Pastors Must Suffer

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the apostle

Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and today we're in the studio.

The studio is in Bethlehem Bible Church's pastoral offices. I guess that's what we have here.

We have some kind of exciting news. We just bought 55 acres of land about 12 miles south of where the current church building is.

It's kind of in the woods, and it's exciting to see what'll happen. And so hopefully we'll have a radio studio in the new building.

The good news is we have the land. Bad news is we don't have any money for a building. But the

Lord has brought the people, so I think the Lord will bring the building. We'll see. If I was

Amish, we'd have a good old -fashioned barn raising, but I'm not Amish, nor do

I want to be. Any rumspringa things, I don't want any of that for my kids either. And so we're excited just to see what the

Lord has done through his good graces, and so we're thankful for that.

If you want to go to the Wretched Radio Conference, don't forget that's at Bethlehem Bible Church. You can sign up at wretchedradio .com,

and it's the Psalm 119 Conference. Todd Freel will be here himself. R .W.

Glenn, Tim Chalice, Trevor Wax, and Mike Ebendroth. And the topic is discernment.

And I was emailing Todd the other day, and I think I'm gonna do something about mysticism because I love mysticism.

And I love, I don't love mysticism, I love to talk about it. I love to whack it. I love to talk about how bad it is, but sadly so many people are mystics.

If I would stoop so low to listen to reggae music and Peter Tosh, I would say something like,

I'm a mystic man. But I don't know if I'd ever listen to Peter Tosh. I might listen to Andrew Tosh, his son, because he sounds just like him.

Okay, I digress. You know what, let's do a whole show on reggae music.

I think we should do that. You know, there's some rumors and websites on the internet that say that Bob Marley had the gospel preached to him on his deathbed and that he renounced any faith in the wrong

God and in the right God, Jesus Christ, he placed his faith. I hope that's so true. I so hope that's true.

And then if I listen to a reggae song and they talk about, you know, Jah or Yah, and I think about the real

God, I think that would be great. But anyway, I'm kind of just off on my own, just kind of digression.

Wretched Radio Conference, Discernment, Psalm 119, right here at Bethlehem Bible Church.

So sign up for that. Also, my new book is out. The first book was out, Prince of Preachers. I think it hit 2008.

I wrote this one in 2009 and maybe 2008, 2009,

I wrote it. And it's out, The Sovereignty and Supremacy of King Jesus, Bowing to the

Gracious Despot. What thoughts flood our minds when we think about God?

Do we think of him as a king? If so, what kind of king? In this book, Mike Ebendroth addresses a twofold problem.

Most Christians do not consider God as any type of monarch. And if they do, they think about monarchs that are weak rather than reflecting on the utter lordship of God, the ultimate king.

In part one, Mike Ebendroth demonstrates the whole Bible reveals God as king. Part two, he describes the life -changing implications that flow from that revelation.

And I didn't write this part here. So this is all from the publisher. Filled with insightful quotations, worshipful hymns, and thoughtful study questions.

This book helps us to biblically embrace God as our king. Well, the quotations are insightful because I didn't write them.

The hymns are worshipful. I stole that idea from Grudem at the end of each systematic theology chapter. He had a hymn, so I put a hymn about God as king there.

And what else? Thoughtful study questions. The publisher actually said, you should have some study questions for that.

And you've got like an hour to do it. So I just wrote as many as I could, as fast as I could. And so I hate to say that most of those study questions aren't that thoughtful.

Oh, yeah, yeah. But you know what? It's small print. You can get it, I think, for $16 list or $10 at No Compromise Radio website if you'd like to order one of those.

It's day one publication. And let me see how many total pages this is. It is 239 pages.

But the way the font is, I thought it was going to turn out to be a 300 -page book, but they smashed the font down.

So you better get your glasses out. My only complaint really for the book is I don't like end notes.

I like footnotes. What are people thinking when we've got end notes? If you see a little number superscripted there above indicating a footnote, lots of times

I'll look down and read the footnote. No problem. But I would say 90 % of the time when

I see an end note, who wants to turn to the end of the chapter? No way, man. So on No Compromise Radio, what have we done today?

We haven't really done a whole lot. So I think we better get to it. I'm turning into what I despise, just kind of a running advertisement.

Here's the conference. Here's my book. Let's see. What else would I do if I... You know,

I'm going to do a whole show one time on what not to do. What is kind of bothersome to me in many modern evangelical radio shows?

Funds are low. Times are tough. Difficult economic situations.

The salary needs to go up. Hey, by the way, speaking of salary, I don't have a salary at No Compromise Radio.

Is that shocking to you? No salary. I don't know. I shouldn't say I don't get any benefits.

I think I get benefits. I get books from publishers. They send those in for free. I guess

I can promote my own book on No Compromise Radio. I would never stoop so low. That would be... That goes against the grain.

