for one another — and be a church that sees even more lives changed by the good news of the gospel. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available // Leadership booklet)

May you go grateful to God for those he’s called and gifted to lead his church. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

DATE: 3-16-25

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

INTRODUCTION

We’re continuing our series in Romans this weekend — but we’re in a series within our Romans series. For Paul has mentioned spiritual gifts in his letter — so we’re taking time to explore the spiritual gifts he mentions so we all understand what these gifts are and how they’re to be used in our faith family. Now the purpose of spiritual gifts is something I’ve reminded us of each week: Spiritual gifts are abilities given to individual believers by the Holy Spirit in order to equip God’s people for ministry, both for the edification of the church and for God’s salvific (or saving) mission to the world. – Lexham Survey of Theology

And here’s what Paul says about the gifts — in Romans chapter twelve — beginning in verse four. There we read…

Romans 12:4–8 ESV

4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

After taking two weeks to explore the gift of prophecy — today we’re going to look at the spiritual gift of serving. And serving is something that — Christian or not — most people appreciate and value when we see it in others. 

• We tell veterans “Thank you for your service.” 
• We want “servant leaders” in the workplace. 
• When I was in the Army one of our values was “selfless service.”
• And — here at Gateway Church — we have the expectation that all of our members serve. And — by serving — we specifically mean serving one another in our faith family — not those outside of our church — we call that going.

 So — with this spiritual gift of serving — we immediately see that it’s one of the spiritual gifts that — though some have the gift — all Christians are still expected to serve one another.

For example, in Galatians Paul writes…

Galatians 5:13 ESV

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

And — one another — means “your fellow Christians” in this verse. And this is just one example for all of us — even those without the spiritual gift of serving — where we see the expectation that we’re to serve each other. In fact — though I mentioned how this is an expectation we have of members of Gateway — from God’s perspective — this is the expectation he has of all of his people. For — to be a Christian — is to be a person who serves his or her fellow followers of Jesus.

But this sermon isn’t about serving in general — we’re focusing on spiritual gifts — and today — specifically the spiritual gift of serving. So let me remind you of the definition of this spiritual gift — I shared this with you a few sermons ago.

Service

The gift of serving is the divine strength or ability to do small or great tasks in working for the overall good of the body of Christ.

Notice the connection of this gift with the body of Christ — the church. Thus — to repeat what you’ve heard me say a few times already — this spiritual gift — like the other gifts — is to be used for the sake of strengthening and building up the local church that you’re a member of. 

We find this spiritual gift in verse seven of Romans chapter twelve where Paul — after talking about being a member of the body — writes…

Romans 12:7 ESV

7 if service, in our serving;

Now — I want to say early on — that this is one of the spiritual gifts that I think is easy to undervalue. Both — for those of us who are benefited by the Spirit working in and through others in this way — and — it’s easy to undervalue this gift if we’re the ones with it. Because — right — this gift seems so ordinary. It doesn’t seem like a big deal — especially after spending two weeks talking about the gift of prophecy — which is why we’re taking time to understand all of these gifts better because we need all of these gifts operating in our church in order for us to grow up and mature spiritually as a faith-family.

EXAMPLES OF SERVING IN THE BIBLE

Something interesting about the spiritual gift of serving — to me at least — is that Paul uses the same word for serving — in verse seven — that has a range of meaning, including “ministry, relief, and distribution.”And it’s a word that’s used in an interesting way in a passage that’s familiar to many of us — a passage we looked at last week while exploring the spiritual gift of prophecy.

In Acts chapter six we read…

Acts 6:1–7 ESV

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

As I mentioned last week — many believe this is the beginning of the leadership position in the church known as deacons. And the word — in the original language — that we translate as deacon is related to the word serve in our verse in Romans. Why does that matter? Well this tells us that deacons are the chief servants in the church — they are the lead servants. They’re not the only servants — but they have a special leadership position in the church that’s meant to free up the elders so we can fulfill our unique leadership role in the church.

Now something you’ve heard me say before — in this series on spiritual gifts — is that having a specific gift doesn’t necessarily mean that the individual is called and qualified to hold the position — or office in the church — that’s associated with a gift. And this is true for the gift of serving and the office of deacon in the church. Not all with the gift of serving will be deacons — but one would rightfully expect all deacons to have the spiritual gift of serving.

In the passage we just read in Acts — there are three different English words that are all related to each other in the original language of Greek: distribution, serve, and ministry. Luke uses the word distribution to help us understand the problem: Greek widows in the church weren’t receiving their daily distribution — most likely referring to the food they needed to make it through the day.

The twelve disciples — the top leaders in the church — have this situation brought to their attention. And their response is, “It’s not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.” Which gets us to the second of our three related words — serve. And this situation shows us the distinction between speaking gifts — and associated roles in the church — and serving gifts — and their accompanying roles in the church. One’s not better than the other — both roles are equally needed for us to reach our full spiritual maturity as a local church.

Now — what may strike an appalling chord to you — is the apostle’s response to the situation. I mean — who do they think they are — so high and mighty they can’t personally care for the neglected widows? Don’t they know that’s what pastors are supposed to do? 

Yet — after saying it wouldn’t be right for them to neglect preaching the word —and after suggesting that the church select others to help meet this need — because the widows should be cared for — the disciples go on to say, “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” The final of our related words of distribution, serve, and ministry.

You see — the widows must be taken care of AND the word of God must be preached. Both are important ministries in the church. Both are ways that others are served. And when — instead of putting these two ministries in opposition to each other — and — instead — when we see the beauty of pastors preaching and servants serving — we’ll find ourselves growing to even greater heights in our spiritual maturity as a church. 

Where — like these widows who — apparently didn’t claim to be neglected because Peter or John or James — or any of the other twelve — didn’t personally make sure they were fed — but instead the widows received the care provided by those the Spirit of God had gifted to meet their needs. This is when the church is operating in a beautifully supernatural way — when we allow those gifted with speaking gifts to serve us with them — and those gifted with serving gifts to serve us with them. But when we put everything on one man’s shoulders — or on the elders — not only will we never feel cared for — we’ll remain spiritually immature as a church — which we should expect when we go against his Word to us.

Now — I mentioned this earlier — but I want to do so again: Just because someone has the spiritual gift of service — that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re called to be a deacon. Other factors matter? For example, did you notice the character of the people who were to be chosen for this role?

Acts 6:3 NLT

3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility.

They need to have a good reputation, be full of the Spirit — there’s being filled with the Holy Spirit language again — and full of wisdom.

In one of his letters — Paul writes this about deacons.

1 Timothy 3:8–13 NLT

8 In the same way, deacons must be well respected and have integrity. They must not be heavy drinkers or dishonest with money. 9 They must be committed to the mystery of the faith now revealed and must live with a clear conscience. 10 Before they are appointed as deacons, let them be closely examined. If they pass the test, then let them serve as deacons. 11 In the same way, their wives must be respected and must not slander others. They must exercise self-control and be faithful in everything they do. 12 A deacon must be faithful to his wife, and he must manage his children and household well. 13 Those who do well as deacons will be rewarded with respect from others and will have increased confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus.

