The Duty of the Preacher

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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May 24, 2015

00:00: I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to 2 Timothy.
00:21: Please go to chapter 4.
00:34: Today is a day of mixed emotions for me.
00:42: We are about to send a young man to seminary from our church.
00:50: He has been with us for many years.
00:54: He is a close friend, one I would consider a partner in ministry.
01:00: And God has called him to seek a better understanding of the Word.
01:06: And for that opportunity, I'm grateful.
01:10: I'm also a little heartbroken because he will be away from us for a time.
01:16: And following his time in school, he plans to seek full-time ministry employment and where that will lead, only God knows.
01:24: So we just pray that God will continue to guide him as He has.
01:29: But as we prepare today for his departure, I want to preach a message which I believe is important for him to understand, but I also believe it's important for us all to understand it.
01:45: I'm going to preach on the duty of the preacher.
01:52: The job of the preacher is one at which there are many people who poke fun at preachers.
02:02: They'll jokingly say, well, a preacher's a great job.
02:05: You only work one hour a week.
02:08: Or they'll say something to the effect of, you know, all you do is read all week and then give a 20-minute book report.
02:15: If they think it's 20 minutes, they've never heard one of my sermons.
02:18: But it's easy for folks to get the wrong idea of pastoral ministry.
02:25: It's easy even for the one entering into pastoral ministry to go in with unrealistic expectations.
02:33: One man I remember saying he wanted to be a minister, and he was asked why.
02:37: And he said, well, I like the idea of setting my own schedule.
02:42: First of all, how foolish, if that's the reason you want to enter ministry.
02:44: And second of all, how foolish to think that that's true.
02:47: There are heartaches and headaches and hardships which the ministry provides which are absolutely unique.
03:01: Those who paint a rosy picture of the ministry are either ignorant or arrogant.
03:09: It is no small task to take up the Word of God weekly, to shepherd God's people consistently, and to stand for truth.
03:23: It's no small thing.
03:27: And there are two things which should be considered in a man who desires such a task.
03:34: One is his calling.
03:38: The preaching ministry is not a profession.
03:43: It's a calling from God.
03:44: James chapter 3 and verse 1 tells us that not everyone should be a teacher because teachers will be held to a higher standard.
03:53: And thus, knowing they will be held to a higher standard.
03:55: This is a standard that only God can call you to.
04:01: A man who believes he is called must also meet scriptural qualifications.
04:06: He can't just say, I'm called to preach and that be it.
04:09: But the church must recognize that he has fulfilled the qualifications.
04:12: 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1 give us an outline of these qualifications.
04:18: He must also be examined by the church and ordained and commissioned by the church.
04:24: There is no lone ranger preachers.
04:27: He's to be sent by the church, called by the church.
04:32: The church has an integral part in making a man a preacher.
04:38: So we look at the preacher's calling.
04:40: We also look at the preacher's training.
04:42: 2 Timothy 2.15, this was on a plaque at the seminary in which I went.
04:47: It was a plaque above the door as you left.
04:51: And it said in the King James English, It was studied to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
05:02: And it was always the reminder to us who were going out into the world to preach from that seminary, to be reminded that we have the task of rightly dividing the word.
05:13: That's our job, that's our calling, that's our mission, that's our goal.
05:16: Rightly divide the word and it requires study, it requires diligence.
05:20: That word in Greek means to be diligent to do something.
05:27: I've often been asked the question, does a pastor have to attend seminary? And the answer is no, a minister doesn't have to go to seminary.
05:35: Spurgeon didn't go to seminary, but Spurgeon read six books a week.
05:40: He was uniquely gifted.
05:43: Joel Osteen didn't go to seminary either, if that tells you anything.
05:48: So I mean, so let's be honest.
05:52: Here's the simple truth.
05:54: No man should take the pulpit untrained and unlearned.
06:00: No man should take the pulpit untrained and unlearned.
06:04: No one would fly in a plane with a pilot who was unqualified.
06:09: No one would allow himself to be operated by a surgeon who had not been tested.
06:13: No one would give his money to a financial advisor who had not been vetted.
06:17: Such requirements for training and testing should be no less expected in the ministry.
06:24: And yet some churches just give over their pulpit with a very lax view of ministerial training.
06:29: A man says he's called to preach and the very next week he's preaching.
06:33: No training, no studying, no learning, he's just let go.
