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

Transcript

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

0:01
Speaker 1: In our journey through the second letter to Timothy by Paul,
0:05
Speaker 1: we have come to the final chapter of this letter,
0:10
Speaker 1: 2 Timothy 4, a section written not exclusively to pastors,
0:23
Speaker 1: but certainly directly to us and to all who minister
0:29
Speaker 1: the word of God. Paul was so determined that Timothy
0:36
Speaker 1: be the man of God that he had been called
0:41
Speaker 1: to be, that he reserved his final words, which have
0:45
Speaker 1: become for many of us familiar territory. I called him
0:50
Speaker 1: every pastor's job profile. And you don't often get to
0:56
Speaker 1: do this, but I'll let you listen in today on
0:59
Speaker 1: the job profile. that is expected of all of us
1:04
Speaker 1: who are engaged in vocational Christian service. You will find
1:07
Speaker 1: in your worship folder an outline of today's message. You
1:12
Speaker 1: may want to have that available a little later to
1:15
Speaker 1: follow along during the message. It keeps you and me
1:17
Speaker 1: both on track, helps us work our way through the scripture.
1:24
Speaker 1: Exposition is really the The unfolding of the truth of
1:29
Speaker 1: the scriptures as it appears before us and then it
1:32
Speaker 1: is applied to our lives today. It's moving from one
1:38
Speaker 1: world to another world. The first century world in which
1:41
Speaker 1: this passage was written to this present world in which
1:45
Speaker 1: we live. And it's the responsibility of the expositor to
1:50
Speaker 1: take the truth revealed and without twisting, changing, or altering it,
1:55
Speaker 1: applying it to where we are today. And Paul writes
2:00
Speaker 1: to Timothy about that in 2 Timothy 4. And if
2:04
Speaker 1: you will please, out of respect for God's word, stand.
2:07
Speaker 1: I will read for you verses 1 through 5 of
2:12
Speaker 1: 2 Timothy 4. I solemnly charge you in the presence
2:18
Speaker 1: of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge
2:21
Speaker 1: the living and the dead, and by his appearing and
2:25
Speaker 1: his kingdom, Preach the word. Be ready in season and
2:32
Speaker 1: out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction.
2:42
Speaker 1: For the time will come when they will not endure
2:45
Speaker 1: sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they
2:50
Speaker 1: will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.
2:57
Speaker 1: and will turn away their ears from the truth and
3:02
Speaker 1: will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in
3:07
Speaker 1: all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist,
3:15
Speaker 1: fulfill your ministry. That is truly a job profile for
3:21
Speaker 1: every pastor. And today you'll get to listen in on
3:25
Speaker 1: my responsibilities. and really all of ours who love the Lord. Please,
3:30
Speaker 1: you may be seated. May we bow together. Accept our
3:41
Speaker 1: grateful thanks this day, our Father, as we enter a
3:44
Speaker 1: season of giving thanks. In fact, we say with the songwriter,
3:52
Speaker 1: now thank we all our God. And our list goes
3:57
Speaker 1: on and on for all the things you give us
4:00
Speaker 1: that we so frequently fail to mention. Breath in our lungs,
4:07
Speaker 1: the beat of our hearts, a mind that continues to work,
4:12
Speaker 1: the ability to read, to hear, to learn, to grow,
4:18
Speaker 1: to relate. And in relating to others, to forgive those
4:25
Speaker 1: who have hurt us and harmed us. And in these relationships,
4:33
Speaker 1: to remember that we have in our circle of friends
4:38
Speaker 1: those who support us and love us. Thank you for
4:43
Speaker 1: each one today. And as we begin this season of Thanksgiving,
4:50
Speaker 1: accept our gifts that we bring for the children around
4:55
Speaker 1: the world, food for those in our community who do
5:00
Speaker 1: not have enough. And we thank you, our Father, for
5:04
Speaker 1: those who protect our freedom, those who this day are
5:09
Speaker 1: thousands of miles away from home. We pray that you
5:13
Speaker 1: would watch over, guard, protect, guide them, bring them safely home.
5:21
Speaker 1: The war lingers in our hearts, ache for those families
5:25
Speaker 1: who have yielded their loved ones to the war effort.
5:30
Speaker 1: And we pray for their comfort and encouragement today. Now, Father,
5:36
Speaker 1: we thank you for the joy of giving from our wages.
5:42
Speaker 1: Thank you for our occupations, the ability to earn a living.
