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Every Pastor s Job Profile Msg 11 14 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In our journey through the Second Letter to Timothy by Paul,
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Speaker 1: we have come to the final chapter of this letter,
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Speaker 1: Tewod Timothy, Chapter four, a section written not exclusively to pastors,
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Speaker 1: but certainly directly to us and to all who minister
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Speaker 1: the Word of God. Paul was so determined that Timothy
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Speaker 1: be the man of God that he had been called
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Speaker 1: to be, that he reserved his final words, which have
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Speaker 1: become for many of us familiar territory. I called him
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Speaker 1: every pastor's job profile, and you don't often get to
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Speaker 1: do this, but I'll let you listen in today on
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Speaker 1: the job profile that is expected of all of us
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Speaker 1: who are engaged in vocational Christian service. You will find
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Speaker 1: in your worship folder and outline of today's message. You
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Speaker 1: may want to have that available a little later to
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Speaker 1: follow along during the message. It keeps you and me
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Speaker 1: both on track, helps us work our way through the scripture.
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Speaker 1: Exposition is really the unfolding of the truth of the
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Speaker 1: Scriptures as it appears before us, and then it is
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Speaker 1: applied to our lives today. It's moving from one world
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Speaker 1: to another world, the first century world in which this
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Speaker 1: passage was written, to this present world in which we live,
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Speaker 1: and it's the responsibility of the expositor to take the
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Speaker 1: truth revealed and without twisting, changing or altering it, applying
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Speaker 1: it to where we are today. Paul writes to Timothy
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Speaker 1: about that in tecod Timothy four. And if you will please,
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Speaker 1: out of respect for God's words, stand, I will read
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Speaker 1: for you verses one through five of Second Timothy four.
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Speaker 1: I solemnly charge you, in the presence of God and
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Speaker 1: of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and
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Speaker 1: the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach
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Speaker 1: the word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke,
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Speaker 1: exhort with great patience and instruction, For the time will
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Speaker 1: come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting
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Speaker 1: to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves
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Speaker 1: teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn
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Speaker 1: away their ears from the true truth, and will turn
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Speaker 1: aside to myths. But you be sober in all things.
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Speaker 1: Into your hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill
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Speaker 1: your ministry. That is truly a job profile for every pastor.
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Speaker 1: And today you'll get to listen in on my responsibilities
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Speaker 1: and really, all of ours who love the Lord. Please
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Speaker 1: you may be seated. May we bow together accept our
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Speaker 1: grateful thanks this day, our Father, as we enter a
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Speaker 1: season of giving thanks. In fact, we say with the songwriter,
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Speaker 1: now thank we all our God. And our list goes
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Speaker 1: on and on for all the things you give us
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Speaker 1: us that we so frequently failed to mention. Breath in
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Speaker 1: our lungs, the beat of our hearts, a mind that
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Speaker 1: continues to work, the ability to read, to here, to learn,
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Speaker 1: to grow, to relate, and in relating to others, to
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Speaker 1: forgive those who have hurt us and harmed us, and
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Speaker 1: in these relationships, to remember that we have in our
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Speaker 1: circle of friends those who support us and love us.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for each one today, and as we begin
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Speaker 1: this season of thanksgiving, accept our gifts that we bring
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Speaker 1: for the children around the world, food for those in
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Speaker 1: our communit who do not have enough. And we thank you,
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Speaker 1: our Father. For those who protect our freedom, those who
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Speaker 1: this day are thousands of miles away from home. We
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Speaker 1: pray that you would watch over, guard, protect, guide them,
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Speaker 1: bring them safely home. The war lingers and our hearts
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Speaker 1: ache for those families who have yielded their loved ones
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Speaker 1: to the war effort, and we pray for their comfort
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Speaker 1: and encouragement. Today. Now, Father, we thank you for the
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Speaker 1: joy of giving from our wages. Thank you for our occupations,
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Speaker 1: the ability to earn a living. We pray that you
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Speaker 1: will accept our gifts as we give them, first giving ourselves,
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Speaker 1: and then these monies. Watch over the way they are handled,
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Speaker 1: and give integrity to the expenditures that move from this
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Speaker 1: church out to others in need. May Christ be exalted
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Speaker 1: in it all. As we thank you, our God, in
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Speaker 1: the name of Christ, our Savior. We pray everyone said, amen,
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Speaker 1: do not enter the ministry if you can help it. Now,
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Speaker 1: you might wonder who's first said that? Where would that
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Speaker 1: be found? And perhaps the writing of some cynic, some
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Speaker 1: anti church atheist, Perhaps that just sort of vented his
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Speaker 1: spleen against people in ministry. No, on the contrary, it
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Speaker 1: did not come from a cynic. None other than Charles
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Speaker 1: Hadden's Spurgeon wrote those words in a fine book titled
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Speaker 1: Lectures to My Students dated eighteen seventy five. Well, maybe
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Speaker 1: he was finished with the ministry and wanted nothing to do. Know.
