MINISTRY MINDED LESSON 3 PROMOTION COMES FROM THE LORD2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

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Year: 2015

Title: Ministry Minded Lesson 3 Promotion Comes From The Lord

Teacher: Jerry B Simmons

Series: 2015 Ministry Minded Series

Teaching Transcript: Ministry Minded Lesson 3 Promotion Comes From The Lord

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. Here we are, lesson three of Ministry Minded. The topic this evening is promotion, and that promotion comes from the Lord. And so to get started in that, would you turn with me to 1 Timothy 3.

1 Timothy chapter 3. Now, last week we talked about leadership structure and how God has appointed and, you know, designed and orchestrated that there be authority within the church. And I shared with you for us specifically here at Living Water the way that we are structured based on the way that we understand the scriptures to talk about the elders, the overseers, and the different roles that are involved there. And so kind of following along,

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And so it's kind of a natural question then, well, how does one get those positions or those roles or those responsibilities? And so we'll see Paul address this a little bit here in 1 Timothy, and then we're going to jump around heading into the Old Testament as we talk about this further. But let's start here in 1 Timothy 3, verse 1. It says, this is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of a bishop, he

He desires a good work. And so Paul, in giving Timothy some instruction about leadership within the church and the leadership that he is to appoint, he says, here's a faithful saying. Here's something you can count on. Here's something that's true.

If there is somebody who desires the position, again, there's these positions within the church that God has established. If he desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. Now, we talked about this word bishop last week, and literally it means to be an overseer. It's someone who superintends or oversees some part of ministry or some part of anything according to what the word is applied to.

But what I'd like to call your attention to with this position of overseer is that Paul says, here's the faithful saying, if someone desires the position of a bishop,

And I think a lot of times, you know, we would maybe kind of think that desiring the position is not such a good thing. But Paul here is not rebuking the thought. In fact, the wording that he uses here kind of encourages that there should be a desire for the role of overseer, for the role of bishop.

Let me encourage you to consider it with a couple other versions. So the ESV says it this way. The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. And so that idea of aspiring, it's like that raising up and it's a goal. It's something that is being looked for, looked towards.

The New International Version says it this way, here is a trustworthy saying, if anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. And so there's this idea of a longing, of a setting your heart for this role, for this responsibility, for this function within the body of Christ.

And then the New Living Translation puts it this way. This is a trustworthy saying. If someone aspires, same word, to be an elder, he desires an honorable position. So this idea of aspiring, setting your heart on, or desiring is all appropriate for this position of a bishop. Paul doesn't say, if anyone has this desire, make sure they're not the ones that you appoint to this role. That's maybe sometimes how we would approach it or think about it. But

Paul is saying there should be a desire, and it's kind of good that there's a desire. In fact, as you look at the word desire, the Greek scholar Wiest says it this way as he defines the word. He says the word desire is orego, to stretch out oneself in order to touch or grasp something, to reach after or desire something. And so you see that stretching forward, that

kind of longing, that reaching, that attempt, that trying to achieve something. And so he says, thus the word means more than to desire. It includes the idea of reaching after or seeking. And so you can see there's this inclination, there's this attempt that is being made. If someone, you know, has that reaching forward, they're reaching to that position of a bishop, of an overseer,

Then again, Paul doesn't say then smack their hand, put them back in their place. He says they desire a good work. And then he's going to go on in this passage to give the qualities. So if they desire it, that's good. And it's a good work. But they need to be qualified. They need to have the qualities of an overseer, which we'll talk about a little bit briefly later on in the message. But

The main thing that Paul is saying here is to desire it in and of itself isn't necessarily wrong. So there are positions of authority. There are overseers within the body of Christ. There is this role of those who have authority within the church. And to desire that is not necessarily wrong. Although there is selfish ambition, and of course we want to watch out for that. But to desire it isn't necessarily bad.

And kind of encouraged. If you're seeking after, if you're striving for, you're reaching for this role.

Well, what Paul will go on to give is the qualities, the character of the person that fits that role. And that's really the emphasis, as we talked about last week. The emphasis of authority within the church in the Bible is not about exact structure and naming of positions and titles and organization charts, but it's the character of the people who are involved. And that's the key and the important thing. But

Consider that. So to have the desire isn't necessarily wrong. To have the desire is kind of a good thing. There should be this reaching after, this striving for. But again, how do we do that? Where does that come from? And so again, the subject is promotion comes from the Lord. And I'm going to look at three different guys, three

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I'm going to go through these quickly and then we'll come back and review them one by one. But we also saw the importance of not hiding when God gives you authority, as Saul was hiding there amongst the stuff. And then we saw him fighting to keep his authority. We've been starting to read about that this week as we've been seeing him throw spears at David and bring those kinds of attacks against him.

We're also going to look at David as an example and learn some lessons about promotion and advancing in ministry from David. And so again, authority is given by God, that in a similar way that Saul was called by God and anointed to be king, David is called by God and anointed to be king as well. Also learn to not attack those in authority, and we'll see him withhold that opportunity that he has against Saul.

to let God lead you into more authority and let God do the work in establishing you, to let God maintain your authority when it's threatened or when there's challenges to it, that it's God who defends you, and then to pass on authority as he came to the end of his life, there was that need to pass on the baton. Well, finally, we have the example of Absalom.

