Galatians 2:6-10 - The Grace that was Given to Me

In today's message from Galatians 2:6-10. Pastor Rich draws out seven principles of gospel ministry. That every part of the body of Christ would be equipped to live out Christ's mission. We are all called to ministry if we're in Christ. all call to steward our gifts and resources for his glory.

Let's listen in. Morning church. Scripture reading this morning is from Galatians chapter 2. Verses 1 through 10. Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas.

taking Titus along with me. I went up because of Revelation. And and set before them. though privately before those who seemed influential. The gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.

But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised. though he was a Greek. Maybe. Because of false brothers secretly brought in who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus.

so that they might bring us into slavery. To them we did not yield in submission even for a moment.

So that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. and from those who seem to be influential, What they What they were makes no indifference to me. God shows no partiality. Those, I say, who seemed influential, added nothing to me. On the contrary, When they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, For he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles.

And when James and Cephas And John. who seem to be pillars perceived the grace that was given to me, They gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me. that we should go to the Gentiles. and they to the circumcised. Only They asked us to remember the poor.

The very thing I was eager to do. Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you for who you are, Lord. I want to thank you for The gospel. The perfect gift.

I want to thank you for a church. That preaches the gospel. But Lord not only preaches it. but teaches us to live it. And for every day to remind us of its life-changing power.

Paul tells us in Scripture That the gospel can stand alone. Hmm. Nothing added. And because of Christ. Our chains are gone.

We are s free. We have freedom in Christ. Lord, pray for our servant this morning. as he comes again and teaches us from Galatians. Open our hearts.

In your precious name. Amen. Uh Well, let's see what God has for us today from His Word. I hope you've come today with... Open minds.

Hungry hearts. To hear from God. And as we look at God's Word, we understand that. God is making himself known to us. Um Nothing new coming from me.

I'm just the server that brings it from the kitchen and sets it on the table. In this paragraph, which I've entitled a sermon today, The Grace That Was Given to Me. As we read that, there's a lot of historical narrative in there. But we have so much we can learn from it. The question is: What is Paul doing in this paragraph?

Where is he going with this?

Well, that's two questions right there, isn't it?

Well, I'm glad you asked him. What is Paul doing in this paragraph?

Well, first of all, he's answering a question. And I think it's an implied question, and the question is, how can you say that? Say what? Look back at chapter 1 with me. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.

As we have said before, so say it now again. If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to the one that you received, let him be accursed. That is strong language. And the implied question is, how can you say that? Paul's answering that question.

And he's done a lot towards answering it already. But he is saying essentially two things. The gospel That I received came directly to me from the source, from Christ. And we've talked about, you know, there are other people in history who have claimed the same thing. and they've started religions, world religions.

And we've talked about how The Bible is unique in that. We're going to talk about that in bibliology as well. Paul's experience was unique in that. Talk about that. You can go back and read those.

I'll have time to cover it right now. But he also said, in other words, what he's saying, I didn't go to the apostles and learn it from them. I received it directly from Jesus Christ because you remember, Paul did not walk with Jesus for the three years that he was. in ministry on the earth, right? The other apostles did.

But he is saying, my message, the gospel that I preach, is equal to the message of those who did walk with him for three years. They recognized that. And what he is doing also, not only answering that question, but he's moving toward. He's moving toward 220. Galatians 2.20.

We know that verse really well. But that's in the context of him confronting the Apostle Peter. An apostle, the chief spokesman apostle. And Paul has to confront him because he's not living consistent with the message of the gospel. And what is that?

This is what the Galatians were falling for because some teachers had come in and said: listen, if you're going to be true followers of Christ, you have to keep the law. And Paul says no. That is not the gospel. They have given you a different gospel, which is why he said what he did so confidently and boldly. In verses 8 and 9 of chapter 1, that's a different gospel.

He says that's not the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. Yeah. It boils down to this. And this is what I want you to remember as we go through. The letter to the Galatians.