These are Christians — not only with the gift of serving — but who have been tested and endured in the faith over time — who have a track record of perseverance and faithfulness — are well-respected and so on. 

And — now — let’s marvel at the results of these spiritually gifted servants fulfilling this role in the church.

Acts 6:7 ESV

7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

This is why there’s no insignificant gift. The twelve disciples and these seven deacons partnered together — each allowing the other to use the gifts the Holy Spirit had given to them — and the result is the multiplication of those who believed in Jesus. 

Does anyone want to see a multiplication of those who believe in Jesus happen through our ministry as a church? I know I do — I bet many of you do as well. This can be our reality — but only when those with the spiritual gift of serving use their gift to help us mature in our faith as a local church.

If you want to know more about the role of deacon — I’ve written this booklet on church leadership. They’re available for free at your campus Resource Center and are also on our church website — gatewayepc.org/booklets — if you prefer a digital copy. In this booklet I give more details about this role — along with answering a variety of questions on church leadership.

THIS GIFT AT GATEWAY

But I want to return to the idea of there being no insignificant gift — and no insignificant members of this local church. In many of his letters, Paul praises individuals by name who had demonstrated faithfulness in following Jesus. Often these are sections of his letters that can seem irrelevant to us — impractical — just a bunch of names of people we don’t know and especially don’t know how to pronounce. Yet we couldn’t be more wrong about these passages being irrelevant. I find these portions of Paul’s letters to be so encouraging as he honors different individual members of the local church.

For example, in First Corinthians chapter sixteen Paul writes…

1 Corinthians 16:15–16 NLT

15 You know that Stephanas and his household were the first of the harvest of believers in Greece, and they are spending their lives in service to God’s people. I urge you, dear brothers and sisters, 16 to submit to them and others like them who serve with such devotion.

Paul specifically names this man — Stephanus — along with his household. He reminds his readers that these were some of the first people to believe in Jesus in Greece. And — in defending their position of authority in this local church — Paul says, “Stephanus and his household have given their lives to serving God’s people.” I can think of few statements that would be higher commendation than this.

Or at the end of Romans Paul writes…

Romans 16:1–2 ESV

1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, 2 that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.

Some of your Bible translations may even have the word deacon in place of servant in verse one. Here’s a woman who Paul praises because of her service in the church. And he encourages the Christians in Rome to help her in whatever she needs from them. And — if you don’t know — Phoebe is the first of over thirty individuals named — or referred to — in the last chapter of Romans. Paul loves to encourage and honor others by naming them and highlighting the good work they are doing for Jesus.

So I thought it would be good to mimic Paul today and give some public honor to some servants of our faith family. Obviously we don’t have time for me to name everyone — but these are some of our spiritually gifted servants — who never long for the stage and bright lights — in fact — I’d guess that most of these folks are all terrified that I may be about to mention them. So I won’t use any last names — first names only — to limit their concerns — but I do want to take time to pause and hear reason upon reason upon reason for us to be thankful to God for folks who faithfully serve us as they allow the Spirit of God to use them for our good and God’s glory. 

These are examples of God’s Spirit at work among us. Marvel at the supernatural work of God for which we are to be thankful for. 

There’s Rodney — or Rod — as his volunteer sticker says. Rodney serves on our security team, picks up teens who wouldn’t make it to youth group without a ride, cleans bathrooms, takes out trash, and even shows up on a week day to get up on the roof to help fix an HVAC unit or — over at North Main — will take a look at the boiler.

There’s Mike who shows up early on Sunday mornings to set up the Kidway gym at our County Road 9 Campus. Kids — Mike is why you get to play gaga ball over here at our County Road 9 Campus — he sets it up for you.

Rose and Brandon serve in our cafe. One week they opened the fridge up to discover that coffee creamer had leaked everywhere. It was a big time mess — which they took the time to clean the entire fridge out so they could wipe it all down.

I’ll stick with the cafe for a minute. Tara comes in during the week to clean and organize the cafe so it’s ready for the next weekend. Over at our North Main Campus, Becky keeps up with the cafe inventory — as well as communion supplies. She texts a detailed list of what’s needed so everything can be ordered on time by a staff member. 

Speaking of communion. Whether it be Matt — who took care of communion by himself for years — or Chad and Sarah, or more recently — Chad and Kristin and Abe — that’s at our County Road 9 Campus — over at North Main Jay and Coleen did so for years and now Peggy takes care of the communion prep. These folks come in during the week to cut all of those bread squares and fill up all of those plastic cups with juice for us. It may not seem like a big deal — but we’re talking thousands and thousands of little pieces of bread and plastic cups being filled every year.

Erin and Kristin come in during the week to straighten up and refill all of the connect cards in our worship center. You’ve probably never thought about who does that before now.

There’s Howie, Josh, Jordan, and Kyle who serve on our security team.

There’s Martha who comes in to clean all of the nursery toys at our North Main Campus so the little ones share as few germs as possible with each other. Martha — on behalf of the North Main moms — thank you for serving.

You’ve got Amanda who makes cookies that we deliver to first time guests. We’re talking professional level cookies that look and taste incredible.

There’s Becky, Stacey, and Mary who — for years — have been the hands behind nearly every meal served at a Gateway event. Speaking of Mary — because she really loves attention — she randomly stopped by my house recently with a bag full of all sorts of paint for kid activities. She was out shopping one day and saw that paint for kid crafts was on sale, bought them out, and then donated it all to Gateway. Why? Because she just wanted to make sure we had the paint if we ever needed it for a Kidway activity.

There’s Beth who’s always part of the VBS clean up crew. She stays late — after the chaos of kids has departed — to get everything cleaned up and ready for the next day.

You’ve got Terry, Emma, and Carrie who help with childcare for our Tuesday morning women’s Bible study. They serve the kids and the moms who are growing in their faith.

There’s Karla who coordinates our youth ministry’s second Sunday suppers.

Jeff who helped refit the backstage room at our North Main Campus — in addition to doing electrical work in the building. You’ve got Dick who always jumps in with maintenance jobs around our buildings.

There’s Angelina who helps our Go department staff with all sorts of behind the scenes stuff. Keri helps decorate at Christmas time. Cooper and Andrew have helped with stage construction. And Lyn who always welcomes people when they come into the worship center with a joyful heart at our North Main Campus.  

And since we’ve talked about deacons today — I don’t want to forget the great group of folks who serve us in this way: Chad, Dana, Paul, Amberly, Harlan, Lisa, Dave, Christina, Kathy, Randy, Peggy, Kristin, Michael, Abe, and Tracy — thank you for serving us.

Gateway, would you join me in thanking God for empowering these individuals — and many more among us? These individuals allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through them and we are growing in our spiritual maturity — and are closer to reaching our full potential in Jesus Christ — because they are doing so.

