Are YOU a PROFITABLE Servant?”

Well, happy Sabbath, everybody! Good to see everyone. I was really disappointed when Mr. Ekkema said that no nuts could go into the social hall. And I told Mr. McGee that we couldn't go in. You know, so anyway. I think he meant the kind you eat, so if it was just the other way, nobody would get to go in, right? Because we're all sort of nuts in some ways. I'd like to welcome, by the way, the merits here with us. They go back a long way. And you know, as I remember, Cass, you didn't have white hair laugh when I knew you back in the whatever year that was.

But then, and of course, Sherry, you look, your hair's the same and everything. But anyway, it's good to have you down here visiting with us and hope that you will make a habit of coming down here. I think we've got a very fine group of people here.

Of course, we have some that are over with the Women's Weekend in Southern California. When I ask the question to you, how many of you have a job to which you go to and they pay you? They pay you a wage. Could you raise your hands? Okay. Okay. Quite a few of you have jobs that you go to.

Let me ask you another question. Are you a good employee for where you work? Are you a good employee? And I would say most of you would be able to say, shake your head, yes. Well, you know, what does an employer expect from an employee? You know, what ensures that employees remain employed through good times and bad times? I remember talking to a friend of mine back in Alabama, back in the 70s. He had gone through the time of the Depression. And I asked him to describe to me the Depression. His comment to me, he said, well, you know, he said some people noticed the Depression in the sense that they were out of a job.

But he said that some people didn't notice the Depression because they were hard workers and they always had a job. And basically he made the statement. He said, if you are a hard worker, if you are going to serve your employer and make him a profit, then he's going to keep you. You know, unfortunately, sometimes the liberals in our country have in mind that somehow businesses operate just to give people jobs. You know, but every business has to make money, doesn't it? It has to be able to pay the bills.

A tire shop can't stay in business unless the employees make that company successful so that it will bring in money. You know, corporations look again to the profit, and that's the bottom line, as to whether an employee is profitable to them or not. Often someone actually may cost the company more than their worth.

You know, maybe you know situations like that, you know, where the employees are sort of biding their time in the corporation, and they're not really contributing that much. And oftentimes that's the kind of person that gets let go when the going gets tough, as far as the economy is concerned.

I think all of us are familiar with the fact that in the Roman Empire, that if you, you know, mounted up debts, that you could be sold into slavery for your debts that you owed. And this was the case, you know, in the first century of the church. And, you know, Paul actually addresses circumstances, in fact, where somebody was a slave to a member of the church. I'm going to mention a name that probably you haven't heard in a long time.

Philemon. You know, that little book that's right, near Titus, if you want to turn over there, to Philemon. Philemon was apparently, must have been a fairly well-to-do person in the church, and he had a slave. And his slave's name was Onesimus. And Onesimus was not too good of a slave.

He was not a very good slave. Not only had he gotten in trouble to the point where he had been apparently sold into slavery, but when he was in slavery, he was not a very good slave. And eventually, Onesimus, when he had the opening, he ran away.

And in the course of Onesimus running away, he bumped into a very familiar individual. His name was the Apostle Paul. And Paul, who was at that time in prison, you know, developed this friendship with Onesimus. And Onesimus was an example, brethren, a very striking example of how that somebody can, frankly, in this world, and it very often happens, they can be sort of a narrative well in the world. They, it's like they mess up on everything. But if they become converted, they make a total 180-degree turnaround in their life. And they make that transformation. You know, conversion means we are transformed. We are changed from what we were to what we become.

But let's jump in here to Philemon. And Philemon, of course, there's only one chapter here, but here Paul is writing him about Onesimus, this slave that had run away. He says, I appeal to you for my son Onesimus. So, you know, Paul really took him under his wing, whom I have begotten while in my chains. So again, he developed this friendship, and lo and behold, Onesimus becomes converted. You know, he's begotten, he received the Spirit of God, he's baptized, and so forth. Who wants, you know, Paul says to Philemon, was unprofitable to you. He was no good. Paul was just up front. He was no good as a slave to you. He didn't do you any good at all. But notice what he says next. He says, but now is profitable to you and me.