What is Paul emphasizing here? It's kind of in a negative statement. If your walk of faith in Christ is boiled down to keeping a moral code, you have missed the power, the point, and the power of the gospel. Let me say it again. If your walk of faith in Christ Is boiled down to merely keeping a moral code, you have missed the point.

and the power of the gospel. That's why he's so bold in this. That's why he actually confronted Peter, as we'll see at the end of chapter 2.

So he's moving toward 2:20. He says, I have been, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer. I who live. But what?

Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Listen, we could unpack that for a whole month. Don't worry, I'm not gonna do that. Yeah.

But I would like you to. I would like you to unpack that verse. and do it personally. Because that's the gospel. Lived.

That's the gospel lived. He wants his readers to understand what it is to live by grace, to live by grace. We talk about, sing about, teach about being saved by grace, and we are. But what does it mean to live by grace? That's what we need to understand.

Because he calls us to, as Paul wrote in Romans chapter 7, verse 6, that we are called to serve in the new way of the Spirit, not the old way of the written code. We are called to serve, and that word serves is due loss, slave.

Okay. Serve in the new way of the Spirit, not in the old way of the written code. Big contrast there.

So, as Paul continues to unpack this to his readers in the Galatian churches. He's talking about his ministry and the characteristics of his ministry. That are the basis of his authority and his confidence to say what he has said and to present this message of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. From this today, With the title, The Grace That Was Given to Me, I want to talk about seven principles of gospel ministry. Seven principles of gospel ministry.

You ready for this? I'm going to ask a question. You ready? How many of you are in ministry?

Some of you visiting today is saying, what just happened? Here's the point. If you are in Christ. You are in ministry. Adam and I are not the only ministers in this room this morning.

You, if you are in Christ, you are in ministry. You are called to it. We are all in ministry, Ephesians 4.12. Great. And those who are called to teach and to lead, to shepherd, they do so as.

As Paul pointed out in Ephesians 4, there are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. For what purpose? To equip the saints for what? The work of the ministry. That's Part in part what we're doing right here and right now.

To equip the saints for the work of the ministry. You say, Rich, what ministry am I in?

Well, I really love, you know, Max's promo for his class. You think about that. Who can you come alongside and walk with them in a Godward direction? We can all do that in Christ. Do you have a home?

Does your home have a kitchen? I sure hope so. It probably also has a dining table. Hospitality is a powerful tool for ministry. And that needs to be, that is a virtue and a practice that needs to be resurrected in the church.

And if you're not confident in your cooking, there's always River Birch Lodge down the road. You know, who I look at him and I say, follow me as I follow Christ. And he's growing by leaps and bounds. He's spending time with his family this week. But you are in ministry because in Christ you are capable of turning on the light in dark places.

You are capable of planting seeds of truth. And then you can also, if you've not been the one who planted those seeds, you can be one who also waters those seeds.

Okay. That's bold grace. All this is bold grace. We are all capable of diffusing the fragrance of Christ in whatever context we find ourselves. If it's a toxic corporate environment, we can, especially there, turn the light on and diffuse the fragrance of Christ.

You can come alongside another and walk with them in a Godward direction. I would ask you to be ambitious about that. You can serve those in need. Everyone in this room knows somebody that either is or will be someday. encountering some kind of suffering.

whether it's themselves personally or a loved one. We're called to serve them. With love and grace.

So it just goes simply like this. Part of following Jesus is helping others see and follow Jesus. Part of following Jesus is helping others see and follow Jesus. It's the gospel lived.

So we're all in ministry.

So these seven principles that I want to talk about today, yeah, Paul, it's true. These are characteristics of Paul's ministry, but I take them very personally as characteristics of the ministry to which God has called me. And I would ask you to do the same. Because there's not a person in this room, if you are in Christ, there is not a person in this room to whom these The seven principles do not apply. Number one.

Your gospel ministry is a stewardship from God. It is a stewardship from God. Understand what that word stewardship means. Let me use a financial example. I invest just go down Robin Hood Road up to where that Harris Teeter is up there.