If you know how much money I made off of each book, you wouldn't have any problem with me saying No Compromise Radio.

These that sell for $10 through No Compromise Radio are special author's discount.

And you pretty much get a lot of the discount. And I don't think I got any money for those.

No honorariums, no royalties for that. One time with my old book, I got a letter and you get two sets of honorarium checks.

One from the United States and then the other from England. And so the English, it doesn't sell very well in England.

And this other book, The Prince of Preachers, Jesus Christ, The Prince of Preachers. And I got a check and I thought, oh, okay, you know, let's...

I know it's gonna be like $100 and we're just gonna go out for a date or something, my wife and I. You know, hey, it's $100.

I didn't write the book for money. So anything you get is just gravy, just ice cream on the top.

And so cream on the top. So I got the check, I opened it up. I think it was for nine

English pounds. So then you have to go to Bank of America, they have to do the translation. And I don't know what

I got, $15 or something. Oh, and then you have to make sure to put that on your income tax too.

I got a $15. Do you have any other income? Yes. Royalties, how much? $15.

But you get checks like that twice a year though. So that's pretty exciting. Anyway, listen,

I know how it works. If you, I guess I could say, if you give a gift of any kind to the radio ministry, you can get a free book.

The new book, Sovereignty and Supremacy of King Jesus by Mike Abendroth. I don't wanna do that. I just know that if you listen to the show, if you happen to appreciate the ministry,

I don't wanna say if you like me, but if you like the style here, you might wanna get the book.

And so I write the book like I talk, hopefully. The new books that I'm writing are a little more no -compromise style.

This is maybe more classroom style. You could use this for a college study or something like that, or a

Bible study. It's a little more intense. But you'll probably hear my voice as you read the book.

So, so much for that. Pastors, clergy, that's what we're talking about today. What to expect from them, how to find them, what kind of church you should look for.

This would be good for people who don't have a church and they're trying to find one. What do real pastors do? What do they look like?

And so we're giving pastoral charges from Second Timothy. Not every charge, but some charges.

We had a pastor who just got a new job in Texas and he needed to move there for health reasons for his spouse,

Debbie, and so Dave left. And so I gave him some charges at Bethlehem Bible Church as he would go and be faithful to continue holding up the banner of truth that Christ Jesus is the only

God. And so today we're looking at that same thing from Second Timothy chapter two, verse three.

What must pastors do? By the way, if you'd like to be a pastor someday, this is good for you. This is good for you.

And so pastors, Paul says to Timothy, elders need to suffer. They need to suffer.

They need to suffer well. That's probably the best way to put it. Second Timothy 2 .3, suffer hardship with me.

Paul was undergoing affliction and hardship. And Paul says, join with me in that,

Timothy. And I think it goes for all Christian ministers. There'll be a mount of suffering, actually for all

Christians. If you desire to live a godly life, you will suffer persecution. Now it doesn't mean you're gonna have your head chopped off on the

Austin Way like Paul's. By the way, when I went to Rome and tried to research that place where they say traditionally

Paul lost his head, it's in a little monastery, kind of a nunnery.

Get thee to a nunnery. A Roman Catholic cloister. I'm trying to remember the name of it right now.

But I was trying to find the place. And it talks about, it's not Trevi Fountain, which would be in Rome proper.

But south of Rome, a small little town, not many people speaking Italian. I mean, how stupid am

I? Not many people speaking English. Most speaking Italian. My wife and I tracked it down, took a bus down there and everything.

And it's something about three fountains. What is it, trei fountains? I don't know what it is.

Treis, I don't know what it is. But in Italy, uno, dos, trei.

Something about trei, treis. If you know Italian, you can correct me. And why was it called three fountains?

Well, tradition goes, according to this Catholic group down there, that when Paul got his head chopped off, his head bounced three times before it stopped.

Plop, plop, plop. And then, according to tradition, supernaturally, fountains sprung up from the ground.

Underneath where Paul's head hit, three fountains sprung up. And that's why it was called three fountains.

So that was an interesting place. But they also have the place where, traditionally, Paul was held in prison.

Not the Mamertine prison up by Titus's triumphal arch, but this is down farther south where they were holding

Paul. And you can actually go down there. I was trying to talk to these nuns to figure out how to get down into the prison.

Where was Paul imprisoned? Okay, they don't speak any English. Donde esta el palos prisono?

I don't know. I don't know. Is it Spanish? You know, do you kind of know that? They had no idea who

I was, what I wanted. We were just walking around from one chanting

Gregorian Psalms room to the next and people with their habits in here. Kim and I probably have shorts on.

It's probably improper. And I'm thinking, I trekked all the way down here. I don't really care to see the three spots where the fountains are.