So now he's transformed. He's a different man. And he's profitable not only to me, but he's profitable now to you. And then he says, I'm sending him back. So he apparently was in Rome. He says, you therefore receive him. That is my own heart. Paul apparently felt very close to this individual, whom I wish to keep with me. I would have liked to kept him here so he could help me. That on your behalf, he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. But without your consent, he said, I wanted to do nothing that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntarily. So I want you to be willing to send him back to me so he can help me.

But it's a remarkable story in many ways. And here Paul spends a letter, and it's a part of the New Testament canon because of what, in fact, you know, happened in this. So this is a good story, isn't it? It's a good story about how somebody makes a transformation and they can be used. There's other stories, in fact, where, like in the case of John Mark, apparently John Mark was fairly young. And he goes and he works with Paul, and he meets some opposition. Obviously, you couldn't be with Paul very long before you had some trials, you know, if you were running from a group of people that were trying to kill you. And, you know, Paul had his share of problems being thrown into prison and all that stuff. It was not a happy place to be with Paul. But in the course of the trials, John Mark, this young guy, runs away. Sort of like Onesimus, but he's supposed to be converted. He's supposed to be changed. And remember, Paul and Barnabas had a big contention about who to take with him. And Paul says, I will not take John Mark. I'm not going to take him with me because he had run away. And later, though, I won't go to it, but I'll just, you can do the research yourself. Later, Paul writes and says, at a particular point, you know, that send John Mark to me because he can be of help to me. So here was a case where John Mark, I guess, as he matured more, matured enough so that he could be of some benefit to the apostle Paul.

And, you know, so this Philemon and Onesimus, I think, really gives a good example of what the Spirit of God can do. It can transform us. Brother, we are, all of us are called in, you know, as Mr. McGee was talking about, you could fill this whole room with gold and diamonds and every precious stone, and it would not equal with what God has offered to you and me. We have an exceedingly wonderful and precious promise of being called into the church. I ask you, were you a good employee?

Brother, are you a profitable servant to God? Are you a profitable servant to God?

It's like, are you a good employee for your employer, for the business that employs you? Are you a profitable servant? Are you a prophet to God and to the church, like Onesimus was to Paul?

You know, it goes without saying, I think, that if we do what God says, we won't have a problem being profitable. But, you know, it's not as easy as that, is it? Just saying, just do what God says, and you'll be worth your money, as it were, in the calling that God has called us for.

Let's go to Luke chapter 17. Paul actually, or Jesus, actually addressed the subject of how to be profitable. But in Luke chapter 17 over here, in verse 7, we'll just go through a few verses here. But in verse 7, he says, In which you have a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him, Would he as come from the field come at once and sit down to eat?

You know, it just doesn't work that way, does it? If you are an employee, or particularly if you were a slave, but it says, But will you not rather say to him, Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk? And afterwards you will eat and drink.

Does he think that servant, because he did the things which were commanded him?

He said, I don't think so. It just doesn't happen. So likewise, you, when you've done all things which you are commanded, say we are unprofitable servants.

Why? We just did what was our duty to do that. We did what we were hired to do. It's like I was commenting on Britt Fogelson's sermonette up in northwest Phoenix this morning, that if we keep the commandments, I mean, that's what's commanded. If we just keep the commandments, brethren, we're unprofitable servants. Why? Because that's what God is saying. It is our duty, our Christian duty, to do. So to be profitable means we have to do more than just keep the law, you know, keep the Ten Commandments or observe the Sabbath, the holy days, and other things like that. It's a whole lot more than that, as a matter of fact. So the question is, if what we do, such as the obedience to God in terms of keeping the commandments, if we just do that, we're unprofitable, then what do we have to do to be profitable to God? You know, what's it about? Well, I think the main, the primary definition of whether something is profitable or unprofitable beyond, again, the basics of what God instructs us to do, is, how are our efforts advancing God's work? What you do in your life is it advancing the work of God. Is it making the church go forward? Is the gospel being preached by what you do in your life? In your life. It's as simple as that, or it's as complex as that. Let's notice over here in Titus 3. Titus 3 verses 8 and 9, just a couple of verses here. Mr. McGee took some of my verses, so I just went through and I crossed them out, so I'm not going to cover the ones he did. He did it quite well. But Titus chapter 3 over here in verse 8 and 9.