And, you know, my landmarks are all restaurants. You know, so you know. La Coretta. Curry and noodle. Ugh.

Mouth is watering alright. No. Edward Jones is up there. And so I have given them. My money.

It's not theirs. They serve my purposes. with that money in investing. It's my retirement, it's my Roth IRA. But it's not theirs, they're simply managing it for me and accomplishing what I want.

to deal with it. That's a stewardship.

Okay. Stewardship is not ownership. But there is a high degree of responsibility with stewardship. With stewardship, you serve the will of the owner. And so your gospel ministry is a stewardship.

from God. It's Paul says here in verse 7, they saw that I was entrusted with the gospel. entrusted with the gospel. Paul is entrusted with the gospel to the Gentiles. But that didn't stop him from every town he went into.

The first place he went to was what? The synagogue. But he was entrusted with the gospel to the Gentiles.

So, as he says in 2 Corinthians 4:1, we have received this ministry by the mercy of God. Therefore, you don't lose heart, but also that it's all because that's true. We're not underhanded. We don't tamper with God's word. We're not deceptive.

We are straightforward. We would commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, he says. Because he recognizes a stewardship.

So it's his word, it's his message, it's his truth, it's his mission. We are called to be faithful in that as good stewards of it.

So we have, as ministers of the gospel, we have various functions, but we all have one ministry, and we're all called to be faithful stewards of it. It's a very healthy perspective to have. to understand that you have this stewardship from God and you have been gifted. You have been gifted to exercise this stewardship. Principle number two.

We all have equal standing. In His grace. We all have equal standing in His grace. There are some of us who have been on this path. walking in a godward direction longer than others.

Okay. For me, it's been 50 years. Uh wow 1975 was fifty years ago. But we all have equal standing in his grace. As he says in verse 6, he goes before the apostles.

He says, It's interesting how he puts it in verse 6. He says, Those who seemed to be influential, what they were makes no difference to me. It's almost like a put-off, isn't it? But it's not. That's not what he's saying.

Yeah, God calls people to leadership in the gospel ministry, leadership in the gospel, but we're all ministers in the gospel ministry. And what he's saying, and he's saying that what they were made no difference to me, what he is saying is that I didn't need their proximity to boost my confidence in the gospel. Because where do we all stand? In Christ, where do we all stand? at the foot of the cross.

We're all equal there. Every one of us. We're all in Christ. We're all the body of Christ individually members of it. Paul makes that very clear in 1 Corinthians 12.

And here's the good news. God doesn't have favorites. Parents, some of you might. You need to stop that. Good, God doesn't have favorites.

We're all sheep. I'm not his favorite because I'm the lead pastor of this church. I'm a sheep just like you are. Know that. What else what's else is God is not impressed with celebrity.

Not at all. We tend to be. Unfortunately. But God is not impressed with celebrity. Yeah.

We all have equal standing in His Grace. Principle number three. There is one gospel. affirmed in community. Let me explain what I mean by that.

There is one gospel affirmed in community. He says, I get this from verse 9, where he says, They gave me, when they saw the gospel had been entrusted to me, they gave me the right hand of fellowship. They gave me the right hand of fellowship, he says in verse 9. That's a significant statement. It's Apologetically, very significant, which is one thing that distinguishes Paul's revelation from Christ.

in contrast to other religious leaders in the world who have claimed revelation from God. None of them claimed They were given the right hand of fellowship. None of them were in community. They were all alone. And they had sole authority over the truth they ostensibly revealed, received by revelation.

Okay. Okay. Paul did not have that sole authority. There is one gospel affirmed in community. And for me, the one gospel, I love how it's summed up in the five solas of the Reformation, for example.

I love those. And I've told people, I said, that's a hill I will die on it. The five solas. There's one gospel. He says it's it's Christ alone Our authority is the word of God alone.

It is, and salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone. For God's glory alone. That's a hill I will die on. And that has been affirmed in community. for a very long time.