CONCLUSION: JESUS, THE SERVANT WE FOLLOW

Speaking of Jesus — something I love about this often underappreciated spiritual gift is how it reflects our Savior. For example, when…

Mark 10:32–45 NLT

32 They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. 33 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. 34 They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.” 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.” 36 “What is your request?” he asked. 37 They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” 39 “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. 40 But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.” 41 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 42 So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 43 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Every Christian is called to serve others — but those with this spiritual gift — serve others in a way that’s different from the rest of us. For the Holy Spirit displays himself in and through these individuals so that — those served — are being served by the Spirit of God. Through those with this spiritual gift — the rest of us are doubly served by our God. Served by Jesus — who gave his life for us — and served by the Holy Spirit — who displays himself through individuals with the gift of serving.

Which reminds me of another story of Jesus and his disciples. This takes place on the night when he’d be betrayed.

John 13:1–17 NLT

1 Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. 6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” 8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” 9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” 10 Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. 17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

What’s so moving about this story is that Jesus — the one who came to serve and not be served — serves his disciples by washing their feet. It’s a moment that captures our attention as we imagine how humbling it must have been for the disciples to be served by Jesus in this way. But may we never forget how — through those with the spiritual gift of serving — we are served by the Holy Spirit. Though we don’t experience Jesus washing our feet — we do experience the Holy Spirit serving us in all sorts of ways through our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ — think of all of the examples we just heard of how we’re being served.

And that’s why — again — there are no insignificant spiritual gifts and no insignificant members of this faith family. Don’t ever think, “All I’ve been given is the gift of serving — talk about not being important” — don’t ever think that. Every member matters. We need all of us using our spiritual gifts so that we’re built up to our full potential in Christ as a church. And those with the spiritual gift of serving — reflect our Savior in such a special way — for Jesus came to serve and not be served. And through you — those with this spiritual gift — we are served by our God. Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Father, thank you for the countless ways that you serve us — your people. Though we rightly see ourselves as your servants — we must not ignore the many ways that you demonstrate your love for us as displayed in you serving us. 

• When Adam and Eve recognized they were naked — because of their sin — you served them by making them clothes. 
• When a flood was sure to come — you served Noah and his family by giving him the designs of an ark that would be their salvation. 
• You served Joshua and the Israelites by giving them victory over Jericho. 
• Your love for us compelled you to give prophets of Old your words of warning to your people so they would return to you. 
• And — in the pinnacle act of your love — you sent your Son to be the Suffering Servant whose sacrifice would make us right with you.

Jesus, you are the Son of God who came to serve and not be served. You came to fulfill the promised role of God’s Suffering Servant — the one who considered others more important than yourself. You did everything out of love for your Father and your people, and you humbled yourself to the point of death on a cross. How marvelous it is to think of how you’ve served us in love.

And to you — Spirit of God — thank you for gifting so many among us with your power and presence as displayed through the gift of service. Forgive us for the times we’ve been ungrateful for the work you are doing through so many among us. And thank you for the reminders today of the reasons we have to praise you as we’re grateful for one another.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — one way you serve people is through the act of salvation. Calling us out of spiritual death and darkness and into the wonderful light of eternal life. May you serve many who hear my voice right now by saving them. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

SCRIPTURE: Acts 18:1-28 ESV

DATE: 8-14-22

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time or are joining us at our North Main campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too. 

INTRODUCTION

We’re continuing our series in the book of Acts today. And you’re going to hear a familiar theme in many of these sermons. Last week I mentioned names of folks in our congregation who are part of a larger group who have really stepped up as members of this faith family over the past few years. Without this group the ministry of Gateway Church would not be moving forward. And — today — we’re going to see why this is true. Why the ministry of Gateway Church moves forward only when all of us are doing our part. 

We’re going to see that ministry isn’t simply work that I do — it isn’t just the responsibility of the staff or the elders or deacons. Today — we’ll see — that ministry is the responsibility of all who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Because — to be a Christian — is to be in ministry — and this means that ministry requires teamwork.

Now — teamwork is something we’re all familiar with in some way or another. Many of us think of sports teams — though there are great teams in music, in business, in the military. But there’s something about sports that unites individuals together like few other activities.

• There’s the 1995 Dallas Cowboys with Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, Micahel Irvin, and Deion Sanders.
• The 1986 Lakers with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, and Michael Cooper.
• And their great rival — the Boston Celtics — with Bird, McHale, Parish, and Walton.
• The 1984 San Francisco 49ers with Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Dwight Clark, and Roger Craig.
• And the list could go on with the 1978 PIttsburgh Steelers, the 1975 Cincinnati Reds, the 1985 Chicago Bears, and — if we stay in Chicago — the Michael Jordan led Bulls of the 1990s.

Each of these teams were made up of individuals who were different from each other. They came from different backgrounds, had different experiences in life, but they united together as a team because of a common goal: they wanted to win. And — in wanting the team to win — the individuals made personal sacrifices for the team as no one wanted to be the weak link. Thus they showed up early, worked hard, played hard, held each other accountable, and cared about each other — all so they could win together.

But for every successful team — there are teams that had an equally talented group of individuals who didn’t work together. 

They didn’t make the sacrifices — they assumed someone else was the weakest link on the team — they didn’t work as hard as they could or give it their all on the field or court. Some allowed their differences to divide them or cause them to not care about each other. Others saw their teammates slacking and didn’t bother to speak up. Regardless of the reason — the individuals never came together to be an actual team even though they had all the talent needed to win.

Now — consider the local church. I think it’d be hard to argue against the church being a team. So the question for us is: What kind of team are we? 

• Do we represent the qualities of those great sports teams mentioned earlier? People of different backgrounds and life experiences who’ve united together because of a common goal: to go and make disciples of all nations — which is the mission Jesus has given us. 
• Are we a people who make sacrifices for the good of the team — this congregation — personal sacrifices because of a love and commitment to Jesus Christ and the people we’re connected to in this congregation? 
• What does it even mean for a church to be a great team and how are each of us helping or hindering us from being a great church team? 
• This is what we’ll be asking ourselves as we return to our verses in Acts. 

And what I want to specifically highlight — from our verses — are some different ways we see the early Christians being great teammates. Because — just like any sports team — not everyone can be the quarterback or the point guard or the first baseman. We each have a role to play and — instead of comparing ourselves to others on the team — we each have the opportunity to serve in our role faithfully — while being thankful and even rejoicing because of how God is using others on our team.

THE CHURCH LEADERS

Alright — so let’s look at these examples of church teammates from our verses. And the first group we’re looking at — will be highlighted again in a sermon in a few weeks. These are folks on the church team that we’ve looked at time and time again in the book of Acts. In our verses — it’s the group made up of Paul, Timothy, and Silas — the leadership of the church team. 

And — here in Corinth — we find Paul doing what we seem to always find Paul doing, right? Because he’s got a very specific role to fulfill on the team. His role is one of proclamation — of preaching — of declaring and defending that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. And — just as he’s done in other towns — here in Corinth Paul reasons with the Jews — he proclaims to them that Jesus is the Christ. And — he does this not only with the Jews — for we find Paul proclaiming the gospel to the Gentiles as well. And many believe and are baptized — and that’s the win for the team — making disciples and baptizing them.