Now, here Paul, in talking to and teaching Titus about how to be a good pastor, he says, this is a faithful saying. In other words, this is a good saying here. And these things I want you, he said, to affirm constantly. You do this on a regular basis.

That those who have believed in God, that's all of us, isn't it? We believe in God. We believe in his plan of salvation. We believe in what God is trying to do to establish his kingdom upon this earth. Those who have believed in God should be, notice this phrase, careful to maintain good works.

He didn't just say maintain good works. He said be careful to do this. These things are good and profitable to men. And then he goes on to say, but avoid. He said avoid foolish disputes. Boy, have you ever seen any disputes in the church of God?

And I came into the church in 1968, and probably about every three or four years we had a dispute.

And sometimes somebody would leave the church over a dispute, you know, about something. Usually it was not that big a deal. It wasn't a matter of salvation. Sometimes it could have been, but you know, I guess it depends on a person's faith. But it says avoid foolish disputes, genealogies. You know, why is he mentioning this? I've had people that have told me that, you know, somehow I guess they thought I think that they were special, that I'm a descendant of David.

Well, so what? I'm a descendant of Adam.

We all sort of come from the same pot, don't we?

And during the time of Christ, what were the Pharisees proud about? Oh, you can't talk to us. We're Abraham's seed. And Christ said to them, well, if you were Abraham's seed, you wouldn't do what you do. You know, but you are of your father, the devil, because he's a liar, and he was a liar from the beginning. So it says genealogies here. Contentions, I guess that could cover a big, wide swath. And strivings about the law. Thriving is about the law. Splitting hairs. What does it say in Matthew 23 verse 23? You know, Christ said to the Pharisees, you tithe mint and anise. You split hairs about tithing, but you know, you've omitted the weightier matters of the law. He says, these things you should have done, but not leave the other undone. So he was not telling them not to tithe, but he was telling them that you need to have judgment, mercy, and faith. Those weightier matters of the law. You know, if anybody gets to the point where they start counting mint and anise, and it says one leaf for God, then nine for me. You start counting that way, then you are straining at a gnat and swallowing the camel.

The spiritual converted way would be to take up a big swath and say, God, this looks like more than 10 percent. This belongs to you. To go above, in other words, what you would think would be a tithe in a case like that, so that the weightier matters of the law were not neglected. It says, for notice here, verse 9 here, for they are unprofitable and useless.

None of us want to be useless, do we? None of us want to be unprofitable. We want to be a benefit.

You know, we don't want to be sort of this appendage out here that is of no value, but we want to contribute to the whole. We want to contribute to the message of preaching the gospel, of going forth with that gospel. Now, under the foolish questions and genealogies, it's interesting what the Clark's commentary says about this passage.

In these, it says the Jews, particularly delighted, they abounded in the most frivolous questions.

And as they had little piety themselves, they were solicitous to show that they had descended from godly ancestors. You know, I'm of the seat of Abraham, or maybe of the house of David. Of their frivolous questions and the answers given to them by the wisest and most reputable of their rabbis, the following is a specimen. So, this is what an example that Clark says. Rabbi Helow was asked, why have the Babylonians round heads?