Because we see it anchored in the Word of God and flowing from the Word of God. Peter is the one who says there is no private interpretation of Scripture. In other words, if somebody claims to have an entirely unique insight into Scripture, and there are, listen, there are plenty of Christian and or religious leaders today who claim to have a unique insight and or interpretation of Scripture. And why is that important to them? Because to them, it makes them feel that you need them to understand the scriptures.

Walk away from that person. They have no business making claims like that. None at all. There are people who are very busy building their own little kingdoms and empires. We teach, as I said this morning, I got up here and opened the scriptures.

Listen, this is the authority. I am not the authority. This is the authority. I am but a messenger. An under-shepherd.

sheep just like you. And what we teach is what's called the Apostles' Doctrine. And that is the written record of divine revelation.

So I don't get up here and teach anything new. I only get up here and teach what has been revealed to us a long time ago. But it needs to be taught. afresh. Constantly.

And this is why, this is important, why he said in verse 6 of this chapter 2, he says, they added nothing to me. What does he mean by that? They added nothing to me. First of all, he says, they meant nothing to me. And then he says, they added nothing to me.

Again, this is not a put-down, all right? It's Paul saying, They found nothing missing in my gospel and they didn't add anything to it. In other words, I didn't require Gentiles to become like Jews and they didn't say, Paul, you need to make sure that you require the Gentiles to become like Jews. Because he uses the terms circumcised and uncircumcised, what he's referring to is the covenant relationship with God. And the Jews as a people had been under covenant relationship with God.

But now there's a new covenant. And we're all under that new covenant now. Which is one that deals with the heart. And Paul does talk about the circumcision of the heart. But he's not talking about circumcision of the flesh and having to keep the moral code of the Old Testament law.

or any moral code for that matter. He says, though they added nothing to me, I was missing nothing, and it professed the unity of the gospel. The unity of Paul's gospel with that of the other apostles. It was one gospel. Very, very important to understand that.

When they gave him the right hand of fellowship, that means they were affirming his message and considering him a partner or themselves partners in his ministry. They just went to different audiences.

So it's affirmed message in partnership and ministry. The right hand of fellowship was like a covenant relation between them. We belong together. We're in the same mission. We serve the same master.

We're going out with the same message. We're just going to different audiences. And that leads me then to the fourth principle of gospel ministry. The fourth principle is this: gospel ministry must be contextualized. It's important we know and understand what that means.

Paul and the other apostles had equal source and equal substance. of the gospel message, but Peter went to the Jews. He went to the circumcised, those who had been under covenant relationship with God in the old covenant. He went to them. And what was his message?

to them. Jesus is the Christ. Peter went to the circumcised. What is their message to the Jews? Jesus is the Christ.

Because they would know what that means. The Christ is the word for Messiah. They were waiting for a Messiah. And Jesus of Nazareth, who walked among them, who died under Pontius Pilate And then his disciples are walking around claiming that Jesus is risen from the dead, being eyewitnesses of that resurrection. Their message was, Jesus is the Messiah that you've been long waiting for.

That was the message to the circumcised, the Jews.

Now listen. Paul going to the Gentiles. Would that message make any sense to them? He preached the same gospel to them. But it was a different way of teaching it.

What was his message to the Gentiles? His message to the Gentiles was the Creator has come to rescue us. See, the Gentiles could They could deal with that. The creator. He began with a creator.

Colossians. What does Colossians teach us about Christ? All things were created. What? by him and for him.

That's the creator. You didn't have to tell that to, you know, I mean, to the Jews, they know that there is a creator. But to the Colossians, The Galatians, the Romans. They needed to know that the creator has come to us. And he's come to us to rescue us.

You see, it's the same gospel, but it's contextualized. Paul aimed his gospel at the Gentiles and said it in terms that they could identify with and understand. And Peter to the Jews said it in terms that they could identify with and understand. That's contextualization.

Okay. And the gospel, as it's contextualized, it just simply means if if I go to one person and talk to them, I need to understand who they are. What is their understanding? What are their circumstances? And somebody who Probably has never even gotten beyond elementary school in their understanding.