06:37: And what has happened as a result is unhealthy and very dangerous ministries.
06:46: It is primarily the task of the local church to train men for ministry.
06:56: We should be raising men up.
06:58: We should be training men in the Scriptures.
07:01: We should be letting them learn to divide the Word here.
07:10: We should be no less than a seminary here.
07:14: Those who are called to vocational ministry and choose to go to seminary should only be supplementing what they've already received in the church.
07:25: But the problem that has happened is that the church has given up its calling to be a place of higher learning.
07:32: And as a result, we've all stayed very shallow.
07:35: And the only place anyone can find anything of teaching is to go away.
07:41: I only say all this not to say anything wrong about going away.
07:44: I hope that doesn't add now it's coming out.
07:46: But I hope to believe that you have come away from this place ready now to be supplemented.
07:53: That you're not looking for a foundation.
07:56: That you're looking to build on a foundation that's already been laid.
07:59: That's the goal.
08:01: That's the goal.
08:03: So as we prepare to send this young man out to supplement his education, I want us to consider the charge given by Paul to Timothy in regard to the call to ministry.
08:15: And we see this charge in 2 Timothy chapter 4.
08:21: We stand for the reading of God's Word, so let us stand together.
08:28: We're going to read verses 1 to 5.
08:33: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing in His kingdom, preach the Word.
08:49: Be ready in season and out of season.
08:51: Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.
08:55: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but will have itching ears, and they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
09:11: As for you, always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
09:26: Father in heaven, I thank you for your Word.
09:30: I pray that as I seek to give an exposition of it, that you would keep me from error.
09:34: I pray that you would open the hearts of your people to the truth.
09:38: And Lord God, if there be among us those, in which I'm certain there are, who do not know the truth, who have not submitted to Christ, that today they would be confronted with the gospel, and the command that all men everywhere should repent.
09:55: In the name of Jesus Christ we pray.
09:58: Amen.
09:58: 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus are known as the pastoral epistles.
10:15: Paul wrote them to give to Timothy and to Titus an outline of how the church was supposed to function, how elders and deacons were to be called, and to set before them the right way to do church, so as to be able to defend against that which is erroneous.
10:36: In the first letter of Timothy, he deals particularly with false doctrine, false teachers that had arisen in the church.
10:43: He tells him what quality of person is needed to fulfill the role of elder, to fulfill the role of deacon.
10:50: And he instructs Timothy that the gospel will lead to practical, visible changes in the lives of people who live it.
10:56: And if it doesn't, then it hasn't really affected them, and they need to be evangelized again.
11:01: The second letter gives Paul's exhortation to Timothy to remain faithful in the face of suffering.
11:10: Paul is preparing for the end of his life.
11:13: He wants Timothy to continue fighting for the faith.
11:17: And this letter is very personal.
11:18: If you read it, it reads as if it is between a father and a son, between a student and his mentor.
11:26: It's very, very personal.
11:28: And yet, it's given to all of us.
11:31: It's not just from Paul to Timothy, but it's from the Holy Spirit to the church.
11:37: And so when we read it, and we get to this last part, we see the very loving way that Paul is addressing Timothy, but we see this also in the expressed truth that the Holy Spirit is speaking this to us.
11:52: And what we see in this text, chapter 4, verses 1-5, are three realities that we need to recognize regarding the duty of the preacher.
12:05: I put an outline in the bulletin.
12:07: You have it.
12:08: I didn't give you any blanks, because I didn't want you to sit there feverishly trying to figure out what to fill in.
12:16: So you have the outline.
12:18: We're going to go through it now.
12:21: The first thing that we see in this text is that in the life of the minister, there is no higher priority than preaching God's Word.
12:32: Look with me again at 2 Timothy 4, verse 1.
12:35: I charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by His appearing in His kingdom, preach the Word.
12:44: Be ready in season and out of season.
12:48: Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.
12:51: Now I want to look at two things.
12:52: I want to look at the authority of the charge and the content of the charge.
12:56: The authority of the charge is very simple.
12:59: It comes with divine authority.
13:01: He charges him in the presence of God and Christ Jesus.
13:06: Now we know that Jesus Christ is divine.
13:09: He is God in the flesh.
13:13: And yet when we see God and Christ Jesus together in this construction, it's typically referencing the fact of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.
13:22: Some have argued that what we see here in the Greek construction is in the presence of God, even Christ Jesus, to say that Jesus is Christ.
