Austin Bible Church
The believer is in fulltime Christian service from the moment of salvation on. The definition of the ordinary believer is one who is not a pastor, missionary, who is not rich, or an all-American, or a celebrity-type. All Church Age believers are ambassadors for Jesus Christ and represent the absent Christ on earth. 2 Cor. 5:20.
"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20, NASB)
We are all believer-priests and as such represent ourselves directly before God. 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9.
"you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:5, NASB)
"But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;" (1 Peter 2:9, NASB)
The Function of Spiritual Gifts
We are equipped with spiritual gifts that need to be developed and become operational through spiritual growth. A spiritual gift is a special God-given ability to minister in a certain area. See category on Spiritual Gifts.
The Occupation Hazard of Boredom
The ordinary believer has an occupation hazard of boredom. This comes to believers when something is more important than Bible doctrine and staying in fellowship. For example, Solomon was out of fellowship and was bored stiff in Ecclesiastes 1:1-2.
"The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."" (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, NASB)
Solomon was bored with education in Ecclesiastes 1:12-18.
“I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted. I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge." And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.” (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18, NASB)
Solomon was bored with entertainment in Ecclesiastes 2:1-11.
"Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 2:11, NASB)
Solomon was bored with preparing for his children in Ecclesiastes 2:18-19.
"Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19, NASB)
Solomon was bored with philosophies of life in Ecclesiastes 3:20-22.
"All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust. Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him?" (Ecclesiastes 3:20-22, NASB)
Solomon was bored with money with being good in Ecclesiastes 5:10 through 6:2, Ecclesiastes 7:1, and Ecclesiastes 7:20.
“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10, NASB)
“Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18, NASB)
“There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men— a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God has not empowered him to eat from them, for a foreigner enjoys them. This is vanity and a severe affliction.” (Ecclesiastes 6:1-2, NASB)
"A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth." (Ecclesiastes 7:1, NASB)
"Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins." (Ecclesiastes 7:20, NASB)
Solomon was bored with sex in Ecclesiastes 7:26-28.
"And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her. "Behold, I have discovered this," says the Preacher, "adding one thing to another to find an explanation, which I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these." (Ecclesiastes 7:26-28, NASB)
Solomon was bored with the Word of God. In Hebrews 5:11, “dull” is νωθρός (nōthros) and in Hebrews 6:12, “sluggish” is also νωθρός (nōthros) and means slow, sluggish, indolent, dull, languid, very little interest in the Word. In Luke 24:25, “slow of heart” is βραδύς (bradus) and means boredom of the nice type, stupid, slow to apprehend or believe. Proverbs 26 is an entire chapter on boredom.
"Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing." (Hebrews 5:11, NASB)
"so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Hebrews 6:12, NASB)
"And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!" (Luke 24:25, NASB)
The story of Ecclesiastes is about entertainment pleasures. These entertainment pleasures are what the believer decides to make a higher priority than Bible doctrine. When Bible doctrine is not first, there is a vacuum in the soul. The negative volition to Bible doctrine means the believer has some kind of higher priority activity. They have to substitute with something, so they fill their lives with activities, sublimation, and/or occupation with gadgets.
A believer in fellowship and growing spiritually properly arranges their routine around the intake of the Word. This is not trying to squeeze in Sunday morning church services since you don’t have anything else to do. A believer in fellowship disciplines their time and therefore are not finishing up something that conflicts with Bible class or the services where the Word is taught.
A believer in fellowship goes to Bible class regardless of who drops in for a chat. They politely offer another time to chat because they have to get to Bible class. A believer in fellowship has many interests like anyone else, but those interests are controlled and they does not feed them or fatten the lust pattern on them.
