But You...(ordination of Louis Brown) - [2 Timothy]

The Charge to Lewis Brown and the Purpose of the Pastoral Epistles

As I said earlier, this is a charge to Lewis Brown. Now you might be thinking, oh great, I've always wanted a sermon that applies to someone else but not me. Sometimes that happens where one single person is addressed, even when you read the book of Titus, for example, or Philemon.

It's not you who is necessarily being addressed, but you still understand God's Word better, understand what God thinks better, understand the requirements of a godly man or woman in every age, and that will be true today.

Many times I'll say the word Lewis or I'll look right at him, and I will address him from the word in this charge, this ordination charge for the high office of elder, overseer, even the biblical word of bishop or pastor.

But as we know at this church that the scriptures are for us to understand and written in such a way that it's profitable for all of us. And so as I preach to Lewis today, may, number one, you rejoice with me that God is always worshipped and praised by the preaching of His Word.

Secondly, as I charge Lewis, would it not be fair to say that if Lewis has these charges, I want to live up to the high office of an elder, even though I might be a woman and can't be an elder, even though I might be a child and cannot be an elder, even though I have been disqualified and could never be an elder, I still want to be godly.

And if this is the pinnacle of godliness in the New Testament, I want that for my life as well. Wouldn't that be true? So even though I'm going to preach to you, Lewis, I've been waiting for years to preach a sermon just to you.

Matter of fact, I've been waiting a longer time for you to just sit in the front row, and I'm glad for that. But today is a charge specifically to Lewis Brown in the office of pastor. Now, you say, well, he's already been an elder.

He's already a bishop or overseer. I think it was last year I said to Lewis, Lewis, I think maybe you should be ordained. You've already planted a church. You've been in ministry for a long time. I said, Lewis, do you think you might ever want to plant a church again?

He said, well, maybe, maybe in the future. So I said, you need to be ordained. You need to be examined, and you need to be looked at in such a way where the congregation would affirm once again, yes, you're our elder, yes, we love you, but in a very formal way.

So that's why we decided to do this ordination last week and this week. And so if you have your Bibles today, congregation, let's turn to the pastoral epistles as I charge Lewis Brown from the scriptures to be a man who is faithful in an unfaithful culture, standing true for God and his word in a world that is disintegrating before us, faithfulness to God in a compromising culture.

Lewis, God has called you to be different. He has called you to be different than everyone else. He has called you to lead by resolve, not swimming downstream or with the current, not following the mold of someone in the world.

Now, almost every one of these charges from the scriptures, I say to myself, you already do these things. But as the slogan goes around here taken straight from Paul, it is good to be reminded of these things and to excel what?

Even more. Ministry is lonely, ministry is difficult, many don't understand. But Paul understood the intricacies of ministry, and so he charges in the pastoral epistles both Timothy and Titus, two individuals, frail and weak, but he charges them with the ministry mandate.

And Paul will basically say everyone else is doing this, but you can't. It's like Paul grabs Timothy and Titus and says, you're different, you're called out, you're separate. And he does it with four commands, and all the four commands begin with, but you, but you.

In Greek it's very interesting. It's called su-de, and for those of you who lived in Munich for a long time, du-aba. It is you are different. Everyone else does it this way, but you are different, but you.

So we're going to look at the four commands in the pastoral epistles. There's only four that start off with, in the original, but you. And they'll all be addressed to Lewis, as God in his trans-chronological, trans-relevant word, addresses these from Paul to Timothy, yet they have lost none of their relevancy in the last 2 ,000 years.

These four but you's, Lewis, are not plural. They're not for the congregation. They're not for the lay people. To understand, yes. To pray for, yes. But these are individual commands. It is not up to the denomination to obey, the church to obey, the conference to obey, your past teachers to obey.

It is very personal and singular, but you and their very rapid fire. Furthermore, they're applicable to every pastor because why would God write about something unless we could fall into temptation, unless we would struggle with these things, unless we would have an inkling in our mind that it might be possible to compromise.

Today we need God's men in God's ministry. And I think we have not a problem of quantity of pastors and elders, but we have a problem of what? Quality. And these charges to swim upstream in ministry, these charges that say, Lewis, fight the culture, don't imbibe it.

These charges that say, be resolved to take the hard road, the high road, you're an ordained leader of God, are very, very refreshing, yet they're almost scary because they're 1 Corinthians 16, act like men.