They need the gospel just as much as the person over here that has a PhD. But my giving of the gospel might be a little bit different between two individuals.

So, in other words, know your audience. Know your audience. It's the same message. with various presentations. It's like Paul said, to the Corinthians.

Gentiles. God who said, let light shine out of darkness. What's that? Creation. Has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the faith of Jesus Christ.

the God-man who came to us and walked among us. That was his gospel message to the Gentiles. Principle number five. As a minister, You are an instrument in the Redeemer's hands. To borrow the phrase from Paul Tripp.

As a minister, you are an instrument in the Redeemer's hands. We shall look at verse 8 with me. For he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles. Same power source. Who's working through him?

Well, it's Christ. It's the Spirit of Christ. He who worked through Peter worked also through me. That word worked is the word energeo, from which we get our word energy. And that's a direct reference to Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

You remember what Acts 1:8 says? Jesus said to his disciples, You shall receive what? Power, Dunamis. You shall receive power after what? The Holy Spirit comes upon you.

To what end you shall be witnesses? for me. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. He said that to his apostles, and ultimately we can glean from history that the apostles did go to the uttermost parts of the earth in obedience to the Lord who commissioned them. Yeah.

The whole point here is As Paul is saying, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And that's the characteristic of my ministry: Christ living through me, in me, and through me. In other words, he is the vine, I'm the branch. You could put it another way, using another metaphor. We are conduits of his redemptive grace.

We don't come up with grace. We're simply conduits of it. As recipients of His grace, we can then be dispensers of His grace, and that's why we encourage all Christians to pursue redemptive opportunities. Every opportunity that you may encounter, that the Lord brings your way to. to be gracious to another individual who does not yet know him.

That's powerful ministry. That's ministry. It's gracious ministry. The use of an instrument It's not about the instrument, is it? But the effect I've had to use many tools around my house and in my backyard.

I needed to show, I've planted a lot of shrubs. There's over 100 shrubs I've planted around my house.

Something's got to keep me busy here. It's actually my workout. But no, I s I gave some of my tools to my son and and daughter-in-law and uh and I needed a spade.

So I go down to the hardware store and I buy this spade and I, you know, digging into the ground, I put the spade down, I jump on it with both feet, pull it up. And I'm like, man, that's an awesome shovel. A shovel's not the point, is it? The hole that it digs is. See.

And so it is with us. Don't let your ministry be about you. Please understand me right now. Yes, God uses you and He uses your personality and He equips you and He empowers you and He will give you joy in that ministry, but don't let it be about you. Because it's not about you.

It's Christ alone, for God's glory alone. Yeah. Because if you let it become about you, You have con you have succumbed. to a ploy of the adversary of your soul. who wants nothing more but to just obstruct the gospel.

And when your ministry becomes about you, you'll end up obstructing the gospel. Paul makes that very clear. When the Lord humbled him, the Lord was faithful to humble Paul. And he's saying, It's not about me. Second Corinthians 4:5.

He says, For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servant. For Christ's sake. ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. He said in Galatians 6, verse 14, Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus. Paul said, it's not about how savvy I'm, it's not about how much I know, it's not about how good of a communicator I am, it's not about the authority that I have as an apostle.

He says, it's about Jesus Christ and about you knowing him and walking with him and delighting in him. The power is in the gospel.

So, as a minister, you are an instrument in the Redeemer's hands, and remember that: it's a stewardship. Principle number six: ministry must be with accountability. If you're in Christ, you're all in ministry. Ministry must be with accountability. And I would also say this.

The higher the office of ministry, the greater the accountability needs to be. And James gives us a clue in that. He says, Don't be many teachers, for you will receive the stricter judgment. Ministry must be with accountability. He says in verse 9, they perceived the grace that was given to me.

Again, there's so much apologetic value in that statement. They perceive the grace that was given to me. In other words, Paul's ministry was recognized by others. He was not just a self-proclaimed apostle. It was recognized by others.

And the others who recognized it were, as he calls them here, pillars. Seem to be pillars in the church. Who are these? These are the elders and the apostles and the elders of the church.