And Absalom, from him we learn to not undermine authority, using the techniques that Absalom used to try to get the throne, and then also to not conspire to get authority. So looking at all these, if you put them all together, there's nine different things that we'll talk about regarding promotion coming from the Lord. Now, obviously, I'm looking at, you know,

Saul, David, Absalom. We're talking about kings. We're talking about a kingdom. And so we're talking about authority. And as we talked about last week, that is appropriate. There is appropriate authority within the body of Christ. But for the remainder of the time, I'm going to kind of reword it a little bit. And instead of authority, I'm going to use the word ministry.

And so let's turn to 1 Samuel 9 to consider the first point, and that is that ministry is given by God. Ministry is given by God. Now, here in 1 Samuel 9, we have the anointing of Saul.

how God called Saul and told Samuel about Saul even before they had met. In 1 Samuel 9, verse 15, it says, Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, Tomorrow, about this time, I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over my people Israel, that he may save my people from the hand of the Philistines, for I have looked upon my people because their cry has come to me.

So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, there he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over my people. And so here we see that Saul is identified by God. And Saul is called out to the prophet Samuel by God. And Samuel is given the instruction, this is the one that you're going to anoint. This is the one that I have selected. And so in chapter 10, the first couple of verses there, it

Samuel anoints Saul and says, you're going to be king. And then at the end of the chapter, he reveals Saul to the nation and says, this is the one that God has selected to be king. When it comes to ministry, the same truths apply. Ministry is given by God.

That it's God who decides. It's God who declares, this is the one that I've called for certain works, that I've called for certain positions, certain roles within the body of Christ. That it should never be, you know, people deciding. It should always be God deciding. Jesus, of course, is the head of the church.

He is the one who should be calling the shots. Now, there are those who have authority in the church, but those who have authority already within the church as they're appointing overseers and raising up leaders, they need to be connected to the Lord like Samuel was.

Where Samuel hears from God and God says, that's the one right there. And so then you, you know, work with that person that God has identified. But it's not, well, you know, I was thinking, you know, and we come up with our own ideas and plans. But that we recognize ministry is given by God. It's God who does this work. It's God who has this authority. Right?

Now, again, we see it in 1 Samuel chapter 16 with the anointing of David, where God selected David. And remember, the sons of Jesse were there, and none of them were the king, even though Samuel thought, well, that first one, he's tall, handsome, good-looking. You know, he's probably the king, but God says, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, no more sons left. Don't you have another son, Jesse? Oh, well, you know, we forgot about David. You know, he's not that important. He's out in the field. And that's the one that God chose.

And God told Samuel at that time, hey, don't look on the outside. Man looks on the outside, but God looks at the heart. And ministry needs to be assigned. Promotion comes from the Lord because it's the Lord who sees the heart.

If people are making decisions about ministry and who ministry is given to and who is raised up within ministry, it's going to be based on the outside because that's all that we have access to. We can only speculate about the heart. We can only speculate about motivations. And it's just guesswork on our part.

But those who are appointing others, those who are raising up others, those who are given authority in the church, we need to recognize that it has to be given by God. Ministry is given by God. In 1 Corinthians 12, verse 18, as Paul talks about the body of Christ, he says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 18, God has set the members, each one of them in the body, just as he pleased. It's God who sets the members. No person gets to choose the

Who has what role in the body of Christ? God sets the members. Now, God does give people authority within the church. And so there's some perhaps tension there sometimes and some things that we could address. But overall, just understand, God has set the members. He gets to decide who's an overseer. He gets to decide who has authority. It's his church. It's his body. And he sets them however he pleases.

And so the first thing for us to understand about promotion is that it's given by God. We can't take it. It can't be given by anybody else. It can only be given by God. And so if you are in 1 Timothy 3, you're desiring, you're reaching after the position of an overseer. You're reaching after an engaged, a more engaged role of ministry. Now, it doesn't mean that you are, you know, aspiring to it for some selfish reasons, but you have it stirred up in your heart that you're seeking for something.

That involvement, that usefulness in ministry, that effectiveness in ministry. So here's what you need to do. Now, in the business world, you might, you know, kind of like cozy up to the boss and like, hey, you know, and kind of be friends and butter them up a little bit and like, you know, try to get advancement that way. In ministry, it doesn't work that way. So you can come cozy up to David all you want. And, you know, Jackie will just smack you away. You need to cozy up to the Lord, right?

And get close to him. He's the one who has the authority and the ability to give ministry. And he's the one who can give you the role that he's placed upon your heart. Well, moving on to the second thing that we'll look at now. Promotion comes from the Lord. So don't hide when God gives you ministry. And again, we're looking at 1 Samuel chapter 10. In verse 21 and 22, this is the point where Saul...

has been declared to be king by Samuel, but now there's a public revelation. At first he was anointed, it was in private, but now at the public ceremony in verse 21, it says, "...when they had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was chosen, and Saul the son of Kish was chosen. But when they sought him, he could not be found. Therefore they inquired of the Lord further, has the man come here yet? And the Lord answered, there he is hidden among the equipment."

Once it's time to announce him, he can't be found. Now again, we talked about this last week as well on Sunday morning. And the need here for us to understand that Saul, as he hides amongst the stuff, it's not a good thing. Although, you know, God does make reference later to Saul thinking little of himself, you know, in his own eyes. And so we could maybe relate it to humility. And so we could maybe relate it to humility.