5:48
Speaker 1: We pray that you will accept our gifts as we
5:51
Speaker 1: give them, first giving ourselves, and then these monies. Watch
5:57
Speaker 1: over the way they are handled and give integrity to
6:02
Speaker 1: the expenditures that move from this church out to others
6:09
Speaker 1: in need. May Christ be exalted in it all as
6:14
Speaker 1: we thank you, our God. In the name of Christ,
6:18
Speaker 1: our Savior, we pray. Everyone said amen. Do not enter
6:26
Speaker 1: the ministry if you can help it. Now you might
6:30
Speaker 1: wonder who first said that. Where would that be found?
6:34
Speaker 1: Perhaps the writing of some cynic, some anti-church atheist perhaps
6:40
Speaker 1: that just sort of vented his spleen against people in ministry. No,
6:45
Speaker 1: on the contrary, it did not come from a cynic.
6:48
Speaker 1: None other than Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote those words in
6:53
Speaker 1: a fine book titled Lectures to My Students, dated 1875. Well,
7:00
Speaker 1: maybe he was finished with the ministry and wanted nothing
7:03
Speaker 1: to do. No, on the contrary, all his life he
7:07
Speaker 1: had loved the Lord Jesus. His biography is remarkable. While
7:13
Speaker 1: still at the young age of 17, he was called
7:16
Speaker 1: to his first church. Think of it. Not quite three
7:22
Speaker 1: years later, the new Park Street Baptist Chapel called him
7:26
Speaker 1: to be their pastor at the age of 20. And
7:29
Speaker 1: there he remained until just before his death at age 58.
7:34
Speaker 1: 38 years of solid, incredible ministry. When he first went
7:41
Speaker 1: to the Park Street Chapel, it was a small place
7:44
Speaker 1: and the crowds could not be contained who wanted to
7:46
Speaker 1: hear him preach. And so the little chapel was enlarged
7:50
Speaker 1: quite a bit. It wasn't long before that proved to
7:54
Speaker 1: be too small, and so they built the Metropolitan Tabernacle
7:58
Speaker 1: in London to seat 6,000 people, many of whom would
8:03
Speaker 1: stand in the snow waiting for the doors to open
8:06
Speaker 1: on Sunday mornings to hear him preach. Before his death,
8:10
Speaker 1: the membership of that church had grown to 14,692. It
8:19
Speaker 1: wasn't just a preaching center, it was also an educational institute. Spurgeon,
8:26
Speaker 1: from his own funds, actually funded the institute for the
8:31
Speaker 1: better part of 20 years. As the institute grew, as
8:36
Speaker 1: Spurgeon's college trained young men for ministry, the people realized
8:41
Speaker 1: what a great work was going on, and so the church,
8:44
Speaker 1: by 1865 expanded to become a publishing house. And the
8:51
Speaker 1: publishing house published a monthly magazine as well as Spurgeon's
8:55
Speaker 1: sermons every week. And they continued to publish his sermons
9:00
Speaker 1: every week after he died for 25 years. To give
9:05
Speaker 1: you some idea of how prolific he was, they ran
9:08
Speaker 1: out of money before they ran out of sermons. 1867,
9:15
Speaker 1: an orphanage was established at that church. Among his better
9:21
Speaker 1: known published works, this 1875 volume, Lectures to My Students,
9:26
Speaker 1: I now am on my second copy. I wore out
9:30
Speaker 1: the first one. Lectures to My Students is a volume
9:34
Speaker 1: every person in ministry should read and reread and read
9:40
Speaker 1: yet again. It is in that volume you will find
9:44
Speaker 1: the words, do not enter the ministry if you can
9:48
Speaker 1: help it. Why would Spurgeon write such a statement? If
9:54
Speaker 1: he loved the Lord and the ministry as much as
9:56
Speaker 1: he did, why, his statement is altogether appropriate. Because the
10:01
Speaker 1: ministry is never something one should enter hurriedly or unadvisedly
10:07
Speaker 1: or without the assurance of a call. The call of
10:12
Speaker 1: the minister is a divine summons. It is a heaven-sent command,
10:19
Speaker 1: not audible, but from God's heart to the minister's heart.
10:26
Speaker 1: It brings with it an undeniable assurance that this is
10:30
Speaker 1: what one should do and nothing else. The call includes
10:36
Speaker 1: an intense, all-absorbing passion for the work of God. The
10:43
Speaker 1: call has to do with giftedness when mixed with diligence
10:47
Speaker 1: and responsibility results in blessings in the lives of others.
10:52
Speaker 1: If it is a teaching gift, others are taught. If
10:55
Speaker 1: it is a preaching gift, others are challenged. If it
10:59
Speaker 1: is a counseling gift, others are encouraged and strengthened in
11:02
Speaker 1: their walk. The giftedness blends with diligence and blessing follows.
