The Power of Together: Enhancing Ministry through Partnership

SPEAKER 01 : 0:01

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, September 1st. Big tasks often get done better and faster when we work together. Let’s explore how that same principle applies to sharing the weight of ministry right here on today’s podcast.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:18

Oftentimes when we are faced with a tremendous challenge or wonderful opportunity, If it’s something that appears to be sort of overpowering, we ask the question, but what can I do? And that is always the wrong question. The right question is, what can we do? And suddenly, when you ask the question, what can we do, your potential… for usefulness and effectiveness is multiplied many times over. Well, that’s what I want to talk about in this message, and that is partnership in ministry. So I want you to turn, if you will, to Philippians chapter 1, and I want us to read these first seven verses together. You recall that the Apostle Paul is in prison, and he is writing this letter, along with others, to these churches to whom he’s ministered, with whom he shared the truth. And in this particular one, the Apostle Paul, in a loving, beautiful way, in this epistle of joy and confidence and assurance and encouragement, describes for us how God’s work should be carried out. So if you’ll notice, he begins with one of his cohorts. He says, Paul and Timothy… bond servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he begins. He says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all because I have you, he says, in my heart. Since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. Now, all of us like to be a part of something that is moving and something that is growing and something that is good and something that is successful. And most of the time, we’d rather not do those kind of things by ourselves, but rather participate with someone else. And whenever we choose to cooperate and participate and become a partner with and partnership in, something begins to happen to our potential. That is, you personally could witness to a number of people in your life, but all of us together can witness to many more people than just any single one of us. Now, what I want us to see in this particular passage here is that the Apostle Paul was was one man in a whole partnership of people who were sharing the gospel. Everybody didn’t do the same thing because God doesn’t call everyone to do the same thing. And you see, there are three avenues, I believe, at least three avenues. We think about a partnership in the gospel. There are three avenues which all of us can have a part. One of them is in prayer. And you see, when people pray for one another, they become a part in that person’s life. And Paul in this Colossian letter in that first chapter beginning in verse 9 is to me one of the most powerful prayers in all the New Testament. He was praying for them and they were praying for him. And also in Colossians chapter 4, if you’ll recall that he mentions Epaphras who is a mighty warrior of prayer and he talks about how he labored for them earnestly in prayers and standing in their behalf. Well, Paul understood the necessity that everybody was important in the work of ministry. And he says one avenue of partnership and one avenue in which we can carry out the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is in praying for one another and praying for the work of God. The second way in which it is to be done, the second avenue, is in personal service. And this is a good example of Tychicus. Tychicus, to my knowledge, was not necessarily a Bible teacher. He was not pastor of a church. You know what he was? Tychicus was the Apostle Paul’s messenger boy. He was his mailman. He was the fellow who carried the epistle. Somebody says, well, that wasn’t very important. Let me ask you a question. How would you have felt if the Apostle Paul had handed to you the letter to the Colossians and said, read this and then take it to Colossae? I think I would have read it every step of the way and tried to memorize every word of it. Imagine taking those four little chapters. There’s no such thing as an unimportant person in the kingdom of God. There’s no such thing as an unimportant work in the kingdom of God. It is man that has elevated man. God doesn’t do that because every single person, the person who works in the nursery and changes diapers, that is a part of the kingdom of God because that little baby is going to either grow up and go to hell or to heaven. And so every single person is important. Doing whatever God has called us to do. And the third avenue in which we can work together and participate is in giving, and that’s what they were doing. Paul said, when I left Macedonia, you were the only church that gave to him materially and helped him as he went along. And of course, he was a tent maker at times, but sometimes he couldn’t do that. And God didn’t want him staying in one place all the time. And so as they became partners with the Apostle Paul, thanking God for the privilege of doing their part, both in prayer, in personal service like Tychicus, and as the Philippian church did, they gave to him financially to help him in the ministry. Well… As I think about the whole idea of partnership and spreading the gospel and in ministry, think about this. The very idea of a denomination is the result of people deciding, hey, our church can do this. Your church can do that. That church can do this. But suppose we all decided to work together. And suppose we decided instead of you sending your missionary and they’ll send their missionary and they’ll send their missionary, suppose we decided to get together and organize a missionary organization. A mission whereby together we support our missionaries and together we send them out. It is partnership in getting the gospel to the world. And you see, once people begin to understand, hey listen, I am a vital part of the kingdom of God. And I want to say it again, there’s no such thing as an unimportant person or an unimportant job in the kingdom. And this is why so many people sit back in church week after week, and they ask the wrong question. This is the wrong question. What can I