A MINISTRY PLEASING IN THE SIGHT OF GOD

 

Doing what is good is pleasing to God. All we are and all we do is ever in His sight and our passion should be to gain His approval. Oh to hear our Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master,” (Matt. 25:21)!  Yet, many will not hear those words. What they will hear is, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels,’” (Matt. 25:42). But, it need not have been. Hell was prepared for Satan, not for men and women. Indeed, God’s heart is expressed here, that He, “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”  The church has one mission—the Great Commission—to share the Gospel.

The early church got it. They went in obedience in the power of the Holy Spirit and souls were saved and baptized and discipled.  There were several factors in this. We will not examine all of them, but look at what Paul emphasized to the young pastor Timothy. This shows how to have a ministry pleasing in the sight of God. You don’t have to please me. You don’t have to please your members. But, you must seek to please your Master!  How?

A ministry pleasing in the sight of God is one WHERE THE PREACHERS FOCUS ON PRIORITIES, (v. 1-7). “First of all…” focuses on priorities.  They are—in order—prayer and preaching—intercession and then comes instruction. You recall that in the early days of the church, conflict arose. The Greek speaking widows felt they were being neglected in the distribution of food in comparison to what was given to the Hebrew speaking widows. What did they do?  What churches always do—dumped it in the laps of the preachers. Fix it, they cried. Here was the response, 

“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. 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. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’” (Acts 6:2-4). Prayer and preaching, prayer and preaching, prayer and preaching—and this was the result of those focused priorities: “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.”

Weigh then, the priority of prayer, (v. 1-3). Jesus did not tell His church to begin with preaching, but with prayer. They were to tarry in Jerusalem until the Day of Pentecost had come. They prayed for 10 days, preached for 10 minutes, and 3000 souls were saved!  We pray for 10 minutes, preach for 10 days, and if 3 people get saved we declare revival has come!  

There is much to do after we pray, but nothing until we pray. Every occasion offers opportunity for prayer. 

We are to offer, “supplications.”  We pray when a need arises in our lives and in the lives of others. Jesus told us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” (Matt. 6:11). 

We are to offer, “prayers.”  In this case, it is referring to communion with God specifically. Prayer is worship. It is coming into the presence of God by saying, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Matt. 6:9). 

We are to offer “intercessions.”  This is where we plead on behalf of others, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” (Matt. 6:10). This is intercession for the Kingdom of God to be manifest on earth. 

We intercede for leaders—“for kings, and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way,” (v. 2). If we were as committed to prayer as we are consumed with politics, we might see God work in the government!  Leonard Ravenhill put it this way, “The answer to the national dilemma is not the Oval Room of the White House, but the upper room in God’s house.”

Further, we intercede for the lost. Jesus said that prayer is about forgiveness and deliverance from evil. “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matt. 6:12-13). We intercede and join the Great Intercessor—(v. 5-6), since the Savior “desires all people to be saved,” or as Peter put it, God is, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,” (2 Peter. 3:9b). Such praying honors God in the salvation of souls. 

We are to offer, “thanksgivings,” “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.” (Matt. 6:13). We give thanks to God that His kingdom will triumph, His power will  prevail, and His glory will be manifested in all things for all time.

Those in Gospel ministry cannot fulfill their calling apart from calling on the Lord. We also need the support of godly men and women serving as our prayer partners, (v. 8-9a). 

After prayer, comes the priority of preaching, (v. 4-7). Sinners will not be saved apart from the preaching of the Word. The saved will not be sanctified apart from the preaching of the Word. 

Paul was, “appointed a preacher”. It is a calling from God. God only had one Son and He made Him a preacher. Do not stoop to be a President, if God has called you to be a preacher. 

He was an “apostle.”  While it is true that none share that office today, we can fulfill the function of being, “a sent one,” as the name means. It is a commission from God to evangelize. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

He was “a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”  We are to make disciples—“teaching them all things,” Jesus said in the Great Commission.  

If the preaching of the Word of God does not do it, it won’t get done!  I think of John Bunyan’s description of Interpreter in Pilgrim’s Progress.  It symbolizes the preacher.

Christian saw the picture of a very grave Person hang up against the wall; and this was the fashion of it, It had eyes lifted up to Heaven, the best of Books in his hand, the Law of Truth was written upon his lips, the World was behind his back; it stood as if pleading with men, and a Crown of gold did hang over its head.

A ministry pleasing to God is one where the preachers focus their priorities and WHERE THE GENDERS FULFILL THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES, (v. 8-15).  The genders are described as, “men,” and “women.”  Only two. From the dawn of creation until the end of time—there are only male and female. The insanity of sexual perversity and gender fluidity is the last stage of a culture before its demise. Sadly, the church is being shaped by the culture instead of the church shaping the culture. The supplanting of men as spiritual leaders in the home and church begins that decline. Often, it is not just women who seek to be dominant that is the cause, but men who are effeminate and abdicate their God-assigned roles.  