Now — one observation I want to point out to you is how our verses indicate that Paul was in need of some reassurance — because — leadership is never easy. In verse 9 — we read, “And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he (that’s Paul) stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” (Acts 18:9-11 ESV)

Even the apostle Paul needed encouragement to keep going. Even Paul needed to be told “Don’t be afraid, but go on speaking — keep proclaiming the gospel — keep teaching God’s Word.” Even Paul needed the reminder that the Lord was with him. 

Two things. First, if you ever feel like you need assurance to keep going — or ever find yourself fearful and in need of encouragement to remain faithful — if you’re ever in need of hearing the sweet news that the Lord is with you now — just as he’s always been and will always be — know that you’re in good company. For Paul — an apostle of Jesus Christ — one who spread the gospel throughout the known world — one who penned half of the New Testament — Paul’s someone who knows exactly what you’re experiencing. 

It’s easy — at times — to make Paul and others in the Bible out to be superheroes who never flinch in the face of danger. Appreciate their faithfulness — for sure — and be inspired by their commitment to the gospel. But know that they were men and women who struggled with the same doubts and fears and troubles that we face. 

And — second — know that the leaders of Gateway are always in need of your encouragement to keep leading and shepherding this congregation faithfully. When’s the last time you’ve thanked or encouraged a staff member, elder, or deacon? These men and women make many personal sacrifices — they show up early and stay late — they’re doing much ministry for the good of your soul. 

And one sign that a church is a great team is that there’s a seeming never-ending supply of encouragement and gratefulness for one another — a thankfulness that’s expressed to each other — especially to those called to lead. What can you do to encourage the leaders of Gateway?

Now — in addition to his preaching ministry — Paul was doing a lot of discipleship and leadership development. We’ll meet some of these folks — in a moment — but know that he’s spending quite a bit of his time preparing future leaders of the church. We’ve seen him do this with Barnabas and Silas and Timothy. And — in our verses — we see others come under his leadership to be discipled and trained as the next generation of church leadership. 

Paul didn’t have time to spend with everyone and — his role on the team — was to invest in the future leaders of the church.

Here at Gateway — we’re blessed with a group of faithful men and women who serve in leadership. There’s the elders of Gateway — men who spiritually protect and shepherd the congregation. There’s the staff — whose role is to equip, train, and resource the members of Gateway to do the work of ministry. And there are our deacons — our lead servants. The elders, staff, deacons, and church members all have a role to play on our church team. 

The question for all of us is first — which role is mine to fill — are you an elder, a staff member, a deacon, or a church member? Leading to the second question: Am I fulfilling my role on the church team? 

Elders spiritually protect and shepherd the congregation. The way we elders describe our role is in a vision statement we have for ourselves. 

Our primary responsibility, as elders, is to represent the mind of Christ as we spiritually lead Gateway Church. We’re to collectively discern his will for Gateway in all our decisions. Additionally, we’re called to be men who…

1) study, learn, and teach the Word of God,

2) shepherd the sick, lonely, elderly, and those in need,

3) disciple the children and adults of the church and seek after those who become inactive,

4) guard against dangers to the faith and life of those under our care,

5) warn, admonish, and reclaim those who stray and, when necessary, enact church discipline,

6) and seek out and raise up new leaders within the church.

We didn’t come up with this on our own — this is what our church constitution — what’s called the Book of Order — tells us is our role as your elders. If you’ve ever wondered what the elders do — this is our role on the team. 

• The elders — collectively — represent the mind of Christ for this church. 
• Together — we seek Christ’s vision for what we’re to be doing. 
• This isn’t a one man at the top of the org chart kind of led team — the vision and direction of Gateway isn’t any one person’s responsibility or authority — it’s the responsibility of the elders together. 
• As is the teaching of God’s Word, and the shepherding of the people, and the discipleship of the next generation, and the guarding against false doctrines, and the disciplining those who are ensnared by sin, as is the raising up the next generation of church leadership. 
• If the church was a football team — your elders — together — are the head coach. 

Now, we’ve yet to do the work of putting into bullet point form the roles of staff, deacons, and church members — but I’m sure you can grasp their roles easily. 

Church staff are to equip, train, and resource the church members to do the work of ministry. The staff’s primary role is not to do the ministry work, but to serve the church members like resource personnel — making sure church members have what they need to do the ministry work of the church. Again — if we were a football team — the staff would be like assistant coaches.

The deacons are our lead servants. They assist the staff and elders to make sure the ministry work — that the staff has equipped the congregation to do — gets done. Deacons are a fairly new leadership role at Gateway — and we’re slowly expanding their responsibilities as the group gains more members. But the deacons are key in both freeing up the elders — so we can focus on our role of shepherding and protecting — while also freeing up the staff so they’re able to equip, train, and resource the church members to do the ministry work of the church. If the church was a football team — deacons would be all of the team personnel who assist the coaches — the nutritionists, the equipment managers, the people who make sure the field is ready to go and so on.

And that leaves us with our church members — the vast majority of you — the key “doers of ministry” on our church team. Church members — here at Gateway — are those who commit to following in their Savior’s footsteps who came “to serve — not to be served.” 

And the vast majority of this church team — or to use a biblical metaphor — the vast majority of this church body — are members who are called to serve one another — members whose role is to do the work of ministry — individuals who’ve been called by Christ to make disciples of all nations. Church members are the players out on the field — in the game. 

To put this all in perspective, Gateway Church has 14 elders on our team. We’ve got 18 deacons. We’ve got 23 staff members — that’s full and part time. But — be amazed by this — we’ve got 698 church members. That’s not including regular attenders who are deeply involved in the church. We have nearly 700 people who’ve formally committed to being on this church team. 

Just think of all the ministry we can do with every one of our members fulfilling their role on our church team? What kind of church might we be — what kind of team — what kind of positive impact on our community — what kind of global reach can we have — if all of us — who are a part of this church team — fulfill our unique role? 

Now listen — this isn’t gonna be a “here’s where the pastor tries to make me feel guilty for not doing my part” part of the sermon. I’m not gonna do that — I’ll leave that between you and God. I just want us all to dream of what we could and should be as a church team. And to those of you who are being faithful in your calling on the team — thank you. As Paul will later write to these Christians in Corinth, I say to you, “I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you.” You’re doing wonderful ministry work and I’m thankful that you’re part of this team. And I can’t wait to see what God does in and through this church because of you. 

