The Benefactor – Part 3

Review

Earlier this month, we started a new series called “The Benefactor”

• Which is about helping to secure blessings for other people.

Review the Definition:

• Benefactor: someone or something that provides help or an advantage: one that confers a benefit.
• Literal Meaning (Latin): One who does good.
• Our Definition: Someone who is blessed to be a blessing.
• Our Definition with More Insight: Someone who does ministry.
• A benefactor is a minister.

If You Are Believer, You Are a Minister

The whole point of a pastor and other comparable church leaders is to equip you to do ministry (not to help you live your best life).

• Ephesians 4:11–12 (ESV): ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Service Improves the Quality of Our Lives

Improving other people’s lives is a pathway to improving our lives.

• Proverbs 11:24–25 (ESV): ²⁴ One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. ²⁵ Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Addressing the Sin of Withholding

• What is withholding?
  • James 4:17 (ESV): ¹⁷ So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
  • “The sin of withholding is not giving time, praise. . .talents, service, or even resources when prompted by the Holy Spirit to do so.” — “The Sin of Withholding “by Dr. Doug Weiss (You Version Devotional)
    • God is not holding you accountable for what you can’t do. He’s holding you accountable for what you can do.
   Root Causes Behind the Sin of Withholding

• • 1.) Ignorance
  • 2.) Matters of the Heart

When Ignorance Keeps Us from Doing Ministry

• We’ve conditioned people to think that going to church makes them good Christians
  • “It fulfills my moral obligation to God.”
  • “It validates my spiritual credibility.”
  • “It inspires me to be a better person.”
  • “It encourages me though life’s challenges.”
  • “It instructs me on how to live my best life.”

The “Extra Stuff” is Required

What you’re calling “extra” is actually a bare minimum.

The reason you don’t see it that way is because of how the culture has defined ministry:

• Most people think ministry is what happens on stage or by people with special church positions.
• Ministry is not about titles or stage talent, but about meeting people at their points of greatest need by the grace of God.

When Matters of the Heart Keep us From Doing Ministry

Where you put your treasure is a reflection of the status of your heart:

• Matthew 6:19–21 (ESV): ¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
• When you are withholding your goods from heaven your heart is at odds with God.

A Mindset for Ministry

• Philippians 2:2 (ESV): ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
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• Philippians 2: 3-4 (ESV): ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
  • Key Instructions:
    • 1. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride
    • 2. Count others more significantly than self
    • 3. Look at the interests of others along with your own
    • Simple Ways to Test Our Intentions:
    • How are other people benefiting from my current actions and attitudes?
    • If everyone else in the church acted and thought as I did, would the church continue to thrive?
    • Key Idea: If you are the only beneficiary, it’s selfish ambition.

• Philippians 2: 5 (ESV): ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
• Philippians 2: 6-8 (ESV):⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
  • • Key Instructions:
      • 1. Forfeit Rights (“did not count equality . . .a thing to be grasped”)
      • 2. Take the form of a servant (take the lowest status in the room—the person with the least privilege)
      • 3. Be obedient to your hurt (at the cost of your preferred life)

The Benefits of Doing Ministry with a Humble Heart

Why would someone do this?

1. God exalts you
   • Philippians 2: 9 (ESV): ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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   • James 4:10 (ESV): ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
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   • 1 Peter 5:6 (ESV): ⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
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2. The joy of pleasing God
   • Better than the joy of pleasing yourself
   • Philippians 3:1 (ESV): ¹ Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
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   • Philippians 3:7–11 (ESV): ⁷ But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
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   • Hebrews 12:2–3 (ESV): ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
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   • Philippians 4:4 (ESV): ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
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3. Credit to your Heavenly Account
   • Philippians 4:15–19 (ESV): ¹⁵ And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. ¹⁶ Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. ¹⁷ Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. ¹⁸ I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. ¹⁹ And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
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A New “Can Do” Attitude

Philippians 4:11–13 (ESV): ¹¹ Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV): ¹³ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2025