This is not a matter of equality in personhood. There is an equal dignity in creation. God made both male and female. He created us different, but not one superior and the other inferior. I love how Matthew Henry stated it:

Yet man being made last of the creatures, as the best and most excellent of all, Eve’s  being made after Adam, and out of him, puts an honour upon that sex, as the glory of the man, 1 Co. 11:7. If man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of the visible creation. The man was dust refined, but the woman was dust double-refined, one remove further from the earth. …

That the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 10). Hendrickson.

There is an equal dignity in the new creation. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28). The ground is level at the foot of the cross. 

Yet, there are obvious differences in how God has designed men and women in function. There is equality in dignity, but not in duty. Women can do things men cannot. The most obvious is having babies. Men can do things women cannot—that is to supply the seed to generate those babies. Biology and theology are wed together in God’s creation order. Truth is truth in whatever realm it is found whether the Scriptures or in science. God is the source of all truth. The dignity of our gender is not restricted by God’s design, but liberated to be all He has made us to be as male and female.

The man’s responsibility is to lovingly lead in the home and the church. They can only lead as they are led—and seeking God in prayer is a vital part of that, (v. 8). We are told where men are to pray—“in every place.”  We are told about how they should pray, “lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.”  Men who take their wife by the hand and gather their children around for prayer are far less likely to see their spouse and kids in rebellion.  When the altar in the home is established, the altar in the church will be exalted.

The woman’s responsibility is to loyally submit to her husband in the home and to the elders in the house of God, (v. 9-15). 

They demonstrate submission in their dress, (v. 9). Respectability and restraint are called for. Modesty is a forgotten quality in society and this Jezebel spirit has infiltrated the church.  Some church women’s attire is scandalous. Thank God for women of modesty!

They demonstrate submission in their deeds, (v. 10). Women work for God when they labor in the home, the church, and the community. Every member of the church is to be a minister. There is ministry for women as well as men. If the women in our churches stopped serving, the doors would have to be shut. Thank God for women of industry!

They demonstrate submission in their disposition, (v. 11-14). This is not a prohibition from women teaching or testifying. They can and should pray to God and present the Gospel. This is about church leadership—specifically the pastor/teacher. Women are not to be elders in the church. They are not to exercise the authority of a shepherd over other men. Again, Paul takes us back to Genesis. God made Adam first, so man is intended to be the initiator. Adam sinned through the influence of his wife, while Eve sinned from the deception of the serpent. This gets at the heart of how God has wired us up. Not one superior to the other, just different from the other. Maintaining doctrinal integrity is of fundamental importance. Women are more inclined to soften the edge of difficult texts. When a church places women in the pulpit, doctrinal drift is inevitable. They are not meant to pilot the Gospel ship. Thank God for women of humility!

They demonstrate submission in their devotion, (v. 15). Her devotion to her children brings the greatest fulfillment she may know. That is the meaning of “saved through childbearing.”  She is saved from insignificance by this great privilege. As the poet said, “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”  Her devotion to her family is bound with her devotion to the Father. She is said to abide “in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.”  Thank God for women of fertility!

The hatred of Satan has always been directed toward children. God’s pronouncement of judgment upon the devil was this, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:15). Thus, Satan began his effort to destroy the woman’s seed that would crush his head. He inspired Cain to kill his brother Abel. Pharaoh commanded the male Hebrew children to be slain. Herod commands the children of Bethlehem slaughtered. But, he could not prevent Jesus—the seed of woman—from being born. Satan’s doom is sure. Yet, this does not stop Satan’s rage against children. They are brutally butchered by abortion and it is celebrated in our demonic age. Professing Christian men and women are delaying marriage and deferring childbearing with the result that fewer and fewer godly offspring are produced—and the churches age and weaken and die—while Satan laughs. 

This is the design—that men and women would marry and produce godly offspring. Yet, there are some selected saints who will not marry and some who marry that do not have children. Being single does not make one of less value.  You can live without a spouse if that is the will of God and devote yourself to the Kingdom of God, and be like Jesus who never married. Likewise, a married couple may not be physically capable of having children. Yet, they too are not less than others as Jesus never had biological children. So, we do not minimize the worth of these exceptional men and women, but recognize that these are the exceptions.  Again, we have Scriptural guidance in these matters, also, (Matt. 19:10-12; 1 Cor. 7). Fostering and adoption ought to be prayerfully considered by childless couples, as adoption is a Biblical concept and act of love as well. 

These are uncomfortable truths, but must be preached, nonetheless. We will answer to God. I want to be faithful so He will judge me “good and pleasing,” in that Great Day I stand before Him!