WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.800 We are in a nine week series on Romans 12 and this is week number nine so we'll finish 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:11.320 up today. 00:00:11.320 --> 00:00:16.019 In the past four weeks including this week we are looking specifically at what Anne read 00:00:16.019 --> 00:00:19.160 for us verses nine to twenty one. 00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:23.879 And we've been talking about love every single week so we've been looking at the way that 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:28.719 Paul calls us to love and all its different forms here and really if you were to summarize 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:36.799 the whole thing you could just read 1 John 4 verse 19, we love because he first loved 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:38.119 us. 00:00:38.119 --> 00:00:46.039 So in Jesus Christ God knew you to the very bottom in the midst of all your unloveliness 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:52.399 and he loved you all the way to the sky no matter what despite who you are he loved you 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:54.000 and so you go and do likewise. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.039 That's how Jesus puts it in John chapter 13. 00:00:56.039 --> 00:01:02.159 So if you've experienced the gospel in your life Paul says go and love and Paul's giving 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:04.879 us the ways to do that what that looks like. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:11.000 So we've looked at loving God, loving one another within the church family, loving the 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:16.239 city, loving Edinburgh and everybody all the people within it and then lastly this week 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:21.039 we're going to think about loving ministry, loving the ministry that he's given us. 00:01:21.039 --> 00:01:22.920 So that's the next thing that he talks about here. 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.799 You can see it right there in verse 11 at the very end he says serve the Lord. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:28.680 That's his capstone commands. 00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:31.799 Serve the Lord, love ministry. 00:01:31.799 --> 00:01:33.359 So let's think about that. 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:39.760 First there is a call here in this passage to love the ministry that you've been given. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:45.000 Even though the word loves not there we're going to see that it is there and then secondly 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.400 we have a problem Paul calls it out ministry laziness. 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:54.760 He says don't be lazy in ministry we have that problem and then third and finally how 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:59.080 to change how to grow how to do ministry in the light of that. 00:01:59.080 --> 00:02:01.360 So let's think about those three things. 00:02:01.360 --> 00:02:04.560 First the call we have here to love ministry. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:10.240 All right we've said every single week that love is never mere feelings. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:12.400 It's never mere desire. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:15.120 It's never mere emotion or affection. 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:21.240 Instead to really have love, love always takes shape in some visible way. 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:25.879 And so when you look across the Bible love is not just that moment where you see her 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:30.920 or him across the room for the first time you know in the heart flutters a little bit. 00:02:30.920 --> 00:02:31.920 That's not love. 00:02:31.920 --> 00:02:35.840 It is love, a type of love but love is much more than that. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:38.360 Love is patience. 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:39.360 That's what Paul says. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:40.360 Love is kindness. 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:42.240 Love is joy. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:44.879 Love is bearing with other people's faults. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:46.039 Love is forgiveness. 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:51.599 Love is all the different forms that it takes expressed in virtue. 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:54.879 So Galatians 5 love is the beginning. 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:58.560 Joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control are all the forms 00:02:58.560 --> 00:02:59.900 that love takes. 00:02:59.900 --> 00:03:01.159 So love always takes shape. 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:02.840 It always takes form. 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:08.879 And here in verses 11 and 12 love takes the form. 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:15.759 You can see it in verse 11 of a quote, boiling heart for ministry. 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:17.840 So that's the metaphor Paul uses. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:20.840 It's not as obvious right here in the ESV. 00:03:20.840 --> 00:03:26.719 But you'll see in the ESV it says in verse 11, be fervent in spirit. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:29.359 That's the second little clause, be fervent in spirit. 00:03:29.359 --> 00:03:35.240 The word fervent there is a metaphor and it's literally the word boiling. 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:40.680 And so one commentator says it could be very literally translated something like, when it 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:45.719 comes to the things of the spirit or the spiritual, be boiling. 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:51.159 So he's talking about metaphorically here about a pot on your stovetop, today at lunch, 00:03:51.159 --> 00:03:57.160 a kettle, and you put water in it and you set the flame and it, what happens, it boils. 00:03:57.160 --> 00:04:00.960 And then eventually you leave it, you forget it and it boils over. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:02.200 That's the metaphor he chooses. 00:04:02.199 --> 00:04:09.560 He says, be boiling over in love and in ministry, for ministry was for spiritual things. 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:14.319 When it comes to the things of the spirit, your heart should boil over the top like water 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:15.719 over a kettle. 00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:16.719 All right. 00:04:16.719 --> 00:04:23.199 And that means another commentator says he's saying something like be inflamed for ministry. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.680 One said, have heartburn for ministry. 