I wasn't aware the Babylonians had round heads, but to which the rabbi answered, this is a difficult question, but I will tell you the reason. Their heads are round because they have but little wit. You know, is there purpose in talking about this? And yet, the Talmud was full of different things like this and some of the written history about that. So, God says, through Paul, avoid foolish questions and genealogies. If you want to be profitable, avoid contentions, striving about the law. You know, the Talmud is full of conflicting decisions about the meaning of particular Jewish rites and ceremonies. That's what Clark says.

The Pharisees were prone again to split hairs, and I submitted the example of, you know, Matthew 23, 23 about the tithing that it talks there about. So, we've got to be careful that we're not of that mentality or we will be unprofitable to God. You know, a member of God's church, a God's future family, brethren, you know, their desire is to be a people that are open-hearted. They're outgoing, they're loving to all people, and they're not miser's, but they are givers.

You know, they're not getters, but they're willing to submit, and they spread abroad, the Bible talks about. And, you know, it talks about how there's some people that are always spreading abroad, you know, in the form of good works, but it always comes back to them, that God blesses them.

And, you know, it's like we've often said, you can't out-give God. Now, I'm not talking just about money here. I'm talking about of ourselves. You can't out-give God, that God will abundantly bless us, brethren. So, what is beneficial to the church? Well, you know, I quoted there, Titus 3, verse 8, that it says that we should affirm constantly, or as the American Standard Version says, confidently, confidently, that they which have believed might be careful to maintain good works.

And these good works, brethren, are not just the keeping of the commandments. It's above and beyond the keeping of the commandments. It's above and beyond the keeping of the Sabbath and the Holy Days. In fact, it is far beyond that. You know, brethren, though works don't earn us salvation, you know, works are a gift. They are a gift.

You know, we have some in the church that have the gift of gab. They have the gift of speaking. There are some in the church that have a gift of being able to empathize with people. They're just better at it than other people. And they could connect with somebody, with some that have the gift of faith. They have incredible faith. And, you know, the Bible says that if we pray the prayer of faith, that the, you know, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man or a woman avails much. These are gifts that God gives to each one of us. But we have to, again, maintain these gifts. And we have to have works to do that. We have to maintain those good works. And the word careful, be careful to maintain good works, the word careful means to exercise thought. So you think about what you're doing. You learn how to better serve within the church, how to serve people and make them grow in the process.

You know, if I didn't have examples of people when I was being called to show me how to serve somebody else, I wouldn't be here today, you know. I wouldn't be around today. And I trust that many of you wouldn't be here either if you hadn't been taught. But we see these examples of people through the years that are examples of—and it teaches us, it really teaches us—so that when we do something, we're thinking about what we're doing to make sure that it is going to accomplish what we're setting out to do. The word maintain, here, maintain good works, comes from the Greek word that means practice. You practice it. You know, sometimes you can maybe reach out and try to help somebody, and you fail. You thought you were going to help them, but it ends up that sort of backfires, and they didn't really like what you did for them, the quote-unquote good thing you did for them. Well, you learn after a while how to do things. If you learn to be careful and thought what you're doing, you know, we can't be a proverbial bull in the China closet when we're dealing with people's lives. You know, people have their lives, and it's their domain, and we have to respect their domain, their life. They've got to make that decision on their own.

You know, I remember back in the 70s, in the ministry, a lot of times, you know, we would mention things to people, and frankly, sometimes I think we more told people what to do.

But as time has gone on, you realize that doesn't work. They'll do it once, but they won't carry through with it. But what I think a person learns in the ministry is eventually how to work with people so that they make their own decisions. Now, it may be the decision you want them to make, but you didn't make them do it. You didn't tell them to do it. They came to that decision on their own. And so, as Christians, we need to learn how to again exercise thought and to practice and learn how to hone our skills in causing people to take one more step toward the kingdom of God, you know, in their lives. Sometimes we take baby steps, don't we, in our lives, but our job is try to get them to take those steps toward the kingdom, you know, and we try with all of our heart and mind to cause them to see the value of them making the changes on their own, like in the case of Onesimus, who was transformed to become very profitable to the Apostle Paul. And I imagine that was a very tall order. You know, God has called us, brethren, not to just save us. I think that many have made the mistake in the church to think that, oh, well, Christ died for me and His shed blood through His shed blood, we're forgiven of sin. Well, that's true. But did God call you just to give you forgiveness now ahead of the rest of the seven billion people on the planet? What made you so special that God called you? Well, because God expects more of us, brethren, that are called now, He expects more of us because He's going to give us a higher reward.