Fleeing the Love of Money and Pursuing Christlikeness

Very masculine. Charge number one, Lewis, the first but you charge, taken from 1 Timothy 6. To be a faithful leader in God's church, you must flee from the love of money and pursue Christlikeness. To be full of integrity in a compromising world, Lewis, number one, you must run from money and run towards Christlikeness.

1 Timothy 6, verse 11. Again, all four of these are to be radically different in our mind. This is what these false teachers do. This is what the TV preachers do. This is what other preachers down the street do, but I'm not going to do that.

Paul, just with a Nathan-like finger, pushes it to the sternum of Timothy here. And so too are you, Lewis, with the word. 1 Timothy 6, verse 11. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

You can't see it in the English, but it starts off in the original, but you, soo-day. Emphatic, right at the beginning. This has got kind of a neon light around it, if you will. Famous charge by Paul to Timothy in the midst of all the false teachers, in the midst of the last days being difficult.

Paul charging his understudy. Everyone else may get away with it. Everyone else might even be succeeding, seemingly, but you can't do it. Something else that isn't in the original, at least it isn't in the New American...

It's not in the New American standard, rather, but is in the original. He says, oh, but you, oh, man of God, with intensity and urgency and this interjection of, you've got to pay attention, Timothy. And he calls Timothy something very interesting here.

He could have been kind and pastoral and said, but you, Timothy, my son in the faith. But that's not what he says. He says, but you, oh, what? Man of God. It's not necessarily a personal appeal here. He's using a terminology that is used in the Old Testament of preachers and prophets.

Moses was called a man of God. Samuel was called a man of God. Elijah, Elisha. And here is this motivating term, a man of God. Can you imagine being called a man of God? It's supposed to be intentionally motivating.

David, the man of God. Moses, the man of God. And now Paul says to Timothy and I say to you, you're a man of God. Notice the text does not say boy, young man, teenager. Ministry isn't for boys. He says, Louis, you're a man of God.

You speak for God. You don't speak for yourself. You represent God. You don't represent yourself. But here, it's almost like the honor for Timothy is man of God, not Timothy. He doesn't address him by name.

All the other false teachers, they're men of the world. They're men of their own bellies. They're men of the flesh. Pastors and elders need to be men of God. You no longer own yourself. That was gone a long time ago.

You're God's property, Christ's living representative. And he says, oh, man of God, flee sinful things and pursue righteous things at any cost. Look what it says to run from. And I like the word flee.

We get the word fugitive from flee, to run away from. He says, I want you to run from these things. Not stay down, not settle down, not marinate in, not soak in, not saturate in, not stew in. He says, you need to run.

One man said, there's no particular secret to learn, no formula to recite, no technique to master. The apostle gives us no teaching on holiness and how to attain it. End quote. Instead, he says what? Run.

Run from these things. What are these things? 9 and 10 tell us. What are we supposed to run from like Potiphar's wife saw Joseph fleeing and running? Answers 9 and 10. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare.

Many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. Some, by longing for it, have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many griefs.

Balaam, out because of money sin. Judas, out because of money sin. Many prophets of Israel, out because of money sin. Demas, out because of money sin. And Paul says to every pastor, and I say to you, Lewis, you have to run from the love of money.

He doesn't say engage in these things, discuss these things, tolerate these things, snuggle up to these things, converse with these things, unite with these things. There's no strategy except to run. You run quickly.

You're God's man, not a false teacher's man. And after you run from something, you run to something. And what does Paul say? You run from the love of money and then you run towards something. Pursue the right things.

You run after things with haste. Matter of fact, the word pursue there can even be translated to persecute. You have so much intensity that you persecute someone. It's the same word Paul uses to pursue after, to run after, striving and seeking for.

Well, what do you strive after and seek for? Well, you seek after and strive for the pastoral fruit of the Spirit, I call it. And what are those? He gives six of those. Look at these six virtues, Lewis, that God charges you to flee towards.

Being in Germany, and even Sean said to me today, you're probably going to have a thousand Germany illustrations now that you've been back from Germany. I mean, what do you expect? As you flee from Nazi Germany and run to the safety, alleged safety, temporal safety of France, it's the same kind of idea.