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:29.639 Have indigestion for the ministry. 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:33.240 Your heart should be hurting because you're boiling over with pain. 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:36.719 You have chest pain for the sake of wanting to serve the Lord. 00:04:36.719 --> 00:04:37.719 Verse 11c. 00:04:37.719 --> 00:04:38.719 All right. 00:04:38.719 --> 00:04:43.079 So you say, well, okay, I see that he's giving that command, but you're trying to frame this 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:46.639 as a focus on love, love, love, love every week. 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:48.240 Where's the word love here? 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:53.599 Now you see in verse nine, remember he has said, love everybody, agape is the Greek word 00:04:53.599 --> 00:04:58.439 he uses, which is gift giving love for anybody in the world. 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:03.319 And then in verse 10 he uses this particular word, store gay, which is the word for family 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:04.319 affection. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:06.560 Love the church like you love your family. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:08.639 You're so bound to them in Jesus Christ. 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:13.319 And then you come to verse 11 and he doesn't use the word love in verse 11, not at all, 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:17.560 but he moves from loving everybody to loving the church to verse 11, loving the ministry 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:20.759 you've been given without saying the word love. 00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:24.639 And that's obvious because he says, don't be lazy with ministry. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:27.519 Be boiling over for it. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:29.399 Don't be without zeal. 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:33.759 Instead your heart should be pouring over, boiling for the sake of ministry. 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:39.000 In other words, he's talking about a heart that has such affection for the spirit, the 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:47.039 spirit of God, for God himself, that the way that boiling over takes form is hell, ministry. 00:05:47.039 --> 00:05:51.159 So in other words, he's saying when you are loving, loving, loving God deeply in your 00:05:51.159 --> 00:05:54.120 daily life, how do you see that? 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:56.959 And what ways does that take shape? 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:02.519 And he says it takes shape in having a real zeal and a fervor, a boiling, a pot pouring 00:06:02.519 --> 00:06:06.120 over for the sake of the ministry, whatever ministry God has given you. 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:10.639 That's the way that love of God, in other words, takes form, takes shape. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:13.240 That's what love of God looks like to the outward world. 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:14.240 It looks like ministry. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:18.000 It looks like being active in ministry for God. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:20.240 Now the question's obvious. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:23.079 Do you have that? 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:31.680 Do you boil over in fervor for ministry because you have a deep, deep love for God that keeps 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:33.319 growing and growing and growing? 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:35.000 That's what Paul's saying. 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:41.360 And you say today, I can remember times in my life where I did have that, but I don't 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:43.839 really feel that way today. 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:45.519 Sometimes I have that. 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:46.519 Rarely I have that. 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:49.839 And of course he's talking to Christians here, where I'm not sure that I've ever really 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:56.919 felt like I was boiling for the sake of ministry, that the love of God was that serious in my 00:06:56.919 --> 00:06:58.679 heart. 00:06:58.679 --> 00:07:05.959 Or you might say, what exactly does it mean to serve the Lord, to be on ministry? 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:13.159 So I'm not even sure exactly what that means because I think of ministry as the minister, 00:07:13.159 --> 00:07:17.239 somebody like me ordained and I think of me as a recipient. 00:07:17.239 --> 00:07:19.199 So what exactly does this mean? 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:23.479 So we have to just take two minutes to say, well, what ministry is Paul talking about? 00:07:23.479 --> 00:07:27.719 He says, be zealous, be fervent, be boiling over. 00:07:27.719 --> 00:07:29.800 But exactly for what? 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:30.800 In what way? 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:34.560 What is this ministry that he's talking about? 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:37.599 All of you know the word minister or ministry. 00:07:37.599 --> 00:07:39.639 You know it because you're here. 00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:41.519 We have a minister, two ministers. 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:44.079 The Free Church of Scotland has many ministers. 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:49.240 These are ordained positions that we title minister. 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:53.800 Not every country, nation, church community uses that word very often. 00:07:53.800 --> 00:07:58.680 So the church I come from in the past rarely uses the word minister a lot less than just 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:00.120 says pastor. 00:08:00.120 --> 00:08:03.680 Different traditions do it differently. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:09.079 The UK knows this word better than most other places because this word minister or ministry 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:12.240 has been adopted into the political order. 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:17.960 So we call certain politicians and certain positions ministers here. 00:08:17.960 --> 00:08:23.879 JK Rowling made this word world famous when she labeled it the ministry of magic. 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:27.800 And so everybody sees this word all across the world and says most people look at a place 00:08:27.800 --> 00:08:33.200 like the UK or the Commonwealth and say, well, why use the word minister for a politician? 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:36.320 And all of you know that answer better than I know it. