“Ministry of the Word As A Means of Grace”

“Ministry of the Word As A Means of Grace” is a sermon preached from Selected Scriptures, by Michael Beatty, pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in New Berlin, Wisconsin – a confessional Reformed Baptist church subscribing to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.

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Introduction

This morning we’re continuing our study and considering the Christian life. And in this particular series of weeks, we’ve been considering the way that God normally grows His people. We typically use the language the means of grace to describe the way that the Lord applies Christ to the believer, especially as it relates to the ministry of the Word, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.

Last week we saw a general overview and the importance of the Word—not only to the ministry of the Word itself but also to each of the particular sacraments. This morning I want us to focus upon the way that the Word functions as a means of grace in its own right, that we can better understand the way that God would have us order our lives to receive the grace that He has freely given to us in Christ Jesus. And especially that we might all the more consider the way that we would each walk before Him all the days of our life.

And as we’re beginning this morning, I invite you to turn to Psalm 119, where we see a great statement concerning the Word and the place it holds in the Christian life.

The Word in the Christian Life (Psalm 119)

Psalm 119:11 says,

“I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes.
With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
Deal bountifully with your servant,
that I may live and keep your word.
Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law.”

So there’s a variety of different ways that the Word is being described there—whether it’s law or statutes or testimonies, etc. throughout the psalm—and it has a positive outcome for the Christian and the way that it orders our lives. We declare these things with our mouths, and ultimately it has the outcome that we would not sin against the Lord.

So there’s something that the Word is doing in us, that we should not only read it and meditate upon it privately, or think about what has occurred, but that it has this sort of outcome in our lives as well.

The Word Effectual Unto Salvation (1 Peter 2; Romans 1; Colossians 1)

If you’d like to look over at 1 Peter chapter 2 with me, we see then that this Word is also effectual unto salvation. It’s not just good for the way that we should consider our lives, but also in 1 Peter 2:1–2:

“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

The Word then is effectual in this way unto salvation. For those that hear, and likewise for those that are Christians to mature. That we would, as Paul says elsewhere, progress from milk to the meat—that we wouldn’t simply repeat the basics of it over and over again. But it is effectual in this way as well.

And in Romans chapter 1, we see that the Word here is what Paul is proclaiming. He’s not ashamed of it. Notice what he says concerning the gospel in verse 16:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.'”

So again, the repetition of “as it is written,” which means it’s the Word—whether we are reading it, hearing it, or having it proclaimed in our midst—and that Word itself is the power of God for salvation: the gospel, the good news that’s being proclaimed.

And so there’s a way that God uses His Word unto salvation such that the righteous live by faith. In these various capacities, we see that ultimately is what we need to look to. So we’re not looking to a sort of method or mechanism of “you do these things, you prepare your heart, and God might save you,” or “you walk the aisle,” or any other sort of thing. Instead, we’re saying: how does God save sinners? By His Word. And He makes that Word effectual unto salvation.

Again, it’s God’s activity in His people. Such that, as we heard a few weeks ago in Colossians 1:4–5:

“Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven—of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel…”

The Colossians were saved by the Word. The Word was made effectual. God used that Word to bring sinners to Himself.

So ultimately then, when we’re thinking about the Christian life and asking: how is it that we would grow in grace? How is it that we would come to have greater or more heartfelt communion with the Lord? The answer is—by the Word. And that’s what God is using it for. It’s just the sort of normal way of going about it. It’s not something we’re wishing to be so, but rather something that He has told us in His Word. And we’re simply following through on those things.

So that’s the first point. Hopefully it’s not controversial: the Word is effectual unto salvation. I think pretty much every Christian group believes that. So that’s not unique here.

The Word Made Effectual by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2)

I want to move then to the second point: that Christ makes the Word effectual by His Spirit. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 10–16.

Again, this second point should not be controversial. But ultimately we’re saying that this is made effective not because of how we feel, or the way our experiences go, or something we’ve done to prepare the ground. It’s something that God is doing by His Holy Spirit in the people that are hearing that Word.

 

And that’s really important, because otherwise—if you think with me—if there’s some subjective sense that relates to it, that subjective sense becomes kind of the controlling factor. You know, we need to have a certain kind of music so people feel a certain kind of way so they can hear the Word.

And I’m not criticizing—there are many good churches that do these things—but just thinking about how we can see it, it has taken over. Maybe the pastor is concluding his message and suddenly the piano comes in. Or there are different types of music that are trying to evoke a certain kind of emotional response.

What we’re saying is this: of course our hearts should swell when we hear the Word. But our feeling of it swelling is not what tells us whether it’s being made effective or not. The Word has told us it is, and the Spirit makes it effective. So we’re simply believing what the Lord has done.