That doesn't really move me. But what if in fact, down in some grim basement, that's where Paul the apostle was.

And even if he wasn't really in that one, it makes no difference. I can get an idea of what the prison kind of looked like anyway.

And whether he was in the Mamertine prison or not, the prisons back in those days were bad.

The Mamertine prison had a little sewer running out of the back of it. And I guess it smelled horrible.

And when I did go to the Mamertine prison, the sewer's not there anymore, but just sitting there reading, I sat and read

Philippians in the Mamertine prison. It was quite moving. Didn't have to be the exact place.

Most people think Paul wasn't there, but it's fun to think about. So I'm asking all these questions and Kim and I are just wandering around and should we just go get another espresso?

I mean, what are we gonna do? And then I started thinking, well, what would be a word for prison? I need to ask a word for prison.

And some words fall into similar categories through different languages.

That is to say, if you have a word, it's similar in other languages.

It means the same thing. So then I thought, okay, what's another synonym for prison?

Jail? No, I don't know how to even pronounce that. But if you're in Spanish, you'd have to have the

J as an H. And then I thought, yeah, incarceration. Incarcerated. Incarceré, I said.

And she looked, Paolo's incarcerated. And I said, si. Yes. And she took me and she took

Kim and I down to the spot, down the steps we went. And there was where Paul was imprisoned, allegedly.

And it was really cool. We were taking pictures and there's nobody there. Nobody cares. Nobody there up there, the

Trevi Fountain. They don't really care. And so it had this kind of funky window with some bars.

And then it had another kind of door. And some of it you could tell was newer. I mean,

I knew it didn't have a hinge like that. But you could see in the back the rocks and the spot and that musty and dusty.

And so I said, Kim, you be the lookout. And I crawled up. This is hard for me to do.

This is five years ago. I could barely get up a step now at 51. But back in those days,

I had a little more hop in my step. And so I crawled up. So imagine, there's a door.

And the door, three -quarters of the way up has a hole in it, square, square hole, square round thing.

It was square. It was a hole, but it wasn't a round hole. And I said,

I got to get in the prison so you can take a picture of me through the bars. Wouldn't that be good? That's a no -compromise radio.

Please, you know, our pastor's in jail. Send us money. And so anyway, I climbed up.

It was hard. And I didn't know if I could fit all the way through. And it was the shoulders and the hips that were going to bother me.

And I made it through, got in there, and then Kim took some pictures. And then I thought, I've got to get out of here.

How am I going to get out? So anyway, I have a picture of myself down in that prison, incarcerated in Palos, and that was very fascinating.

Well, what does that have to do with anything? Well, it has to do with Paul certainly suffered a lot.

I'm sure if you looked at Paul's back, you know, if Paul came to town and you said, what's that hunched over guy doing?

And then he took off his shirt and you'd say, wow, that is an amazing thing. And so pastors suffer,

Paul suffered, Timothy suffered, and Christians suffer. And so there's going to be suffering in ministry.

Why? Because if you look at the text, 2 Timothy 3, two verse three, rather, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, that's how you suffer.

Soldiers suffer. Like soldiers suffer, you suffer because you're in the Lord's army.

You've got models here by Paul that they all work hard and they all suffer.

They all have got single mindedness. They all experience extreme hardships.

Soldiers do, athletes do, and farmers do. It says in verse four, no soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as soldier.

This man has blinders on, he's focused. He is not going to be good at a million things in life because he is working hard at this, single minded in purpose, straight ahead vision.

If anyone competes as an athlete, the text goes on to say, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.

The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. Consider what

I say, Timothy, for the Lord will give you understanding, verse seven, in everything.

Think about this, ponder this. Ponder what it means to suffer hardship.

And so that's what they have to do. That's one of the reasons why you ought to pray for your pastors. That's one of the reasons why you ought not to be a pastor unless called to the ministry because there are going to be times where you think,

I don't need this. As my father would say, I need this like I need a hole in my head. Now I've been in the operating room before and I've seen people have holes drilled in their skull.

If you could see some of the machines they use in the operating room, I'm not sure you'd want to go. You're glad you're knocked out, that's for sure.

Controlled poison of anesthesia. And so who needs this?

But if you've been saved by the grace of God, if you have realized that your horrible, heinous, vile sins, each one deserving hell, each one against a holy

God, each one deserving hell forever. If you realize that Jesus, although he never sinned, he took credit for those sins.

And even though you never did a righteous act in your life, you got credit for all

Christ's righteousness. And you know this is true because Jesus was raised from the dead.

If you realize that, friends, is there anything you won't do? Is there any place you won't go?

People get saved, send me anywhere but Siberia, send me anywhere except to Vanuatu.