Let’s say you go look at a car, boat, gun, fishing rod, or anything that has caught your eye. You really want the shotgun, but it costs $1,000 and you don’t have it. Your wife doesn’t feel it is necessary and you don’t have the money anyway. So, you read about it on the Internet - everything you can find. You reread the stats, compare features versus other shotgun models, check it out, even drive to different stores to compare. You test shoot it, touch it, look at it with no obligation because it won’t hurt to look. Right? You finagle, you cut here, you cut there, by this time the wife’s resistance has broken down. So you buy it on credit and once in your possession, you find that you are no happier than when you didn’t have it - prior to the time that the urge lust-fever began to hit you!
Beware of getting into apostacy. Maybe you are in an evangelical church that does not preach the Word categorically. Isaiah 28:10.
""For He says, 'Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.'"" (Isaiah 28:10, NASB)
And instead of systematic spiritual growth, you are out of fellowship all the time, you don’t take in the Word, you don’t even understand the basics, so a vacuum results in your soul. The Church services seem dry, the music is draggy, the preacher is a bore, and you are full of boredom. So you go to another church you heard has some action. They have bouncy music with a good beat. They have the power of God come upon them. They really have got it, you think! Now you are in apostacy up to your eyeballs. Apostacy makes a spiritual cripple out of you until you don’t know straight up from straight down! Or it hits in subtle waves, “We don’t need Bible doctrine all we need is to win people to Christ.”
Fewest Outward Stimulants
The fewest outward stimulants requires a deeper faith-rest life. Exodus 17, Num. 20. This is not running to Africa, taking a cruise, or seeing the rest of the world, etc. The commonplace is made extraordinary by Bible doctrine. The commonplace of prayer, witnessing, worship, and learning Bible doctrine makes it live! Your basis for motivation should be Bible doctrine, not parties, pleasures, and entertainment. Obscure and common service by Ananias had worldwide repercussions. He was actually getting Paul started out right and he didn’t know how Paul would turn out. Acts 22:12-13.
""A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing near said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very time I looked up at him." (Acts 22:12-13, NASB)
Ananias was the encouragement and pattern for the ordinary believer who does not have the big world adventure pattern in life. Ananias was an ordinary Christian, only he wasn’t. He was a doctrinal man and a grace man.
Under grace, there is no such thing as an ordinary life. Your life may be routine, but with Bible doctrine is will not be ordinary. Just because you have to deal with monotonous details which are commonplace, you should not think of yourself as a second class Christian. Ananias demonstrated the importance of faithfulness in little things, leading to that flash of glory. D.L. Moody heard the Gospel message of an ordinary Christian. Proverbs 27 talks about the dangers to the ordinary life.
The Believer’s Ordinary Life
The ordinary Christian life is the most difficult. It has fewer outward stimulants and requires a steadier and deeper faith-rest. The routine of life is always underrated for the reason it is commonplace and routine. Mr. Average Christian fills all the gaps where it really counts such as the gap of giving, missionaries to the field, the gap of administration in a local church, and the gap of prayer and fellowship.
The obscure ministry that Ananias ministered to Paul in Acts 9 had worldwide repercussions. Ananias was a line-man, a man in the pew. He was the one who actually got Paul started right. For the believer who suffers disappointment and frustration with a monotonous life, Bible doctrine reorients the believer to life’s spiritual importance. Bible doctrine makes the difference.
The ordinary Christian has an extraordinary life as they are faithful (faith-rest) and oriented to God's grace. They have an edification complex in their soul and really have a wonderful and unusual life. Under God's grace, there is no such thing as an ordinary life, even though every life is filled with many ordinary details.
Ananias demonstrated faithfulness in the little things and the importance of Bible doctrine in the ordinary life. When Jesus Christ wanted Saul to get a good start, he didn’t send him to the preacher in Jerusalem. They were filled with legalism. In fact, Saul had to leave Jerusalem before God would even deal with him on the way to Damascus. The average Jew in Jerusalem was loaded down with Judaism. That would have harmed Paul in those early days, month, and years. There is a difference between grace and legalism.
Note well that the most critical time for a new believer is the first year of their Christian life. It is during the first year that most people become permanent causalities. They become causalities on the basis of wrong information they receive after salvation. They must be started out correctly. If not, the believer is still saved, but miserable.