13:30: And that certainly could be.
13:31: It references His judgment, which could be.
13:34: But it can also be referencing the fact that He's speaking of the Father and the Son.
13:38: He's charging in the power or the divine authority of God the Father and God the Son.
13:45: I stand in their presence to charge you, you, Timothy, who are preaching.
13:51: I'm charging you by this authority, by the authority of God.
14:00: This charge has God's power behind it.
14:03: It has God's authority behind it.
14:05: And it references here in the text and it has the authority of His appearing in His kingdom.
14:11: Essentially to say that based on the truth of Christ's appearing, based on the truth of His kingdom, based on all of these things, I charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus and based on His appearing in His kingdom, you better preach that word.
14:24: There is no higher authority than the authority I'm giving you to tell you what you need to do.
14:32: He didn't say I'm giving you my own authority.
14:34: I'm charging you by the authority of Paul.
14:36: Or I'm charging you by apostolic authority.
14:38: Or I'm charging you by some other authority, some ecclesiastical authority.
14:42: No, God says this.
14:44: I am speaking for God here.
14:48: Preach that word.
14:51: So the authority of the charge is from Paul, but it has the authority of God Himself.
14:55: And the content of the charge is simple.
15:00: KERUSOTAN LAGAN Preach the word.
15:08: The word KERUSO means to proclaim, to announce, to herald.
15:13: It speaks of announcing openly and publicly.
15:16: Mounce has a great definition.
15:18: Definition of KERUSO.
15:20: To noise abroad.
15:24: What am I supposed to do? To noise abroad.
15:28: To speak the gospel abroad.
15:31: To speak it loudly and clearly and with authority.
15:36: Thayer makes this note.
15:37: To proclaim after the manner of a herald with a suggestion of formality, gravity, and an authority which must be listened to and obeyed.
15:47: To speak with authority.
15:50: You don't get up and offer people suggestions.
15:53: You don't stand up.
15:55: I'm speaking to you.
15:56: I mean all of us.
15:56: You don't stand up and offer five suggestions to a better marriage or ten ways to have a better bank account or eight different ways to have a better life.
16:03: You stand up and preach the word with authority.
16:07: And the authority doesn't come from you.
16:10: The authority doesn't come from the preacher.
16:12: I am nothing.
16:13: I am less than nothing.
16:16: The authority comes from what you're preaching.
16:23: When a military service man comes and speaks in the place of his authority, the person over him, he speaks with that person's authority.
16:30: Not because he has any authority, but because he's speaking for the one who has that authority.
16:36: It doesn't matter if it's a private who's coming to speak.
16:38: If he's speaking from the colonel, he's speaking with the colonel's authority.
16:43: So too when we speak from God's word, we speak with God's authority.
16:52: And that's the question.
16:52: Where does the authority come from? It comes from the word.
16:55: This is why he says preach the word.
16:56: The preacher's not supposed to preach his opinion.
16:58: He's not supposed to preach his own wisdom, as if he had any.
17:03: The preacher's not supposed to exegete the latest pop psychology, or the latest self-help guide, or the latest commercial from the Super Bowl, or the latest movie from Hollywood, which has become very popular.
17:14: The preacher's not supposed to wax eloquently about mildly entertaining stories.
17:20: Some preachers just tell one story after the other, after the other, after the other, and it's really entertaining, but it ain't preaching.
17:28: The preacher is not a stand-up comic.
17:32: He's not a clown.
17:35: And he's not a storyteller.
17:38: He's a preacher.
17:39: He has one mission.
17:40: Preach the word.
17:43: What is the word? The word is the scripture.
17:48: The context tells us what the word is, because if you look here, he says in chapter 4, he says preach the word, and you say, well, what's the context of that? Go back up to verse 16 of the previous chapter.
17:57: Chapter 3, verse 16.
18:00: All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
18:12: Scripture is the word of God.
18:16: He's not talking about something you're going to hear audibly.
18:19: He's not talking about God opening the heavens and speaking to you directly.
18:23: God has spoken to all of us in the exact same way He has spoken to us through the apostles and prophets, which has been codified in the written word of God.
18:32: The scripture.
18:33: All scripture is God-breathed.
18:36: And thus when we speak, we speak from this word.
18:43: And if you notice in chapter 3, verse 16, it tells us what the scripture does.
18:47: It reproves.