You run from something and you run towards something. And Paul says, like a dog chasing down a rabbit. This is what you run towards. And every one of these six things exactly is opposite of what the false teachers do and say and are.

Look at the prize that you're to run for. Number one, you pursue righteousness. Eagerly, earnestly, you pursue righteousness. This is external righteousness. Holiness at home, at church, in business. This is doing the right thing in ministry.

This is having the ministry attitude of John Owen, who says, be killing sin or it will be killing you. Not just external, though, but internal. We don't want to be hypocrites. Pursue godliness. That's the internal attitude.

As righteousness is the action, the attitude shows itself in godliness. Many times found in the pastoral epistles. Ten times. 1 Timothy 2, 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy 4, 1 Timothy 6, 2 Timothy and Titus. All looking for the right motive.

Then he says pursue faith. Confidently trusting in Christ Jesus. Relying on him to keep his word. It also maybe has a little idea of faithfulness at home. To your wife, to your children, your money. Pursue love.

You can think about the two great commandments from Christ Jesus. Certainly an elder would have to pursue love. Pursue perseverance. Trials in ministry. Steadfastness is needed. You'll be injured by others.

You already have been. Pursue gentleness. Even though ministry is difficult. Even though people hurt you. Even though you need steadfastness under adversity. You need to have gentleness as well. Can't be harsh.

Paul doesn't stop there, though. Look what he says. Almost like it's part of the pursuit. Verse 12. Fight the good fight of faith. Strain every nerve. If I could say it well in German, I would. But this is where we get the word Kampf.

Mein Kampf. My struggle. Struggle the good struggle. This is kind of athletic contest language. Where have you ever seen one stress and stretch so far. When they are bench pressing weights. You can see what bulging out of their forehead.

Big old vein popping right out. That's the word right here. Voluntary, though. Athletic agony. Calvin called this a constant death struggle. John faced it. Paul faced it. Peter faced it. Jesus faced it.

Pastors faced it. And he says you need to fight the good fight of the faith. Of the Christian faith. The false teachers try to attack the faith. The faith is imperiled. You stand up and fight for it. You were asked last Sunday night, is there anything you would die for?

And your answer was, I would die for my faith. Yes? He also says, take hold of eternal life. Take hold of eternal life. Grab it. Bring it in close. It's one thing to have eternal life. But it's another thing to have it and enjoy it.

And to revel in it. And that's what Paul is after with Timothy. To have eternal life and to just enjoy it. Take it by violence. As Peter was caught by Jesus as he was sinking in the water. As the crowd sees Paul.

As the soldiers sees Simon the Cyrene. So too the man of God is to seize eternal life and to live it to the full. William Boyd said, fight the good fight with all thy might. Christ is thy strength and Christ thy right.

Lay hold on life and it shall be thy joy and crown eternally. Charge number one, Lewis. Pursue Christ-likeness. Charge number two. Found in Titus chapter two. Lewis, if you are to be a faithful man in a compromising culture.

You must speak things fitting for sound doctrine. We're jumping to Titus because chronologically. First Timothy was written first. Then Titus. Then second Timothy. So we'll take these in chronological order.

Number one, run from money and pursue Christ-likeness. Number two, the second but you. The second, everyone else is doing something different but you can't. Paul says, speak things fitting for sound doctrine.

This is an interesting one. Titus chapter two verse one. But as for you, but you. Speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Now Paul will go on to talk about the people Titus is supposed to teach.

Five groups. Older men, older women, younger women, young men, et cetera. This word here though isn't the word preach. This is a milder term that means ordinary speaking. Ordinary conversation. Of course pastors are supposed to preach.

Elders are supposed to preach. Of course Paul tells Titus that Steve read this morning in chapter one verse 13. To sharply rebuke false teachers. That's not the word here. You're to be a shepherd of the people and you're to speak to them with ordinary mild exhortations.

It's a present imperative which just means it's a command that is to be fulfilled all the time. Ordinary conversations in the lives of people. Talking about not just right doctrine but the right application of that doctrine.

Paul said false teachers should be silenced because they upset whole families. You, Louis, a man of God, should not be silenced. You should speak ordinarily, regularly so families would be set right side up and made whole again.

And interestingly here you've heard the slogan practice what you preach. In a sense that's true but that's not what Paul is saying here in chapter two verse one. Here's what Paul is saying. I want you to exhort the people you minister to to practice what you preach.

