A Christ-Shaped Ministry (Part 1 of 2)

This world has more than its fair share of problems.

You don't have to look very far to see that we are surrounded by brokenness. Because people are looking for answers, God's followers have a tremendous opportunity. And today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg teaches us how we ought to approach gospel ministry. Well, it is both a privilege and a challenge to consider the subject, which is an assigned subject for me, a Christ-shaped ministry.

And I take it that that has not been chosen because those who decided on the title believe it to be a certain kind of ministry to be chosen from a number of options, but rather because they believe—I certainly believe—that gospel ministry, the ministry of the Word of God, is to be by definition Christ-shaped. For the purpose of God from all of eternity is to make those whom he redeemed—who redeems—Christ-shaped, so that in Romans, those whom God foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. In other words, his purpose from all of eternity is to make our lives Christ-shaped. At the present time, as Paul says elsewhere, we are in the process of being transformed into the image of God.

And as John says in his letter at the beginning, he says, And one day when we see him, we will be like him. And the people who are under our tutelage as members of our congregation are men and women who in Christ are increasingly Christ-shaped, and who have come to an understanding of the absolute necessity and the profound benefit of sitting under a ministry of the Word of God, where the gospel is not only proclaimed but is embodied. The great compelling necessity for the gospel minister in the life of a congregation, as McShane said, the greatest need our congregation has is not our giftedness but is our godliness, and that the purpose of God is to fashion us. And so, says Paul, we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Christ's sake.

Now, the subject opens up in all kinds of ways, and it is certainly not possible to try and cover it in a comprehensive way, but my thought when it was given to me was immediately this. In a church, big C, that is increasingly feminized, there is a peculiar need for men, but for these men to be gentle men. For these men, if you like, to be Christ-shaped men exercising a Christ-shaped ministry. And it is for that reason that I've chosen to turn to Matthew 12 and to this longest Old Testament quotation in the book of Matthew that comes from Isaiah chapter 42. And if you find yourself looking down at your text and saying, but what he just said is not there, then I hope you'll find if you flip over, it is actually in Isaiah 42, for there is a slight variation between the text as it is in 42 and as it is here in Matthew 12. Now, at the end of Matthew 11, if your Bible is open in front of you, which I trust it will be, that is where Jesus has issued this amazing invitation. Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I am gentle, and I am lowly in heart. That's his self-designation.

Of all the things that he might have said on the back end of that invitation, it is compelling, is it not? I am gentle, and I am lowly in heart. And the yoke that I bring to bear upon you is easy, and my burdens are light. From there into chapter 12, and immediately, as is true throughout the Gospels, Jesus is opposed. The Pharisees in the first little incident are so stuck on their legalistic perspective that they are prepared to leave the people hungry. In the second little incident, in the man with the withered hand, they are prepared to leave the poor soul helpless.

And the background is a darkening background. It's a background of hostility, it's a background of hypocrisy, it is actually conspiracy, the verb that is used there in verse 14, that the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how to destroy him. And against that backdrop, that dark backdrop, we are introduced to this picture of Jesus as one who is gentle, one who is modest, and one who is kind. And Matthew tells us that here in this little interlude, we have fulfilled for us the words of Isaiah the prophet. And in the encounter, Jesus, who is aware, as happens routinely, of the way in which the forces are opposed to him, and of the great potential of those who have been drawn to him to go out and make a fuss and a bother in a way that would be unhelpful at this point in his ministry, Jesus, aware of all of this, withdrew from there. And even though he did that, many followed him, he healed them all, and he issued an order that they would not make him known.

All of that is, of course, quite wonderfully helpful. Now, this is Isaiah 42, isn't it? And if you are able, like me, to go back and forth, then you will realize that Isaiah 42 comes on the heels of Isaiah 41.

It's quite remarkable the way that happens, isn't it? And Isaiah 41, in part, is pointing out the fact of the emptiness and the absolute futility on the part of men and women to turn to idols, to the, if you like, heart-level substitutes for God. Whether that is 600 BC or whether it is 21 AD, it remains the case. And in the 29th verse, which concludes Isaiah 41, they are all a delusion, their works are nothing, their metal images are empty wind. And it is against that backdrop that what is required here is a wonderful Savior and a mighty God. And so, 42 begins with a, Behold, behold, my servant, right on cue. Now, at this point, perhaps we should just state the thesis, if you like, of this address.

And it goes something along these lines. That what Isaiah prophesied, Christ fulfilled, and what is fulfilled in Christ, is to be reproduced in some measure in those who are then the servants of Christ. He is the servant of the Lord.