18:47: It corrects.
18:48: It trains.
18:49: And then you go to chapter 4, verse 2, and what does he say? Reprove, rebuke, and exhort.
18:53: Same idea there.
18:54: We see the word and the scripture together are the same.
19:00: When the Bible is read, God's word is being spoken.
19:07: There is no higher authority in the church than the Bible.
19:12: And it's proclamation is to take precedence over everything else.
19:16: And the preacher must make understanding and teaching the Bible the mission of his life.
19:23: He is to be ready when it is convenient and when it's inconvenient to preach this word.
19:31: There are going to be times when it's inconvenient.
19:33: There are going to be times when it seems like the world wants you to do everything else but this.
19:40: And there's going to be times when it's very unpopular.
19:44: Preach the word, whether it's convenient or not.
19:49: That's what the term in season or out of season means.
19:51: It means when it's convenient, when it's the right place and the right time, or when it's not the right place and the right time.
19:57: When you don't feel comfortable, do it anyway.
20:05: Martin Lloyd-Jones said this.
20:06: He said, the primary task of the church and the Christian minister is the preaching of the word of God.
20:11: Now I want you to hear that quote again because I think Lloyd-Jones hit on something here.
20:17: He hit on a lot of things.
20:18: Lloyd-Jones is pretty smart.
20:20: But what he says in this short quote is important.
20:26: The primary task of the church and the Christian minister is the preaching of the word of God.
20:33: Why does Lloyd-Jones in that quote reference the church? You'd think it would just say it's the primary task of the minister to preach the word of God.
20:45: But he doesn't say that.
20:46: He said it's the primary task of the church and the minister to preach the word of God.
20:50: Why is Lloyd-Jones saying this? Because the church, you all...
20:56: See, I ain't just preaching to Aaron today.
20:57: I'm going to bring you guys in.
21:00: The primary task of the church is a two-fold responsibility in regard to the word.
21:05: One, you call the preacher.
21:10: Meaning you examine and ordain him to this office.
21:14: And then you listen to him.
21:19: You call him and then you listen to him.
21:24: I say that because this goes right into what Paul is about to say.
21:29: Because Paul says, preach the word in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, for the time is coming.
21:38: When? When what? When they're not going to listen.
21:45: And that's where I want to move on to part two.
21:48: In modern church life, preaching has lost its priority.
21:58: Look at verse 3.
21:58: It says, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off in the myths.
22:08: Beloved, that is now.
22:13: We don't have to say anymore that the time is coming.
22:16: In fact, I was trying to do my outline and I was trying to stick with the grammar and construction of Paul's writing and I kept saying, well in the future, preaching will lose its position.
22:24: And I was like, I can't.
22:25: I can't put that.
22:26: Because it's not in the future.
22:27: It be now.
22:29: It is now.
22:35: There's two things that we see.
22:37: We see a massive rejection of the truth.
22:39: We see a massive reception of error.
22:44: And that's what Paul says we're going to see.
22:47: He says, number one, he says the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but they'll turn away from listening to the truth.
22:53: They are going to reject the truth.
22:57: He said they're not going to listen to sound doctrine.
22:59: By the way, what does the word sound mean in this? It means healthy doctrine.
23:04: It means proper doctrine.
23:06: If you go to a lawyer and you have to fill out a will, the first words of the will will say, this person of sound mind.
23:15: Right? It means well, healthy, to be appropriate.
23:19: Well, that's the same idea here.
23:21: In the Greek, it's the same.
23:22: It's well, it's healthy.
23:25: The people are going to, and Paul is telling Timothy, people are going to turn away from healthy doctrine.
23:37: And beloved, it's so here.
23:41: People don't want to hear the truth.
23:42: People reject the truth.
23:44: They cannot stand it.
23:48: You look at these guys who fill stadiums with people.
23:53: How do they do it? Listen for the word sin, and you'll hear crickets.
24:03: Listen for the word repentance, and you'll hear, oh, you're a works righteousness guy.
24:09: Listen for any of that.
24:15: You know how I can tell if a man's not preaching the truth? If unbelievers love to listen to him.
24:23: If he fills stadiums full of people who are consistently living in perpetual, unrepentant sin, have no desire to change, have no desire for repentance, and they're lapping up his garbage as dogs lap up their food from a dish.
24:37: That's how I know he's not preaching the gospel.
24:40: It's very simple.