11:09
Speaker 1: Along with this is the realization, don't miss this, that
11:13
Speaker 1: nothing else will satisfy the inner longing to serve and
11:19
Speaker 1: to give. That explains why Spurgeon added to that statement
11:23
Speaker 1: these words, and I quote, if any student in this
11:27
Speaker 1: room could be content to be a newspaper editor or
11:31
Speaker 1: a grocer or a farmer or a doctor or a
11:35
Speaker 1: lawyer or a senator or even a king, in the
11:39
Speaker 1: name of heaven and earth, let him go his way
11:43
Speaker 1: for a man so filled with God would utterly weary
11:47
Speaker 1: of any pursuit but that for which his inmost soul pants.
11:54
Speaker 1: What Spurgeon is writing of is the minister's call. You're
12:00
Speaker 1: not satisfied doing anything else, not really, not really fulfilled.
12:05
Speaker 1: I can still recall the question that the registrar asked
12:08
Speaker 1: me when I was sitting in the room In 1959,
12:12
Speaker 1: being interviewed, the possibility of becoming a first-year student at
12:18
Speaker 1: Dallas Seminary. The registrar looked at me and looked at
12:22
Speaker 1: my lovely wife. He still remembers what she was wearing,
12:25
Speaker 1: by the way, when he talks to me about that time.
12:28
Speaker 1: And he asked me a question I will never forget. Mr. Swindoll,
12:32
Speaker 1: would you be happy and fulfilled doing anything else? I
12:38
Speaker 1: thought about a job I had back in Houston. I
12:40
Speaker 1: already had the job. I was at full seniority. It
12:44
Speaker 1: had been waiting for me from my years in the
12:46
Speaker 1: Marine Corps. And now that I was out, I could
12:48
Speaker 1: go back and make a fine living and go right
12:51
Speaker 1: on with our lives. We had no children. Our future
12:53
Speaker 1: was in front of us. And I thought, would I
12:55
Speaker 1: be fulfilled and satisfied doing anything else? I swallowed hard
13:00
Speaker 1: and looked him in the eye and said, no, Dr. Campbell,
13:03
Speaker 1: I would not. be satisfied doing anything else. He told
13:10
Speaker 1: me years later that if I had had any other answer,
13:13
Speaker 1: they would have never accepted me as a student. I
13:17
Speaker 1: would have had a quicker answer if I had known that.
13:21
Speaker 1: As it was, they accepted me on probation because they
13:23
Speaker 1: knew the risk that they were undertaking in dealing with
13:26
Speaker 1: a guy like me. I'm reading right now, The Eloquent President,
13:31
Speaker 1: written by Ronald White, Jr., It is the work of
13:36
Speaker 1: the speeches and the thinking and the writings of, of course,
13:41
Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln. And in that book, there is a bit
13:45
Speaker 1: of autobiography on occasion where Lincoln goes through a difficult
13:49
Speaker 1: period when he first arrives at the White House. He
13:53
Speaker 1: realizes quickly that he has never really held an executive position.
13:58
Speaker 1: He only finished one year in formal schooling, one year.
14:04
Speaker 1: He taught himself how to speak, how to write, how
14:09
Speaker 1: to read, how to think. But his education was greatly lacking,
14:16
Speaker 1: just as mine was when I got to Dallas Seminary.
14:18
Speaker 1: In fact, they passed around a little questionnaire that went
14:22
Speaker 1: out to all the people in Congress to check on
14:25
Speaker 1: the qualifications of those in Congress. I wish they still
14:28
Speaker 1: had that questionnaire today. But that questionnaire wound up on
14:32
Speaker 1: Lincoln's desk. And when they got to the subject addressing
14:36
Speaker 1: his education, he answered with one word. Defective. Defective. You
14:46
Speaker 1: can be called into ministry even if your education has
14:49
Speaker 1: been defective. Even if your past has been marked by
14:56
Speaker 1: shame and heartache. God isn't looking for perfect vessels, he's
15:02
Speaker 1: looking for available vessels he can fill. People like Timothy.
15:12
Speaker 1: And if Paul has nothing else in mind, he has
15:14
Speaker 1: in mind the thought that Timothy was a recipient of
15:19
Speaker 1: a calling. His coming to the church at Ephesus was
15:21
Speaker 1: not a hiring. A pastor is called, not merely hired.
15:30
Speaker 1: which makes this passage of scripture come alive when you
15:34
Speaker 1: realize that this is in fact Timothy's ordination from Paul. Now,
15:43
Speaker 1: if you look at your Bible at 2 Timothy 4,
15:46
Speaker 1: you will see that this job profile for every pastor
15:50
Speaker 1: falls into four parts. Please follow along because you're listening
15:56
Speaker 1: to a defective man today who has, by the grace
16:01
Speaker 1: of God, come to the place where I am in
16:03
Speaker 1: my life, and I just simply learned to read the
16:05
Speaker 1: text and teach it as it is. Let me show you.
