Hi everyone, it is Lara Gboyega Adedeji once again. In this piece, we will be looking at a very interesting thing that the Holy Spirit has raised for us and He wants us to consider it together even as He teach us and lead us into all truth. We are considering: A Minister of Sin Vs A Minister of Grace. Before we go into looking at these two different divides of ministering, we want to look at three things that are germane in that title. Number one; Who is a minister? Number two: What is sin? And number three: what is grace? Let us start our observation from Galatians 2, I will read a couple of verses from that part of the Bible. Galatians 2, we will start from verse 15-21. The Bible says:
“We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. 17 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
May the Lord bless the reading of His word in Jesus’ name. So, our first question is this: Who Is a Minister? Now we are not looking at it specifically narrowing down to anything but we will just look at the broad definition or a broad understanding of who a minister is. When we hear the word minister, I am sure many of us will think about a man of God, a servant of God, somebody that works for God. But actually minister is a word that can be used with proper understanding you can minister to things, you can minister to other things, deities or persons outside God. So, what does minister means? Who is a minister?
A minister is a contributor. I want us to note these words that we will be sharing together because the proper understanding of who a minister is will help us to be able to know where we stand and who we should be going forward from today. A minister, number one is a contributor, or party to a particular cause of action. You could describe a minister as a contributor or one that is a party to a cause of action. Meaning that when you see somebody contributing to a particular course of action, the person is actually a minister.
Another definition of a minister is that a minister is an advocate or a promoter of something. So if you find yourself promoting something or advocating for something, you are a minister of that thing. Another definition of a minister is one who serves a cause or encourages it. So, if you find yourself serving a particular cause, or you are encouraging it, you are actually ministering, or you are a minister of that thing. I want us to see Psalm 103 verse 21, so that we can see a working definition of a minister from the Scriptures. “Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure.” So, a minister is someone who does the pleasure of someone or something.
So, a minister is an advocate, a minister is a contributor, a minister is a promoter of something. A minister is one who serves the cause of something and encourages it. Another word or a definition for a minister is that he is one who condoles or in support of something. Somebody that attends to a matter. So, in that Psalm 103 verse 21 we read, the Bible says “bless the Lord all you His hosts, you minister of His, you minister of the Lord, who does His pleasure.” You attend to His pleasure; you satisfy His pleasure. You advocate for His pleasure. That is who a minister is. A minister is anyone who advocates, who serves, who is an assessor to, who is a contributor to something or a particular cause.
So, going forward from here, we want to understand what is sin? Romans 3:23, I am moving quickly on these because I want to focus particularly on the minister of grace. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In simple terms, What Is Sin? Sin means to fall short of the glory of God. There are so many sins in the world, if we start counting them, they are so numerous. But the simple definition of sin that the Holy Spirit exposed me to is from the Scripture Romans 3:23, sin is falling short of the glory of God. And that’s why sometimes as believers you might look at yourself, and you are looking at those things of the flesh and say after all I am not committing adultery, I am not fornicating, I am not telling lies, I am not envious, I am not jealous. But you see, how are you falling short of the glory of God?
Any one that falls short of the glory of God, is one that has committed sin. Sin is falling short of the glory of God. so, who is a minister of sin? A minister of sin is an advocate, an accessory tool, a contributor a servant to the cause of falling short of the glory of God. so, any time you see that you are contributing to, you are an accessory to, or you are an advocate of, or you are serving a course that falls short of the glory of God, you are actually a minister of sin. Because it has come to a time where the Lord is actually speaking to His sons and daughters across the world, and He is saying stop looking at the works of flesh as the things that God is looking out for. God was speaking to prophet Samuel, He said men look at the outward appearance, but I God I look at the heart.
In your heart, are you falling short of the glory of God? The things you are advocating; are they things that fall short of the glory of God. The things that you are accessory to, the things that you are serving, the things you are advocating, what are those things you are advocating, what are those things you are accessory to? They tell whether you are a minister of sin or a minister of grace. So, if we look at it properly, the Holy Spirit is not condemning us this morning, but is calling our attention to the heart of God for us as His children. God is looking down on the earth, looking for a man, a woman that will stand in the gap, a man and a woman that will do His will, meaning that God is actually looking for ministers, God is looking for advocates, God is looking for contributors, God is looking for servants, God is looking for men and women that will wait upon His purpose and His agenda.