But the issue with Saul hiding amongst the stuff is that it comes after clear declaration from the Lord, confirmation from the Lord, that he is called to be king. And so it's not really humility. It's not an act of submission or obedience to God by which he hides amongst the stuff. It's, well, something else. It could be pride, even though we would think, well, why would you be hiding amongst the stuff if you're proud? But

But if he's proud, and so he doesn't want to, you know, be uncomfortable, he doesn't want to be put in the wrong light, he doesn't want to be in a situation that he's not comfortable with, then he puts things in his own terms, you know what I mean? He keeps control, and he says, okay, I'm going to hide because, well, I don't want to fail. I don't want to mess up.

And because of my pride, although he wouldn't, of course, say it in those words, but because of my pride, I don't want to mess up. I don't want to, you know, have that responsibility and that kind of thing. And so it could be pride that caused him to hide. It could be fear, you know, that he knew that he was called by the Lord, but it was just too scary of a task. It was too scary of a responsibility. He didn't want that kind of authority.

But regardless, to hide when God calls you is not the right thing. It's not the good thing to do. You cannot hide from God successfully and be right with God. And I would encourage you to consider once again 2 Timothy 1, verse 6 and 7, where Paul encourages Timothy to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

There is going to be times where you are tempted to hide, to hold back. And as you understand that promotion comes from the Lord, when you have opportunity, when God sets an open door in front of you, it's not the time to hide amongst the stuff. Although you might be fearful and although you might be proud and think, well, what if I make a mistake? And what if I fail? What if I mess up? That's the time where Paul would encourage you, hey, stir up the gift of God.

And go forward. God hasn't given us a spirit of fear. But use the Holy Spirit. Use the power that God has given to you. Use the love that God has given to you. Use the sound mind that God has given to you. And go forward in the things that God has called you to. To desire a role of authority is not necessarily bad. It's not necessarily wrong. It might be placed there by God. But as you seek the Lord on that role, on that position that is there on your heart,

then walk through those doors that he opens for you and take those opportunities that he places before you. Well, going on now to 1 Samuel chapter 20, we see point number three, and that is don't fight to keep your ministry. And this one's an interesting one to consider. Here in 1 Samuel chapter 20, we're looking now at a transition where Saul, he's already been told by the Lord that his kingdom is not going to endure. His kingdom is not going to last.

And so he's already begun to take careful notes about those that might try to take over as king after him. And you remember in 1 Samuel chapter 17, when David goes out to Goliath and Saul looks and says, who is that guy? He's been around. I mean, we know him. He's been playing the harp for a while, but who is he really? And who's his parents? I mean, where does he come from? All of a sudden, Saul is really paying close attention.

And then when they come back after the battle and Goliath has been defeated and the young ladies are singing the song, you know, Saul slain thousands, but David slain tens of thousands. Then it really got to Saul. And he was like, now he's eyeing David. Now he's like, you know, this guy, we got to watch out for him because he could be the one that's going to take over as king.

And as Saul is going crazy and is suspicious of David, he begins to become very hostile against him. And there's occasions where he's throwing spears at David while David is playing the harp for him. Well, through the midst of this, of course, there's Jonathan, Saul's son. And Saul and Jonathan are friends and they love one another. They have a great relationship, a great friendship. And

And so there's this tension because Saul wants to be loyal to his father, but he's also loyal to his friend David, who he knows God has called to be king. And Saul knows that David is called to be king. But in chapter 20, we see this occasion where David says, you know, Jonathan, your dad's trying to kill me. And Jonathan's like, no, no, he would have told me if he was trying to kill you. You know, I would have heard about it. And so they set up this test and

This feast is happening, and David's not going to show up, and Jonathan's going to be there. And when Saul asks where David is, then Jonathan's going to say, oh, he has to be with his family. And the response of Saul is going to indicate whether or not Saul was really trying to kill David. And as Jonathan finds out, Saul is trying to kill David through that test, and he begins to defend David.

Saul then begins to attack Jonathan. In 1 Samuel 20, verse 30, it says,

For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established nor your kingdom. Now, therefore, send and bring him to me for he shall surely die.

Check out verse 32 and 33. I wasn't going to talk about that, but just these are interesting verses. And Jonathan answered Saul, his father, and said to him, why should he be killed? What has he done? Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him. Notice this. By which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David. So,

Jonathan knew this was serious when his dad now is throwing a spear at him because of his relationship with David. And there's this great frustration here that Saul has because Jonathan is friends with David. And notice what Saul is trying to do. He says, he's yelling at Jonathan, your kingdom will not be established. Saul here is trying to hold on

to his authority. He's trying to hold on to his monarchy. He's trying to pass on, you know, his authority, his kingdom to his son, Jonathan. He already knows. God's already told him several times, I'm not going to establish your kingdom. This is not my plan. You're not going to continue on. Your lineage is not going to be, you know, the line of the kings. But Saul is fighting to accomplish that anyways.

Even though he knows God's already declared, that's not what I have planned. But he's attempting. He's fighting. He's trying to take out, oh, you're a threat? Take you out. You're a threat? Take you out. Making sure that nobody else could potentially take the throne. Even to the point of fighting against his own son, seeking to kill the one he's trying to pass the kingdom on to. All in the purpose of maintaining his authority.