He is the true Israel of God. He is the embodiment of all of this. Being clothed with Christ is a helpful thought, as we anticipate where we go from here. Behold, my servant. The answer to the predicament of the world is in the servant of the Lord. And I want to pause for just a moment and camp on that, if I may, that the servant is introduced here in Isaiah 42 as the only answer to the great predicament of men and women in their idolatry. And here we are in the 21st century, and we are ministers of the gospel in a world that is filled with idolatries. And every week as we deal with a text of Scripture, we are dealing with men and women, many of whom, despite the smiles on their faces and their ability to conduct themselves with a measure of politeness, their lives are marked by quiet desperation, inside and underneath, and particularly where they have become aware of the fact that their microcosmic plight is simply an expression of the totality of what's going on. The world in which you and I now minister is a world that is actually becoming increasingly aware of its need. I don't find it difficult at all to have a conversation with anyone about the fact that the world is broken. Nobody answers that in the negative.

It doesn't matter what age. The difference is the discussion concerning why it is broken and how its brokenness may be repaired. And when we realize that the world is becoming more aware of its need, it is imperative, then, that the church does not lose its sense of mission. And the way we lose our sense of mission, or the way in which our mission is diminished, is when we lose confidence in our message—in the truth, in the power, and in the relevance of the gospel. When we begin to get distracted and when we stop saying with Wesley, "'Tis all my business here below to cry, Behold, the servant of the Lord!"

That's what's being done here. Here is the servant of the Lord. You don't have to look too hard in contemporary culture to realize that men and women—and I'm not talking about Christian men and women—are far more alert to this than we give them credit for. I'm quoting here from a Jewish lady who writes on Tuesdays in the Times of London.

She is a political journalist, she's a graduate of Cambridge University, she is a practicing but not an Orthodox Jew. She's writing concerning the situation regarding the church in the United Kingdom, and she says this, religion, the restraint on behavior, has been substantially replaced by therapy, which diagnosed such restraint as unhealthy repression. The slow death of Christianity in Britain meant a transfer of belief from messianic redemption to a secular utopia. Saint Paul yielded to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the doctrine of original sin was replaced by a doctrine of original innocence. Instead of fallen mankind redeemed by a Savior on the cross, the goodness of mankind had to be redeemed from the corrupting effects of authority of any kind.

Instead of salvation by faith, the association of free and unfettered spirits would now be left to create heaven on the earth. Quite remarkable. Now, this is someone standing on the sidelines of things, and looking at the church in Great Britain, he said, it looks to me that they've completely changed their message. I wonder, have they lost confidence in the message? We take it into the United States, we say, well, we're not as bad as that yet.

Hold on, we're coming fast behind. But what has happened to the United States? Well, mission in many cases has been replaced with admonition. So that instead of actually saying, Behold the servant of the Lord, we're tempted to say to a secular culture, why are you in the mess you're in? Well, of course, we know the answer to that question. The answer to the plight of humanity, sixth century BC, was the servant of the Lord.

The same answer today. Now look at how he's introduced. Here is my servant. Here is my servant. Behold my servant.

Who is he? He's the chosen one. Well, he could be chosen without being loved, but he's also beloved. In fact, in him, my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. It's language reminiscent of the baptism of Jesus, isn't it?

That's exactly the case. It's a reminder to us—and I make no apology for saying it to you again—that our responsibility, if we're gonna have a Christ-shaped ministry, the focus has to be on Christ. We've got to say with Spurgeon, who in his opening address at the Metropolitan Tabernacle quite a long time ago, as a fairly young man, said, I would propose that the subject of the ministry in this house, as long as this platform shall stand, shall be the person of Jesus Christ. I am never, he writes, ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist. I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist. But if I am asked, what is my creed? I reply, it is Jesus Christ.

Right? That's what we've got here. The servant, behold my servant.

Now, how shall we trace this out? Let me suggest to you that we can consider the way in which the servant then proceeds with ministry. The servant acts, number one, in dependence upon God.

Independence upon God. Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him. And that, of course, is the reminder that runs throughout all of Isaiah. All of Christ's ministry was performed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All of the ministry, from his conception to his ascension. So when you come across the servant of God as he's introduced to us in the prophets, particularly in Isaiah, you have it again and again. Isaiah 11, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he has anointed me. Remember the passage that Jesus then quotes in the synagogue in Nazareth. When Peter is finally explaining to the gathered crowd in Acts chapter 10 about the significance and the nature of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, he says to the group, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. It's a straightforward observation, but it's there in the text, the essential role of the Holy Spirit in Christ-shaped ministry.