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:40.120 But the reason is actually quite obvious and that's because it comes from the Bible. 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:46.320 And in the Bible, the word translated ministry or minister is almost every single time the 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:48.360 Greek word deacon. 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:52.440 So anytime you see the word ministry or minister in the Bible, it's actually just the word 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:53.560 deacon. 00:08:53.560 --> 00:08:57.159 Be on ministry means go deaconing. 00:08:57.159 --> 00:08:59.440 It's made into a verbal form. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:01.519 Do deaconing, be a minister. 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:03.679 Do ministry, go and be a deacon. 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:04.680 That's what it means. 00:09:04.680 --> 00:09:09.600 The word deacon is the word for service in the New Testament, the word for service. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:13.200 And so a minister is a servant. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:15.440 Ministry is service. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:21.440 And so Paul says, verse 11, see served the Lord ministry, true ministry is just being 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:26.360 a deacon, a servant for the sake of the Lord, because of your love for God. 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:29.840 All right, simple enough. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:31.960 Where is that word here? 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:36.279 Is Paul really talking about ministry in that way here? 00:09:36.279 --> 00:09:38.440 And you see it right there in verse 11, don't you? 00:09:38.440 --> 00:09:42.880 At the very end he says, capstone, serve the Lord. 00:09:42.880 --> 00:09:46.720 And you say, there's ministry, deacon for the Lord. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:49.000 Be a deacon, be a servant for the Lord. 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.400 That's what he's talking about. 00:09:51.400 --> 00:09:55.120 But he takes it up to level 11 here. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:01.000 He turns it up a notch because he replaces the normal word for be a minister to the Lord, 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:03.960 be a deacon for the Lord with another word. 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:08.920 And the word here at the end of verse 11 is the word slave. 00:10:08.920 --> 00:10:11.440 So he doesn't use the word deacon here like he usually does. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:17.560 Instead, right here he says, serve the Lord, it actually is be a slave to the Lord. 00:10:17.560 --> 00:10:22.800 Now the reason that the ESV and lots of modern translations choose not to translate it that 00:10:22.800 --> 00:10:26.120 way is well known to all of you. 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:31.920 It's because it's very difficult for us modern people after African shadow slavery and the 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:37.839 many other forms of horrific slavery that we've seen from the 17th, 18th, 19th century 00:10:37.839 --> 00:10:44.360 in particular to look at the word, the phrase be a slave into the Lord and read that without 00:10:44.360 --> 00:10:50.199 bringing in all the connotations of the late modern period and the horrors of slavery in 00:10:50.199 --> 00:10:51.919 the late modern period. 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:55.959 And we don't have time today to unpack that and all the things that the Bible actually 00:10:55.959 --> 00:10:59.879 means when it talks about the concept of slavery. 00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:03.720 But let me just give you one because this is what Paul's referring to when he says be 00:11:03.720 --> 00:11:10.600 a slave, so boiling over for ministry that the presupposition is that you are a slave 00:11:10.600 --> 00:11:11.600 to the Lord. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:12.960 The Lord is your master. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:14.840 What does he mean? 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:20.720 Jesus and Paul both use the same word in multiple locations. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:27.080 Jesus uses it a lot in his parables where he talks about being a slave unto the Lord 00:11:27.080 --> 00:11:31.000 through this image of the first century steward. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:33.280 So you may have come across this in some of the parables. 00:11:33.280 --> 00:11:38.080 Paul calls himself the steward of God, the steward of the ministry. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:42.960 And the steward is a special word that refers to a type of slave. 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:46.720 It's the word for a slave to God in ministry. 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:50.920 And the reason it's unique is because the steward in the first century, Greco-Roman 00:11:50.920 --> 00:11:56.920 context, was a person that was on the one hand a slave in a household. 00:11:56.919 --> 00:11:59.120 They were a slave. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:04.240 They of them was required unconditional obedience to their master. 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:09.759 And yet the steward was a position where the master had said, and yet at the same time, 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:12.039 you are free. 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:15.279 So it's a person who had given themselves unconditionally to the master. 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:19.759 And so the master had turned around and said, therefore, you are free to the point where 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:25.919 the master would say, you take my household business, my economy, and I give you all the 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:30.159 resources to go and do with this what you want to do with it. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:31.919 So the steward would be highly educated. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:36.959 The steward would be given all the resources of the master to grow the family business. 00:12:36.959 --> 00:12:42.279 And so the steward actually would become the CEO, if you will, of the master's household. 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:45.599 And so on the one hand, the steward was unconditionally obedient to the master. 00:12:45.599 --> 00:12:50.199 On the other hand, he was given this great freedom, all these resources. 00:12:50.200 --> 00:12:56.520 And typically the steward would eventually be adopted as a son or a daughter into the 00:12:56.520 --> 00:12:58.120 household of the master. 00:12:58.120 --> 00:13:03.360 Now this is the word that Paul chooses to use over and over and over again in his letters 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:06.920 to talk about being enslaved to the true master. 