Now, as we consider this in regards to ministry, although this might seem like we could look at this and think, well, that would never really happen in ministry. That would never really happen in the church. I would say those who are thinking along those lines are just not really exposed to much of the behind the scenes of ministry. This is a reality. This kind of thing, this same kind of behavior happens in ministry.

As it does in kingdoms. And that's why we're looking at Saul, David, and Absalom. Because these types of things happen. People fight to keep their ministry. Even when they know...

God's shutting that down. That's not God's plan anymore. But that doesn't matter so much anymore because I got to keep and I got to hold on to, you know, what I've established and the authority that I have and I'm going to pass on this to whoever I choose and those who are in opposition or those who are perhaps threats to God

You know, that authority that they have in the ministry, well, those become targets and they become target practice and there becomes some serious attacks. And it's not the right thing. I'm not saying that this is, you know, the way that God wants it, but this is the way that it often is. And so the exhortation this evening is to not fight to keep your ministry alive.

There are times to fight to keep your ministry, and we'll talk about that a little bit later, but sometimes it's appropriate to fight when God tells you to fight. But when you know God's already told you, your ministry's over. I mean, it was for that season. It was for that particular thing. Don't try to hold on and keep that ministry for longer than God has ordained it. I would ask you to consider this.

this picture. It's something I learned in learning, you know, the construction stuff and building this place. There's three beams there, three pillars that we set up back in the office. Because as we were doing the construction work, we saw that there was some damage to the walls. And so we needed to support the roof and the ceiling while we did those repairs. Now, this structure, these three beams, it doesn't look like a

But it took us at least a day of talking, discussion, engineering, you know, talking about those kinds of things. And then another day of actually implementing the plan and setting it up. It took a, you know, significant chunk of our time in order to put this together. It was a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of work was invested to put these things up. Now, if you go into my office right now, you'll notice these three beams are not there. They were temporary. They were temporary.

They were designed from the very beginning to be temporary. They were not designed to be permanent. They were a temporary thing. It took a lot of work, but it was a necessity. We had to do this work to get this set up to hold that so we could fix that and that the work could continue. Now, here's the thing, the reason why I'm sharing this regarding ministry is because many times we come to the conclusion, not necessarily because God's told us, but that the thing that we're doing, the thing that we're involved in, that's supposed to last forever.

It's supposed to be permanent. So I'm starting a men's ministry, and it's always going to exist. There's always going to be a men's ministry. I'm starting a women's ministry, or I'm leading this ministry, or I'm overseeing this type of event or that type of function. And, you know, we're going to do this until the Lord comes. We kind of can easily take that mentality and come to that conclusion when perhaps God is building the church.

And sometimes he just needs things for a temporary season. He just wants to do that. This is for a season. This is for a time. And God's the designer. He is the engineer. He's the builder. He's allowed to do that. But many times we see that, oh, whoa, whoa, it's going away. And then we try to fight. We try to hold on and grasp hold of that ministry and not let it go when God is saying, no, it was never meant to be permanent. Right?

As much as you might want it to be permanent, it was never meant to be permanent. It's just temporary. I just needed to do this work in you. I just needed to do this work in others, perhaps. Now, just to give you a little sample, I think one of the things that God did for me, as well as for others, was the school of ministry that we had here at Living Water.

And it came about, you know, kind of in a strange way. Tom just showed up at a college study one night and he told me, hey, we're starting a school of ministry. You're leading it. You're teaching two classes. I need, you know, the syllabus from you and everything. We're starting in two weeks. And I was like, what in the world are you talking about?

And it caused me, it forced me to, you know, really dig into some preparation and have some, you know, very serious discipline in my life. And so we did that, and it was for a couple years. But we don't have the school ministry still today. It was for a time. It was for preparation. I needed it in my life. It was something that God was doing in me. It was something that God was doing, you know, in my heart and developing me and shaping me and changing me.

I know Dave Brink can share the same. It was something that him and I have often commented. That whole season of the school of ministry might have just been for him and I. I don't know if anybody else benefited or if it was valuable or if God did a work with anybody else. It might have just been for us. It was temporary. It was these pillars that God set up just for that season because, well, he needed to do a work in us.

Sometimes things are temporary. Think about the ministry of John the Baptist. In John chapter 3, the disciples of John come and say, hey, you know that guy that you baptized? Hey, he's baptizing now and everybody's going to him. And notice what John says in John 3 27. John answered and said, a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. Who gives ministry? God does.

So Jonathan's, or not Jonathan, but well, John the Baptist, he's like, look, I have what I received from the Lord. He has what he received from the Lord. That's how it is. That's how God works. He says in verse 28, you guys heard me say, I'm not the Christ. I'm not the Messiah. And then he jumping down to verse 30 says, he must increase, but I must decrease. John recognized his ministry was temporary. It was just pillars that God set up. It was never intended to be permanent.

God didn't intend for John to be baptizing, you know, onto the crucifixion. It was temporary. It was preparation for something else. Sometimes that's hard for us to accept because we get really connected to and, you know, we get really invested in different roles within the body of Christ. But sometimes, perhaps, that role that you have was never meant to be permanent. Sometimes we fight to keep your ministry permanent.

When God says it was meant to be temporary. It's okay, tear it down. There's going to be something else. God has something else in store. It's not that, okay, your time's over, you know, now come to be with Jesus. But there's other things. But you got to let go of those things you're holding on to that the Lord says that time's over in order to be able to grasp hold of the new things that God wants to do.