Of course elsewhere we'll see how integrity and the lack of hypocrisy need to be manifest in an elder's life. Where creed and conduct go together. But here he's saying I want you to not just to preach to the people.

But come alongside of them with ordinary conversation and say here's how you should live out your life. You believe elections true then here's how it shows up in your life. But as for you one Bible translation says communicate the behavior that goes with sound teaching.

To mature families, to stabilize the church for God's glory. And I like what it says there in chapter two verse one of Titus. Speak the things which are fitting, proper. Speak proper things. It's almost like an Englishman saying it should be proper.

Speak things consistent with the teaching. You don't want a congregation that's just informed but transformed. We don't want just a congregation that's doctrinally sound but we want a congregation that lives it out.

That lives out sound doctrine. Hygienic, healthy, appropriate doctrine. As a distinguishing characteristic. If you have a congregation who hears good doctrine and lives it out. What a great antidote to false teaching Paul's addressing.

False teachers say one thing and they don't care what their people do. If you're a false teacher as long as the women are rolling in, the power's rolling in and the money's rolling in. You don't care that your people are holy.

This is Christ's bride. They are to be taught doctrine. They are to be preached to. But they're also to be talked to and talked with. Of course live what you preach, Louis. But have people live what you preach.

Charge number three. Four charges that take a man and set him against the world. In every one of these I would say the more you do this, Louis, the more the world's going to hate you. Stand up against you.

Number one, pursue Christ's likeness. Number two, speak things fitting for sound doctrine. And the third but you charge found in the pastoral epistles. If you'd like to be a man who is going to be uncompromising in a compromising culture, number three, continue in the word.

Continue in the word. Second Timothy chapter three. There's one but you in First Timothy that's an imperative. There's one in Titus and there's two in Second Timothy. And again, congregation, as you're listening to these things, you could say, I'm going to pray for my leaders like that.

I want my leaders to be that. Leaders fall and I'm going to pray that my leaders never fall. As leaders do that, I too want to do that. I want to marry a man that's like that. Very applicable. Charge number three, the sous de charge is continuing in God's word.

Second Timothy chapter three verse 14. I mean it's so easy to start well in ministry, isn't it? But it's so easy to fizzle out as well. To blow out, to fade out. What do false teachers help us understand?

Do false teachers have any purpose in life? I think there is a purpose. Be the opposite. What they do, don't do. And they don't continue in the word. They use the word as a springboard or a platform or a launching pad to draw the people in because it's hard to get people in unless you're talking about the Bible.

But once you get them in, you jettison that. Keep them with your smile or keep them with a happy life now. But you, Lewis, continue in the things, verse 14, you have learned and become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them.

You've got a heritage as Timothy did. Timothy had been taught by Paul. I never got to meet your father, W .L., but I have talked to Joy on the phone. Matter of fact, I've listened to preaching from Joy on the phone to me.

So you've heard a lot of preaching. Timothy has heard Paul. He's heard his grandmother, Lois. He's heard his mother, Eunice. There is a long line and that baton is being passed down. Now some people get saved out of unchristian homes and they have no heritage.

You've been granted a great heritage opposite of that. You're to continue in these things. As you've passed those down to your sons, you keep passing those things down to the church. You are fundamentally different from the false teachers who don't pass anything down and who don't continue in the Word at all and have no heritage.

And you notice the text. You've learned these things. You've become convinced of them. You know in your mind these are fixed. These are non-negotiable. I cannot dilute. I cannot compromise. I know them.

This is supposed to be motivational for faithfulness and for resolve. And you see the contrast if you go back to verse 13. It becomes evident. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

But you, however, continue in the things which you've learned. As a matter of fact, verse 15 applies to you as well, Lois. And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

This is not just any word. This is the word that's inspired, verse 16. All scriptures inspired by God is breathed out and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the market congregation, the elder, the pastor, the preacher, the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

You continue in the Word. You continue in the old, old story. You don't need the new perspective, the new theology, the new reformation, the new Christianity, the new emergent church, the new morality.

You don't need new and better and novel, things that spiral away from the scriptures. You think who's taught you these things, both at home and in the church, and you say, I will continue. Not just being a good soldier in the military, but a good soldier in God's military.