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Speaker 1: On the contrary, all his life he had loved the
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus his biography is remarkable. While still at the
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Speaker 1: young age of seventeen, he was called to his first
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Speaker 1: church think of it seventeen. Not quite three years later,
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Speaker 1: the new Park Street Baptist Chapel called him to be
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Speaker 1: their pastor at the age of twenty, and there he
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Speaker 1: remained until just before his death at age fifty eight,
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Speaker 1: thirty eight years of solid, incredible ministry. When he first
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Speaker 1: went to the Park Street Chapel, it was a small
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Speaker 1: place and the crowds could not be contained who wanted
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Speaker 1: to hear him preach, and so the little chapel was
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Speaker 1: enlarged quite a bit. It wasn't long before that proved
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Speaker 1: to be too small, and so they built the Metropolitan
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Speaker 1: Tabernacle in London to seat six thousand people, many of
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Speaker 1: whom would stand in the snow waiting for the doors
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Speaker 1: to open on Sunday mornings to hear him preach. Before
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Speaker 1: his death, the membership of that church had grown to
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Speaker 1: fourteen thousand, six hundred and ninety two. It wasn't just
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Speaker 1: a preaching center, it was also an educational institute. Spurgeon,
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Speaker 1: from his own funds, actually funded the institute for the
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Speaker 1: better part of twenty years. As the institute grew as
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Speaker 1: Spurgeon's college trained young men for ministry. The people realized
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Speaker 1: what a great work was going on, and so the
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Speaker 1: church by eighteen sixty five expanded to become a publishing house,
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Speaker 1: and the publishing house published a monthly magazine as well
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Speaker 1: as Spurgeon's sermons every week, and they continued to publish
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Speaker 1: at every week after he died for twenty five years.
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Speaker 1: To give you some idea of how prolific he was,
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Speaker 1: they ran out of money before they ran out of sermons.
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Speaker 1: Eighteen sixty seven, an orphanage was established at that church.
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Speaker 1: Among his better known published works, this eighteen seventy five volume,
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Speaker 1: Lectures to My Students. Now I am on my second
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Speaker 1: copy I wore out the first one. Lectures to My Students,
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Speaker 1: is a volume every person in ministry should read, and reread,
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Speaker 1: and read yet again. It is in that volume you
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Speaker 1: will find the words do not enter the ministry if
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Speaker 1: you can help it. Why would Spurgeon write such a
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Speaker 1: statement if he loved the Lord and the ministry as
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Speaker 1: much as he did. Why his statement is altogether appropriate?
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Speaker 1: Because the ministry is never something one should enter hurriedly
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Speaker 1: or unadvisedly, or without the assurance of a call. The
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Speaker 1: call of the minister is a divine summons. It is
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Speaker 1: a heaven sent command, not audible, but from God's heart
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Speaker 1: to the minister's heart. It brings with it an undeniable
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Speaker 1: assurance that this is what one should do, and nothing else.
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Speaker 1: The call includes an intense, all absorbing passion for the
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Speaker 1: work of God. The call has to do with giftedness,
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Speaker 1: when mixed with diligence and responsibility, results in blessings in
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Speaker 1: the lives of others. If it is a teaching gift,
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Speaker 1: others are taught. If it is a preaching gift, others
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Speaker 1: are challenged. If it is a counseling gift, others are
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Speaker 1: encouraged and strengthened in their walk. The giftedness blends with
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Speaker 1: diligence and blessing follows. Along with this is the realization
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Speaker 1: don't miss this, that nothing else will satisfy the inner
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Speaker 1: longing to serve and to give. That explains why Spurgeon
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Speaker 1: added to that statement these words and I quote if
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Speaker 1: any student in this room could be content to be
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Speaker 1: a newspaper editor, or a grocer, or a farmer, or
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Speaker 1: a doctor, or a lawyer, or a senator, or even
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Speaker 1: a king in the name of Heaven and Earth, let
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Speaker 1: him go his way, For a man so filled with
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Speaker 1: God would utterly weary of any pursuit but that for
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Speaker 1: which his inmost soul pants. What Spurgeon is writing of
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Speaker 1: is the Minister's call. I'm not satisfied doing anything else,
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Speaker 1: not really, not really fulfilled. I can still recall the
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Speaker 1: question that the registrar asked me when I was sitting
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Speaker 1: in the room in nineteen fifty nine being interviewed the
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Speaker 1: possibility of becoming a first year student at Dallas Seminary.
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Speaker 1: The registrar looked at me and looked at my lovely wife.
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Speaker 1: He still remembers what she was wearing, by the way,
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Speaker 1: when he talks to me about that time, and he
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Speaker 1: asked me a question I will never forget, mister Swindle,
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Speaker 1: would you be happy and fulfilled doing anything else? I
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Speaker 1: thought about a job I had back in Houston. Already
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Speaker 1: had the job. I was at full seniority. It had
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Speaker 1: been waiting for me from my years in the Marine Corps,
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Speaker 1: and now that I was out, I could go back
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Speaker 1: and make a fine living and go right on with
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Speaker 1: our lives. We had no children, our future was in
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Speaker 1: front of us, and I thought, would I be fulfilled
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Speaker 1: and satisfied doing anything else? Swallowed hard and looked him
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Speaker 1: in the eye and said, no, Doctor Campbell, I would
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Speaker 1: not be satisfied doing anything else. He told me years
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Speaker 1: later that if I had had any other answer, they
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Speaker 1: would have never accepted me as a student. I would
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Speaker 1: have had a quicker answer if I had known that.
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Speaker 1: As it was, they accepted me on probation because they
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Speaker 1: knew the risk that they were undertaking and dealing with
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Speaker 1: a guy like me. I'm reading right now The Eloquent President,
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Speaker 1: written by Ronald White Junior. It is the work of
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Speaker 1: the speeches and the thinking and the writings of, of course,
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Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln. And in that book there is a bit
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Speaker 1: of autobiography on occasion where Lincoln goes through a difficult period.
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Speaker 1: When he first arrives at the White House, he realizes
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Speaker 1: quickly that he has never really held an executive position.
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Speaker 1: He only finished one year in form schooling. One year.
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Speaker 1: He taught himself how to speak, how to write, how
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Speaker 1: to read, how to think, but his education was greatly lacking,
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Speaker 1: just as mine was when I got to Dallas Seminary.
