TEXT: Ephesians 4:7-16

SUBJECT: Grace to Russia

My talk tonight is half a sermon and half an advertisement. What I hope to do is to tell you what Grace to Russia is for and why the work deserves your interest and support.

I'll start with an exposition of the Bible and then apply it to our ministry in the former Soviet Union. Afterwards, Bill, Slava, and I will take questions if you have them.

But let's start with the Word of God.

Spiritual "gifts" may be divided into three categories. Some of them are extraordinary--like tongues, visions, and prophecies. They came from the Lord, played an important role in the Early Church, but with the completion of the New Testament, these gifts "passed away".

Others are ordinary--like mercy, giving, ruling, teaching, and so on. These things are always needed in the Church, and so Jesus Christ keeps on giving them to His people in every place and time, "till He comes".

The third sort of gift is the one spoken of here. It's the gift of specially called men. Some of them are Apostles; others are prophets; others are evangelists; and others are pastor/teachers.

Apostles and prophets are no longer with us in person. But their work is still here--in the New Testament. But Evangelists and Pastor/teachers are permanent offices in the Church. Jesus Christ will always give us men to preach the Gospel and teach the Word of God.

We know what Gospel preaching is for, Romans 1:16, I Corinthians 1:21.

But what about teaching? What's it for? Do pastors teach just to fill time or to justify their salaries or to prove they know more than you do? No.

Number One: To give every church member what he needs to help others, v.12. The hardest working pastor in the smallest church cannot meet help everyone. He doesn't have the time, knowledge, or personality to do that.

That's all right because he's not called to do that! He's called to teach the Church so that everyone will "do the work of the ministry". What kind of ministry? All kinds, like,

That's the first thing teachers are for: to equip believers to care for each other.

Number Two: To bring every church member to doctrinal maturity, v.14. Ignorance produces an unstable life. If you don't know the truth, you're likely to be impressed with error--and led astray by it.

That's what pastors are for--to teach you the truth, so that--without him being there--you can "Prove all things and hold fast to that which is good".

That's the second thing teachers are for: to help believers become discerning in theology.

Number Three: To help us communicate with grace, v.15a. Nothing is more important than "speaking the truth in love". But let's face it, it's very hard to do. If you love someone, you don't want to hurt his feelings, and so--even though you know he needs a rebuke--you say nothing. Or, maybe you do correct him, but with proud and harsh words. When you can't speak the truth in love, you end up quarrelling all the time or ignoring the brethren or keeping to shallow things like the weather or sports. When you do that, everyone loses.

Good teachers combine truth and love. They can show you how to correct without offending; how to encourage without compromising.

That's the third thing teachers are for: To help us communicate with grace.

Number Four: To unify the Church by getting everyone involved and helping all to respect what others are doing, v.16.

It is often said, "No one is indispensible". That is wrong: Everyone is indispensible! Because every Christian has a special gift, then everyone must put his gift to use and everyone else must come to appreciate what others are doing.

Teachers can help you do that. That's what they're for.

When pastor/teachers equip the saints, mature them in the faith, teach them to talk with grace, to use their gifts and to respect everyone else's, something wonderful happens: The Church grows in love, v.16b.

GRACE TO RUSSIA

This brings me to the work of Grace to Russia. When we started the ministry several years ago, our vision was unclear. We wanted to publish good books in Russian, but who were we writing for? Frankly, we didn't know.

But now we do. We don't have the money or the people to pass out evangelistic material all over the Russian-speaking world. If others do, God bless them! It's a good work. But we can't do it.

We want to help the Russian churches by equipping their pastors to teach the Word of God.

Many Russian pastors are great men of God; some of them suffered terribly under the Soviet Regime. But because seminaries didn't exist and Christian books were hard to find for decades, these men--as godly as they are--for the most part, don't know what or how to teach.

This is what Grace to Russia aims to do. We identify good books; we translate them; we get them into the hands of pastors and teachers so they can "Equip the [Russian] saints for the work of ministry".

Because Christian books are hard to come by, they're valued by Russian pastors--and carefully studied.

If you read the testimonies people send us all the time, you'll know what a blessing these books are to Christian leaders, sincere but starving for knowledge.

What you can do: You can pray for Grace to Russia. Pray that we choose the right books; pray we translate them well; pray they get into the right hands; pray they will seize hearts and revive churches and shake continents for Christ. Was John Knox presumptuous when he prayed,

He wasn't. Why not pray the same for the former Soviet Union?

If the Lord leads you, you can also support the work with special offerings. You'd be surprised how far US dollars go in Belarus! The money you spend on gum or donuts or sodas would put good books into the hands of needy pastors. Right now, America is rich and Russia is poor. If things were the other way around, would you want the Russian Church to help us? If so, help them. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

Let me close with the immortal words of Willian Carey,

The love of God be with you. For Christ's sake. Amen.