24:41: Because when a man preaches the truth, he will be rejected by unbelievers.
24:47: And there's a massive rejection of the truth going on right now.
24:50: In fact, there's such a rejection of truth, people don't even think truth exists anymore.
24:53: And that's nothing new.
24:54: Pilate said the same thing.
24:55: Truth, what is truth? But the reality is, it's gotten so bad that if you talk to somebody about truth, they'll say no such thing.
25:02: They'll say truth is relative.
25:03: Truth is never absolute.
25:05: In fact, if you claim to know the truth, they will say, well, you lack epistemological humility.
25:10: And all they're doing is trying to impress you.
25:11: They're basically saying that you think you have a good worldview and no one else does.
25:14: Epistemology is worldview.
25:15: And they'll say, you don't have epistemological humility because you think you have the truth.
25:24: There's a rejection of the truth.
25:25: And there's a reception of error.
25:28: He says they're going to accumulate for themselves teachers, and they're going to wander off into myths.
25:33: I like the itching ears analogy because he's saying that's what they have.
25:36: They have these ears that are just waiting to be scratched.
25:38: They're waiting for somebody to tell them what they want to hear.
25:40: I know of a preacher one time was sitting in a church board meeting.
25:44: He was sitting in a board meeting at a church.
25:47: Wasn't here.
25:48: Just so everybody knows.
25:50: And in the board meeting, the lady chairperson told him, we hired you to tell us what we want to hear.
25:59: That's why we hired you.
26:02: So giddy up.
26:04: Do what we say.
26:07: Such a shame.
26:10: That's why churches have become social clubs.
26:13: And not even good ones.
26:15: Because they rarely do anything philanthropic.
26:22: There's a massive reception of error.
26:24: James McDonald.
26:25: I don't know how many of you know James McDonald, walking the word radio program.
26:28: He has five things that he said have taken the place of preaching.
26:35: Five things.
26:36: One, entertaining.
26:40: We filled our services with music, drama, video, felt needs, topics, testimony, stories, stories, stories, stories.
26:47: Everything's about entertainment now.
26:49: If the pastor's not juggling, he better hurry up.
26:54: The second thing is sharing.
26:56: We've stopped commanding.
26:58: We're sharing.
26:59: We've become a cross between Oprah and Dr.
27:01: Phil.
27:04: And that's how we preach.
27:05: I'm going to share something.
27:06: You don't want to hear me say that.
27:08: I want to share something with you today.
27:10: And what I do, I preach to you.
27:15: Wooing.
27:16: The third thing he said.
27:17: Wooing.
27:18: Wooing is, don't be offensive.
27:21: We've got to draw them in.
27:22: If we win their hearts, it ain't my job to win your heart.
27:26: It is not my job to win your heart.
27:29: It is my job to call you to repentance.
27:31: The only person who's going to change your heart is the Holy Spirit of God.
27:34: I'm not here to woo you.
27:36: I'm here to confront you with the truth.
27:39: And if you don't like it, that is fine.
27:41: Because you're not going to like it until the Holy Spirit of God changes your heart anyway.
27:46: I'm not here to convince you.
27:48: I'm not here to woo you.
27:50: I'm here to proclaim to you the truth.
27:52: And to leave the results to God.
27:58: Intellectualizing.
27:59: This is his fourth one.
28:01: We're supposed to love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
28:04: And preaching that stops at the shoulders is defective preaching.
28:06: And that's true.
28:07: There are a lot of people that are over-emotional, but there's also those who are over-intellectual.
28:10: They don't ever allow anything to penetrate their conscience and their heart.
28:15: And it's all in their mind.
28:17: That's also an issue.
28:19: People can announce doctrine very well, but they never do anything to love their brother.
28:24: And the Bible says, if we do all these things and have not love, we're worse.
28:29: What are we? We're a clanging cymbal, right? We're nothing.
28:32: We're useless.
28:34: And finally, the fifth one, he said, was abbreviating.
28:39: Abbreviating, in his estimation, was the guys who preach these little sermonettes.
28:46: Five, ten, twenty minutes.
28:48: I like what he said.
28:49: He said, it takes five minutes to set up the rig.
28:52: It takes ten minutes to take the rig down.
28:54: That only leaves you five minutes for digging.
28:59: What is that? I know a pastor.
29:02: I recently had a luncheon with some pastors.
29:04: I was sitting there.