Well, now we're going to shift into looking at David as an example and learning some lessons from him. And so we'll be now in 1 Samuel chapter 26. And the point is, don't attack those in ministry. Those who are in authority, those who have ministry over you in the Lord, don't attack them. Here in 1 Samuel chapter 26, we're looking at

David, who has an opportunity to put Saul to death. Now, this isn't the first time. This is the second time that he has this like prime ideal opportunity. And this is the season where Saul, he's not just throwing spears at David anymore, but he's chasing David through the wilderness. He is leading an army out to get David. He is intent on putting David to death.

And back in chapter 24, Saul goes in a cave to relieve himself. And it just so happens David's hiding in the cave. And his men say, here's the time that God's told you about. Now take him out. Here's your opportunity. He's not expecting it. He doesn't know you're here. You could just put him to death right there. And David refrains. He restrains his men.

And then we see another occasion similar here in 1 Samuel chapter 26. Look at verse 7 through 11. It says,

Now therefore, please let me strike him at once with the spear right to the earth, and I will not have to strike him a second time. But David said to Abishai, Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?

David said, furthermore, as the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him or his day shall come to die or he shall go out to battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed, but please take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head and let us go. So here God gives David this second opportunity. Saul's there sleeping. There's this deep sleep upon the whole army and they just sneak right into the camp.

And Abishai says, this is the day God's told you about. Because everybody knows David's been anointed to be king. He was anointed to be king years ago. Everybody knows David's called to be king. So here's the day. We can take Saul out, David, and you'll be king. And notice what he says. I'll do it in one strike. He's not going to suffer. It's not going to be inhumane. You know, just he's not even going to wake up. He's just going to be there in his sleep and then gone. But it's interesting what David says. Who can stretch out?

his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless. David refuses to attack one that God has placed over him in authority. He refuses. He refrains himself. Now understand, this isn't like, you know, David withholding himself from attacking some great noble man. He's refraining himself from attacking someone who has already been declared by God. He's not meant to be king any longer. He's been

attacking David, throwing spears at David, trying to take David out, been very ungodly, been very hostile towards David. And so we would all justify David and say, no problem if he takes Saul out. Saul deserved it. But notice where David's attention is. He says, he's the Lord's anointed. He's God's anointed. Who can attack God's anointed and be guiltless? I can't do that. God hasn't told me to take out Saul.

Now, if God told David to take out Saul, that would be a different story because then now David has the authority because he's just doing what God said. But although God told David that he would be king, he didn't tell David to take the kingdom. He just told him he'd be king. David didn't know exactly how that was going to happen. And that's often how it happens in ministry. God stirs up something in your heart.

And sometimes we come to wrong conclusions because, well, there is, going back to 1 Timothy 3, there is that desire, but the way that you go about it is very important. And sometimes instead of focusing on the character, the qualities found in 1 Timothy 3, people focus on taking down those who are in authority and ministry so that they can take that role. And there is attacks that take place within ministry.

Notice what David says in verse 11. He says, God forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed, but just take the jug, take the spear. Let's just make the point that we could have, but we're not going to touch him. He says in verse 10, his day is going to come. God's got this. The Lord could take him out. He could go out to battle. He could have a disease. He could, you know, something God's able to

puts Saul to death, David says, I don't have to take this into my own hands. I don't have to attack the Lord's anointed in order for that prophecy to be fulfilled, in order for that desire to be fulfilled. He's making sure, he's very careful not to attack one that God has placed over him in authority. Remember Romans chapter 13, Paul says, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Now, the context of that is talking about civil, you know, authorities. But of course, it applies to the church as well. There is authority within the church. And those who are within the congregation ought to be subject to governing authorities. Hebrews chapter 13 talks about that. But notice, because there is no authority except from God. Now, we could look at a Saul in our life and say, no way is that from God. Sometimes the Saul in your life is from God. And we're to be subject to

to those authorities and let God deal with those authorities. There's a book called A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards. Really good book. I really encourage everybody to have a copy, to read it, become familiar with it. He goes through Saul, David, and Absalom.

with more of like a literary style, more of a storytelling style. And it's kind of one of those styles where you're just reading the story. You're kind of, you know, he's helping you to like put yourself in their shoes. And then all of a sudden, like the point becomes clear and it just like cuts right to the heart of, oh, okay, you know. And so it's really good for when you have people like Saul in your life.

when you have people like Absalom in your life, when you have situations like David had, it's really good to help you understand the biblical approach and the way to deal with those kinds of situations. God has raised up authorities, and that's his responsibility. He will take care of those who are in authority. He will take care of those in ministry. If they're not fit for ministry anymore, if God wants them out of ministry, he doesn't need us to attack them.

He can take care of it. Now, again, sometimes God will say, okay, now you need to deal with this. You need to address this authority. Yes, they're an authority, but I'm giving you the authority, you know, to challenge their authority and to declare what God says. That is appropriate and that happens, but it has to be an express, clear word from the Lord, instruction from God, and not just because we're treated unfairly or we don't like how things are going.