You know, remember, the first resurrection is called the better resurrection. It's a better resurrection. So to be called now is special. We're going to be rulers in the kingdom of God. This is not going to be offered to people when the millennium starts. There won't be rulers. They won't have that responsibility. But, brethren, we will always have that responsibility. So God is called as an advance of everybody else, not to save us, but He's called to help us to be transformed into what He wants that is going to be serviced to Him in His family in the kingdom. We were put in the body as it pleased God. It's like if God wanted an elbow, He wanted a finger, or if He wanted a shoulder, or whatever He wanted, in that way, He put us in the body as it pleased Him. And what does the body do? What does our body do? The body symbolically of Jesus Christ, what does it do? It preaches the gospel to the world. Somebody has to be the mouthpiece, and we know Christ inspires, the Father inspires, the body to do the work. But all of us have a part in the work. And every part is important. Even your big toe is important. Your little toe is important. If you ever start trying to walk, if you've got a real sore toe or a foot, it causes you to limp.

Every part of the human body is important. God has called us to again for a great purpose of trying to help this work get done. And hopefully it won't be very long. You know, it's like the mouse that got his tail cut off. You know, it won't be long now before it's all over.

Let's go here to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. In verse 8, He talks about here that it is through the grace of God that we're saved through faith.

That not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. God is given as the free gift of eternal life, but not of works lest anyone should boast. But here, let's focus in on verse 10 here. This is the real reason I wanted to turn to this verse. For we are His workmanship, we're His creation, in other words. Created in Christ Jesus, for what reasons here? For good works.

You and I, brethren, are new creations through Christ. And the reason why God has created us and brought us into being, and we're being transformed on a daily basis, brethren, not only by what we hear here at the services, but what we're studying and other things that they're involved in the process of making this new creation.

But it says God has created us unto good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And so we should be about our Father's business in doing the good works.

You know, this is how God makes us. It's how He changes us and transforms us through the works that we do. You know, it seems in the ministry that there have been so many different things that the ministers get involved in, and their wives as well through the years. I think we've pretty well done about everything at the feast. You know, we've been the chief cook and bottle washer. You know, we've been the janitor. We've taken care of parking, you know, at the feast. Of course, back in the old worldwide days, you know, sometimes there'd be parking for 5,000 people. You talk about a hectic time. That was, you know, we've done babysitting. We've done about everything there is to do.

You know, in the world today, some people, if they were given maybe lowly jobs, you know, that they would think, what are you trying to do? Break my spirit? I remember when I came out as a trainee in the ministry. You know, I had the job of babysitting. Believe it or not, you know, when I was in my 20s, I was babysitting the pastor and his wife's kids. He had three boys.

Joan and I would do that. I mowed lawns. I'd be over on Monday morning mowing the pastor's lawn. And, you know, I've done a number of errands. I remember one time there was a pastor that came through and I ran the air to go to change his oil. That was my job. That was my duty. And I remember, you know, I was probably in my about 20-something then. And, you know, I remember wondering, what in the world? I'm in the ministry. I'm changing somebody's oil. I'm bowing somebody's lawn. What am I doing? Well, the fact of the matter is the things I was doing was making me and not to break. It was for that purpose of making me and not to break me.