29:04: He said, my church only gives me twenty minutes to preach.
29:07: I said, who is the guy in charge? Who is the one who told you you can only preach for twenty minutes? What pants does he wear in the group? How in the world can somebody look to me and say, you only got twenty minutes? Now, if it's twenty minutes before you leave, goodbye.
29:26: But I'll still be going when you go.
29:31: The word of God.
29:33: You realize, you go back to Nehemiah.
29:35: Those people stood all morning, hearing the word of God read.
29:39: And they stood there, without any air conditioning.
29:43: They stood there.
29:46: I keep emphasizing, stood there.
29:50: Let's all stand up.
29:51: Let's all stand up for the rest of the sermon.
29:54: We've become such babies.
29:58: So intolerant of anything that we think would pull for our time.
30:04: We've become so unconcerned with God's word that we abbreviate everything in regard to God.
30:10: Our prayer time becomes next to nothing.
30:12: Our worship time becomes next to nothing.
30:14: Our listening to the word becomes next to nothing.
30:16: We spend so little time doing it, it becomes just a little apostrophe in our life.
30:20: It's not even a full sentence.
30:21: I think McDonald was correct in his five things.
30:27: But why is this the case? Because the church is demanding it be so.
30:32: The reason why these five things have replaced preaching is because the church has demanded it.
30:40: And men who may be called by God have acquiesced to it.
30:45: The church is now looking for entertainers, comedians, storytellers, and motivational speakers.
30:49: They're not looking for preachers.
30:54: And because of that demand, it's easy for the preacher to get off track.
30:59: Which leads me to my third point.
31:04: In the ministry, the preacher must stay committed to his charge.
31:15: He begins with the phrase, as for you.
31:19: This is Paul speaking directly to Timothy.
31:21: Now I know you guys aren't preachers for the most part, at least not that this is not your vocation.
31:30: But I want you to consider what he is calling Timothy to here.
31:35: Because there's implications for the body.
31:39: There's implications here for you.
31:41: This isn't just for Aaron, or for me, or for our elders, or for other men who may be called to preach.
31:46: This is not just for them.
31:48: This is for all of us.
31:49: He's giving Timothy a charge that has implications for all of us.
31:53: The first one is the intellectual expectation of the ministry, the charge to minister.
31:58: And that is sober-mindedness.
32:01: Sober-mindedness is simple.
32:02: Not drunkenness.
32:04: Not intoxicated.
32:05: That's what it means in the Greek.
32:06: But what it really is relating to us is a clear-thinking man.
32:13: Often churches, when you look at their advertisements, they're looking for a preacher, they put in their preaching, visionary leader, motivational leader.
32:23: We're looking for a motivator, a visionary.
32:27: You know what a church needs more than anything else? Is a man who does not act impulsively and immaturely.
32:37: A man who acts soberly.
32:44: He must be trustworthy to make decisions, to give leadership, to give guidance.
32:50: Ministry demands this because no one can give their trust to someone who is not consistent in their thinking.
32:58: So sober-mindedness comes up in all the qualifications for elder, comes up in all the qualifications, and comes up here.
33:06: Be sober-minded because this is what the people need.
33:10: More than a visionary, more than a guy who can come up with a purpose statement or a mission statement or some type of ten ways to grow the church or some type of fancy building program.
33:19: They need somebody who thinks clearly and maturely and not impulsively.
33:28: Number two is the emotional expectation of the charge.
33:32: Endurance of suffering.
33:35: Pastoral ministry comes with several inherent occupational hazards.
33:42: There's a stress in caring for the souls of people.
33:46: I remember when this came to me as really like a shot in my chest.
33:51: And I want to make sure what I say in this next few minutes does not come across as self-aggrandizing.
33:56: I certainly would hope that it never would.
34:00: But obviously preaching is what I do.
34:02: So I've had a lot of time to sit and think about it.
34:06: And there was a moment in my life where I sat down and I said, you know what? A doctor, a medical doctor, deals with something that's going to die anyway.
34:17: All a doctor does is kick the can further down the road.
34:20: Because eventually you're going to die.
34:25: But what we deal with in ministry is what lasts forever.
34:33: So how does this relate to you all? You've got to understand how valuable you are to us.
34:40: The preaching.
34:42: Those who are preaching.
34:45: We are called to care for the sheep of God.
34:51: To shepherd the flock of God.
34:54: Which He purchased with His own blood.