00:13:06.920 --> 00:13:11.960 He's saying that God has made you, if you've given yourself to God in the gospel, he's 00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:16.960 made you into a steward where God says you are unconditionally, you are to be unconditionally 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:22.080 obedient, a true servant, and at the same time, you've been completely freed. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:24.280 You've been given the resources of the master. 00:13:24.280 --> 00:13:29.720 You've become a CEO of the master's ministry to go and steward the resources he's given 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:32.720 you in the world wherever God has put you. 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:40.639 Now if you are a son or daughter of the king today, if you believe the gospel, if you've 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:47.199 been made a steward, God says, Paul says here, you are a minister. 00:13:47.199 --> 00:13:48.480 You're a minister. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:51.199 You've been called to the ministry. 00:13:51.199 --> 00:13:58.159 And Charles Spurgeon, that great 19th century prince of preachers, he comes in and asks 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:05.080 us a really important question, a penetrating question about whether or not your life is 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:06.399 committed to this. 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:08.080 And this is what he said. 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:17.720 He asked, is God really your master in all of your acts of serving? 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:25.200 So if you're here today and many of you I see and I know and you are constantly serving, 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:31.320 you're serving on AV and music and door duty and hospitality and in Creshing kids church 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:36.759 and Sunday school and you're going on the caravan and you're doing sparkle sisters ministry 00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:38.919 and the list goes on and on and on. 00:14:38.919 --> 00:14:40.879 You're loving people in your neighborhood. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:43.200 You're bringing meals to people. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.639 You're seeking to be salt and light in the midst of your workplace. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:50.319 And we could talk forever about all the forms that those ministries take in your own life. 00:14:50.319 --> 00:14:53.080 And here's what Spurgeon says. 00:14:53.080 --> 00:15:00.679 He says true love begins remember with subjective motivation that is fundamentally selfless, 00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:04.360 that is fundamentally God oriented, not self oriented. 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:12.879 And so he asked this, is your deepest, if your deepest motive in ministry is to be active, 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:21.560 to appear to be diligent and to win commendation for taking your share in the church's work. 00:15:21.560 --> 00:15:23.440 You have not served God. 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:30.240 Instead, you have sacrificed for the sake of others in order to secure a reputation, 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:33.519 to feel good about yourself, to be religious. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:35.159 You have done it for you. 00:15:35.159 --> 00:15:41.799 Oh, beloved, this is a point, the very simple to speak of that is very searching. 00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:49.319 We find here that much of that which glitters will be found not to be gold. 00:15:49.319 --> 00:15:53.840 And he said, here's how you know, here's how you know if your ministry life, your service 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:58.120 is unto the master or to the self. 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:01.919 He says, when you serve, when you share the gospel, when you give your time, when you 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:09.919 give your money and your resources, he asks, whose smile is it that gladdens you? 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:14.439 Whose frown would truly depress you? 00:16:14.439 --> 00:16:17.740 Whose honor do you seek in all that you are doing? 00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:21.159 Do you seek in all that you're doing and all the serving? 00:16:21.159 --> 00:16:23.000 Are you burnout? 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:28.199 Maybe ask the question, do I seek the Lord's smile? 00:16:28.199 --> 00:16:30.639 Is that why I serve? 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:35.480 Now this is exactly what was happening in Job chapter one. 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:45.720 In Job chapter one, Satan comes to God and says to God, Job is your servant. 00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:47.639 You say he's blameless. 00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:49.639 He's committed. 00:16:49.639 --> 00:16:52.319 He's a great minister. 00:16:52.319 --> 00:16:53.319 He lives blamelessly. 00:16:53.319 --> 00:16:54.840 He serves you from top to bottom. 00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:56.559 He raises his children in the right way. 00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:58.840 He does all these things so well. 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:03.680 And Satan says, but if you take away the good things from Job's life, what you're going 00:17:03.680 --> 00:17:07.840 to find out is that he has served you for one reason and one reason alone. 00:17:07.840 --> 00:17:10.519 And that's because he wanted blessings. 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:11.759 He wanted a great life. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:14.160 He wanted you to bless him. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:15.440 And you did. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:20.319 But you take that away and you will see that deep down in Job's heart, every single act 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:26.400 of ministry Job ever did was about him, not about you, God. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:30.800 Satan came and said, can you really say, Lord, that Job really serves you? 00:17:30.800 --> 00:17:32.400 Because I don't think so. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:33.400 And what happened? 00:17:33.400 --> 00:17:34.880 God struck Job. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:37.720 He allowed Satan to strike Job in many, many ways. 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:42.240 And if you read the book of Job very carefully, what you find out is that Satan was sort of 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:44.200 right. 