So it's just like yesterday, there was a council of six of us, the four elders of the church and two other guests who met with Nathan Jones. Nathan is a candidate for chaplaincy in the Army National Guard, and he's pursuing ordination. And so we got together, and he's been in process now for over three months, and we've been observing him in his teaching, his administration, his family. Is work We've been observing all of that. And then yesterday we met with him as a counsel.

And we grilled him. For two and a half hours. And we will present him to the church for ordination on April 13th. See, there's There's an accountability there. There has to be.

We can't let anybody go rogue with the gospel. There's no lone rangers in the gospel ministry. But there's plenty who attempt it. And all they do is obstruct the gospel.

So, like, we will be giving Nathan Jones the right hand of fellowship. In other words, it's the same: we accept your message in your ministry. That's so important because Proverbs 18:1, whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire, he breaks out against all sound judgment. Let me tell you what unaccountable ministers do. And this is especially true for those who consider themselves shepherds.

Okay. The Bible speaks really rather harshly. to shepherds. who don't shepherd well. That's humbling.

That's scary, frankly.

Okay. Shepherds who don't shepherd well. Unaccountable ministers. Unaccountable ministers, they do two things: they fracture the church and they frustrate the gospel mission. Why?

Because their ministry becomes about them. Their ministry becomes about them. I have special insights. I am influential. I am important.

I am indispensable. You need me. to be who you are. That's what unaccountable ministers end up doing and becoming. And their favorite radio station is WIIFM.

What's in it for me? And they may not know it, but they are actually singing the theme song of Hell, I Did It My Way. That's what unaccountable ministers do. Church, listen to me. you have a high privilege and responsibility.

to make sure that ministers are accountable.

Okay, because they are sheep too. And any minister who does not consider himself sheep. You need to run away from that person. Because they are not accepting accountability. They are more happy to lord it over.

those entrusted to their care. Ministry must be with accountability. Let me make myself clear on that. I can say to you this morning: I am your servant. You are not my master.

But I am your servant. I have one master. But I also understand that because I am fellow sheep. We walk together in a Godward direction. And if you see me stepping off that path, You have the full right and privilege and responsibility to come alongside me and say, Rich, let's get back on the path.

I'm human just like you are. And every minister is as well. Last point. The principle of gospel ministry, number seven, the gospel ministry is to serve and not to be served. The Son of Man came to serve, not to be served.

And if we are his followers, that characteristic must also be true of us. He says In verse 10, they gave him the right hand of fellowship. It says, and then in verse 10, only they ask us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. And I think that has a unique historical context there, because as we talked about it before, we find it in Acts chapter 11 and also 2 Corinthians chapter 8, where there had been famine in the land of Judea. And the churches were hurting.

Not only that, but there was persecution, right? And so the Christians were having to band together to help support each other. both through the famine and with the persecution. And when it says, remember the poor, I think, I think. That's what he's talking about is make sure the Gentile churches.

are showing brotherhood and grace to the Judean churches. The Jews, the Christian Jews. And Paul said, the very thing I was eager to do. You know what's so key about this? You see God's providence?

In famine and persecution, God's providence in this? How so, Rich? Because when the Gentile churches collect offerings and they send them to the Jewish churches in Judea, do you see how God can use that to bring reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles as the Gentile Christians serve the Jewish Christians? God used it that way. It was a redemptive opportunity.

To reflect the goodness and the compassion of Jesus. Because as Paul said to Titus, he gave himself, Jesus gave himself for us. To redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify a people for his own possession who are what? Zealous for good works. Why?

Because we're walking with Christ. And as we walk with him, we become like him. And part of that is compassion and grace. And he came doing good. And we too.

Go. doing good. It's very clear here as we understand ourselves to be ministers of the gospel. That truth must be accompanied by practice.

Okay. Truth must be accompanied by practice. The Lord came to us in... Grace and truth. Grace and truth.

We too must go in grace and truth. Truth without practice. I mean, imagine that. If all we do is just speak truth, speak truth, speak truth. We should speak truth, right?