It was to teach me. And I learned a lot. I really did. When you come out of Ambassador College, you got this degree. You know, you think you know something. And I really learned real fast. You don't know much. But I think that with young people, especially sometimes, they can be a little cocky. But, boy, they took it out of me. And I realized that I just had a lot of vanity. Like Mr. McGee was talking about here, Christ had no vanity. I had a lot of vanity. I thought I was somewhat. And, of course, now I know I'm nothing. I know I'm nothing. I have no benefit except if God uses me. Unless I'm doing works that are worthwhile. Unless I am a benefit to my employer, who is Jesus Christ, who is the head of the church, I am of no value to him. So that's what we have to strive to do. So God wants us through the works that we do. You know, maybe it's doing a bake sale for a fundraiser for the church. Or through some other aspect of serving in a local church area. That through this being. Maybe it's, you know, we're talking about Mr. Knutson talking about sending a card to the Philippines. How about all of us get together and send a card to this woman and her family over there to encourage them. Or if you get lists of people that are sick all the time, then we need to think about them. I know that, you know, Carolyn Sims, we were over—I hope she won't mind me mentioning this—but we were over visiting with them some time ago now. But they're not really able to get out like they were used to. And then Carolyn is sending out cards to people. She can do something from her home, and she can be of service to people. So we're always looking at ways we can serve people. We can help people. Now, what should be the goal of the good works that we maintain?

He said, maintain good works. To be careful to do that, what should be the goal? I've got three things I would like you to write down. Number one, they should cause people to glorify God.

You know, brethren, you have no idea how much people appreciate it, maybe, if they get a card. They haven't maybe had opportunity to be at service for a while. I visited with Joanne McAuliffe, and she was just full of thankfulness, appreciative of people who were praying for her, who had sent cards, who had inquired about her. You know, there's a loneliness that people can have when they have serious illnesses, as Joanne has. You know, in fact, you know, we know that so many in the church have serious problems. You know, James Edwards' wife Peggy has had serious, serious health issues, and I'm sure he'd want you to pray for Peggy, his wife, and that somehow, that whatever the issues are with respiratory and other issues that she's battling with, God would intervene to heal. But, you know, the works we do, though, brethren, whatever we choose to do, you know, the works are what make us. The Bible says that even a child is known by his works, so we need to be known for our good works, with people within the church and outside of the church. You know, and if the only work you can do is pray, you'll be a champion of prayer.

Use that gift that you have as much as lies within you. Number two point, besides that that should cause others to glorify God, to be thankful, is our personal life should be a message of the gospel, the hope of the gospel. Our life should be a message about the gospel.

You know, Christ says you're the light of the world. You don't put that light into a bushel basket.

And number three, good works are a tool to help transform you. So that's the goal of the good works that we're maintaining. It's not just that keeping the commandments transforms us, brother, and that does that too. But doing good works pushes beyond that. It causes us to be, frankly, it causes to be giving people. And one of the great characteristics of God is that God is a giver. So those three things are very important for all of us. Again, we should avoid foolish questions. Don't get it caught up in comparing endless genealogies. Nobody cares whether you are from Abraham's seed or the King David's line. It doesn't really matter anyway. We're all going to be kings. You don't have to be of the line of David to be a king. All of us are going to be kings in the world tomorrow if we do what we're supposed to do. Don't have contentions and arguments. Also, another thing, don't ever put a stumbling block in front of people by presenting something contrary to the church. Make sure to be careful about that. I'm not going to turn to 1 John 2 verse 10, but it says, He that loves his brother abides in the light. If we really love our brother, we're abiding in the light. But here's the last part of it that really says a lot. And there is none, none, none, none occasion of stumbling in him. In other words, we would not even think about doing something that would cause our brother to stumble. So we have to be good, again, examples of good works. You know, we've got to be careful again to make sure that we're maintaining good works. You know, get rid of that vanity. You know, we have some in the church that few, thankfully, not very many, that think that they're the Bible scholar and that they're supreme to everybody else.