THE HUSBAND AND WIFE TEAM

Now let’s move from Paul and talk about the husband and wife team — in our verses — Priscilla and Aquila — and their role on the team. We’re back in verse 1. “After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. (And after the controversy in Corinth had come to a conclusion we read…) 18 After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. 19 And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 21 But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus. (Paul leaves Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus — we know this because they’re in Ephesus when Apollos arrives — who we’ll look at next. But — for now — notice how they help Apollos. We’re in the middle of verse 26…) when Priscilla and Aquila heard him (that’s Apollos), they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” (Acts 18:1-2a, 18-21, 26b ESV)

Now — this husband and wife team is mentioned by Paul in a few of his writings. For example, in his closing remarks to the Christians in Rome, he writes, “Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. 4 In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. 5 Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.” (Romans 16:3-5a NLT)

Paul calls this couple his co-workers in ministry. This is one of Paul’s favorite ways to describe others in ministry. Luke, Timothy, Titus, Mark, and Philemon — all with books of the Bible named after them — Paul calls each of them his co-workers in ministry. His co-laborers — his fellow “Jesus servants” — his ministry teammates. These would be folks who most likely served as elders or deacons in the church — though we don’t see them all being given one of these titles in the Bible. But based on what we read about them — it’s obvious that these folks all had various leadership roles in the church.

Additionally, we see the intimacy of this couple’s relationship with Paul in his description of them. He highlights how they made a significant sacrifice for him. In the verses from Romans Paul says they once risked their lives for him. That’s quite the commitment on their part — a commitment not just to Paul — but to Jesus and his mission.

And — finally — I hope you noticed that Priscilla and Aquila eventually host a church gathering in their home. Paul mentions them doing this — not only in Romans — but in a letter he’ll later write to the Christians in Corinth. 

“The churches here in the province of Asia send greetings in the Lord, as do Aquila and Priscilla and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings.” (1 Corinthians 16:19 NLT)

Hosting a church in their home is a pretty significant responsibility to say the least showing us that this couple was all in when it came to being part of the team.

Now — let’s connect some biblical dots together. Take the verse we just read — Paul writing to the Corinthians. He’s writing to them while he’s with the church that meets in Aquila and Priscilla’s home. Any guesses as to what town this church is located in? Ephesus! Apparently, when Paul leaves them in Ephesus — Aquila and Priscilla stay. And they either start — or help to gather together — the believers in this town — as a church. And — years later — Paul will send Timothy to go lead this church in Ephesus. 

Here’s my point. These aren’t just names in our Bibles. These are relationships. Partnerships. Teammates working together. And look at all of the connections between Paul and these folks that he’s helped to raise up to lead in the church. Paul can’t do it all — but man can a lot be done when everyone’s doing their part on the team. 

And — not only does ministry stuff get done — but love for one another increases. For Paul and these people are a team that loves each other. 

It’s not just about what they’re accomplishing — their ministry work is ultimately about people — about relationships — including their love for each other — that’s the win. In fact — some of Paul’s last words ever written are, “Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila…” (2 Timothy 4:19a NLT)

He’s in prison and as he’s penning his final letter to Timothy — the pastor of the church in Ephesus — that may still be meeting in Priscilla and Aquila’s home — he tells Timothy to say hi to this couple who’s part of the same team — a team that loves one another. 

One thing I appreciate about many of our couples at Gateway, is how often I find husbands and wives serving together in ministry. 

• Just like Priscilla and Aquila, we’ve got husbands and wives who host church gatherings in their homes — what we call Life Groups — couples like Abe and Heagan Sparling, Randy and Kathy MacDonald, Steve and Lisa Towell. 
• We’ve got couples who serve our next generation together — like Kevin and Jenny Snyder and Adam and Lauren Hamman. 
• Couples who serve on our worship team together — Jim and Sarah Tomlinson and Jeff and Marsha Snare. 
• Couples who serve in the cafe or on the welcome team together — like Gary and Janis Wittenmyer, Michael and Michele Jewitt, and Steve and Kara Eberhard. 
• Couples who go on local, national, and global missions trips together like Larry and Sandra Tietje, Bill and Karon Foster, and Dick and Greta Shrock. 
• By the way — if you’re at North Main right now — some of you know this — but many of you may not — you wouldn’t be in the building you’re gathered in if it wasn’t for the countless hours that Dick Shrock gave to make your campus a reality. I don’t know if he ever “risked his neck” for you all — like Priscilla and Aquila did for Paul — but I saw the building in its original condition. He’s probably got some “I nearly risked my neck for you all” stories he could share. 

The couples I’ve mentioned — are imitating Priscilla and Aquila — they’re doing the work of ministry together in our church. And they’re a blessing to all of us. 

And I know that not all of us are married — and I’m not wanting to discourage anyone who’s not married by focusing on couples who serve together — Paul was single, after all — I just want to encourage our married couples to do ministry together. You’ll grow closer together as husband and wife — especially spiritually closer together — when you do ministry work together. 

THE TEACHABLE

Finally — one last person to highlight — one last teammate from our verses to point out to you — Apollos. 

“Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 

26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.” (Acts 18:24-28 ESV)

Here’s what I appreciate most about Apollos. He’s already doing ministry and — it seems to be going pretty well — yet — he’s teachable. He’s humble enough to know that he doesn’t know everything. Thus he submits himself to the correction of Priscilla and Aquila as they explain to him the way of God more accurately. But that’s not all that impresses me about Apollos. I’m also impressed by how he doesn’t let their correction cause him to second guess his role on the team. 

I’m not sure if it’s his personality — his temperament — whatever you want to call it — but his response of being both teachable and eager to keep getting after it — is so encouraging. He’s humble and willing to jump back into ministry after receiving feedback from others. 

I’m sure you’ve met someone who wasn’t teachable — not open to feedback or correction. It was their way or the highway. Strange how often the highway’s the better choice, isn’t it? Some of us have personalities that more easily accept feedback from others — while others of us feel like a knife’s been stabbed into our soul when someone offers us feedback of any kind. 

We’re such complicated human beings aren’t we? We carry around baggage from our childhood and past relationships making — for some — even the most loving feedback feel like a betrayal. Others hear feedback and it becomes a prison keeping us from making decisions in the future. Others are very open to feedback — but somehow never seem to change because of it. 

Again — all of this is why I admire Apollos. He’s already doing ministry. He’s already successful. And when some new folks — who he’s just recently met — take him to the side to correct him — he receives their correction. And the result isn’t him being petrified — he’s eager to be sent out to do more ministry for Jesus!

And that’s what he does. For we read that he greatly helped those who had believed. He goes on to use the Scriptures — which he now understands more accurately — to show people that Jesus is the promised Christ of the Old Testament. 

How are you like Apollos? Are you both eager to do ministry and open to receiving feedback from others? If we’re honest — all of us have room to grow in these areas. And — now that we’re being honest with ourselves — how will you work on growing — in either being more eager to do ministry or in being more open to feedback? 

May I make two suggestions? What’s one area of ministry that — either you’ve served in in the past or have had an interest in learning more about — but have yet to take a step in that direction? How can you imitate Apollos and step into this ministry work? 

Maybe you’re someone who’s currently not serving — how can you help us be a better team by getting off the sideline and out on the field? You can go to our app or website and discover many ways you can help us be a better church team by getting involved in ministry. Imitate Apollos’ eagerness to do ministry.