Well, point number five, as we jump now to 2 Samuel 2, is to let God lead you into more ministry. So you get involved in ministry. You get involved in serving the Lord. You're involved in doing certain things. But maybe you're not so content with the role that you have, the responsibility you have, the position that you have. Here in 2 Samuel 2,

We see God do a work with David. In verse 1, it says, Here in 2 Samuel 2, we're seeing David seeking the Lord after Saul's death. Saul dies in battle. David had nothing to do with it. And now David seeks the Lord. Okay, what do you want me to do, God?

Do you want me to go to Judah? And God says, yes, I want you to go to Judah. Okay, where do you want me to go in Judah? God says, go to Hebron. And so David is seeking the Lord. He's following the Lord's instruction. In verse two, so David went up there and his two wives also, Ahinom, the Jezreelites, and Abigail, the widow of Nabal, the Carmelite.

So after Saul's death, David is seeking the Lord. There's a void in authority. Lord, what do you want me to do? God says, go in that region. Go to this specific city.

And as David is obedient, as he follows the instruction, the leading of the Lord, well, now the people of Judah see that David is there. They're recognizing Judah and they say, we're going to anoint you king. David has already been anointed king since 1 Samuel chapter 16. No big deal. It's the fulfillment now. But it's God who gave him more ministry.

He had ministry because earlier God had brought to him the 400 disgruntled guys and he ministered to them and he led them. He became their captain. He had authority. He had a role. He had a function in ministry. But now God is increasing that. But it's at God's leading. It's not David's ambition. It's not David taking the throne and campaigning, you know, going throughout all of Judah saying, hey guys, amen.

You should anoint me king. He seeks the Lord. God says go. He goes. And then it's the people who gather together as the Lord is doing this work. I would ask you to consider Psalm chapter 75, verse 6 and 7. For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south, but God is the judge. He puts down one and exalts another. Where does promotion come from? It comes from the Lord. Exaltation, lifting up.

It doesn't come from the East or the West. It doesn't come from some person, some individual, some group. God is the judge. And he puts down one, he exalts another. That's God's role. That's God's responsibility. It's not up to us. Now, we may desire more effectiveness in ministry. We may desire for our, you know, event to be packed and filled. We may desire for us to have more authority or more finances or whatever. But God,

That's up to God. It's really not up to us. Now that doesn't mean that we shouldn't do the best we can with the resources we have, that we shouldn't reach as many people as we can. It doesn't mean that we should just sit there and do nothing like a slug and just, okay, let God do everything. But we need to be very careful that we're not trying to exalt ourselves in order to achieve that desire in our hearts. It's okay to have those desires. It's okay. It's okay.

If you want to be great in the kingdom of God, Jesus says, he doesn't say you should never desire to be great. You should never desire to have that kind of influence. If you want to be great, here's how to do it. Become the servant of all. You focus on serving. You focus on ministering to people and meeting their needs and let God deal with the exaltation, the responsibility, more ministry. Let God deal with those things while you focus on serving those that God has placed in front of you.

Well, moving on to point number six, very similar, let God maintain your ministry. Now we're jumping to 2 Samuel chapter 15, and here we're jumping towards the end of David's life where he has been reigning over Israel, but Absalom, his son, tries to take over the kingdom, and we'll talk a little bit more about that in the following points. But it's interesting, as Absalom tries to take the throne, David packs up and leaves.

As it's announced, you know, Absalom is king and David's still there, you know, in Jerusalem as king. But here's Absalom trying to overthrow. David doesn't initially go and fight. He just moves out of the city. And as he moves out of the city, of course, David is beloved. And so a lot of people are going with him.

And we see that in verse 25 and 26. One of those, or a couple of those who are going with him, are the priests. In verse 25 it says, Here David is just completely surrendering himself to God's will and God's plan.

Now, David and his men are going to fight in a few moments. You know, later on, the men of Absalom and the men of David are going to fight. And so it's not that, you know, we always surrender all positions of leadership. That's not the point. But here is the priests are coming with the ark of God saying, hey, you're the king and, you know, we belong with you. And David is saying, you know what, guys? Okay, let's just hold on for a second. And let's just put this in the hands of God.

If God wants to bring me back, he'll bring me back. But David's leaving it open. Maybe God is done. Maybe this is something that God wants. And so I'm going to let God do this if God wants. I'm not going to fight to keep my ministry like Saul did just because I have the throne and, you know, he shouldn't try to take the throne this way. I'm going to wait. I'm going to wait and give God opportunity to speak, to lead, and to do what he wants to do with me and with the authority that he's given to me.

Now again, as it comes to ministry, we need to take a similar approach to let God maintain our ministry. I often think about Barnabas and Saul, right? As you see in the book of Acts, Barnabas is kind of lead on their first mission trip and

They cross over the Mediterranean. They land on the island of Cyprus. And they land on one end of the island. And they begin to make their way across the other end. By the time they get to the other end of the island, it's no longer Barnabas and Saul. Now it's Saul and Barnabas. And it's very clear, Saul and his group. Saul has become the leader over this process of crossing over this island and ministering in the different places. I wonder if that was hard for Barnabas. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We were sent out of Antioch.

And I was appointed the leader. I'm more mature than you are, Saul. I have more experience. I have, you know, I wonder if he fought and wrestled with those things. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Why are you in charge suddenly? You know, how did this happen? But Barnabas let God maintain his ministry and he still had ministry.

but for that mission trip and for the upcoming works that God was doing, God, God was going to raise up Saul and pass the baton on to Saul as far as leadership of that, that group and that trip was concerned.