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Speaker 1: In fact, they passed around a little questionnaire that went
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Speaker 1: out to all the people in Congress to check on
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Speaker 1: the qualifications of those in Congress. I wish they still
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Speaker 1: had that questionnaire today, But that questionnaire wound up on
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Speaker 1: Lincoln's desk, and when they got to the subject addressing
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Speaker 1: his education, he answered with one word defective. Defective. You
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Speaker 1: can be called into ministry even if your education has
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Speaker 1: been defective, even if you're past has been marked by
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Speaker 1: shame and heartache. God isn't looking for perfect vessels. He's
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Speaker 1: looking for available vessels he can fill people like Timothy.
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Speaker 1: And if Paul has nothing else in mind, he has
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Speaker 1: in mind the thought that Timothy was the recipient of
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Speaker 1: a calling. His coming to the church at Ephesus was
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Speaker 1: not a hiring. A pastor is called not merely hired,
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Speaker 1: which makes this passage of Scripture come alive when you
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Speaker 1: realize that this is in fact Timothy's ordination from Paul. Now,
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Speaker 1: if you look at your Bible at two Timothy, chapter four,
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Speaker 1: you will see that this job profile for every pastor
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Speaker 1: falls into four parts. Please follow along, because you're listening
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Speaker 1: to a defective man today, who has, by the grace
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Speaker 1: of God, come to the place where I am in
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Speaker 1: my life, and I just simply learned to read the
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Speaker 1: text and teach it as it is. Let me show you.
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Speaker 1: Verse one is the charge, and it's a passionate one
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Speaker 1: that we will examine carefully and well. Verse two contains
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Speaker 1: several commands. There are five of them, if you note carefully,
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Speaker 1: we'll go over each one in a moment. All five
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Speaker 1: are in verse two. These commands are followed by a
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Speaker 1: relevant and very realistic prediction, in fact, several predictions in
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Speaker 1: verses three and four. So we have a charge in
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Speaker 1: verse one, several commands in verse two, five to be
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Speaker 1: exact relevant predictions regarding what Timothy will be facing, and
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Speaker 1: we as well, who are in ministry verses three and four,
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Speaker 1: and finally some personal reminders four of them, and we
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Speaker 1: will analyze the four as well. First, let's look at
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Speaker 1: the passionate charge. If I may play upon those words,
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Speaker 1: This was designed by Paul to recharge Timothy's battery. Paul's
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Speaker 1: choice of words adds extra voltage to that charge. Talk
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Speaker 1: about a solemn and serious charge. If Timothy had gotten
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Speaker 1: a little bit indifferent, which is very possible, if he
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Speaker 1: had become indolent in his responsibilities, which is again possible.
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Speaker 1: This calling was enough to jolt him back to reality.
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Speaker 1: If you have ever been brought before a judge in
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Speaker 1: a courtroom, and you have been asked to raise your
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Speaker 1: right hand and to solemnly swear that you will tell
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Speaker 1: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
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Speaker 1: then you know what a daunting moment that can be.
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Speaker 1: Timothy isn't raising his right hand, but his eyebrows must
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Speaker 1: have been raised when he realized that this charge was
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Speaker 1: coming in the presence of the living God. He wasn't
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Speaker 1: standing before an earthly judge. He was reading this scroll
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Speaker 1: before the supreme court of heaven the universe. In fact,
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Speaker 1: he is being reminded that he is being watched closely
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Speaker 1: and carefully by his heavenly Father, and he is accountable
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Speaker 1: to Christ Jesus. Look at how it reads, I solemnly
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Speaker 1: charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus.
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Speaker 1: And then he adds who is to judge the living
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Speaker 1: and the dead? In your margin, you might write John
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Speaker 1: five twenty two. In that verse we read the words
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Speaker 1: of Jesus, where the Father has given all judgment to
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Speaker 1: the son. We will not stand before God, the Father
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Speaker 1: in the final judgment, Christ Jesus will be our judge.
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Speaker 1: He has been on this earth. He understands earthlings. He
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Speaker 1: has been one of us, albeit separate from sin. He
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Speaker 1: is the one who is able to judge the living
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Speaker 1: and the dead. Timothy, You're going to stand someday before
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Speaker 1: this one who will judge your work. He will judge
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Speaker 1: your motives. He will judge your public ministry. He will
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Speaker 1: judge your private life. He will examine the secrets of
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Speaker 1: your soul. He holds you accountable. He is to judge
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Speaker 1: the living and the dead, and he will appear one
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Speaker 1: day and establish his kingdom. The end of the verse reads, so, Timothy,
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Speaker 1: you will not miss this judgment. You will stand before
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Speaker 1: this judge. This highly charged surge of heavenly voltage must
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Speaker 1: have sent a jolt of reality and realization through Timothy.
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Speaker 1: Something this important prefaced by a charge, this electrifying, must
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Speaker 1: be of inestimable value. What in the world is that charge?
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Speaker 1: Verse two, Get your pen ready, mark five words. Here
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Speaker 1: are the commands preach, be ready, reprove, rebuke, exhort. Not
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Speaker 1: simply one command or two, but five, each one of
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Speaker 1: them deserving. In our English language, an exclamation point. Every
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Speaker 1: pastor's calling begins here. This It helps explain why Spurgeon
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Speaker 1: would write what he did. Do not enter the ministry
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Speaker 1: if you can help it. Why Because you are responsible
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Speaker 1: to proclaim the word. Others may sit, others may listen,
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Speaker 1: others may watch, but not you. You stand, and you
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Speaker 1: will deliver. They will be able to examine every facet
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Speaker 1: of your life, Timothy, and you have no place to
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Speaker 1: run and hide. You are to be a proclaimer. The
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Speaker 1: word k rooks carried with it in the first century
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Speaker 1: the concept of a herald. Hr ald a herald one
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Speaker 1: who took the message of the king and announced it
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Speaker 1: in the in the public square. He didn't fuss with
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Speaker 1: the message, he didn't change the message. He certainly didn't
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Speaker 1: make the message sound easy to hear. He announced the message.