Here’s my second suggestion. If you’re already serving in a ministry area, what’s one way you can invite feedback from others? Maybe you’re a Life Group leader and you’ve felt like the group’s prayer time has been a dud lately. Why not say, “Group, I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’ve been struggling to lead us in our prayer time. I’m open to any suggestions you have to make our prayer time better.” Wherever and however you serve, there are simple ways to invite feedback from others so you’re modeling the humility we see in Apollos. A humility that will make all of us better teammates as we do ministry together.

CONCLUSION

Just like sports teams — or bands or businesses — there have been great ministry teams throughout history — and — there have been some duds. And it just so happens that what makes great teams great is what makes great church teams great — but with a twist. We’re not playing a game for a trophy. We’re not just trying to make the next big business deal or the next great music album. We’ve got a mission and purpose given to us by Jesus Christ himself. 

And the Son of God came to earth to ensure that we’d have all of the resources we need in order to accomplish his mission. A mission we’ve seen the early Christians begin as a team. Where each member of the team — with particular giftings and talents — had a specific role to play. With no role being more or less important than the others — because all roles on the team are equally important — every individual matters — everyone on the team is critical to our success. 

And the mission the early church was given has been handed down to us. Two thousand years later and we’ve got the same mission as was first given by Christ: Go and make disciples of all nations. A mission we can’t accomplish on our own as individuals — but as a team — with each one of us doing our part — well — what we can accomplish as a team is yet to be seen. And with the Father, Son, and Spirit leading, guiding, directing, resourcing, and empowering us — I don’t know about you — but I can’t wait to see what we’ll accomplish together. Let’s pray. 

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you for your love for your church — for this church — for our church. Help us to love our church like you love us. To be thankful for the work each other is doing and to encourage each other — for we’re all in need of encouragement.

Spirit of God — thank you for the unique calling you have for each of us on this team. Help us to celebrate each other’s successes and carry each other’s weaknesses. All done in love — for our love for one another is key.

And — Jesus — our love for one another is key because it imitates your love for us. The mission you’ve given us is to make disciples of all nations and the evidence that shows the world that we are your disciples is our love for one another. So — as we do the ministry work of making disciples of all nations — may our love for one another be proof of the message we proclaim. It’s in your name that we pray all of these things. Amen.

BENEDICTION

May you go with thankfulness for your church team — encouraging your teammates — as we grow in our love for each other — as we each fulfill our role on this team. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Acts 6:1-7 (ESV)

DATE: 5-19-19

It’s good to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and I love you too. 

SERIES INTRODUCTION

And we’re in week 3 of our series in the book of Acts — which we’re calling Resistance as we’re seeing that for every gospel action there’s a reaction by our enemy. Now our enemy’s reaction is no match for us — not because we’re super awesome but — because of our faith in Jesus — we’ve been empowered with God’s Spirit to accomplish his perfect will — which the enemy cannot keep from being achieved. So things are looking good for those of us whose faith is in Jesus.

But the resistance by the enemy is real, it can be damaging, it’s often discouraging, and — as we’re seeing in this series — it can come from within the church just as easily as from outside the church. And that’s what we’re going to see again today — a problem will arise from within the church.

ANNOUNCE THE TEXT

So if you have your Bible, let’s turn with me to Acts chapter 6. We’ll be looking at verses 1-7.

And, if you’re a guest with us, something we like to do at Gateway is let you ask questions. So if you have a question, you can text it in to the number printed on the bottom of the sermon notes sheet or you can submit it on the Gateway app.

Here are the words found in Acts chapter 6. Beginning in verse 1. 

“Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:1-7 ESV)

SERMON INTRODUCTION

Does anyone remember the show Dirty Jobs? The show was hosted by Mike Rowe who would travel around and perform the most difficult, strange, disgusting, messy type jobs the producers could find for him to do with the people who normally do these dirty jobs. The show exposed us to — and hopefully helped us appreciate — the people who do these necessary but difficult jobs.

Now — it wouldn’t be as popular — but a similar show could be done about the local church. In the church there are all kinds of jobs and roles and things that need to be done. The Bible describes the people of the church in many different ways. 

• We’re called a family with each individual Christian being a family member. 
• We’re called a temple where each person is like a brick of the building. 
• We’re called a body and each person is described as a part of the body — a hand, a foot, an arm, etc… 

Now one of the points of these different descriptions of the church is to teach us that not all Christians are the same — we should believe the same things about the Bible, and God, and what Jesus accomplished in his life, death and resurrection, and so on — but though we believe the same things — what each of us has been created by God to be and do is unique. 

And one tactic of our enemy — one way he likes to try and cause division in the church — is to get us to not appreciate the unique contribution that each of us brings to the church. The enemy will tempt us to judge one another according to the gifts and talents God has given us and the unique way he’s called us to serve the church — all while ignoring the fact that God has given them a completely different set of gifts and called them to serve the church in a different way. 

And what I appreciate about our story for today — is that it shows how the early church resisted this tactic of the enemy. We’ll find the church faced with a problem that could’ve easily caused division — yet the Christians find a solution that creates unity — a solution that resists the temptation to allow this problem to disrupt the work they were were doing for God. We’ll see a problem, their solution, and the results of their decision. 

And my hope is that we’ll learn to recognize and appreciate the unique ways God has called each of us to love and serve one another instead of allowing the enemy to cause division among us — even if the division is simply a judgmental attitude of our heart — so that through our love and appreciation of how God has uniquely called each of us — we’ll grow closer together, resist the enemy, and see similar results to what we see in this story.

THE PROBLEM

Let’s go back and discover the problem. Let’s begin in verse 1.

“Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” (Acts 6:1 ESV)

Now there’s an obvious and a not so obvious problem here. The obvious problem is that some widows are being neglected in the daily distribution. The church had begun a daily distribution of the goods we saw being collected a few weeks ago. Now this wasn’t a common practice of the day — this was something unique to the Christians because it was — if you remember — something birthed out of a belief that everything is a gift from God and is to be used for his glory and the good of others. So this daily distribution is an incredible picture of the life-changing, priority-shifting, value-influencing power of the gospel.

And throughout the New Testament, we see a priority in the church to take care of widows. Yet something that may surprise you, is that the Bible tells us which widows are the responsibility of the church and which aren’t — the Bible gives some specific qualifications about the widows the church is to care for. 