And so he let Saul lead. He let Paul, Saul who became Paul, take over and go forward and grow into that work of God. I wonder how many of us, you know, having a role, having a position, having, you know, some kind of responsibility in the ministry would be that gracious and not fight to keep our, you know, maintain our position, but would see, hey, God's raising up this person. I'm going to step aside and help them

Take over and, you know, be even to a greater degree effective at this role that I've been in. Now, again, that doesn't mean we're always to surrender. As an example of that, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, the whole book of 2 Corinthians, Paul the apostle is defending his authority as an apostle to the Corinthians and

And in chapter 10, he says, we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves, talking about those who are coming in and attacking Paul's authority. He says, they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us, a sphere which especially includes you.

Paul is asserting, I still have authority in your life. I'm still called by God to be an apostle, and I'm not overextending. I'm not going to limit myself. Well, actually, he says, I am going to limit myself to the sphere that God has appointed us. But you're in that sphere. You're in that sphere.

You're not outside of the sphere of the authority that God's given to me. You're part of that authority that God's given to me, part of the responsibility that God's given to me. And so I'm going to fight for that. I'm going to defend that. But notice he's submitted to the limits of the sphere which God appointed him. So it's not, you know, maintaining his ministry at all costs, like Saul, you know, fighting to keep it when God's long said that's over. He's saying, you

No, God still has this role, this position for me, and I'm going to fight for it. I'm going to defend it against those who would come and try to take that authority in your lives. And so it is appropriate, but it needs to be done within the limits of the sphere which God has given you. So let God maintain your ministry. Let God keep you where he wants you.

And if he tells you to do something, well, then you do it. If he tells you to fight and defend, then you fight and defend. But if he doesn't tell you to fight and defend, perhaps he wants to raise up a Barnabas or a Saul. He wants you to be Barnabas and help raise up and propel them forward to be more effective and more successful than you ever were. Well, number seven,

pass on the ministry is the point. And that is founded from 1 Kings chapter 1. There's a lot of verses there. We're not going to read through all of those verses. But here the situation in 1 Kings chapter 1 is David is at the end of his life. He's not appointed a successor. And so there's another void of authority. There's kind of opportunity there. And we see Adonijah, one of his sons,

proclaim himself to be king. And he puts together a group and he says, all right, here, we're going to announce this. We're going to throw a party. Everybody's going to say Adonijah is king. And so he exalts himself. And so Nathan the prophet hears about it. He approaches Bathsheba and says, hey, didn't David say Solomon was supposed to be king? She said, yeah, they both go to the king. David says, yeah, Solomon's supposed to be king. God said, and he's very clear about that. This isn't just David's wants or wishes. God told him Solomon was to be king.

And so David announces that Solomon is going to be king. He announces it and he throws a party and, you know, everybody else who's partying at Adonijah's party realizes, oh no, we're in trouble. We've gone against the king and they kind of just, you know, melt away under that.

But the point I want to draw out from that is the importance of passing on the ministry. Sometimes we can be like David. We're old. We're tired of responsibility. And sometimes passing the baton, it's just not done very well. It's not very clear as we pass on the ministry, as we pass on to someone else. It's not really clearly communicated. It's not done very well.

Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2, the things that you've heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. When it comes to ministry, we are to have this heart, this attitude that we're always training the next leaders. We're always training the next group. We're always seeking, in a sense, to replace ourselves. Not that we're in a hurry to get out of the, you know, position or role or responsibility, but we're always seeking to replace ourselves.

But that it is our responsibility to commit these things to faithful people. That's part of what Sunday evenings is about right now. I have it on my heart. The Lord put it on my heart to commit these principles. These are important things that are involved in ministry. And we need to pass that on to those who will also then teach others.

to those who will pass on these truths, that the ministry will continue. And sometimes when it's not clearly communicated, there's that void of authority, that absence. And so people try to, you know, take over and announce themselves like Adonijah and say, all right, I'm in charge now. And they go forward and it causes some trouble. And so people were caught up in Adonijah's, you know, exaltation of himself in the same way it can happen in ministry.

when there's that void, there's not that clear passing on, you haven't committed these things to others who could also teach others, then there's that opportunity for those who have selfish ambition like Adonijah. They're not led by the Lord, but they're just doing what they want and they can try to step in and take over. And so we need to pass it on.

There's the idea that's long been communicated and maybe we need to kind of remind ourselves of it. And that is that we should always be training ourselves out of a job, working ourselves out of a job, that we're training up others behind us who can take over and then, you know, go on to something else. And we train up others who can take over and go on to something else. We're called to commit these things to faithful men who can teach others also. Well, finally, we're going to look at the example of Absalom for the final two points.

Number eight is do not undermine ministry. And we're going back a little bit to 2 Samuel chapter 15. And this is the occasion where Absalom tries to take over the kingdom. And the way that he does it is by capturing the hearts of the people. And he stands at the city or at the entrance and he tells people, hey, you know, what are you coming here for? What's your case? As they're coming to bring their cases before the king and

And then he says, oh, you know, the king's not available. He can't really help you. Man, if only, you know, there was someone, if only they would let me, you know, be a judge and have authority and rule on these things. I mean, you have a good case. I could really help you. And so he has this ongoing campaign in a sense, but it's subversive. It's undermining the authority of David, undermining the credibility of David, stealing the hearts of people away from David. In verse 6 says,

It says, and in this manner, Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. And this also happens in ministry. And sometimes, again, there's that desire for ministry. There's that desire. And the desire in and of itself isn't necessarily wrong. But the way we go about it is incredibly important. And instead of focusing on our character and our integrity, the qualities there of 1 Timothy 3, sometimes...