We can see that here in 1 Corinthians 2:10–16:

“These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”

So pausing there for a moment: the Spirit makes known to us spiritual truths. And how does He do that? He does so by the Word. Notice again in verse 13 that spiritual wisdom is imparted in the words that are being taught, and it’s not by human wisdom. Again, it’s something that’s occurring in the midst of what we’ll see in the third point—typically the preaching of the Word.

It is in the Word that we find these things, and it is in the Word that the Spirit is going to operate upon people to bring them into this greater knowledge of the Lord.

What is it that the Spirit is working in us but the mind of Christ? And how does He do that? By the Word. The mind of Christ is not: I had this great thought that it’d be good to have barbecue instead of the fellowship meal on the last Sunday of every month. Instead, we have the mind of Christ as laid out for us in the Scriptures.

We can actually have His mind as we understand the Scriptures properly and as we are taught by the Holy Spirit. And we’re always growing in that. So we can never say that we perfectly have Christ’s mind. We’re finite, so we never could in the fullest sense. But we can come to certain conclusions and say: this is the way Jesus is building His church; or, this is what Jesus would have you do in your life—such as, “You shall not murder.”

That’s the mind of Christ for all of us: that we shouldn’t murder, that we should love our neighbor as ourselves, that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and so on. We see that discerned through the Spirit.

So, considering then the second point: how is it that someone comes to have true knowledge of the Lord? Through the ministry of the Word, but by the operation of the Holy Spirit. And that ultimately means that whatever is occurring here, or wherever the Word is proclaimed, is something that can only supernaturally occur.

You and I can’t do anything to have our loved ones who don’t know the Lord saved. We can’t bring them to church, sit them down, and say, “Today you’re going to be saved.” We might want to do that. That might be nice. But the truth is, it’s what the Spirit is doing.

So should they come and sit under the preaching of the Word? Yes. Because, as we saw in Romans in previous weeks: How will they hear unless someone is sent? They have to preach. This is where they should be—it’s where the Holy Spirit is operating upon them. But also, at the end of the day, it’s supernatural. It’s something that is occurring in our midst, and it is at the discretion of the Holy Spirit. And so we are submitting ourselves to Him through these things.

As we wrap up then this second point—that the Word is made effectual by His Spirit—we should really pray and ask that the Holy Spirit would operate in these ways in our midst as He’s promised to do. We’re not asking Him to do something that has not been declared that He does. We’re simply asking Him to work in us those things that Christ has already purchased for us.

So we can come boldly on a Sunday morning and say: we’re going to go and be in the place where the Holy Spirit is operating today, to work on the hearts of sinners such as ourselves, to draw the lost to Himself, and to bring about a host of many other benefits.

And we believe these things not because we want them to be true, or that we would hope they’d be true—although certainly we do want them to be true—but because the Bible tells us so.

So however we feel on any given Sunday is sort of irrelevant. Please don’t hear me say that we shouldn’t strive to have our feelings and reality match up. We should. But there are times when we’re really discouraged. Even then, we should still come and sit under the Word and say, “I’m really discouraged, yes, but I know that Christ is working here by His Spirit today.”

Or maybe we’ve been dealing with sin. We come and say, “I’m confessing my sin—please convict me today.” Or maybe we’re unaware, and we get convicted and look back. Or we come knowing that there are those who enter hardened but leave saved. There’s something occurring that is supernatural, that only takes place when the Spirit works upon the hearts of the lost.

Christ Works Through His Ministers (Romans 10)

So we’ve seen in the first two points that the Word is effectual to salvation, and that Christ makes that Word effectual by His Spirit.

Thirdly: Christ works through the normal means of His ministers proclaiming His Word.

And we’re going to spend the rest of our time on this point. Hopefully, by the end, if you think it’s controversial, you’ll agree it’s not. But this point could be controversial in the way we normally think about things in evangelicalism and the like.

Ultimately, I want to make the case that it’s in the ministry of the Word in the church that we ordinarily find the Lord at work.

Turn with me to Romans chapter 10, verses 14–17.

As you’re turning there, Paul’s making the argument that it’s the preached Word that ordinarily saves sinners. And he’s making a secondary argument that it’s the preaching of those who have been sent by the churches to do that. We’ll talk more about that as we move along.

Romans 10:14–17 says,

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

So Paul is really breaking down three things in this series of verses I want to draw our attention to.

First of all, in verse 17, we see that faith ordinarily comes by the hearing of the Word of God. That’s the typical way God’s going to work—through the hearing of His Word.

Secondly, it is preaching that is the ordinary means by which sinners hear that Word of God. Notice again in verse 14: How are they to hear without someone preaching? It’s the preaching of the Word that is particularly effective for the salvation of sinners.

Thirdly, it is accomplished by sent men. Verse 15: How are they to preach unless they are sent?