For instance, Paul tells the young pastor — Timothy — “Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her. 4 But if she has children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show godliness at home and repay their parents by taking care of them. This is something that pleases God. 5 Now a true widow, a woman who is truly alone in this world, has placed her hope in God. She prays night and day, asking God for his help. 6 But the widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives. 7 Give these instructions to the church so that no one will be open to criticism. 8 But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers. 9 A widow who is put on the list for support must be a woman who is at least sixty years old and was faithful to her husband. 10 She must be well respected by everyone because of the good she has done. Has she brought up her children well? Has she been kind to strangers and served other believers humbly? Has she helped those who are in trouble? Has she always been ready to do good? 11 The younger widows should not be on the list, because their physical desires will overpower their devotion to Christ and they will want to remarry. 12 Then they would be guilty of breaking their previous pledge. 13 And if they are on the list, they will learn to be lazy and will spend their time gossiping from house to house, meddling in other people’s business and talking about things they shouldn’t. 14 So I advise these younger widows to marry again, have children, and take care of their own homes. Then the enemy will not be able to say anything against them. 15 For I am afraid that some of them have already gone astray and now follow Satan. 16 If a woman who is a believer has relatives who are widows, she must take care of them and not put the responsibility on the church. Then the church can care for the widows who are truly alone.” (1 Timothy 5:3-16 NLT)

Now Paul’s instructions may be a shock to us — they may rub us the wrong way — how dare Paul categorize widows like this. First, he says that care for a widow should be a priority for her family — her children and grandchildren. Paul makes a very direct statement when he says, “Those who don’t take care of the widows in their family have denied the faith.” And the reason for this is that there are some widows who have no family — and that’s who the church is to care for — the ones who have no one else to help them. And if the church is busy caring for widows who do have family around to help —  well it may end up neglecting the widows who have no one to help them — and that’s not good. So Paul makes it clear that the church isn’t supposed to care for all widows. 

Second, did you notice that there’s an official list of widows that are the responsibility of the church? We see that in verse 9 — “a widow who is put on the list for support…” — and there’s a set of requirements that must be met for a widow to be on the list. Now Paul’s letter to Timothy comes much later than our story in Acts — as time passes the church becomes more organized than what we see here in Acts. But — for now— the church is still figuring itself out — it’s not very organized — which leads us back to the not so obvious reason as to why some widows were being neglected.

What’s the not so obvious reason? Some think there’s some sort of prejudice happening between the Hebrews and the Hellenists — but I’m not sure that’s the case. Remember Luke’s been emphasizing the unity among the Christians. He’s described them as being of “one heart and soul” — so there’s a unity among them in spite of their ethnic differences — a unity because of their shared faith in Jesus. In fact, their solution will show that the problem isn’t one of prejudice.

So what’s a more likely reason for the problem? How about the explosive growth and size of the church? The church started off big to begin with — it had 2,000 members in Acts chapter 2 — and it’s only grown since. Now we’re talking thousands of people — the last number Luke mentioned was 5,000 men who believed — so this is a big group of people. 

And do you know what happens when you’re part of a big church? 

• For starters, it’s more difficult to know everyone — can anyone relate? 
• Cliques can form based on common interests, or where your kids go to school, or where you work, or — for us — which campus you attend. 
• Misunderstandings become more frequent because there are more things being communicated — more voices sharing information that may not be 100% correct.  
• It becomes easier to misinterpret the motives of others, there’s constant change because of growth, you might not have access to things you’re used to — like your favorite spot to sit or that worship service time that worked best for your family or even access to the senior pastor because he’s broadcast via video from a different location.
• Things get more organized and formalized as a church gets bigger which can be a pain. Like having to make a reservation way ahead of time in order to use our facilities or you pop in to meet with a staff person only to find out they’re already meeting with someone and have another appointment after that and another one after that. 
• Now there are a ton of benefits and blessings when you’re part of a large church, but we have to be careful that we don’t allow the challenges of being part of a large church to cause division among us.

And what I love — in this story from Acts chapter 6 — is how the early church refuses to allow something — that could’ve easily become a point of friction — to divide them. What am I talking about? Widows aren’t being fed, right? And the people have brought the problem to the attention of apostles. 

THE SOLUTION

And now we come to their solution. Let’s start in verse 2.

“And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.” (Acts 6:2-6 ESV)

Does their solution surprise you? What about the priorities of the apostles — who are acting as the pastors of the church? They gather the congregation — thousands of people — and essentially say, “You’ve brought to our attention a problem. But here’s the deal. Our priority — our role, our unique calling, what we must do — is devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word — we can’t lose our focus on prayer and preaching.” 

Now I want us to pause here — they say more — but for now — I want us to pause and think about what they’ve just said and filter what we think should be the priorities of the leaders of Gateway. What are the elders — the pastors — of Gateway supposed to be devoted to? What should be on my — pastor Josh’s — job description?

• If I had asked you — before we read this passage — what the job of a pastor is — what would you have said? 
• What would your answer be if we were faced with a problem — like the one here in Acts — where some people in the church aren’t being cared for? 
• Be honest — if we were having a church meeting and someone brought up that there were a bunch of widows — here at Gateway — who weren’t being taken care of — maybe no one was visiting them in the nursing home — or no one was helping them get groceries or get to their doctor’s appointment — and the issue was brought up before all of us in a church meeting — would our meeting have played out like what we’ve just read here in Acts? 

A phenomenon in the church — and I’m talking about the church in our country — here in the US — for the last few decades — a view of what the role of the pastor is — what the pastor’s primary duties are — what a pastor’s job descriptions is — well it’s gotten muddied up.

What do I mean? I went and looked at some job openings for pastors in our denomination — let me be clear — I wasn’t looking at the job openings to apply to them. I just wanted to see what churches say they’re looking for in a pastor — what’s their job description for a pastor. Here’s what I found:

“A Pastor to lead our congregation to a renewed and revitalized future thru strong leadership, sound Biblical preaching and teaching, and a passion for pastoral care.”

“We are seeking an individual that is committed to being a servant leader beyond reproach and be a partner as we become more and more like an Acts 2 church…”

“We are searching for a dynamic spiritual and administrative church leader to assume the pastoral role…Excellent preaching skills…Excellent written and verbal communication skills…Active listening skills.”

“Maintain and carry forward [our church’s] vision for ministry through a Christ-centered, collaborative team model which will include Biblical preaching and teaching (30%), leadership and discipleship (30%), administration (20%), and pastoral care (20%).”

Last example. “The next pastor of [our] church should be a lover of God and his Word. They will be expected to plan and lead weekly worship services and administer sacraments. We would expect them to visit members and friends of the church, perform weddings, funerals, as well as teach confirmation classes. They should also lead youth programs, bible studies, and elder training. It is very important in our small community that the pastor regularly participate in community activities and events. They are the moderator of the session and should attend a majority of the EPC presbytery meetings.”

OK. Did you notice something missing — and please know that I’m not trying to pick on these churches — because what’s missing is something that any of us could easily overlook. In fact, only 4 job descriptions — of the 20 I looked at — even mention what I hope you noticed was missing. 

So what’s missing? Prayer! And I’m so thankful for First Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Cedar Grove, Wisconsin. I’d never heard of this 171 year old church before I did this research. So why am I thankful for this congregation of 48 people? They were the only church whose first two qualifications for their pastoral position were: 1) Teach and preach the Word and 2) Shows a strong prayer life. 

Here in Acts chapter 6 the church leaders were like, “We’ve got two things on our job description that we have to do — prayer and preach the Word.” And — though all of the job descriptions I looked at mentioned preaching — only four mentioned prayer — and three of them were a single bullet point after things like “proficient at powerpoint” — almost like “Oh yeah, make sure you pray.” 