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Speaker 1: He was a k roos. He was a herald of
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Speaker 1: the information of the message. And in this case the
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Speaker 1: message is the word. See it in verse two, preach
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Speaker 1: the word. Others will remain and say places, but you
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Speaker 1: will be right there for all to hear and all
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Speaker 1: to see. There is a message to proclaim, and you
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Speaker 1: are to proclaim it as God's messenger. It isn't your message.
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Speaker 1: It isn't your word. It is not to be discussed
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Speaker 1: or debated. It is not to be twisted in any
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Speaker 1: way to make it palatable. You are charged to declare it,
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Speaker 1: not to make people believe it. The command is a
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Speaker 1: divine charge, and the divine charge is to proclaim the message.
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Speaker 1: Your job is not first and foremost to pat people
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Speaker 1: on the back and help them feel welcome. It is
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Speaker 1: not to help seekers feel warmth and the goodness of
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Speaker 1: others around them. It isn't to keep the center from
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Speaker 1: being offended. It isn't to insert our opinions or our ideas.
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Speaker 1: It certainly isn't to twist the words so that they
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Speaker 1: are easier to hear. It is to proclaim the message.
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Speaker 1: Every pastor's calling is to stand and deliver that message.
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Speaker 1: The message is truth now right about now, some of
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Speaker 1: you have already begun to think, Man, this is a
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Speaker 1: pretty blunt shock. This is pretty harsh stuff to tell
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Speaker 1: people into twenty first century. Oh really, Well, let's say
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Speaker 1: we're not in church. Let's say we're in a doctor's office.
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Speaker 1: Let's say you've had pains in your chest and they
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Speaker 1: have troubled you for several days, and your spouse has
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Speaker 1: been hounding you to get them looked at, and that
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Speaker 1: night before that appointment, you were seized with the deep
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Speaker 1: pain that went all the way to your back and
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Speaker 1: ran to your jaw, down your arm. So you look
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Speaker 1: for the physician who will make you feel good. You
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Speaker 1: go to the clinic. That's as all people who want
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Speaker 1: to hear what they want to hear welcome. I will
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Speaker 1: tell you what you want to hear. You would drive
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Speaker 1: by that and a heartbeat, no pun intended. What do
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Speaker 1: you want truth? Truth? You don't want a physician who
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Speaker 1: will overlook a suspicious selectric cardiogram. You don't want a
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Speaker 1: physician who will ignore high blood pressure. You want a
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Speaker 1: physician who says, there's something about your urine that isn't right.
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Speaker 1: I'm concerned about it. You want him to tell you. You
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Speaker 1: don't want a physician who will dodge the fact that
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Speaker 1: you may be in the midst of the beginning of
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Speaker 1: a cardiac arrest. You want the truth. You want him
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Speaker 1: or her to tell you exactly like it is and
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Speaker 1: not to mess around. You want it declared exactly as
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Speaker 1: it is. You don't even mind if he uses the
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Speaker 1: C word in case you've gone with a growth, and
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Speaker 1: there's been a biopsy, and they've come back with the
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Speaker 1: test results, and they call you in. You want him
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Speaker 1: to tell you that's why you've gone in. Not to
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Speaker 1: do so is called malpractice. I will never forget hearing
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Speaker 1: a professional golfer who was in front of his physician
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Speaker 1: when the physician told him that he had cancer. Happened
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Speaker 1: to be cancer of the prostate. The golfer said, as
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Speaker 1: soon as he left the office of the physician, he
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Speaker 1: walked into the men's room and threw up when the
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Speaker 1: truth of his disease hit him. It stunned him and
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Speaker 1: made him nauseated. You want that kind of truthfulness. You
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Speaker 1: want the word of God delivered in that kind of honesty.
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Speaker 1: Not to tell the truth that a pulpit is malpractice
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Speaker 1: of the ministry. Don't ever forget that, Timothy. Your responsibility
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Speaker 1: is to preach the word, call it what it is.
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Speaker 1: When you get to the statement as it appears, read
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Speaker 1: it as it is printed, and declare it as it says. Now,
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Speaker 1: let's go to the next word. Be ready about now?
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Speaker 1: I feel like saying be ready for anything. The Greek
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Speaker 1: command means to stand by, to stand by. It's the
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Speaker 1: idea of being insistent, being urgent, being ready. JB. Phillips paraphrases,
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Speaker 1: it never lose your sense of urgency, and that readiness
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Speaker 1: covers all conditions. Look at what it says in season
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Speaker 1: and out of season. In other words, where it's press
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Speaker 1: at home on all occasions. I've thought of a few examples.
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Speaker 1: When it's convenient, when it's not convenient, When it's early
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Speaker 1: or when it's late, When the crowds are large, or
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Speaker 1: when there are only few, When you are loved, or
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Speaker 1: when you are being criticized. When it's hot or when
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Speaker 1: it is cold, when you feel good or when you're sick,
27:25
Speaker 1: you are to preach the truth. By the way, speaking
27:28
Speaker 1: of crowds, I remember when I was called on my
27:31
Speaker 1: first full pastorate. I left Texas after serving as an
27:35
Speaker 1: assistant pastor with doctor Jane White Pentecost at Grace Bible
27:39
Speaker 1: Church in Dallas. The Lord led us to New England,
27:43
Speaker 1: to Massachusetts. And I'm telling you I was young and
27:47
Speaker 1: full of all kinds of crazy ideas. Like in about
27:50
Speaker 1: the first six months I'm going to evangelize New England.