What are you advocating? Some people will say after all I am not committing any sin but I have to just satisfy myself. If that is what you are advocating for, are you sure that you are not falling short of the glory of God? is that the pleasure of God for your life? This time is not about looking at others, it’s about us introspecting, looking at our lives; how am I a minister of sin? It’s not a message of condemnation, that’s not the intention of the Holy Spirit, but it’s to call our attention to the heart of God, that this is the heart of God for His children. Look at yourself, look at where you stand today, look back, what have I been advocating? What have I been serving? Any man that serves Himself, his pleasure is a minister of sin. See that Scripture we read in Psalm 103 verse 21, it said; “you His minister who do His pleasure” and when I saw that Romans 3:23, I actually saw that the Holy Spirit is actually calling us to the place, this is not a time of deciphering whether this is right or wrong; don’t misconstrue it. God is saying anything.
In fact, the Bible says that whoever knows the good thing to do and does not do it, to him is a sin. You this is the good thing to do, you know that this thing is a good thing to advocate for, you know this is a good thing to speak up for, this is a good thing to serve and you don’t do it, the Bible says to that person, it’s a sin. You get your spiritual work in maturity that you know that sin is not fornication, adultery, it doesn’t end there. These things are the works of the flesh, they are made manifest. Those who sow to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. But when you sow to the Spirit, you will of the Spirit reap life eternal. The life of God springing in you, and what will that life produce in you? It produces in you the works of God. yesterday in the evening Bible school, my dear brother was sharing with us how to develop godly character in the midst of the perversity of this world. Sometimes we sit down and look at it and say; after all I have not done anything bad but I just want to enjoy my life, but is that the good thing to do?
The challenge of God to us is this; Now you say you are a minister of God, are you truly a minister of God? You can be a minister of God and still be a minister of sin. If you study the book of Galatians that we read chapter 2 from verse 17 down to verse 21, you will see that Apostle Paul was speaking to believers. He was speaking to the Galatian church. And He was talking to them about the different attitudes and the things that they were doing, that was nullifying the work of grace. How some people among them are advocating, are contributing to sin instead of grace? so, this morning this message is not for unbelievers at it where, but for believers. What are you advocating? What are you speaking? one of the things the Lord helped me to understand is that each and every one of us as believers, we are an embodiment of an experience.
Recently I have been studying the words of Jesus, and I realized that Jesus became in Israel an experience. The Bible says and Jesus was filled with the Holy Ghost and with Power, and He went about; every find Him, He was doing good and healing all them that oppressed of the devil for God was with Him. He went about ministering, advocating, when you find Jesus, whether you find Him in the temple or in a synagogue or in a boat or you find Him on the mountain, there was an advocacy that He was carrying out. There was a contribution that He was making. You will never find Jesus speaking just anyhow, it was intentional about His speech, He was intentional about His living, He was intentional about the people around His circle of influence. So, being a minister of sin does not mean you not born again what are you advocating? Are the things you are advocating for the pleasure of God or for the pleasure of yourself or for the pleasure of the world. And that’s why the Bible says those that love the world, the love of God is not in them. It says the things that we find in the world; the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. These things are not in God.
If you are a believer, you are an embodiment of experience. When men and women encounter you, who do they encounter? Jesus was speaking about John the Baptist, He said He was a burning and a shining light. That was the experience of the people when they encounter John. And He said you for a moment rejoiced in His light. When people encounter you, who do they encounter? When people encounter you, what is the experience? What’s the experience like? This is the life we have been called to. How do we shine forth the glory of God? We must be an embodiment of the experience of God. You can’t afford to have mood swings, you can’t afford to just live your life unintentionally, you must be intentional, because you are a minister. God is not looking out for us ministering on pulpits, or sitting down and speaking as I am sitting and speaking this morning, our daily living must minister. Our daily living must be a contribution. It must be advocating something, must be addressing something, must be serving something; there is an agenda of God. That’s why Jesus was going around, and what was He declaring?
What was He advocating? The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So if you are like Christ, if we are like Christ, what are we advocating? What are we speaking to? What are we addressing? What are we contributing? What is the experience? When people encounter you, what is the experience? People encountered Jesus, they had an experience they could never recover from. that they kept following Him from one village to another, from one community to another. Why? He became an experience.
So, What Is Grace? I want us to see a Scripture in 2 Timothy 1:9, we want to look at what grace is. 2 Timothy 1:9. “Who have saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose. He called us according to His own purpose. "And grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” So, what is grace? Grace is God’s gift to mankind and that grace is embodied in a personality called Jesus. you cannot speak of grace without speaking of Christ, He is the embodiment of grace. The Bible says; He is full of grace and truth. So, grace is God’s gift to man. John 3:16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believe in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world that He gave grace, grace is a person, grace is embodied in a person. Grace is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, as a minister, how do you minister grace and why should you be a minister of grace?