do? That’s not the right question. The question is, what can we do? And you see, we need to recognize that we are a part of, that we have partners with, and ownership in the kingdom of God. We’re all the children of the living God, and He’s called us… to share the Word of God. He’s called us to help people who are in need. He’s called us to do many things, but to my knowledge, I don’t know of anything He’s called us to do as a lone ranger separately by ourselves. Now, we’re going to have times of prayer and meditation and personal times by ourselves, but also we’re going to do it corporately and we’re going to do it together. And I think all of us know it’s one thing to pray alone and we all need that. But there are times when we want somebody to pray with us. We need someone to pray with us. We want to hear someone else call our name before God. We want to hear them crying out to God on our behalf. We want to hear them lifting our name and our petitions and our burdens and our heartaches to the Lord. There’s something about togetherness. And that’s the way God built the whole body. when every part of the body functions and cooperates and participates and is free in their participation, something tremendous and exciting happens. That’s what the body of Christ is all about. That’s why he gave us different gifts. Somebody has the gift of service, like Tychicus. Somebody has the gift of administration. Someone has the gift of giving and teaching and prophecy. Someone has the gift of mercy. And so someone, no matter what their gift, there is an opportunity to exercise that gift. And so when a person says, what can I do? I’m telling you, that’s not the right question. The right question is, what can we do? Because I need to see myself not as a single individual that sort of drops in, but as a part of the kingdom of God, broken down from his mighty kingdom to his church. And from the church to a local church, a local church, a person of a group of people who are sharing the Word of God and participating in meeting people’s needs. Well, that’s what Paul was talking about in this whole passage here. Now, when I think about ministry and I think about cooperation and participation in ministry, here’s the whole key. And I want you to look, if you will, in Romans chapter 15. the Apostle Paul was concerned as we said before about the church in Jerusalem and then he says in verse twenty five but now I’m going to Jerusalem serving the saints and he said for Macedonia speaking of churches like Philippi and Achaia have pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem because the saints in Jerusalem were going through a very difficult time because of hardship economically weather wise and so forth and verse twenty seven look at this Yes, they were pleased to do so. That is, they wanted to do so, the Macedonian churches. And they’re indebted to them, that is the church in Jerusalem. Now look at this. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. Now I believe here’s the whole key and the biblical basis for support of ministry. Now here’s the reason. Here’s what Paul was saying. He says, now, where did you get the gospel from? He said, the gospel came from the city of Jerusalem, that little church in Jerusalem where the Holy Spirit came and the church of the Lord Jesus Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit. And they went out from there, from that place, from that local body. He says, that’s how you Gentiles heard the gospel. So what did they do? He says, those Jews in Jerusalem, now converted to becoming Christians, he says, they shared the gospel, spiritual things with you. Now… They need material things. And he says it is only right that since they gave to you spiritual things and now they have needs, it is right for you to give to them material things. That’s the way God intends for ministry to be carried on. As people preach the gospel and share the Word of God and teach the Word of God, if that’s where people receive their blessing, if that’s where they’re being taught and God is instructing them, And there is need there. He said it is the right thing to do when you have been blessed spiritually. Then he says to return when there are material needs. That’s the way God carries on the ministry. That is the basic philosophy. He says because it’s only right to do so. He says if you receive spiritual blessing here and there is material need. He says it is only right for you to give to them having been given to. The very idea of not supporting your local church is not biblical. And here is the verse. You can wrap it all up in that single verse. He says, you received it from them. Now give to them in return because there is material need. The idea that anybody would go to church, listen to the gospel week after week, month after month, and God working in their life and never even think about giving anything to the work of ministry, giving back where they have received spiritual is a total contradiction from the Word of God. That’s the way and that’s the biblical principle by which ministry is to be carried out. And so Paul had a wonderful relationship with these people in Philippi because that’s the way they had operated. Now, the second thing I want you to notice here is the power in partnership. And it’s very brief, but it’s so real. That in partnership and working together, first of all, we can do more, we can do it better, and we can do it longer. It’s just that simple. When there are people working together, they can do more than a single individual. Second, that we can do it better. Why? Because when people begin to cooperate and participate together, God has put together all these different spiritual gifts in the church. And so whereas I may have one skill, someone else has another skill, someone else has another. We should be able to come from our diverse gifts, our separated gifts, thinking differently, but thinking toward the same goal until we come in unity and oneness of mind and heart. This is the will of the Father. This is what God wants us to do. How does He bring that to pass? By participation, cooperation, working together, giving of ourselves to one another. Because we can do more by participation. We can do it better because we have diversity of