No wonder John Payton got saved and then the Scottish missionary said, I'm off to Cannibal Island.

I'm off to the New Hebrides because he would go anywhere, do anything. And frankly, this is such a low degree compared to John Payton.

But I wouldn't pick New England. I didn't pick New England. I believe God picked New England for me to come to and minister to.

And I feel like a missionary here because my family's elsewhere. My family's in Nebraska, my family's in California.

And that's the kind of place I like to be in. And I'd rather be in California. But that's not the point.

When you've been bought with a price, you follow Christ Jesus and you do what you're told and you're willing to go anywhere, do anything, suffer any kind of hardship because you know it's only temporary.

You know it's only ethereal. You know it's only locked in time. You know it's worth it because out of gratitude and out of thankfulness, you say,

God, I'd do anything to serve you. If you were rescued by someone, saved from your death, if you had a buddy in Vietnam and he saved you, you'd be indebted to him for life.

Anything he asked you, 20 years later, he'd call you and say, I need a favor. Yes, you'd love to do it.

And so Christians need to realize that anything that they endure on earth with any sweat, pain, blood, toil, difficulty, pain, it's all worth it, isn't it?

Isn't it great to know that you've got a great Savior who, by grace alone, saved you, granted you saving faith, granted you assurance of salvation, granted you the

Spirit of God, granted you spiritual gifts, granted you a healthy church body, granted you other fellowship, other

Christians to fellowship with. This great God who's given, given, given, given, given grace, mercy, and peace, a love abounding to you, you'll go do anything.

And amazingly and surprisingly, in the middle of all our faith, word faith movements,

God calls Christians to suffer. And if Jesus was called the suffering servant in Isaiah, he is going to have servants who suffer.

And so we suffer because of our own sin, we suffer because of the fall, and here we suffer for the ministry, for the gospel and for all the stuff that goes along with ministry because it is hard work.

And then what Paul does, Paul says there are some examples for you when it comes to suffering that should help you,

Timothy, undergird you, give you some rebar for the soul so that you don't have to fall back.

Here's a good example of someone who suffered well. Verse eight, remember Jesus Christ.

Risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel. And so he said, you know, remember Jesus. Now you can remember a lot of stuff about Jesus, but here it's interesting.

Normally Paul says Christ Jesus, but why is he saying Jesus Christ? And why does he say risen from the dead?

Well, he is focusing upon his humanity. Yes, there's part of his deity, descendant of David, he's a divine king, but here is the one who is human,

Jesus Christ, who suffered in the flesh. And for the Christian, the way to work through these issues is this.

Glory is coming, but the cross is first. Cross then crown, cross then glory, not glory then cross.

Now not glory first, cross first. That's the paradigm for the Christian. So when people come along and tell you that you ought to be rich and you ought to be carefree and you ought to be just, you know, on top of the world, that word faith kind of thing,

Benny Hinn nonsense, that's not the way it works. I think they've forgotten these kinds of verses.

Paul said to Timothy, not only did Jesus suffer, but he said, I suffer too, verse nine, for which

I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal. But the word of God is not a prison.

Paul was so indebted to grace. Paul so appreciated distinguishing grace of God, the

Father, the Son, and the Spirit, that he said, I'm suffering even to jail. I'm even going to go to jail as a low life criminal.

And so Timothy, remember that Jesus was raised from the dead. Remember that although he suffered, now he is exalted in glory.

Remember Jesus. And by the way, that's a good way to get through suffering. If you're suffering now with anything, anything worth suffering for, like the gospel, maybe it's just even sickness, maybe not related to this passage, but you're suffering.

I think it's good to remember Jesus. Jesus suffered and Jesus had servants who suffer.

And that is a good reminder for Paul to tell Timothy, when you suffer, suffer well.

Suffer for the glory of God. Suffer, Jesus suffered. Suffer knowing that it's going to be end one day to your suffering and there's going to be glory.

And then Paul said, you know what? I also want you to suffer, Timothy, for this reason. Verse 10, for this reason, I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, for the sake of the elect, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it, eternal glory.

So Timothy, suffer for the elect's sake. They need an example. They need ministry.

They need preaching. They need discipleship. They need someone who's going to retain the gospel, guard the gospel, disciple other people in the gospel.

You need to retain the gospel. You need to suffer for elect people. I don't believe in predestination.

Well, you better because it's right there. Today on No Compromise Radio, we've talked about what pastors should do and they should suffer.

And you have pastors, they suffer. You should pray for them. Gospel ministry, you suffer. You work, you sweat, you toil.

Christians suffer. All who live godly lives will suffer persecution, but it's worth it. So remember, suffering's worth it and remember

Jesus Christ. Can you imagine? Risen from the dead. Nocompromiseradio .com.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life, transforming power of God's word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.