You're obliged to do this. Some days I have different professors who sit on my shoulder, figuratively, and I think to myself, I can't let them down. Of course, it's to God's glory that I want to be faithful, but there are other men, if they ever receive the phone call that I wasn't continuing in the Word of God, that I had abandoned what they had taught me and the legacy as they poured their lives into me, what would I do?

So with soberness and with an appeal, an apostolic appeal, Paul says, continue in the Word. Remain. And then there's one last one. The final Suede found in the pastoral epistles. It's found in 2 Timothy chapter 4.

Finishing Well in Ministry

Everyone else might be able to do things like pursue money, to just preach and not practice, to use God's Word for your own advantage, but no, not you, not a man of God. But Paul doesn't end there. He says, charge number four.

If you want to be a faithful man in a compromising culture, finish well. And maybe this is the one that's going to apply the most, Lewis, because by the grace of God, as I know you well, you're not a man who loves money.

You're not a man who says, I don't want to pursue Christlikeness. You do want to. You're not a man that says, you know what, I just want to preach, but I never want to talk to people. You're not a man who says, you know, I learned the Word when I was younger, and I don't need to learn it anymore.

But that's all who you are and behind you, and this is who you are and ahead of you. You need to finish well. And actually, there's four of these that comprise this finishing well. He says in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 5, Paul's final chapter that he writes.

For 30 years, Paul has done these things in chapter 4, verse 5. He's going to get his head cut off, probably on the Austrian way, and for 30 years since the day God called him on the Damascus Road, Paul has done these things.

It's been his life charge, these four things, and now he's passing the baton to Timothy, and he's given the importance of the last words. They say last words are important. They say when someone's dying, you want to listen to what they have to say because there's a gravity and a weight to these words.

And it's no different here in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 5, the final but you. He says in verse 5, but you. Be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Stott said these words breathe an atmosphere of great solemnity. It is impossible, Stott said, to read them without being profoundly stirred. And these are kind of four shotgun staccato commands on how to finish well.

Number one, be sober. Literally it means don't drink wine, but it's more metaphorically here used. It's figuratively used to be well balanced, to keep your head screwed on straight, to have self-control, to be a man of your senses.

People come and go and others are taken away by the wind of false doctrine. Here it's I'm stable. My thinking's clear, not cloudy. I'm balanced. I'm not spiritually drunk. This is to refrain from the excesses and the passions and the rashnesses that come along if you're not keeping your senses.

Interestingly, it's a present tense. Always be sober. Always have your mind clear, sound, balanced, judgment, not blinded or blindsided by myths and other things. One man said the Christian is not to be the victim of crazes.

Stability is his badge in an insane world. Forget the bandwagons and the fads. You're to be well balanced and self-controlled. Because as Paul is talking to Timothy, he knows those hard days are coming and so this is the kind of life that if you live now, when you have to die for your faith, you're ready to die.

Questions ask, well, how can I die for my faith as a Christian martyr? Then live in such a way today that you're able to die then. He says keep your head. Be wide awake. Free from intoxicants. Eternal matters are at stake.

Other people under you need this. Seriousness in ministry. We laugh, of course, but there is a gravity and seriousness to ministry. You should pervade your ministry, Lewis. Serious. Secondly, he says, well, here's how you finish well.

You're not just sober, but you endure hardship. When we were in Germany, another Germany story, we would see these museums. And it was interesting to go to the Air Force museums and see the ejection seats that the pilots would sit in.

And ministry is hard and difficult. And you even talking to a man this morning or last night and the difficulty of ministry. And Paul says, if you want to finish well, you're going to have to suffer. Endure hardship.

The escape hatch of ease and the ejection seat of I want to take the easy way out cannot be pulled. These are words that a military man can identify with. Sacrifice. Endure hardship. The greater good.

Except it's not love of country. Honor. It's for Christ Jesus' church, his bride. Suffering comes with the territory of being an elder and a pastor. And literally here, the word is interesting. It says, suffer evil.

It's not just suffering for being stupid. It's suffering because of evil and sin. Paul describes his own suffering before Christ in chapter 2, verse 9, as suffering for the Lord. He says in verse 3, suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

Paul suffered, beaten without number, in danger of death. Five times, Paul said, I received from the Jews, what, 39 lashes? Three times, I was beaten with rods. Once, I was stoned. Three times, I was shipwrecked.

Night and day, I've spent in the deep. Dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren.