34:58: That's our call.
35:00: You are precious.
35:05: You're valuable.
35:08: You matter so much that large portions of Scripture are telling us how to treat you.
35:16: The preacher.
35:17: How do you relate to the people of God? How do you shepherd them? Because it matters.
35:24: They are worth your time and your love and your suffering.
35:33: Because there is suffering.
35:36: There's the stress of protecting the flock from the dangers of the world.
35:43: I've got to tell you, that's a real hard thing.
35:45: And I don't want to take a lot of time on this, but people come to me all the time.
35:50: There's this enemy that's trying to attack from the outside.
35:55: And I try to help them.
35:56: I try to give them counsel on how to deal with this enemy.
36:00: Whatever it is.
36:01: Maybe it's a person trying to draw them away to another religion.
36:04: Maybe it's a person trying to draw them away from Christ.
36:06: Maybe it's a person trying to draw one of their children away into something evil.
36:10: And I have to get down on my knees and I have to cry out to God.
36:12: I have to pray for wisdom.
36:13: God help me to help them.
36:15: Because they are hurting.
36:20: What can be done? God help me.
36:26: Help them.
36:28: Right? And there's suffering that goes along with that.
36:36: Because you do watch people.
36:38: Watch the lady this year go right into a cult.
36:44: My heart broke in half.
36:55: There's suffering in the ministry.
36:57: There's also the normal everyday stress of the ministerial life.
37:01: I want to read something from Charles Spurgeon.
37:03: Charles Spurgeon dealt with depression in his life.
37:06: For those who put Charles Spurgeon up here on a pedestal and think he never had anything wrong in his life, that he was just this consummate minister, never had anything wrong.
37:13: He wrote so much on his own personal depression.
37:15: It's amazing what he had to deal with.
37:19: Having dealt with depression in my own life, I take solace in reading his words.
37:26: This is what he said.
37:28: To sit long in one posture, pouring over a book and driving a pen, is in itself a taxing nature.
37:34: But add to this a badly ventilated chamber, a body which has long been without muscular exercise, and a heart burdened with many cares, and we have all the elements for preparing a seething cauldron of despair, especially in the dim months of fog.
37:49: As you sit there alone, as you sit there writing those sermons, as you sit there studying the word, it's easy to become stressed under just the weight of what you're doing.
37:59: You might say, boy, it sounds like an easy job to just sit there and read all the time.
38:02: Think about what you're trying to do.
38:05: You're trying to take the word of God, break it apart and feed it to the people of God.
38:09: And you want to make sure you're right.
38:11: You want to make sure you're not giving them error.
38:14: You know why guys can study for two hours and preach a sermon? Because they don't care if they say something wrong.
38:25: Let me move on to the third one because I've got to get moving.
38:27: Not that I've got to make 20 minutes, but I do want to make the lunch at some point.
38:31: The occupational charge.
38:34: The work of the evangelist.
38:37: Within Scripture we see evangelist as an office and we see evangelism as a duty for all of us.
38:45: We are all called to evangelize.
38:47: Let me say that again in case you didn't hear me.
38:50: We are all called to evangelize.
38:53: And I don't mean I live before people and they can see Jesus in me.
38:59: That's not evangelism.
39:00: I've said it before and I'll say it again.
39:02: That's not evangelism.
39:04: You are called to tell people about Jesus Christ.
39:07: To enter into conversations about Jesus Christ.
39:10: The old thing, preach the gospel, use words when necessary, is stupid.
39:13: Preach the gospel, words are always necessary.
39:19: The evangelist is the man called by the church to train and equip and lead the church in evangelism.
39:29: Typically one of the elders would have such a task among the people of God.
39:35: The pastor is not necessarily that.
39:39: The pastor is the exegete, the one who stands before the people of God week in, week out, expositing the Scripture.
39:44: But we are still to do that job.
39:47: My job is to encourage you, to send you, to equip you as an evangelist because you are supposed to be evangelizing.
39:55: Every one of you today, if I were to ask you how many people this week you engage with the gospel, with your mouth or with a gospel tract or sending an email or sending a letter or simply extending a hand of friendship and comfort and encouragement and telling people about Jesus Christ, how many of you today can go back to it at least once in this past week that you did that to someone somewhere? If you say, I can't, then you need to repent.
40:30: The call to evangelize is not a suggestion.
40:35: Go into all the world and preach the gospel.