27:53
Speaker 1: The next six months I'll do some follow up work,
27:55
Speaker 1: and the third six months I'll have coming out. Boy,
27:58
Speaker 1: there'll be people all over the place. Man was I
28:00
Speaker 1: in for surprise? The first six months I didn't even
28:03
Speaker 1: find my way around Massachusetts, to say nothing of setting
28:07
Speaker 1: them straight. And by the way, speaking of crowds, I
28:12
Speaker 1: counted the people there one July fourth Sunday. There were
28:15
Speaker 1: seven and three were swind alls. So we weren't packing
28:20
Speaker 1: them in, shall we say? But I preached the word.
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Speaker 1: I was not responsible fulfilling the church. I was responsible
28:29
Speaker 1: for preaching the word. Now, admittedly I was impatient. If
28:34
Speaker 1: there was a mistake to be made, I made it.
28:36
Speaker 1: If I didn't, Cynthia did, If she didn't, we both
28:39
Speaker 1: made it. If the two of us didn't, our children
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Speaker 1: made it. So we were good at mistakes, but we
28:46
Speaker 1: stayed strong in the truth in season and out of season.
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Speaker 1: And believe me, in New England there's a lot of
28:55
Speaker 1: out of season. It's known as an evangelist graveyard. Tough
29:03
Speaker 1: place to serve, but great training for great days in ministry.
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Speaker 1: Before I leave this, some of you may have the
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Speaker 1: false idea that the pastor's responsibility is to be rude. No,
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Speaker 1: it's to be truthful. I appreciate the warning and the
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Speaker 1: Wise Counsel of John R. W. Stott. He writes, what
29:25
Speaker 1: we are given here is not a biblical warrant for rudeness,
29:28
Speaker 1: but a biblical appeal against laziness. My job is not
29:35
Speaker 1: to be rude in what I say. It is to
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Speaker 1: be truthful in what I say, and in order to
29:43
Speaker 1: prepare myself for it, I cannot be lazy, or you
29:47
Speaker 1: will be receiving information that isn't carefully studied, thought through,
29:52
Speaker 1: or accurate with the text. After being told to preach
29:56
Speaker 1: the word and to be ready regardless of what is happening,
30:02
Speaker 1: look at the third word, reprove. This is a command
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Speaker 1: related to assisting others in realizing the truth regarding their sinfulness.
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Speaker 1: Don't hedge, don't hold back. Obviously, don't come across as
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Speaker 1: a hypocrite as if you're not guilty of sin. Sin
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Speaker 1: needs to be exposed. It needs to be realized, not
30:28
Speaker 1: explained away or excused. I have never seen anyone change
30:34
Speaker 1: until they realize what they are doing is wrong or
30:39
Speaker 1: can be improved. I appreciate the words of one very
30:47
Speaker 1: helpful writer. The road to perfection lies through a series
30:52
Speaker 1: of disgusts. Somehow or other. The sinner must be made
30:58
Speaker 1: to feel disgusted with sin and on. Faithful preacher is
31:04
Speaker 1: mostly concerned with being popular, not true to the text.
31:07
Speaker 1: He deals in flattery and panders to self esteem. The
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Speaker 1: faithful pastor is concerned with truth and allowing it to
31:17
Speaker 1: land with full force, even the pain of conviction. I've
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Speaker 1: said for years, pain plants the flag of reality in
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Speaker 1: the fortress of a rebel heart. You come with a
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Speaker 1: rebel heart and you hear the truth proclaimed. It isn't
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Speaker 1: long before the pain of that proclamation will either drive
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Speaker 1: you away running or will bring you to your knees
31:41
Speaker 1: and repentance. You can't abide the reproof of the scriptures
31:47
Speaker 1: and remain the same, staying under the sound of the word.
31:52
Speaker 1: So we must reprove. We must also rebuke. It's a
31:55
Speaker 1: kin to reprove. But it's different in that this term
31:59
Speaker 1: does not result in conviction, but it applies the possibility
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Speaker 1: of a consequence, declaring the truth and its consequences if ignored.
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Speaker 1: That's the job of the pastor, not simply to preach truth,
32:18
Speaker 1: but to let you know what happens should you choose
32:20
Speaker 1: to ignore it. And fifth is a helpful balance. It's
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Speaker 1: the word exhort. See that in verse two exhort this
32:30
Speaker 1: provides necessary balance. All the rebuke and the reproof will
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Speaker 1: demoralize people that we lead lead them to despair. Actually,
32:39
Speaker 1: if there isn't comfort and encouragement, and this word suggests both,
32:47
Speaker 1: it gives the person a heart to press on and
32:52
Speaker 1: to hear the truth and to return to the Lord.
32:55
Speaker 1: How is that happening? Because verse two concludes it is
32:58
Speaker 1: to be done with eight patients and instruction beautiful words.
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Speaker 1: Because I'm short on the former, I spent a little
33:10
Speaker 1: time examining it. It means long tempered. Macro is the
33:16
Speaker 1: beginning of the word, and thumos makrothumia is the long word.
33:21
Speaker 1: But macro is enlarging or large, and thumos from which
33:26
Speaker 1: we get our word thermometer, and naturally would be the
33:28
Speaker 1: idea of heat or long at being heated is the
33:32
Speaker 1: idea long tempered. We have the word short tempered, but
33:36
Speaker 1: the pastor is to be long tempered, and you'll be
33:41
Speaker 1: tested at that. It's difficult to stay patient. You will
33:45
Speaker 1: see people in carnality and they choose to stay there.
33:49
Speaker 1: I've pastored one church for over twenty years. Some people
33:53
Speaker 1: were carnal when I arrived, and they were carnal when
33:57
Speaker 1: I left twenty three years later. They chose not to change.