And I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Jesus, a suffering servant, has servants who suffer. John MacArthur said, I almost hate this, but it's true.

There is no such thing as a faithful ministry that is not costly. A painless ministry is a shallow and fruitless ministry. Now, for me, I just want all my suffering in the past and say, I suffered enough, Lord, but I'm sure there's suffering in your future.

Hardship. Did you ever wonder, by the way, if Timothy took heed to what Paul said? You ever wonder if Timothy made it? Kind of Timothy, the timid one, and he's got to have all these exhortations. You think, Timothy, did you make it?

Did you follow what Paul said? I think you did, don't you? How do we know? It's to hope. Hebrews 13 .23 gives us the answer, that our brother Timothy has been released from prison, with whom, if he comes, I shall see you.

Timothy did do it. He did make it because he was imprisoned for his faith. And Lewis, 2 Timothy 1 says, Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, but join me in suffering for the gospel. How do you finish well?

Are you sober? Do you suffer? Number three, you speak the gospel. You do the work of an evangelist. You do the work of an evangelist. What's the word play? You don't do the work of a non-evangelist. Imperative here, do the work.

There's work and there's doing and preaching. The bad news is, for you, Lewis, you deal with Christians a lot of the time. There's hardly anybody to preach to at church. Maybe there's some that straggle in, but Pradeep's already preached to them before they get to you.

Isn't it a strange thing to tell a pastor, underneath the command of God, you better be an evangelist? Because the pastor's continually telling the congregation, now you go out and preach. I'm going to equip you to do the work of the ministry.

But the people that we love the best in the Bible are evangelists at heart, from John the Baptist, to Jesus, to Paul, to John. They preach the gospel. Elders should be preaching the gospel. When it's appropriate, with friends at work, with neighbors, you have been sovereignly placed in your neighborhood to preach to your neighbors, at least most of the neighbors.

Steve lives very close. And you are to be an example to others in the congregation that you have a desire for the lost. Do you have a desire to preach Christ Jesus, who's descended from David and raised from the dead?

Chapter 2, verse 8. And then the last way to finish well, and this is kind of the bow on the package, fulfill your ministry. Timothy, I'm going to die. But you are going to be here. And you, Timothy, I want you to finish well like I finished well.

Be sober, suffer, do the work of an evangelist. And now he says, fulfill your ministry. It sounds weird. We know Lewis, and so if I have to look him in the eye and say, Lewis, you better finish well. It's almost like, why would that be needed?

We don't need to do that. We see someone's life and we say, yes, they're by the grace of God performing those. But here God sanctifies and God charges and God motivates with these stern commands. We all need the charge.

Say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it, Colossians 4 .17. And if Archippus needs it, how much more does Timothy need it? He says, fulfill your ministry with eagerness, with wholeheartedness, with devotion.

Paul says in Colossians 1 of this church, I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God, bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. That's the attitude.

Not abort, not take the easy way, not short circuit, bypass, end around, behind the back. Fully accomplish, completely accomplish. One hundred percent accomplished. The same verb is used when Paul and Barnabas did their work and went to Jerusalem in Acts 12, they had fulfilled their mission.

And Louis, you may bury me or I may bury you, or we've got our theology right, we may both greet each other in the clouds. But if things go the way normally they go in terms of age, I'm going to bury you.

And it will be a great joy for me to sit at your bedside and say, by the grace of God, Louis, you have fulfilled your ministry. If you look at verse 6, Paul says, for I'm already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

And look at these words of finality, and completeness, and fulfillment. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. Paul fulfilled his ministry. And there's something coming in the future.

Verse 8, in the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, look what he calls him, the righteous judge will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

For you, Louis, there's no retirement. There's only graduation. Death. And if those who have loved his appearing receive that great reward, so too will faithful pastors. In one sense, Louis, I feel like I'm preaching the sermon to the choir because you know these things, and by God's grace, you live these things.

And as a pastor, I'm going to tell you what you already know. And I'm glad you wrote a few things down in your Bible today. If Louis Brown listens to you teach the Bible and he doesn't pick up a pen to write something in his notes, you are in big trouble.

That basically means I haven't learned anything that you've taught and you've just been up there running your mouth and I don't need the Bible. We have been granted a season at this church of joy, peace, unity, maturation, numbers growth, giving growth.