00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:47.320 That Job comes out on the other side with faith. 00:17:47.320 --> 00:17:51.120 And God says you're forgiven for everything you ever did because of your faith. 00:17:51.120 --> 00:17:53.080 And he approves Job. 00:17:53.079 --> 00:18:00.639 But at the same time, many, many, many, many of Job's motivations were proven to be false. 00:18:00.639 --> 00:18:03.119 His friends were even worse. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:10.039 And you see, that means that Satan was pointing out something that is at least partially true 00:18:10.039 --> 00:18:11.919 in every single one of our lives. 00:18:11.919 --> 00:18:16.359 You know, if you're a Christian today and you look deep, deep, deep, deep down, you have 00:18:16.359 --> 00:18:17.359 to be willing. 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:23.039 You have to be honest with me to say, I know that deep down, even in the way that you 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:28.720 say I serve, even in ministry, even in every act I try to give to other people, I exist 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:31.879 to some degree for my own glory. 00:18:31.879 --> 00:18:33.559 I want to be known for this. 00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:35.000 I want a reputation. 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:36.440 I want to be honored. 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:37.559 I want the church to honor me. 00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:39.279 I want people to honor me. 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:40.279 How about this? 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:46.319 When I pray, my prayer life is weak until I need something. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:51.279 You know, when I really need something, then I come to the Lord and pour myself out. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:56.319 And that act alone proves, it shows, that ultimately, fundamentally, at the bottom of my heart, 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:57.319 I struggle. 00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:02.240 We struggle with the fact that the glory of God, service of the Master and His glory alone, 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:07.240 is not our ultimate and final motivation quite often. 00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:09.879 Here's the fix. 00:19:09.879 --> 00:19:12.759 The fix is to say, I know that's me. 00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:19.119 And then to say, if I want to boil over, if I want the water to pour over the sides for 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:28.159 ministry in the right way, for the right reasons, the question is, are you growing in loving 00:19:28.159 --> 00:19:33.039 God Himself above everything else in your life? 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:40.879 You see, the love of true ministry, real service, is proportional to the degree in which the 00:19:40.879 --> 00:19:44.399 love of God, for God, is growing in your heart. 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:51.240 When you say, God, teach me to love you more than stuff, to love you more than reputation, 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:57.080 to love you more than anything else, the blessings of this life, love for God grows and so true 00:19:57.080 --> 00:19:59.759 ministry grows at the very same time. 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:04.720 You see, they work together in proportion to one another. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:12.160 Here's the question, have you drawn, have you been drawing near to the beauty of the 00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:16.160 love of God for you in the gospel lately? 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:17.360 Every day. 00:20:17.360 --> 00:20:22.279 Is there a time every day where you draw near to the love of God for you in the beauty of 00:20:22.279 --> 00:20:24.000 the gospel every day? 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:29.880 And see, we're either always moving in greater depths of the love for God or we're moving 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:31.880 away from that. 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:37.480 And the decision there is how close, how near, how often are you drawing near to the Lord 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:44.720 in seeing the beauty of the love of God for you in the gospel day after day after day. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:48.480 Jesus Christ, we're told, boiled over. 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:53.640 Jesus Christ had heartburn on the cross. 00:20:53.640 --> 00:21:00.559 He loved you so much that he had serious chest pains for you as he died on the cross. 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:06.319 He wanted to save you and to have you as part of his family so bad that his heart was beating 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:13.319 and bursting out from within himself for you as he became a slave to your sin. 00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:19.399 The great master of all the universe became completely enslaved to you when he went to 00:21:19.399 --> 00:21:20.720 the cross. 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:25.279 He became the servant of your sin because of your sin so that you could be a steward 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:27.919 of the household of God, truly free. 00:21:27.919 --> 00:21:34.039 And so the question is, do you draw near to that gospel beauty to be able to say more 00:21:34.039 --> 00:21:40.000 and more, I love, I love, because he first loved me? 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:42.319 Now that's the long point. 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:44.440 We have two short ones. 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:47.599 Second, we have a problem. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:53.680 The problem is no matter how near we draw near to the beauty of gospel love, Paul is 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:59.119 giving us these commands because in this life we are not yet who we will be. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:03.119 And that means we will always struggle to some degree with mixed motives and gospel 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:04.959 laziness, ministry laziness. 00:22:04.959 --> 00:22:10.919 So that's what he says here in verse 11 at the very beginning, do not be slothful, lazy, 00:22:10.919 --> 00:22:12.759 and zeal for ministry. 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:13.839 So he points out our problem. 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:22.239 He says we are always going to struggle with laziness for ministry because of mixed motivation 00:22:22.239 --> 00:22:24.159 in our hearts. 