Defending our Ministry

In these last days we need to defend our ministry more than ever before because the unbelieving world is becoming increasingly unhinged and is doing all it can to oppose the truth of the Gospel

The Apostle Paul gave us a great insight into the mind of the unbelieving world; talking about himself, before became a Christian, he said

Acts 26: 9 ‘I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus'.

Despite his opposition to the Gospel, the Lord saved Paul and later he became the Apostle Paul and the greatest Christian who has ever lived

Paul reminds us

1 Timothy 3: 1, 8 ‘in the last days it is going to be very difficult to be a Christian... (they will) oppose the truth’

So, who are those who oppose the truth and how do they oppose the truth?

2 Timothy 3: 2-5a

They... ‘love only themselves and their money

They are.... boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful

They... consider nothing sacred

They are... unloving and unforgiving

They... slander others and have no self-control

They are... cruel and hate what is good

They.... betray their friends

They are... reckless, puffed up with pride

They.... love pleasure rather than God

They... pretend to be devoted to God, but in reality, they want nothing to do with God’s power’

So, let’s go on and learn some valuable lessons about defending our ministry,

from the Lord Jesus, from the Apostle Paul, from the Disciples, and from an almost unknown 18th Century French Huguenot woman called Marie Durand

1/ Jesus had to defend His ministry on multiple occasions

(There are too many to list so here are just two. One from the start of His ministry and one from the end of His ministry)

John 2: 13-18; Mark 11: 15-18, 27-33

One time, Jesus' opponents sent spies to try and trap Him into saying something wrong, and of course they failed and had to admit it, they said

Luke 20: 21 “Teacher...we know that You speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think. You teach the way of God truthfully”’.

Here’s what we learn from Jesus’ defense of His ministry:

If we speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think, our opponents will not be able to find fault with our ministry

Jude 1: 3; John 8: 29

2/ The Apostle Paul had to defend His ministry on multiple occasions

Acts 9: 22-26; Acts 13: 50-51; Acts 14: 19-20; Acts 16: 22-40; Acts 18: 6-13; Acts 21: 26-36; Acts 23: 10, 12-15; Acts 25: 1-3, 7; Acts 28: 17-27

One time, during Paul’s final visit to Jerusalem, his opponents beat him up and got him arrested by the Romans

Before the Romans took him away, Paul asked if he could talk to his accusers

Paul began his speech by saying this

Acts 22: 1 'Paul said, “listen to me as I offer my defense.”’

What is incredibly disappointing about Paul’s final visit to Jerusalem is that the Jerusalem Church leaders failed to defend Paul - the reason they didn’t defend him is because the Jerusalem Church had abandoned the Gospel and returned to Old Testament Judaism

Prior to Paul’s arrest, he met with James and the Elders of the Jerusalem Church and they told Paul

Acts 21: 20 ‘You know, dear brother, how many thousands of Jews have also believed, and they all follow the law of Moses very seriously’.

(Notice they did not say, ‘they all follow Jesus very seriously’)

Here’s what we learn from Paul’s defense of His ministry:

We must never abandon our ministry partners when they are going through a hard time, we must do all we can to support them

Ephesians 4:1 ‘Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, encourage you to live the kind of life which proves that God has called you’

3/ The Disciples had to defend their ministry on multiple occasions

Acts 5: 17-21, 26-42; Acts 7; Acts 8: 1-3; Acts 9: 1-2; Acts 12: 1-5

They were threatened and beaten up

Here’s what we learn from the Disciples defense of their ministry:

Our ministry has priority over all human authority

Acts 5: 29 ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority’.

4/ Marie Durand had to defend her ministry under the most severe circumstances

Marie Durand is all but unknown to the Christian World but without a doubt she is one of the great heroes of Christian history

Marie Durand was a Huguenot

The Huguenots were a Christian Movement that began in France in the early 1500’s and by mid 1500’s there were about 2 million Huguenots in France and 2, 000 Huguenot Churches

At that time, France was mainly Roman Catholic and as the Huguenot Movement grew it was violently persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church

The Huguenots believed in Christ as the only means of salvation and they believed the Word of God was their only authority – they refused to be part of the Roman Catholic Church and for that they were persecuted

One of those notorious persecutions is now known as the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre and took place in Paris on August 24-25, 1572. In 2 days, 100, 000 Huguenot Christians were murdered

After that, many Huguenots escaped France and went to Germany, Switzerland, England, the Netherlands, Africa

Here’s a fun fact: the word ‘Huguenot’ is a mash-up of Flemish and German words and gives us the modern English word = ‘refugee’

So, in 1711 Marie Durand was born into a Huguenot family in France

When she as 18 years old, Marie was arrested for her faith in Jesus Christ and she was imprisoned in the Tower of Constance in the south of France not far from Marseilles and Monaco

To be released from the Tower of Constance, all Marie had to do was call for a Catholic priest and convert to Roman Catholicism and she could go free

She refused to do that and spent the next 38 years in the Tower of Constance

During her imprisonment, she scratched the words ‘REGISTER’ into one of the stone walls of her prison cell. That one word survives today scratched into the wall of her prison cell

‘REGISTER’ = RESIST

At the end of her sentence, Marie was released and she spent the next eight years living in freedom until she died at the age of 65

Here’s what we learn from the Marie Durand’s defense of her ministry:

In the harshest lockdown imaginable we can still defend our ministry even though it may cost us our freedom

1 Peter 3:14 ‘even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it’.