Truth without practice. In other words, if you have a message and there's nothing in your life to back up that message. There's no compassion. There's no grace. There's no sense of serving others.

But instead, you're perceived as you just expect me to become like you and believe what you believe. And unfortunately, that's how most of the world views the evangelical church today. You know, let's be busy about maybe changing that paradigm a little bit. Maybe let's go out and say, how can I show grace to you? How can I serve you?

Instead of letting them get away with thinking, well, you just want me to become like you. Truth without practice is at best hollow and unattractive. At worst. Truth without practice is repulsive hypocrisy. James said it very clearly: faith without works is what?

It'll have no effect. And so the idea that the gospel ministry is to serve and not to be served, this needs to be in the church, this needs to be true, and it first needs to be exemplified in the leadership of God's people. That's where it needs to be exemplified.

So there's a high degree of accountability here. There's a high degree of expectation here. I'm not here as your lead pastor to be served by you. I am here to serve you. As I said before, the Bible has very harsh words.

For shepherds who do not shepherd. For example, back in the Old Testament, Ezekiel 34, thus says the Lord God, Ah, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves. Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep, the weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. God is harsh on shepherds who don't shepherd.

Jesus made a huge contrast to that in John chapter 10, and he did it before the religious leaders of the day, and he said, I am the Good Shepherd. And the shepherd does what? lays down his life. For the sheep. Do you realize how radical that was?

And so he says to his apostles, his disciples, and he said it specifically to Peter: Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know I do. What does the Lord say? Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep.

Whose sheep are they? His sheep. Is she It's a stewardship. And every one of us plays an important role in the person, other persons here in their Godward movement. We play a significant role in that.

The gospel ministry is to serve, not to be served. That needs to be exemplified in the leadership, but it also needs to be practiced in the membership. Galatians 5. 13, for example, and Galatians 5.13, by my projections, we will be there on August 3rd. But he says, You were called to freedom, brothers, so through love serve one another.

Don't use your freedom as an occasion for the flesh. Through love, serve one another. Remember what I said last time? You're freed from. But you're not just freed from something, you're also freed.

to something. Please remember that. Because if all your freedom is only thought of in the sense of being freed from something, you will again wind up in bondage and slavery. A destructive sort.

So, this is why he says, through love serve one another. That's the freedom that we have. And as he says in Romans 7:6, serve in the new way of the Spirit, not in the old way of the written code. Don't serve because, well, that's what a Christian is supposed to do. Let your service be the outflow of your delight in Jesus Christ and your walk, your communion with him.

That's serving in the new way of the spirit. Peter says it well.

Okay. In 1 Peter 4:10, each of you Should use whatever gift you have received to serve one another as faithful stewards of God's grace. in its various forms. That's a good verse.

So, I want you to contemplate these seven principles of gospel ministry. You have confessed this morning that you are in ministry.

Okay. So serve according to these principles. Serve according to these principles. Reflect the character and the purpose of Jesus Christ. Live the gospel.

The Gospel of Grace. Would you stand with me, please? Father, we are grateful for your self-disclosure. That you've turned your light on into our darkness, and you've done so. Most profoundly in the person of your Son, the Lord Jesus.

Father, thank you for giving us your Son that we can follow him. Because he has reconciled us. And so, Father. I pray that you would find us humble this morning. with humble hearts and resolve.

to follow him, to walk with him. to serve In His grace. To let him live through us, Father, as instruments. in his hands. Teach us, Father, to recognize the redemptive opportunities that you bring our way.

That we would pursue them, not just wait for them, but that we would pursue them, Father. as faithful stewards. who live in the outflow. of our communion and our delight with you. Thank you, Father, for who you are.

Thank you for all that you have done. And as we go out as ministers of the gospel, Father, thank you for all that you will do. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining us for this message titled The Grace That Was Given to Me.

It was first preached on March 30th, 2025 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Join us here next Monday for the next message in this series on Galatians. titled Our Freedom in Christ.