34:04
Speaker 1: They gave me grief. They gave other people in the
34:06
Speaker 1: congregation grief because they refused to change and align their
34:12
Speaker 1: lives with the truth. My responsibility was to be patient
34:17
Speaker 1: and to instruct, To be patient, to instruct. So I
34:23
Speaker 1: am to be bold and proclaiming, urgent in my approach,
34:26
Speaker 1: uncompromising in my convictions, patient in my style and temperament,
34:31
Speaker 1: intelligent in content and delivery. Why such exacting requirements? Why
34:36
Speaker 1: not just sort of hit the floor running and help
34:38
Speaker 1: people feel good and we'll all come back next week
34:41
Speaker 1: to feel good again. Why not do that because of
34:44
Speaker 1: verses three and four. See the connective. Verse three begins
34:48
Speaker 1: with the word four. It's an explanatory connective. In other words,
34:53
Speaker 1: you could read it because or let me explain, or
34:57
Speaker 1: sense You're to do these things, Timothy, because now he's
35:03
Speaker 1: going to move into the future. Now, how do I
35:06
Speaker 1: know verses three and four have to do with the future.
35:09
Speaker 1: Did God in my study come and go johnst verses
35:14
Speaker 1: three and four or about the future? Nope, he didn't
35:20
Speaker 1: do that. I would wish he would talk to me
35:23
Speaker 1: like that sometime. But occasionally it isn't that at all.
35:30
Speaker 1: It's other things that I'm hearing. But what I read
35:34
Speaker 1: is clear. Look at the verse verse three, the time
35:37
Speaker 1: will come up, got your pen andy, circle will that's
35:41
Speaker 1: the future? When they will not that circle will that's
35:46
Speaker 1: the future, But wanting to have their ears tickled, they
35:50
Speaker 1: will circle that that's the future. Verse four, And they
35:55
Speaker 1: will circle that that's the future. And they will turn
36:00
Speaker 1: aside five times in two verses. Well, even the defective
36:04
Speaker 1: student can get that five times. It says will. So
36:09
Speaker 1: it's about the future. Nuh, Timothy. This is the reason
36:14
Speaker 1: you need to stand firm. Why we'll look at the
36:18
Speaker 1: times in front of you. We could say the times
36:21
Speaker 1: have already come, but they were future to Timothy verse three.
36:26
Speaker 1: The time will come when what look closely, when they
36:35
Speaker 1: who's they? Those that are around you during your ministry,
36:39
Speaker 1: those who may be starting at least when you're preaching
36:43
Speaker 1: the word, those who are running in Christian circles, those
36:48
Speaker 1: who run around with religious people. They the general public.
36:53
Speaker 1: What will not endure sound doctrine. That's a prediction. And
37:02
Speaker 1: we've come to see the day when it's true. Well,
37:06
Speaker 1: what do they want instead of sound doctrine, keep reading?
37:11
Speaker 1: They want to have their ears tickled, and because of
37:17
Speaker 1: that they will accumulate for themselves teachers who will scratch
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Speaker 1: their itches. Sort of a swindall paraphrase. They will accumulate
37:27
Speaker 1: to themselves, teachers in accordance to their own desires. Let
37:35
Speaker 1: me sum it up. We have come to a day
37:38
Speaker 1: when people find the truth intolerable. After all, everybody's attention
37:44
Speaker 1: span is much shorter. You can't preach for any length
37:48
Speaker 1: of time or people will walk out. They'll be bored,
37:51
Speaker 1: they won't care. They have an intolerance for the truth. Second,
37:54
Speaker 1: they will turn away from the truth. It'll want the
37:58
Speaker 1: truth and they will embrace muthos translated here myths instead
38:05
Speaker 1: of truth. I ask you, does that characterize the twenty
38:11
Speaker 1: first century? Like you? I was listening to an interview,
38:16
Speaker 1: a very public and well publicized interview with a very
38:20
Speaker 1: well known preacher, and the interview were asked the preacher
38:25
Speaker 1: about his preaching on sin, and he frowned and said, oh,
38:28
Speaker 1: I've never used that word. Enough is being said about sin.
38:33
Speaker 1: People don't want to hear about sin. And if you
38:36
Speaker 1: listen to his work. He's a televangelist. You will not
38:39
Speaker 1: hear the word sin, which tells you right away he
38:43
Speaker 1: is not delivering the truth. Think it's a myth. It's
38:51
Speaker 1: a myth. Well, what's wrong. Well, there's a strange pathological
38:57
Speaker 1: disease running while these days called itching ears. It's an
39:04
Speaker 1: ear problem. Ellicott says. They have an inch and itch
39:09
Speaker 1: for novelty practical diagnosis. Let's see if I can analyze it. First,
39:15
Speaker 1: they are hard of listening. They hear well, but they
39:19
Speaker 1: don't listen. Second, they become seekers of ticklers. Third, they
39:27
Speaker 1: turn into finders of entertainers, and they get entertainment, and
39:36
Speaker 1: they cultivate a taste for junk food. In case you
39:41
Speaker 1: need a reminder of junk food, think of Halloween night
39:47
Speaker 1: where all of us filled bags children with junk food.
39:54
Speaker 1: Parents who have taught them for years don't eat this stuff,
39:57
Speaker 1: bring them around and we fill their bags with this stuff.
40:01
Speaker 1: What's wrong with this stuff? What does their parents say?
40:04
Speaker 1: There is no nutritional value in that? Why it's junk food.
40:10
Speaker 1: No one lives on potato chips and pizza. Sometimes it
40:14
Speaker 1: sounds pretty good, but we don't live on potato sieves
40:17
Speaker 1: and pizza. Why because it doesn't nourishes ladies and gents.