gifts. And we can do it longer. Why is that? Because we carry out the work of ministry and we build the body of Christ in such a way that when all of us are gone, it’s still going on. And it’s going on strong throughout the world. Why? Because somebody back yonder was willing to cooperate, to organize, to work, to give, to participate physically in the work of ministry. Now, what are the personal rewards from participation in that kind of ministry? Well, as I think about the Apostle Paul and what he said to all of his friends here as he wrote to them, a number of things come to my mind. And the first one is this. It is the encouragement that comes through fellowship. That is, when people work together, here’s what happens. When people begin to work together, their vision and their focus changes. You know, you can get in the habit of going from your house to your job, your house to your job, and your house to your church, and your house to the store, wherever you may shop. And life can get real narrowed and focused. But you know, when you get in a group of people and that group of people are excited about the Lord Jesus Christ and what he’s doing, something happens. Our focus changes. And the truth is there are many Christians who become discouraged because they never get into a group and participate and recognize the power of fellowship in fellowshipping together in the body of Christ. So one of the positive and I think personal rewards of participating together in the work of ministry is simply that. That is the encouragement that comes. And the second thing, is the fact of how our own personal desire to be involved becomes heightened. That is, when we begin to see what God is doing in other people’s lives, and we think, wait a minute, what could God do in my life? And we see other people serving the Lord and how they get involved, then we ask, well, how can I be involved? And so what happens is we begin to have a stronger desire to participate, to get involved, to sense ownership. God, it isn’t, listen, just the church, but it’s my church, and it isn’t just the kingdom. I’m a part of the kingdom of God. And so what happens is participation is heightened. But not only that, a third thing and a very important thing is this. And that is our convictions about our life become stronger. When you and I begin to participate and see that we’re involved in ministry that goes around the world or reaches other people’s needs, what happens is we begin to see that our life counts, that we are valuable to the kingdom of God, and that we’re bigger than something than just where we live at our house. And I think there’s so many Christians whose ideas about themselves are so erroneous. Every single person is important in the kingdom of God. Just find out what is it that God wants you to do. Give it all you’ve got. Do it with all of your heart and trust him to use you. And what happens here is when a person begins to see themselves in that light, all of a sudden, everybody’s important. Now, if you listen to the world, they think, well, I go to church. What a waste of time. You know why? Because they’re thinking temporal and we think eternal. And when your thinking’s right, your actions become right. And you see the Apostle Paul is saying, When you and I see ourselves as partners in the gospel of Christ, when we see ourselves as partners, and listen, partners in the gospel of Christ means I’m a partner with God the Father and God the Son. Listen, every single one of us is a partner with Jesus Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. They’re committed to evangelizing the world. And if I’m committed with them, then I’m a partner with a triune God in accomplishing the work of the kingdom of God. Now, I don’t know how much you can do by yourself. But I can tell you this, you can do more as a partner in the gospel of Christ. And God has given us an awesome opportunity as partners in the gospel to make an eternal, lasting effect upon the people of the world who need the gospel of Christ. I don’t know what you can do, but I have a little bit of an idea of what we can do. And I want to ask you, if you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, let me ask you this question. If you’ve never trusted Him as your Savior, what are you living for? More than likely, if you’re honest, you’ll have to say, well, and the conclusion, the summation of it all is self. That’s not very much of a worthy object, a goal for which to live. But if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, Then your goals become eternal. Then the consequences, then the impact of your life is beyond your imagination. And God can begin to use you in ways you never dreamed He could use you. But you see, lost as an unbeliever, Having shut Christ out of your life, you’ve got to go it along. While you may have earthly friends, if you don’t have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit as your friends, you’ll never be able to accomplish in life what God created you to accomplish. And so I want to encourage you to trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior. I simply mean by that, to ask the Lord Jesus Christ who died at Calvary, who paid your sin debt in full to forgive you of your sins and to receive Him as your personal Savior by faith and say to Him, I choose to follow you, Lord Jesus. And find yourself a church that preaches the Word of God and be baptized into that fellowship and become a vital part of that fellowship and become a partner with those people in preaching and teaching and sharing the gospel at home and around the world. You need to get settled down and anchored down somewhere. Your life can begin to count for God because you only get one trip. And every second that passes by is over. And that much less of your life do you have. And what you have to ask is, am I going to spend it? Am I going to invest it? Am I going to live isolated from people around me? Or am I going to join with a group of people who are doing the work of God the way God has called us to do it?

SPEAKER 01 : 19:22

Thank you for listening to Partnership in Ministry. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our 24-7 online station. And if you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.