00:22:24.159 --> 00:22:31.599 And you can maybe say with me today that when you became a Christian, if you have a conversion 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:35.839 experience in your life where there was a real distinction, you might say, you know, 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:41.240 I remember the days when I was, as they put it, on fire for Jesus. 00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:44.919 There was years in my life where I was on fire for Jesus. 00:22:44.919 --> 00:22:49.559 And like everything else in life, the shine seems to wear off. 00:22:49.559 --> 00:22:53.519 And I don't feel that way all the time anymore. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:57.279 And Paul is saying fundamentally, if you're struggling with ministry zeal, you've got 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:00.679 to encounter gospel beauty every single day, the love of God for you. 00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:03.960 But then there's one more thing, and I'll just point this out briefly. 00:23:03.960 --> 00:23:10.920 The Bible warns us here also about what the culture can take away from you when it comes 00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:12.480 to ministry. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:18.640 So every single one of us is tempted also by the culture to pull away from ministry zeal 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:21.480 because of one particular thing, I think, in the modern world. 00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:23.400 And the Bible points this out for us. 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:29.600 And that's the diagnosis, the diagnosis, is that we've been told over and over again 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:36.599 in our lives that faith, ministry, being zealous for ministry is something that should only 00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:40.279 happen in your private life, not your public life. 00:23:40.279 --> 00:23:44.359 So the heartbeat of post-enlightment modernity is faith. 00:23:44.359 --> 00:23:47.559 It's for the private realm, never the public realm. 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:52.079 And Paul is saying, have ministry fervor and zeal everywhere. 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:53.319 Be public about your faith. 00:23:53.319 --> 00:23:58.240 And our great problem that we face in the modern world is that we're taught to never 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:01.319 be public about our faith, that it's a personal private matter. 00:24:01.319 --> 00:24:03.680 Now, the Bible deals with this very directly. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:09.120 The problem of ministry laziness in Revelation 3, it nails the modern issue. 00:24:09.120 --> 00:24:13.599 Revelation 3, the seven letters to the seven churches. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:16.120 One of those was Laodicea. 00:24:16.120 --> 00:24:20.200 And in Laodicea, the Spirit said, I'm upset with you. 00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:23.759 I'm angry at you because you are, quote, lukewarm. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:25.240 Remember that he says, you're not hot. 00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:26.440 You're not cold. 00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:27.940 You're lukewarm. 00:24:27.940 --> 00:24:31.640 Now, many people have interpreted this in a particular way, something like this. 00:24:31.640 --> 00:24:36.279 You're not hot, meaning you're not on fire for Jesus anymore on the one hand. 00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:37.279 And I wish you were. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:41.759 On the other hand, you're not cold either, which many people have thought means. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:43.759 You're also not against Jesus. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:44.759 You're not hot. 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:47.440 You're not on fire for Christ, but you're not against Him either. 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:51.759 You're in this lukewarm, fuzzy place where you're religious but indifferent. 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:53.080 You're lukewarm. 00:24:53.080 --> 00:24:55.440 And he says, I hate that. 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:59.519 Now close, but that's not exactly what it means. 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:03.440 Laodicea set between two towns, very near two towns. 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:07.440 And on the one town to the right of Laodicea, there was a hot spring. 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:10.120 You would go there to bathe to wash your clothes. 00:25:10.120 --> 00:25:16.120 In the other town to the left of Laodicea, there was a cold running river, a water of 00:25:16.120 --> 00:25:19.720 life sort of river where the Laodiceans would have to go to drink. 00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:25.200 So in Laodicea itself, we know now because of historical scholarship that the river in 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:27.240 Laodicea was rancid. 00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:28.960 It was still water most of the time. 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:29.960 It was muddy. 00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:30.960 You couldn't drink from it. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:32.120 You couldn't use it. 00:25:32.120 --> 00:25:37.240 And so the Laodiceans are being told, you know, there's hot springs to your right. 00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:39.400 There's cold water to your left that you can drink from. 00:25:39.400 --> 00:25:44.080 And you are just like this rancid water in your own town that's undrinkable. 00:25:44.080 --> 00:25:48.680 Now that means that hot and cold are both good. 00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:50.160 They go to the cold water to drink. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:52.039 They go to the hot water to bathe. 00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:53.880 They're both good. 00:25:53.880 --> 00:26:01.040 And so that means something like this, I think, that he's saying, I wish you were hot, warm, 00:26:01.040 --> 00:26:08.480 full of love for people, for ministry, for the other Laodiceans that don't know Christ. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:10.760 And I wish you were cold. 00:26:10.760 --> 00:26:16.920 And cold water means committed to the refreshment of the truth, that you loved people and you 00:26:16.920 --> 00:26:22.600 also are truth people at the same time, theology people and warm affection for people simultaneously. 00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:24.839 And he says, and you aren't either. 00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:31.879 Your lukewarm lukewarmness, what is it lukewarmness is private faith. 00:26:31.879 --> 00:26:33.799 He's saying you're neither hot nor cold. 00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:34.959 You're not for people. 00:26:34.959 --> 00:26:36.519 You're not for the truth. 