40:23
Speaker 1: I have just described the twenty first century church in
40:27
Speaker 1: the words of another. What the people do is stop
40:30
Speaker 1: their ears against truth and open them to any teacher
40:32
Speaker 1: who will relieve their tickle by scratching it. What they
40:37
Speaker 1: reject is the sound teaching, and what they prefer is
40:39
Speaker 1: their own likings rendered here desires. Thus they substitute their
40:46
Speaker 1: fancy for God's revelation. They do not first listen and
40:49
Speaker 1: then decide whether what they have heard is true. They
40:53
Speaker 1: first decide what they want to hear, and then select
40:58
Speaker 1: teachers who will oblige by toy. Their line says they
41:04
Speaker 1: will turn away their ears from truth and will turn
41:07
Speaker 1: aside to myths. Amazing, isn't it. We live in a
41:11
Speaker 1: day where churches that once had strong pulpits have moved
41:13
Speaker 1: the pulpit out. We're not to have pulpits nowadays. In
41:17
Speaker 1: case you haven't heard, now, I've looked through my Bible.
41:21
Speaker 1: See where we're supposed to throw out the pulpits, and
41:24
Speaker 1: I cannot find it anywhere in Old or New Testament.
41:29
Speaker 1: And we're not supposed to preach doctrine because people weary
41:33
Speaker 1: of doctrine. And again I look over this other way,
41:36
Speaker 1: I cannot find where it says, go light on doctrine,
41:40
Speaker 1: feed them potato chip. Well there it isn't. No, just kidding,
41:44
Speaker 1: it's not there. Now does this mean there's no place
41:48
Speaker 1: for humor? You know better than that. Great communication includes humor.
41:52
Speaker 1: To go back to Spurgeon, he was a man who
41:55
Speaker 1: was way ahead of his time as a man with
41:58
Speaker 1: a great sense of humor. In fact, he's shot those
42:02
Speaker 1: rather proper Brits. Some of them were among his elders,
42:06
Speaker 1: and they called him in and they spoke to him
42:08
Speaker 1: about his humor and laugh. Sometime in the pulpit he
42:11
Speaker 1: would laugh out loud, and very few other people were laughing,
42:15
Speaker 1: but he was laughing out loud. So they called him
42:17
Speaker 1: on him. He said, oh, gentlemen, if you knew how
42:21
Speaker 1: much I held back, you'd be proud of me. You'd
42:25
Speaker 1: be proud of me. Very few churches today would ever
42:31
Speaker 1: think of calling Charles Hadden's Spurgeon to be their pastor.
42:36
Speaker 1: Very few. First of all, they don't want a pastor
42:39
Speaker 1: who smoked cigars, And that bothered some of Spurgeon's buddies,
42:45
Speaker 1: and they attacked him for it, he said, If I
42:48
Speaker 1: ever take it to an extreme, I'll stop. So one
42:50
Speaker 1: of his Baptist friends asked him, what is an extreme?
42:53
Speaker 1: He said to at one time. Now, how do we
42:59
Speaker 1: respond all of this? Hey, there are several options. One,
43:03
Speaker 1: don't make waves. Don't make waves. This is the move
43:08
Speaker 1: of the of the day that you want people to
43:09
Speaker 1: see you as a dinosaur. Don't make waves. Second, fall
43:13
Speaker 1: in line, start entertaining, dumb down your message. Do a
43:18
Speaker 1: lot of skits and fun stuff and a lot of
43:20
Speaker 1: things that'll keep them happy and clapping, and they'll keep
43:23
Speaker 1: dancing around and loving it. They'll pack the place out. Really,
43:26
Speaker 1: what are they eating, chunk? What's going to hold them
43:31
Speaker 1: together when their wife walks out, or their baby dies,
43:37
Speaker 1: or the doctor uses the C word, or all hell
43:43
Speaker 1: breaks loose in some terrible calamity like nine to eleven.
43:54
Speaker 1: They can't make it? Well, maybe I should learn how
44:01
Speaker 1: to prepare food. That's a little more scratching the itches. Really,
44:07
Speaker 1: so I'm supposed to change the message, I can't. Isn't
44:13
Speaker 1: my message. Maybe I'll just stay quiet and it'll all
44:18
Speaker 1: just kind of go away. Remember when you were a
44:20
Speaker 1: little kid, you're afraid of the boogerman. Probably ought to
44:23
Speaker 1: call him bogeyman, But now as a little I called
44:24
Speaker 1: him the booger man. And you pull the blanket up
44:28
Speaker 1: over your head. You think if I just hired he
44:30
Speaker 1: won't hang out. Believe me. If somebody's breaking in, the
44:34
Speaker 1: blanket won't keep him away, and they're breaking into the church,
44:40
Speaker 1: don't stay quiet. So what do we do? None of
44:45
Speaker 1: the above options I've given you. Verse five tells us
44:48
Speaker 1: what to do. But you, but you won't? You love
44:51
Speaker 1: that He's done it three times in this section of scripture.
44:54
Speaker 1: Verse ten, Now you, verse fourteen. You, however, Chapter four,
45:02
Speaker 1: verse five, but you, but you? It's an emphatic you.
45:06
Speaker 1: Timothy's got the long index finger of Paul against his sternum. Timothy,
45:14
Speaker 1: listen to me. Four things you gotta do, Timothy, First
45:20
Speaker 1: of all, be sober in all things. It's the idea
45:23
Speaker 1: of being steady as she goes. Keep your head. Stability
45:29
Speaker 1: must characterize the faithful pastor in an upside down world.
45:35
Speaker 1: Steady as she goes, stay balanced, remain a model of
45:38
Speaker 1: self control. Don't attempt to compete with the ear ticklers.
