Ministers Of Christ And Stewards Of The Mysteries Of God | Grace & Truth, Inc

Serving – January 2022 – Grace & Truth Magazine

“Ministers Of Christ,
And Stewards Of The Mysteries Of God”

Ministers
The title of this article is taken from the King James Version of 1 Corinthians 4:1, and it is the same in some other translations. Many versions have the word “servants” instead of “ministers.” In a footnote to this verse, J. N. Darby says that three Greek words are translated “servants” (definitions by W. E. Vine):

Doulos – a slave or a bondman,
Diakinos – an attendant, and
Huperetes – a servant acting at another’s direction.

It should be noted that the Bible’s words for “minister” all mean something a little different from our English words “preacher” or “pastor.” Also, the Bible word for a servant is translated “bond servant,” but without the idea of bondage. As Christians we should consider ourselves to be slaves, for we were “bought with a price” and each of us is told to “glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20 ESV). Unfortunately, we often live as though we are seeking man’s approval rather than His as bond servants.

There are servants of the Lord who serve the people of the church by preaching or teaching (consider Eph. 3:7, diakonos), by meeting emotional needs (see 6:22), or by satisfying physical concerns (Acts 6:1-2). At the beginning of the Church the apostles served the believers’ meals at tables, but later the apostles called on the church to “pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom [they would] appoint to this duty” (v.3). Among them was Stephen, who was “full of grace and power” (v.8). He preached a powerful sermon charging the Jews with resisting the Holy Spirit, killing the prophets and murdering the Righteous One, the Christ (7:2-53). It enraged them! Also among the seven was Philip, who was a gifted preacher of the gospel, an evangelist (8:26-40).

The apostle Paul called himself a “minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God” (Rom. 15:16, a leiturgeon). According to W. E. Vine, a leiturgeon was a person who supplied a public office at his own expense. The apostle Paul was just such a person. He was supported by gifts in Thessalonica (Phil. 4:16) and yet he held a job as a skilled craftsman in Corinth (Acts 18:1-3). Our Lord and the Twelve were provided for by women – Mary Magdalene; Joanna, the wife of Chuza; Susanna and many others – out of their means (see Lk. 8:1-3). Nowhere in the New Testament do we find someone who is called to be a minister of Christ who is paid a salary!

There are servants of Christ whose service is characteristically under the Lord’s directions, that is, who have the Lord for a “boss,” a huperetes, who will do what He wants instead of what they prefer or think is better. Failure of many volunteers in prison ministries to let the Lord be the Boss is quite common. They want to preach the gospel or expound the Scriptures when the prisoners really want and need Christian fellowship. Many prisoners are already saved and, amazingly, in the possession of a sizeable amount of theology. However, they, like many of us, are lacking in the practical application of what has been learned; it is so hard to be practical when much of our teaching is not practical.

Stewards
A steward is a caretaker. To us “it is given to know [and take care of] the mysteries of the kingdom of God” (Lk. 8:10 JND). What is the kingdom of God? It is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17 ESV). We experience these great things and act as faithful stewards when we publish how great things Jesus has done for us (see Lk. 8:39). And we do this by helping new believers walk in righteousness and thereby obtain joy and peace from the indwelling Spirit.

Mysteries
What is a mystery? It is a truth that has been “hidden for ages and generations but [is] now revealed to His saints” (Col. 1:26). There are a number of such mysteries:

We now know that the dividing wall of hostility that separated Jew and Gentile “was broken down” by Christ’s work on the cross. He has thereby reconciled “both to God in one body through the cross,” and now “through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph. 2:16,18).
In Old Testament times believers thought that the Christ would come to redeem Israel, but it was revealed that Messiah would have to suffer rejection and death, be resurrected and then enter His kingdom (see Lk. 24:19-27). In short, a new era has begun.
Another mystery that is now revealed to Christians is the knowledge that the one God consists of three persons, that He is a trinity! Thus there is Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19). As Scripture puts it, in Christ “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9).

Like the apostle Paul, we are stewards of “the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19). The good news is that our salvation is no longer dependent upon our keeping the old covenant, for experience has shown that man cannot keep it! So God in His mercy has made the first one “obsolete” (Heb. 8:13) through the work of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

As we think of these things and the many exalted aspects of Christ, may we be drawn to serve Him fully, in whatever way He may lead. Let us be good ministers, good stewards of the mysteries of God!

By Alan H. Crosby

The natural man looks with pity at the Christian, who, in his opinion, is sacrificing for a vague, uncertain future the advantages and pleasures of the present moment. Well! May we all be very much affected by this kind of madness. What then are the wretched vanities of which man might boast compared with our – the believers’ – true possessions? “All things are” ours, Paul declares; and they are ours because we ourselves “are Christ’s,” to whom everything belongs (1 Cor. 3:21,23 KJV).

Dependent upon Him, we can surrender everything for His service. But what matters in the first instance is to be “found faithful” (4:2). Each one is a steward of much or little, and consequently will receive his praise not from his brother but from the One who reads our hearts. “The Lord … will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (v.5, see 2 Tim. 2:15). — Jean Koechlin, Day By Day (adapted)