40:37: It does not say that just to the evangelist.
40:40: It doesn't say that just to the pastor.
40:41: It says that to all of us.
40:43: We are all ambassadors for Christ.
40:46: My role as preacher is to equip you.
40:48: The role of the evangelist is to equip you.
40:50: And as the pastor, I do that job when I'm preaching the gospel.
40:55: But I cannot do it alone.
40:57: Don't bring me people to share Jesus with.
41:01: You share Jesus with them.
41:06: Finally, number four.
41:08: The overall charge of the ministry.
41:14: Fulfill your ministry.
41:15: Pretty simple, right? Fulfill.
41:18: You know what it means? It means leave nothing undone.
41:24: Leave nothing undone.
41:30: There are going to be times when you feel like leaving things undone.
41:33: There are going to be times when you feel like appealing to your flesh and saying, you know what, I'm overwhelmed and I've got to stop.
41:41: And there's going to be seasons of difficulty which seem insurmountable even in the midst of them all.
41:46: Keep moving forward is what Paul is saying.
41:50: And that's something not just the pastor needs to hear.
41:53: It's something that all of us should hear.
41:58: I don't know what ministry God has gifted you to which God has gifted you.
42:02: I don't know what it is.
42:03: Some of you it's pretty obvious because you're doing that ministry within the church.
42:07: But some of you aren't.
42:09: Some of you have gifts that God has given you that you're not using in the church and you need to be.
42:17: Some of you have already given up.
42:21: When Paul says, fulfill your ministry, he's saying here, don't leave what God has given you to do undone.
42:27: Because He's uniquely gifted you to do it.
42:30: Aaron is not the only person gifted here to preach the Word.
42:35: Other ones of you are gifted to preach the Word.
42:38: Why are you not doing it? Well, pastor, you preach all the time.
42:41: Trust me.
42:43: I'm looking for men who want to do it.
42:46: I'm looking for men to train.
42:47: I'm looking for men who want to take this sacred desk and stand behind it and shout God's Word.
42:53: I'm looking for that.
42:58: I'm looking for men and women who want to serve the body of Christ in some form or fashion.
43:04: I'm looking for you to do these things.
43:09: Fulfill your ministry.
43:12: Leave nothing undone.
43:20: Why is the ministry of the preacher so important? I'll end with this.
43:26: I've already said it, but I want to say it again.
43:30: Why is the ministry of the preacher so important? Because those who hear the Word are so precious.
43:39: The local church is the beneficiary of the pastor's ministry of the Word.
43:46: It is because Christ loves His church so much that He commands the diligence of His ministers to feed His sheep.
43:52: Christ loved the church so much that He died for it, and this love is extended in the charge of those whom He calls and appoints to care for it.
44:02: Every man who takes this charge must understand the value of the people under His care.
44:07: Christ loves them, so too must the pastor love them.
44:12: Through all the pains, through all the difficulties, through all the sorrows, the pastor must remember this solemn oath.
44:20: I am the steward of Christ's bride, and you all who are His bride should expect the pastor to love you, to preach to you, to tell you the truth even when it's not easy to hear, and to be committed to the shepherding of your souls.
44:51: Let's pray.
44:54: Father in Heaven, I thank You for Your Word.
44:57: I thank You for the call to preach it.
44:59: I thank You for the duty of preaching though it is not an easy one.
45:05: I pray now as we begin to draw this service to a close, Lord, that You would at this moment open our eyes that we might see all that You have for us to do.
45:19: Lord, we know that everyone who has been saved has been given a unique gift by the Holy Spirit to be used in the church, and no one gift is more important or more precious than another.
45:36: Some are gifted to be heralds, and others are gifted to be servants, and others yet are gifted to be encouragers, and others yet are gifted to be ones who offer aid and mercy and generosity.
45:48: Lord, all of these things are unique gifts, and we pray that You would help us all to know what our ministry is in the church, that we might fulfill that ministry and leave nothing undone.
46:04: We thank You for the call of the Gospel.
46:07: We thank You that Christ has come to save sinners, and that all who believe on Him will have eternal life.
46:15: We pray, Lord, for unbelievers among us that they would know that salvation does not come through good works, that salvation does not come through ritual, that salvation comes through repentance of sin, to turn away from sin, and to trust in the finished work of Christ.
46:36: And it's in His name we pray.
46:39: Amen.