45:45
Speaker 1: An insane world needs a steady voice in season and
45:50
Speaker 1: out of season. When the kids go off to college,
45:53
Speaker 1: and when they come back four years later and they
45:55
Speaker 1: hear you preach, help them. Remember you're the same guy,
45:59
Speaker 1: and it's the same Bible that it was when they
46:01
Speaker 1: left to go to school. Be there, be there Be steady,
46:05
Speaker 1: be sober, be stable. Number two, Be willing to endure suffering.
46:11
Speaker 1: See the verse, endure hardship. No man, by the way,
46:15
Speaker 1: in the office of president was ever more maligned than
46:17
Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln. He was called a gorilla, an ape, a fool,
46:24
Speaker 1: and words that I wouldn't even give you from the pulpit.
46:28
Speaker 1: Every possible cartoon against him was published in most of
46:31
Speaker 1: the newspapers. He was willing to suffer. So must every
46:38
Speaker 1: pastor be willing. You're going to be criticized, You're going
46:42
Speaker 1: to be misunderstood. People will embrace myths. Remember ear ticklers
46:47
Speaker 1: will find delight in trying to make you look foolish
46:51
Speaker 1: or dated, or irrelevant. When myth collides with truth, count
46:56
Speaker 1: on it. Truth wins a while for the truth to
47:01
Speaker 1: be known. Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on
47:05
Speaker 1: the throne, wrote James Russell Lowell. So be willing to
47:09
Speaker 1: endure suffering. Number three keep on giving out the good news.
47:14
Speaker 1: See the way it reads. Do the work of an evangelist.
47:18
Speaker 1: I gave the gospel as we began the message today.
47:21
Speaker 1: In fact, Franklin Graham on the screen gave the gospel
47:24
Speaker 1: that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead,
47:28
Speaker 1: and he spoke of children coming to Christ. I gave
47:30
Speaker 1: the gospel before the offering. The responsibility of the pastors
47:34
Speaker 1: to give the gospel, not always at the end of
47:36
Speaker 1: a message. Some churches, if they don't hear it at
47:39
Speaker 1: the end with people walking down the aisles, tell me, well,
47:41
Speaker 1: you didn't give the gospel. There's no place in the
47:44
Speaker 1: scriptures about walking down an aisle. Giving the gospel is
47:48
Speaker 1: telling people that Christ died for their sins and rose
47:51
Speaker 1: from the dead for them, and they can live forever
47:53
Speaker 1: if they'll receive. And that's the gospel. Do the work
47:55
Speaker 1: of an evangelist. Part of putting boxes together with the
47:58
Speaker 1: gospel contained in it, evangelize. A part of giving out
48:02
Speaker 1: food in the community is sharing the message of the
48:04
Speaker 1: gospel with people who are hungry. We do it constantly.
48:08
Speaker 1: That's our responsibility. Do the work of an evangelist. And
48:11
Speaker 1: he says, finally, fulfill your ministry. The Greek term means
48:15
Speaker 1: to bring in a full measure of something. I think
48:18
Speaker 1: of a large sailing vessel, and the sails are unfurled,
48:23
Speaker 1: and the wind is filling the sails, and the ship
48:26
Speaker 1: is moving forward. To courage to me elowheeler Wilcox's Great Peace,
48:33
Speaker 1: which i'll paraphrase. One ship sails east, another ship sails west.
48:37
Speaker 1: Regardless of how the wind blows. Tis the set of
48:40
Speaker 1: the sails, and not the gales that determine the way
48:42
Speaker 1: that you go. The wind is blowing in this direction, Chuck,
48:48
Speaker 1: I don't care which way the wind's blowing. I've set
48:51
Speaker 1: my sails towards two Timothy four, one to five. That's
48:55
Speaker 1: where we're going. That's where we're going. That's how we
48:58
Speaker 1: started this church. That's how we'll sustain this church. That's
49:02
Speaker 1: where this church will be when I'm but a memory
49:05
Speaker 1: and you as well. That's what has established Stonebrock Community
49:09
Speaker 1: Church and will always be true of it. But the
49:13
Speaker 1: grace of God. Other than that, the ministry. If you
49:21
Speaker 1: can do anything else, go there. But if you can't
49:25
Speaker 1: do anything else that will satisfy, Welcome aboard. You're in
49:31
Speaker 1: for the right of your life. Father, Thank you for
49:36
Speaker 1: the great news which is for all the Saints. That
49:41
Speaker 1: we are to deliver the truth, and we are to
49:43
Speaker 1: stand on it and not apologize for it, and we
49:46
Speaker 1: are to do it in a way that connects and
49:50
Speaker 1: gives you room to work in the hearts and lives
49:52
Speaker 1: of each one of us, including the preacher. Thank you
49:56
Speaker 1: for speaking truthfully to me and to all of us.
50:00
Speaker 1: May this passage land in full force upon our lives,
50:05
Speaker 1: and may we never forget the importance of your truth.
50:13
Speaker 1: We believe in it, we stand on it, we declare it,
50:16
Speaker 1: we base our lives on it, knowing that we will
50:21
Speaker 1: give an account to the one who modeled truth, and
50:29
Speaker 1: always will Jesus Christ himself. Thank you for the privilege
50:34
Speaker 1: of handling your word, and I pray that you will
50:36
Speaker 1: be glorified as a result of the dissemination of this
50:41
Speaker 1: message wherever it will go, including today, in the name
50:45
Speaker 1: of Christ, our Lord, our Master, we pray everybody, said
50:51
Speaker 1: a man.
50:54
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Every Pastor's Job Profile was copyrighted in
50:58
Speaker 2: two thousand and nine and twenty fifteen, and the sound
51:01
Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
51:06
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
51:10
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.