Which means, of course, that we then to the extent that we are clothed with Christ in the exercise of our ministry of the Word need also to be manifestly, clearly, significantly, personally, privately, essentially dependent upon the Holy Spirit of God. Some years ago I was preaching at a conference in London. I was out of my depth, I usually am, but the fellow who had convened the conference had me over for supper in the evening. And as I was in this gentleman's home for supper, he said to me, and what are you giving us tomorrow? He said, in your address. And I said, well I'm going to try and tackle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 1, where he makes the comment, our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. And I'm not going to tell you who the man was, but he said to me, he said, oh, very interesting.

He was English, I'll give you that much, but he said, how very interesting. He said, just as long as you're not going to give us any of that ungent stuff, brother. You're not going to give us any of that ungent stuff, are you? And I stopped me dead in my tracks.

I thought, well, is there any other stuff? If there is no Holy Spirit unction, if Christ exercised his servant ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit, what in the world do you think you and I are doing? So he exercises it in dependence upon God. He exercises, secondly you will notice, in accordance with his mission. In accordance with his mission. What is ultimately his mission? Well, it's here bringing justice to victory, or bringing justice to the nations.

I'm not going to delay on this, and I'm going to assume that you agree with me, and if you don't, you can send me a note, and I will pass it down the line, send it on to Eric Alexander or somebody like that, who'll be able to deal with it accordingly. But no, what is this? Well, the servant of God brings the truth of God to the world.

And ultimately, ultimately, when we think in these terms, we're not actually talking about many of the social engagements that are increasingly prevalent today. But the servant of God brings the truth of God to the world in accordance with God's purpose in redemption, whereby justice is exercised and mercy is revealed at the cross of Jesus Christ. So the whole thing is pointing forward to there.

And it is in accordance with that mission. Behold, the Lamb of God, says John the Baptist, who takes away the sin of the world. With mercy and with judgment, my web of time he wove. Where is justice satisfied? Where is love revealed without incongruity? Where is this settled? Where is the judgment upon the nations to be revealed?

Here in time, and there in eternity. Thirdly—and this is really where we're trying to get to—the servant acts not only in dependence upon God and in accordance with his mission, but in keeping with his character. In keeping with his character. You notice that we're told what he doesn't do. Behold my servant who doesn't. He will not. He will not.

He will not. And what is this servant, the great servant of the Lord? What will we notice about him? Remember Isaiah, we've got all of these proud characters, Cyrus and the rest, with big trumpets, as it were, and big egos.

The spirit of Nebuchadnezzar is alive and well, okay? In contrast to that, this servant of the Lord will not cry aloud. He doesn't draw attention to himself. He will not seek to startle the community with expressions of bravado. He will not quarrel or cry aloud. He will not lift up his voice. I think probably the point there is that he will not dominate the conversation by trying to talk over everybody the way that some of us are tempted to do.

He will not make his voice heard in the street. It's quite staggering, isn't it, to imagine what it was like to be there when Christ was moving in amongst the crowd. The people would have said, Which one is he? No special robe, no large chair, no group walking in front and coming behind, caught up with the rest of the boys, going about his business. Who touched me? Jesus, who touched you?

Have you seen the crowd? But he knew that power had gone out from him. He was the servant of the Lord.

He didn't make his voice heard in the streets. He'd already, in the sermon we got in the Sermon on the Mount, remember, he has warned the people who are listening to him in that mountain discourse. He says, You know, you don't want to be like these Pharisees who love to stand and pray at the street corners, quotes, that they may be seen by others.

That they may be seen by others. The ministry of the Lord Jesus, and thereby a Christ-shaped ministry, is not about putting ourselves forward, shouting, talking people down. Not if it's going to be Christ-shaped. How we serve like Jesus. That's Alistair Begg with part one of a message titled A Christ-shaped Ministry. This is Truth for Life.

Alistair will conclude his teaching tomorrow. Our study today reminds us of the importance of gospel ministry. Only the message of the gospel has the power to truly heal the brokenness in our world. That's why our mission here at Truth for Life is to teach the Bible every day on this program.

We know that when God's Word is taught, unbelievers will be converted, believers will be established, and local churches will be strengthened. When you give to support this mission, we want to invite you to request our featured book. The book is called God's Bible Timeline, The Big Book of Biblical History. It's a book that lays out the chronology of the overarching story of the Bible. It provides a series of illustrated timelines that give details about people and places and events. The book also contains added pages that offer descriptions of objects like the ark of God, the tabernacle, things that are described in detail in the Bible but can be difficult for us to visualize. You can request your copy of God's Bible Timeline when you give a gift of any amount. Just click the book image on the app or visit us online at truthforlife.org slash donate. I'm Bob Lapine. Hope you'll join us again tomorrow as Alistair describes the Christ-like qualities that God's servants should possess. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.