00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:39.159 You come to church, but you keep it all to the inside. 00:26:39.159 --> 00:26:43.159 The issue of lukewarmness is an issue of private faith. 00:26:43.159 --> 00:26:44.159 It's laziness. 00:26:44.159 --> 00:26:45.759 It's no, it's no visible faith. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:48.719 It's completely hidden faith. 00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:55.559 And that means Paul is saying, have zeal for the ministry, and zeal for the ministry is 00:26:55.559 --> 00:27:02.880 just to ask the simple question, do you have a public faith? 00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:06.680 Do people around you know that you're a Christian? 00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:13.200 Are you the aroma of Christ for others that don't yet know Him? 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:15.880 That's the issue of ministry laziness. 00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:18.039 And it's not hyperemotionalism. 00:27:18.039 --> 00:27:20.920 It's not camp-like, mountaintop experiences. 00:27:20.920 --> 00:27:22.480 That's not what's being referenced at all. 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:26.480 Instead, it's just saying, are you the aroma of Christ in the world? 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:27.680 Do you smell like Christ? 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:32.599 Do you show joy and forgiveness and peace and patience and gentleness and trust and 00:27:32.599 --> 00:27:34.799 repentance and humility? 00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:38.639 Do you serve your enemies even when they're mean to you? 00:27:38.639 --> 00:27:41.920 That's the aroma of Christ, it's public faith. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:44.159 The diagnosis, and we'll move to the final point. 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:51.560 To what degree is my faith hidden? 00:27:51.560 --> 00:27:55.120 To what degree do I know that I hide my faith from the world? 00:27:55.120 --> 00:27:59.920 Do I live in such a way that I hide who I am in Christ Jesus, that I'm not public about 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:03.519 who I am? 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:05.560 The solution is the same. 00:28:05.560 --> 00:28:09.040 He says, are you struggling with ministry laziness, with lukewarmness? 00:28:09.040 --> 00:28:10.040 We all are. 00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:17.519 He says, you will only love, you will only boil over in public faith to the degree that 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:27.200 you every single day draw near to the love of God for you and the beauty of the gospel. 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:33.359 Draw near every day to break through ministry laziness and lukewarmness, to become a public 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:35.519 servant for the Lord. 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:38.119 Now lastly, and we'll close with this. 00:28:38.119 --> 00:28:42.639 You say, okay, I know that's me, I know that's me. 00:28:42.639 --> 00:28:47.119 I'm ready to do it, I'm ready to grow as a Christian in this area. 00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:48.119 How does it look? 00:28:48.119 --> 00:28:54.839 Now we could extend, I have a few minutes left, we could extend this series by at least 00:28:54.839 --> 00:28:57.199 13 more weeks by my account. 00:28:57.199 --> 00:29:00.199 You say, please, no. 00:29:00.199 --> 00:29:05.599 But we could because we could go through every single form that this ministry could then 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:06.839 take shape. 00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:07.839 How do you do it? 00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:13.199 Well, just think, we've been looking at Romans 12 for nine weeks. 00:29:13.199 --> 00:29:17.480 Let me just give you a list from just this chapter of the forms that ministry can take. 00:29:17.480 --> 00:29:23.759 Verse 13 to 21, hospitality, praying blessings upon those who persecute you and hurt you, 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:26.799 looking for good in harmony with one another. 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:27.799 Live peaceably with all. 00:29:27.799 --> 00:29:29.359 Do not seek revenge. 00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:32.439 Forgive, clothe and feed even your enemies. 00:29:32.439 --> 00:29:33.439 Back up a paragraph. 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:41.120 Verses three to eight, prophesy, that's teach people about the gospel, share the gospel. 00:29:41.120 --> 00:29:43.519 Serve the word deacon as used here. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:47.480 Literally clear tables, wash dishes, use your time for people. 00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:50.200 Exertations, speak the truth to people who need to hear it. 00:29:50.200 --> 00:29:55.880 Encouragement, generosity, contribute to the needs of the saints financially, acts of mercy, 00:29:55.880 --> 00:29:57.759 caring for the hurting and the poor. 00:29:57.759 --> 00:29:59.120 Verse 12, three more. 00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:04.119 He says, rejoice and hope, be patient and suffering, be constant in prayer. 00:30:04.119 --> 00:30:10.000 Now by my account, that is 14 different forms that ministry takes in life. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:12.759 And that's just one chapter. 00:30:12.759 --> 00:30:17.199 So there's lots of ways you can go and be boiling over in ministry. 00:30:17.199 --> 00:30:18.759 Lots and lots and lots. 00:30:18.759 --> 00:30:22.959 And we have to actually come back to the Bible and say, God, what exactly is the ministry 00:30:22.959 --> 00:30:24.279 that you've told me to do? 00:30:24.279 --> 00:30:26.279 Well, there's 14 of them, right? 00:30:26.279 --> 00:30:31.599 And within that, we have to look and say, what exactly in my life, where exactly do I find 00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:36.319 my life written in the commands of a place like Romans chapter 12? 00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:42.680 So let me pick one of the 14, and we could do 13 more weeks, but let me just do one and 00:30:42.680 --> 00:30:45.519 we'll move on back to Mark next week. 00:30:45.519 --> 00:30:52.200 And that's the one he gives us here in Romans 12, 11, at the very, sorry, 12, 12, he says, 00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:53.960 be constant in prayer. 00:30:53.960 --> 00:30:58.960 Now the reason I want to choose this one as we close is because it's immediate. 00:30:58.960 --> 00:31:05.039 You can walk away today, you can even right now, as we talk about it, grow and engage 00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:10.759 in a form of ministry in a way that's more and better and greater than ever before by 00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:12.559 being constant in prayer. 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:16.720 You can apply it to your life at this moment, at this very moment. 