Probably not so. And interestingly, these scholars, so to speak, they get hung up, you know, on things like tassels. We had a lecture by Steve Myers over at the Southwest Regional Conference, and his title was, Hasselsel with Tassels. Maybe I can present some of the material to you sometime that he presented. But, you know, people get caught up with tassels.

They get caught up with new moons. You know, they get caught up also with calendars. You know, sometimes I've had people send me a paper that's this thick.

And, you know, I'll send it in to the home office, but I know when I said it is, it's not going to be accepted. There's some people that are always writing papers, and sometimes on one subject we'll have papers, you know, stack up, that come up this high.

On one subject, the calendars, the new moons, whatever it is, you know.

But realize, brethren, that all these things go through, you know, a group of ministers, well-seasoned ministers, who determine the validity of ideas. If it's valid, obviously we're willing to accept that. But we have a slow process of acceptance of, quote, new doctrine, unquote. Sometimes it's not really new doctrine. It's what we battled a long time ago. You know, it's the same-o same-o, as they say.

So, you know, don't get caught up in that kind of thing. We're oftentimes, you know, again, these papers that have been submitted have been reviewed, and they've been rejected.

All are in part. And then what will happen is the person will submit another paper.

It's reviewed, accepted, or rejected. You know, it depends on, again, how valid it is.

But oftentimes people get upset. Why don't you take, don't, why don't you accept what I say?

Well, you know, there are people that are evaluating what you have written. You know, if you submitted a paper, they are evaluating it. And if they say no, I mean, either you have yes or no, right? Well, let's not let our vanity get in the way and cause us to stumble, brethren, if our ideas are not accepted. When Christ is ready to present an idea, if it's certainly something according to the Scriptures, it will be made known to the church. And God will see it's put into effect in the church. And don't think he couldn't do it. He's all powerful.

But if we hang on and hang on to an idea that we have, then that becomes unprofitable.

You know, God hasn't called us to base our salvation on ideas that are only believed by one person in the church. You know, usually it's by their safety in the multitude of counselors. That's what the Bible tells us, and we go by that.

So if a question has been submitted in the church and it's been answered, unless there's more to bring to the table, we should accept it. Accept what the decision of the church is, because it is, frankly, foolish to continue to debate it, continue to discuss it, unless we have something new to present. Now, God wants us to again realize that any profitable work that we do, too, must be educational or edifying to the congregation. It has to edify. And it has to be done in love. It says in the Bible—and I'll give you the verse there, 1 Timothy 1, verse 4 through 5—it says, Godly edification produces love from a pure heart. You see what I mean? It's got to produce love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith to you and the person. And naturally, it must agree with what Christ says.

And so these are things that are very important. Let's go to the final Scripture over in 2 Timothy, chapter 2. 2 Timothy, chapter 2, 2 Timothy, chapter 2.

In verse 24. Here again, Paul is admonishing Timothy. But in verse 24 of chapter 2, of 2 Timothy, notice it says that a servant of the Lord must not quarrel. You know, God's ministry should not quarrel with people. And you shouldn't quarrel with people, but be gentle to all. In other words, we don't have to take an angry stance, but we need to be gentle with people. And it says, able to teach—hopefully all of us are striving to be able to teach, right? Patient, learn patience with people. In humility, we should be all very humble. But notice this restorative, rest of this verse. Correcting those who are in opposition.

If God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. So we've got to work with people in such a way to have good work so that it leads to people being freed. It doesn't do any good if we make people angry. So we have to be gentle. We have to be kind. The Bible says the soft answer turns away wrath, turns away anger. So learn, brethren, to do good works that build the church with love. You know, everyone who is called, brethren, should see the harm of foolish disputes and avoid them like the plague, because they only hurt the church.

Let's make sure, brethren, our works are profitable. We don't want to be an unprofitable servant, but a profitable servant. We can be profitable servants to God, brethren, only if our works are profitable. So let's work on, brethren, being profitable servants, and let's make sure that we have profitable works for the church.