So this really closes the loop: the preaching is not something that someone takes upon themselves. Although certainly we should all give an answer for the hope that lies within us, and we should all want to talk to our neighbor, here Paul is speaking about a specific sort of use of the Word that occurs in the gathering of God’s people by sent men, or those who have been set apart for that specific purpose.

We would typically say here then that this means elders, and also gifted brothers. That’s why we vote—whether it’s on a gifted brother or an elder. The congregation is saying: “Do you see this brother as having the gift that you want to hear from him again in terms of preaching—that he is for the edification of the body?” And we answer yes or no.

If we say yes, then what’s incumbent upon us but to actually listen to them, and to make use of them? Because we’re saying that this is how the Spirit of God has blessed this congregation—to this specific end.

So when we think about merging this verse with the earlier verse describing how we have the mind of Christ: how would we operate as a congregation and as individual Christians who have the mind of Christ in relation to this preached Word? We would make use of those ordinary means.

That means we would be where the preached Word is. We would prepare our hearts beforehand to come and receive the Word. And we would take great care, as an aside, when considering men for the office of elder or as gifted brothers. Because if we vote for them, and the church says yes—not whether you and I individually do, but the church corporately—then we submit ourselves to the mind of Christ as revealed through His congregation. We are saying: this person is called, and God is going to bless us through their proclamation.

So this has a lot of practical outcomes and outworkings.

Why We Gather to Hear Ordinary Men (Ephesians 4)

For our own lives, coming and actually hearing what the Lord has to say through His ministers is essential. Because ultimately—if you’ll look with me at Ephesians chapter 4—we’re saying it’s not because these people are particularly gifted or eloquent that we gather to hear them.

There’s a joke among pastors: most of us aren’t John MacArthur, or Martyn Lloyd-Jones, or whoever your favorite preacher of the day might be. We’re not those people. So why would we gather to hear the ordinary—at best—in terms of gifting?

Well, because we believe that Jesus has given these particular men as a gift to specific congregations, and He’s going to work through them. That’s the spiritual wisdom. It’s not about how eloquent the person up front is (for today’s purposes, myself). Although we should work at it, do the best we can, not be lazy, and so forth—it’s ultimately because we believe this is how Christ builds His church.

Ephesians 4:9–14 says,

“In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

So how does God build up His congregation? By way of just ordinary people who are serving a specific purpose. They are ordinary—not apostles, not foundational building blocks—but shepherds and teachers. And they are given to build up the congregation until we attain maturity in Christ.

That really highlights the way God typically works through His ministers to effect supernatural ends by the ordinary ministry of the Word.

Philosophy of Ministry: Word and Sacrament

Some have asked me privately what my philosophy of ministry is. Well, my answer has been sort of boring: Word and sacrament.

I believe the ministry of the Word is the primary function of the church. That’s what we’re to give ourselves to—along with the sacraments—because that is ultimately how Christians mature in Christ and grow up into the fullness of Him.

So how do we do that? Through the ministry of the Word. Through those normal means—whether it’s myself or another minister. The outcome is that we’re not tossed to and fro.

We all want the outcomes Paul describes here. I’ve never met anyone who said, “I don’t want to be a mature Christian,” or, “I’d rather keep being tossed about by false doctrine.” What then should we do? Come and sit under the ministry of the Word, and give ourselves to it.

Closing and Questions

We’re really close on time. So I’m going to save the question I had prepared for the fourth Sunday—I’ll throw it in with other questions then. I’ll just read the question now because it’s where my mind went:

What about other uses of the Word, like private Scripture reading, family worship, etc.? How do those slot in with the proclamation of the Word? Are they the same thing or not?

I’ll answer that in the days ahead.

But we do have time for a question or two.

Q: “As far as sacraments, relations with the Lord’s Supper and baptism—how will you lead the church?”

A: Just so everybody hears: Ben was asking me, with Word and sacrament in terms of leading the church—along with Word, and the Lord’s Supper, and baptism for new converts—how that fits in. I think that’s the basis. We do a lot of other things, of course, but it all feeds back to this. If we believe that’s how God operates, and that’s what He’s told us to do, then that should be the basis of what we’re doing. It’s not flashy, but I do think it’s ultimately what the Scriptures hold out—and certainly what our confession holds out too. Great question.

 

Conclusion

So, just in conclusion: we’ve seen that the Word is the primary way the Lord brings sinners to Himself, and it is the primary way He grows Christians. As we move forward in the weeks ahead, we’ll continue to see how the Word relates to the sacraments.

As we saw last week, there are the words of institution—so we’re not leaving the Word behind. But keep this in mind as we come to baptism, and then later take our break for Q&A.

For the next three weeks, please keep this in mind: the ministry of the Word is central.