Only First EPC of Cedar Grove seems to get this — at least based on the job description for their pastor. So here’s what we’re going to do — because — as I said — this is a smaller church. And when you’re small it’s easy to envy big churches like us. When you’re small it’s easy to think you must not be doing things right — otherwise we’d be big, right? And it can be easy for large churches to be so full of themselves that they refuse to learn from — and celebrate the faithfulness — of smaller churches.

So here’s what we’re going to do. At each of our campuses — out in your lobby — there are some blank cards. I want us to take time before we leave — and write First EPC of Cedar Grove a note of encouragement. 

• Thank them for their faithfulness. 
• Thank them for being an example of a church that understands the role of the pastor. 
• Tell them that you love them and that God loves them too.
• Just encourage them because everyone can use some encouragement.

Look at their priorities compared to some of the other job descriptions I read. I mean has prayer — and I hope it hasn’t — but has prayer become something for US churches — that’s an “Oh yeah, pastor, make sure you pray sometime maybe” kind of thing? I hope it hasn’t.

So a couple of reactions to this. 

• The first being, “Yeah, but Jesus preached and prayed and was able to heal people and care for people — he didn’t have to split up these responsibilities.” If anyone thinks they can keep up with Jesus — cause I know I sure can’t — but if you think you can, please see me after the service and I’ll be sure to get you signed up to do — oh — say — everything around here. 
• How about this reaction? “But can’t the pastor pray any time? Does this really need to be part of what he’s paid to do?” 
• Someone else might be thinking, “I wonder how long it would take for Josh to pray for all of the people who come to Gateway — and pray for them with something more than a — ‘God I don’t know what’s going on in their life, but you do’ — kind of prayer?” 
• Or, “I wonder how many people at Gateway have no one who prays for them? Maybe they’re the only believer in their family, maybe they’re married to someone who isn’t a Christian, or they have parents who don’t support their faith? I wonder who’s praying for them?” 

How much do we value prayer? Now I won’t talk about preaching because — as I said — most churches still see this as a priority for the pastor. But what about all of the other things listed in the job descriptions? What about all of the things we were thinking of — when I asked — what’s the job of a pastor? Well here’s where we can learn something from the second part of the apostles’ statement to the congregation. 

The leaders told them to select seven men — men with a good reputation, who were full of the Holy Spirit, and who were wise — and the apostles would appoint these men to oversee the distribution of the goods — these men would make sure the widows were being taken care of. The apostles resisted the temptation to allow this problem to distract them from their unique role and responsibilities — they want the widows to be taken care of — even though they can’t be the ones to care for the widows.

And — get this — the plan pleased the congregation. The widows are going to be taken care of and the church leaders are going to focus on prayer and preaching. The people choose seven men who meet the requirements set forth by the apostles — their names are in verse 5. These men serve the church by making sure an important task is done — the care of widows — so the apostles can focus on other important tasks — prayer and preaching. 

And please hear me — both of these tasks are important — both of these roles are needed — what we’re seeing — though — is that one person — or one group — isn’t supposed to do everything. In fact, this decision gets more people involved in the ministry of the church. This decision developed more leaders in the church — as we’ll see — in the coming weeks — from the stories of Stephen and Philip — two of the men chosen. 

In fact, many see this solution as the beginning of a church role known as deacons — a group in the church who are the chief servants. I’ve heard it said this way. Elders — your pastors — lead the church with words — through prayer and preaching. Whereas deacons lead with their hands — they make sure the practical needs of the people are taken care of. And in the New Testament we see this role of deacon become more formalized — Paul gives specific qualifications for deacons in First Timothy along with elder qualifications. In the book of Romans we see Paul call a woman — Phoebe — a deacon — as the role expands to include women. 

And here at Gateway — we’re looking to develop this role of deacon. Because — just like these early Christians — as a church — we should all serve in the calling that God has for us — using the particular gifts he’s given us — for his glory and the good of our church. We shouldn’t expect a few to do everything — but we need everyone — using the gifts that God has given you — so that we become the church God intends us to be. 

This is what Paul tells the Christians in Ephesus when he writes, “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (Ephesians 4:11-16 NLT)

Everyone has a role. Everyone has a job. Everyone has a necessary — “we won’t grow to our full potential unless you fulfill your calling” — kind of uniqueness. You’re such an important part of this church. What a purpose God has given you — something only you can do for us — something we need you to do. 

That’s what the people in the early church understood. And look at the results of their solution. 

THE RESULTS

“And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:7 ESV)

The word of God continues to increase — the gospel continues to spread as the apostles focus on their unique role while others fulfill their calling. The church continues to grow — the number of disciples — the followers of Jesus — multiplied greatly. And part of the growth includes priests — Jewish priests — and that’s a big deal. If you remember from last week — there were people who were hesitant to join the Christians — but now — partly because of the congregation’s unity in finding a solution to this problem — in seeing Christians not resist their role or the role of their leaders — these priests join the church. And so do others. More and more people believe.

So what do we want to see God do in and through us? 

• Gateway — I love our story — I love our history — but I hope none of us are satisfied with thinking the best part of our story is in our past. 
• I hope we all long for — desire — are willing to step into — such unity as a church that the gospel will cause a multiplication of people to come to faith in Jesus. 
• That we would all step into our roles — not resist them — but flourish in the unique role God has created for each of us in this church. 
• That we wouldn’t judge one another because of what God has called them to do, but would encourage and be encouraged by one another. 
• That we would serve and be served by each other. 
• That we would be thankful for those who are called to lead with words and those who are called to lead with their hands. 
• For those who help to park cars and for those who lead preschoolers in worship. 
• For those who lead us in singing and those who set up tables and chairs. 
• For those who visit our widows and for those who lead us in prayer and by preaching God’s Word. 

Gateway, I tell you every week that I love you — I hope you know I mean it. I’m thankful for all of you. For the gifts God has given you. For the unique way he’s made you. For the role he has for you. And for the gift that you are to this church. Let’s pray. 

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you for everyone who is part of Gateway Church. Father help us to understand — with great clarity — the role you have called us to in this congregation — to use the gifts you’ve given us for the benefit of those around us. Helps us to encourage one another and to be encouraged by one another. Help us to love and appreciate the uniqueness of everyone who is part of our faith family.

Jesus thank you — that through your death and resurrection — you have torn down the walls of division that we’re so keen on putting up. Thank you for giving us the power to resist judging others — because they’re different — and instead to know that what makes them different is exactly what we need to become the church you want us to be. Help us to rejoice in the fact that you love us so much that you bring others into our church who will help us grow even more into your likeness.

Finally, Holy Spirit, thank you for using us — all of us. For giving us gifts and talents. Thank you for those you’ve gifted and called to lead with their hands and for those you’ve gifted and called to lead with their words. Unify us — so others see that you are at work in and among us. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

BENEDICTION

May you go fulfilling the role God has created you for — while being thankful for each other and for the gifts God has blessed us with. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.