We approach it through manipulation, undermining the authority of those who have authority. It's not the right way.

to behave. It's not the right way to receive promotion. It's trying to take it for ourselves and not allow God to promote us, not allow God to do that work. In Matthew chapter 23, as Jesus was dealing with the multitudes regarding the religious leaders, he says, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses's seat. He says, therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do.

but do not do according to their works for they say and do not do. Now, Jesus, of course, we know he had some serious contentions with the religious leaders. But before the people, he says, hey, they have this authority. They have Moses' seat. So you need to be submitted to them. You need to be obedient to them. Now, Jesus has the authority and he's able to say, don't do as they do because they don't do.

We typically don't have that authority, but Jesus, you know, knowing all things, he's Jesus. But the point, the reason why I brought this up is just to say Jesus didn't undermine their ministry. He said, no, whatever they tell you to observe, do it. They have that role of authority in your life. Do what they tell you to do. That's their position. He didn't undermine them, although he could have, although, you know, they weren't always telling the people good things to do. But

He said, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do.

Well, finally, point number nine, don't conspire to get ministry from 2 Samuel chapter 15, verses 7 through 12. Similar to Adonijah, Absalom, after he's invested this time in stealing the hearts of the people, now he throws himself a party. He appoints men to run before him and say that Absalom is king. He has this celebration, and it's at this time that David hears of it, and he leaves Jerusalem. But he invests a lot of time. This is the finishing of a

lot of time of stealing the hearts away from the people. And so he conspires. He gathers together. He talks with the leaders. First, you know, in the first part of 2 Samuel 15, you see him getting the hearts of the people. And then the second part, you see him getting the leaders together. And so there's this

conspiracy. There's this plotting. There's this strategic plan. All right, we got the people. They're roped in. Now let's get some leaders. He doesn't get all the leaders. He's very selective because he knows those who are faithful to David and those he can sway. And so he gets, you know, certain leaders and he gets them around them. All right, okay, you guys. And so now he has some credibility. Now he has some authorities along with him and he's able to then try to take the throne.

And again, that's sometimes how it happens in ministry. There are those, they've undermined the authorities, you know, and so they've swayed the hearts of the people. They're pulling other leaders alongside of them, you know, and so they gather together and now we can, you know, overthrow. We can take control. We can, and there's this behind the scenes, quiet, hushed voices, you know, these kinds of things happening. And that is not God. That is not God's way. That is not God's work.

That is not the way that God wants to promote you. Let God promote you. Promotion comes from the Lord. Now, circling back now real quick to 1 Timothy 3. If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

But let it be a work of God. And don't try to force it on your own. Don't try to be, you know, taking it. Don't try to, you know, be taking things into your own hands, be taking matters into your own hands. If you want, if you believe God's put this on your heart, he's called you, he wants to raise you up, he wants to do that work, God does do that kind of thing in a person's heart. Here's what you can focus on. Here's what you have control over. Don't try to take authority. Seek God regarding the qualities of

of those that he's called to oversee. And so here's a list from 1 Timothy chapter 3. I'm not going to go through them, but just to remind you and refresh your memory. These are the qualities. These are the kinds of things that God looks for in those that he calls to lead. And so that's what's within your power. That's your responsibility. That's my responsibility to continue to seek God, to develop, to grow in these things, to be men and women of integrity, men and women of character, men and women who are godly,

And then the ministry, God will give as he sees fit. And sometimes it'll be permanent. Sometimes it'll be temporary. Sometimes it'll be to a few. Sometimes it'll be to many. It's whatever God desires. It's completely up to him. I'll finish with this quote from John Corson regarding this verse. He says, if a man desires to be involved in a greater degree of ministry, he desires a good work. Not a good position, not a good salary, not a good retirement plan, but a good work.

The ministry is not a profession one enters into saying, these are my office hours, these are my off hours. My phone number is unlisted. Ministry is a good work indeed, but it is work. Understand, as you have this desire, as God stirs it up, it's great. And it is of God. It's work. It's not play. It's not just titles and positions and, you know, point fingers and tell people what to do. It's work. And there's going to be, you know, a great amount of sacrifice required to

to be an overseer, to have responsibility. That promotion comes from the Lord, but with that promotion also comes an escalation of the death to self, the sacrifice, the investment that you will have to make in the kingdom of God in order to be faithful to him. Let's pray. Lord, as we consider these things, I pray that you would help us to seek you and to put you first and to allow you

to raise up, to cast down, to exalt, or to humble according to your will, your desires, Lord, whatever you want. And I pray that you would help us to seek you and allow you to continue to refine and develop our character and our integrity as we seek to be your people submitted to you. Lord, that we would just surrender ourselves into your hand. And Lord, we pray that you would do the work of authority and ministry and whatever you want to do according to your will, Lord,

Lord, help us to be content with that, God. Help us to be satisfied with your plan for our lives and not try to take things into our own hands, subversively, Lord, or attacking, Lord, but Lord, that we would follow the example of David and just surrender ourselves to you and let you do the work in us that you want to do. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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