I want us to see Ephesians 1:7, “in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of His grace” everything we have in this kingdom is according to the riches of His grace. we have nothing except He comes by the riches of His grace-the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that we have is according to the riches of His grace. I want us to see Acts 20:24, because when we understand grace, we will understand how to minister it. We want to understand how grace is, we have received everything according to the riches of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. “But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” A minister is a testifier, a minister is a servant, is a witness, a minister is one that serves, He is an accessory to and a contributor to a course. Apostle Paul said, that I may testify, He said I ran this race with Joy and the ministry I received from Jesus. the ministry is simple; to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Because we have received redemption through His blood and we have received it according to the riches of His grace, we must testify of it.
There is nothing we have received that we own. We don’t have the patent right or copy right of anything in our lives that has been given to us on the platform of grace. They are all His and we testify of them. So, we must advocate, we must testify, we must witness, we must be the men and women that serve the purposes of Christ on the earth. That’s how we become ministers of grace. I want us to see 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 7, “But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.” See that you abound, see that you increase, see that you multiply in this grace also. What is that grace? the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. See that you about in ministering this grace. Hebrews 4:16 says; “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” After you have obtained mercy and found grace, what do you do with the grace you have found? You testify of it. you advocate it, you speak about it, you share it, you make it your contribution, you make it the experience of your life.
So, God gives us grace so that we can minister it, we can write down James 4:6 and Colossians 4:6. Now we want to look into practicality; how do we minister grace? How is it possible for you and I to minister grace?
Number one: Lets read Colossians 4:6. That’s the first point. “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” When you encounter anyone, your speech must be seasoned with grace. What does it mean? What you say, your words must be drenched in grace, your tongue must be bridled, the Holy Spirit must have your mouth. How do you witness? How do you advocate? You don’t advocate in silence; you don’t witness in silence. You advocate and minister and speak and testify and witness by your words. And the Bible says in Colossians 4:6, that your words; let them be seasoned, let them be drenched, let them be soaked with grace. Let your words be soaked with the presence of God, let your words be soaked with the personality of Christ. That’s why we said our definition of grace is the gift of God embodied in Christ Jesus. let your words be soaked in Christ, let it be drenched in grace, let your words be soaked with the personality of Jesus, let it be seasoned with salt.
Jesus said you are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world. He said how will your salt be effective if it’s not sharp? The way your salt can be sharp and effective is because your salt is derived from the source of the whole source salt and that is Christ. Let Christ drench your words. The Bible says if a man does not sin in words he is a perfect man. Let your words be seasoned with grace so that it might edify, so that it might minister grace. This is how to minister grace; number one, let your words, every word you speak, let your mouth let it be drenched with grace. Let it be anointed with grace, let the words that proceeds out of your mouth let it be anointed, let it be drenched with grace.
Number two: Philippians 4:8. How do we minister grace? “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” Meditate on the things that are true, meditate on the things that are noble, meditate on the things that are just, pure, lovely and of good report. Meditate on the word of God. Sanctify them by thy truth, your word is truth. Meditate on things that are true, mediate on the word of God. When you mediate on the word of God, your words will be drenched with grace. For Jesus is the word. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. Jesus is the word, He is the embodiment of grace and truth. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld the glory as of the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Meditate on the truth, meditate on the word, meditate on Christ, that’s how your word can become drenched in grace.
Number Three: Proverbs 4:23 How can we minister grace? “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” Keep your heart, guard your heart, because out of it flows the ministering posture of your life. Guard your heart, let your heart be secured in God. let your heart be guarded with grace. Let the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit guard your heart. guard your heart, don’t allow faults that are not true, that are not true, that are not noble, that are not trustworthy; don’t let them perch, don’t let them abide in you. Abide in me and let my word abide in you; that’s what Jesus said. That’s how to guard your heart, allow the word of God abide, let it tabernacle in your members, for you are the temple of God.
Thoughts can fly here and there but don’t let them sit. Anything that will sit in your heart should be the things that are true. Don’t let the lies of the devil abide in your heart. The Battle of the mind is the battle of life. Your mind is the seat that guilds you, you can’t minister grace if your mind is corrupted, you can’t minister grace if your words are corrupted. You see the link between these three things; the things that abide in your heart are true and you meditate on them, your words will be drenched with grace. This is how to minister grace. So, are we making up our minds and making a commitment to our Father, our Lord and our King this morning; saying Lord I will minister grace? I will be a minister of grace, I will become an experience, an embodiment of grace. The Bible says as He is, as Christ is; an embodiment of grace, so are we in this world.
So, are you in this word? When people encounter you, who do they encounter? That’s why Jesus said that we should be like sheep in the midst of wolves. Become an experience of the kingdom, let your life be heaven on earth. Let your life bring about that experience of heaven on earth. When people see you, let them see Christ, let them see grace.
I pray that Lord will help us in Jesus’ name!