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:19.200 And just a minute we're going to pray, you can do it right then. 00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:21.000 And here's what it means. 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:28.200 He's telling us here that being constant in prayer is the ministry. 00:31:28.200 --> 00:31:30.960 It is ministry. 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:32.799 What is being constant in prayer mean? 00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:39.200 Luke 11, Jesus gives a little parable and he says, imagine that you have a friend who 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:42.079 comes to your door at midnight. 00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:45.720 Now midnight in the first century, it was more like 4 AMR time because people went to 00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:49.359 bed when the lights went out, when the sun went down. 00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:54.639 And he bangs on your door and says, I'm here, open up, I need three loaves of bread to feed 00:31:54.639 --> 00:31:55.639 my friends. 00:31:55.639 --> 00:31:56.799 And what do you say? 00:31:56.799 --> 00:32:00.000 You say the man in the parable says, I'm in bed with my family. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:02.439 This is a time where everybody lived in one-room households. 00:32:02.439 --> 00:32:04.159 I'm in bed with my children. 00:32:04.159 --> 00:32:06.839 Go away. 00:32:06.839 --> 00:32:11.399 But Jesus says he keeps going and he bangs and he bangs and he bangs and then eventually 00:32:11.399 --> 00:32:12.399 what do you do? 00:32:12.399 --> 00:32:13.919 You get up and you give him bread. 00:32:13.919 --> 00:32:17.599 And he says, the reason that you get up out of the bed and give this man bread is because 00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:20.039 he's relentless. 00:32:20.039 --> 00:32:26.559 And he says, now ask, seek, knock and the door will be open to you. 00:32:26.559 --> 00:32:27.559 You see what it's saying? 00:32:27.559 --> 00:32:29.159 Paul is saying it in a command. 00:32:29.159 --> 00:32:30.759 Jesus said it in a parable. 00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:35.759 You can be constant in prayer as if you are bothering God. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:41.319 Be like a five-year-old that yells at night and says, bring me something to drink, bring 00:32:41.319 --> 00:32:44.679 me something to drink, wakes mom and dad up every single night. 00:32:44.680 --> 00:32:52.039 He's saying your prayer life can be and should be as if you're bothering God but you're not. 00:32:52.039 --> 00:32:58.120 Relentless, constant, never stopping on behalf of yourself and other people and that is ministry. 00:32:58.120 --> 00:33:01.880 That is one of the forms that ministry takes. 00:33:01.880 --> 00:33:03.600 Truly the last word. 00:33:03.600 --> 00:33:08.320 We said that the word ministry comes from the word deacon. 00:33:08.320 --> 00:33:09.320 That's the New Testament. 00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:15.399 In the Old Testament, the word for ministry comes from a Hebrew phrase that is in longer 00:33:15.399 --> 00:33:19.319 form the service of the priest. 00:33:19.319 --> 00:33:22.279 The service of the priest, translated ministry. 00:33:22.279 --> 00:33:28.039 The word ministry in the Old Testament is used to talk about the priestly ministry. 00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:34.480 And when a priest turns 30 years old, they are allowed to sacrifice on behalf of other 00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:36.720 people, sacrifice animals. 00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:38.519 Now remember how Romans 12 began. 00:33:38.519 --> 00:33:41.799 Let's give Romans 12 one the last word. 00:33:41.799 --> 00:33:42.799 Give your life away. 00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:49.400 If you've experienced the mercy of Christ, give your life away as a spiritual sacrifice 00:33:49.400 --> 00:33:51.319 in all these different forms. 00:33:51.319 --> 00:33:53.680 And Paul is saying, what is ministry? 00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:55.279 Ministry is being a priest. 00:33:55.279 --> 00:33:58.000 You are a priest. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:33:59.000 You are a priest. 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:01.319 You're a New Testament, New Covenant priest. 00:34:01.319 --> 00:34:05.440 You offer yourself your life as a spiritual sacrifice in the same way that the priest in 00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:11.840 the Old Testament offered animals as a physical sacrifice in all these 14 forms and many, 00:34:11.840 --> 00:34:13.000 many more. 00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:21.360 And in Luke 3, 23, when Jesus Christ came on the scene, Luke comments, he was 30 years 00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:27.480 of age when he began his ministry. 00:34:27.480 --> 00:34:32.639 And the priest in the Old Testament would begin their ministry, their service at 30 years 00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:33.960 of age. 00:34:33.960 --> 00:34:40.000 And Luke is shouting, Jesus Christ came to priest for you. 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:45.760 He came to give himself not only spiritually but also physically. 00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:50.079 And if you know that Jesus Christ gave himself physically and spiritually all the way to 00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:56.679 the bottom for you, Romans 12 one says, turn around and become a priest for him. 00:34:56.679 --> 00:34:59.519 You don't have to give yourself physically, not necessarily, but spiritually. 00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:05.599 Give yourself away spiritually because he gave himself as a priest for you in every way. 00:35:05.599 --> 00:35:08.280 We love because he first loved us. 00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:09.280 Let's pray. 00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:14.599 Lord, we ask that you would make us people who have so experienced the beauty of the 00:35:14.599 --> 00:35:18.400 gospel and draw near that we would love more and more. 00:35:18.400 --> 00:35:22.880 Not because we need it to be saved, but because we have been saved. 00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:29.840 And so forgive us for our failures and love, we know we come today with mixed motivations 00:35:29.840 --> 00:35:31.240 in every way. 00:35:31.240 --> 00:35:34.280 We serve for ourselves at least to a degree. 00:35:34.280 --> 00:35:40.160 We seek our own glory at least to a degree in every act that we do. 00:35:40.160 --> 00:35:43.480 And so we repent and we long to change. 00:35:43.480 --> 00:35:48.760 Make us people who love the ministry because we love you, because we want to respond to 00:35:48.760 --> 00:35:50.720 your love with love. 00:35:50.719 --> 00:35:55.879 And so give us deep, deep, deep love for you today, Lord, and grow us up in that. 00:35:55.879 --> 00:35:57.359 And we pray this in Christ's name. 00:35:57.360 --> 00:36:23.360 Amen.