16:11
Speaker 1: Verse 1 is the charge, and it's a passionate one
16:15
Speaker 1: that we will examine carefully and well. Verse 2 contains
16:21
Speaker 1: several commands. There are five of them. If you note carefully,
16:25
Speaker 1: we'll go over each one in a moment. All five
16:28
Speaker 1: are in verse two. These commands are followed by a
16:33
Speaker 1: relevant and very realistic prediction. In fact, several predictions in
16:38
Speaker 1: verses three and four. So we have a charge in
16:41
Speaker 1: verse one, several commands in verse two, five to be exact.
16:48
Speaker 1: Relevant predictions regarding what Timothy will be facing and we
16:52
Speaker 1: as well who are in ministry, verses three and four.
16:56
Speaker 1: And finally, some personal reminders, four of them, and we
17:01
Speaker 1: will analyze the four as well. First, let's look at
17:05
Speaker 1: the passionate charge. If I may play upon those words,
17:10
Speaker 1: this was designed by Paul to recharge Timothy's battery. Paul's
17:15
Speaker 1: choice of words adds extra voltage to that charge. Talk
17:21
Speaker 1: about a solemn and serious charge. If Timothy had gotten
17:26
Speaker 1: a little bit indifferent, which is very possible, if he
17:30
Speaker 1: had become indolent in his responsibilities, which is again possible,
17:36
Speaker 1: this calling was enough to jolt him back to reality.
17:41
Speaker 1: If you have ever been brought before a judge in
17:44
Speaker 1: a courtroom and you have been asked to raise your
17:46
Speaker 1: right hand, and to solemnly swear that you will tell
17:52
Speaker 1: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
17:55
Speaker 1: then you know what a daunting moment that can be.
17:58
Speaker 1: Timothy isn't raising his right hand, but his eyebrows must
18:01
Speaker 1: have been raised when he realized that this charge was
18:05
Speaker 1: coming in the presence of the living God. He wasn't
18:08
Speaker 1: standing before an earthly judge. He was reading this scroll
18:12
Speaker 1: before the supreme court of heaven, the universe, in fact.
18:18
Speaker 1: He is being reminded that he is being watched closely
18:21
Speaker 1: and carefully by his heavenly Father, and he is accountable
18:26
Speaker 1: to Christ Jesus. Look at how it reads. I solemnly
18:30
Speaker 1: charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
18:36
Speaker 1: and then he adds, who is to judge the living
18:40
Speaker 1: and the dead. In your margin, you might write John 5, 22.
18:45
Speaker 1: In that verse we read the words of Jesus where
18:48
Speaker 1: the Father has given all judgment to the Son. We
18:53
Speaker 1: will not stand before God the Father in the final judgment.
18:57
Speaker 1: Christ Jesus will be our judge. He has been on
19:00
Speaker 1: this earth, He understands earthlings. He has been one of us,
19:05
Speaker 1: albeit separate from sin. He is the one who is
19:08
Speaker 1: able to judge the living and the dead. Timothy, you're
19:11
Speaker 1: going to stand someday before this one who will judge
19:15
Speaker 1: your work. He will judge your motives. He will judge
19:19
Speaker 1: your public ministry. He will judge your private life. He
19:23
Speaker 1: will examine the secrets of your soul. He holds you accountable.
19:28
Speaker 1: He is to judge the living and the dead, and
19:31
Speaker 1: he will appear one day and establish his kingdom. The
19:34
Speaker 1: end of the verse reads, so Timothy, you will not
19:38
Speaker 1: miss this judgment. You will stand before this judge. This
19:44
Speaker 1: highly charged surge of heavenly voltage must have sent a
19:47
Speaker 1: jolt of reality and realization through Timothy. Something this important,
19:55
Speaker 1: prefaced by a charge this electrifying, must be of inestimable value.
20:02
Speaker 1: What in the world is that charge? Verse 2. Get
20:09
Speaker 1: your pen ready. Mark five words. Here are the commands. Preach.
20:17
Speaker 1: Be ready. Reprove. Rebuke. Exhort. Not simply one command or two,
20:29
Speaker 1: but five. Each one of them deserving, in our English language,
20:33
Speaker 1: an exclamation point. Every pastor's calling begins here. This helps
20:44
Speaker 1: explain why Spurgeon would write what he did. Do not
20:47
Speaker 1: enter the ministry if you can help it. Why? Because
20:51
Speaker 1: you are responsible to proclaim the word. Others may sit.
20:59
Speaker 1: Others may listen. Others may watch. But not you. You
21:05
Speaker 1: stand and you will deliver everything. They will be able
21:10
Speaker 1: to examine every facet of your life, Timothy, and you
21:14
Speaker 1: have no place to run and hide. You are to
21:17
Speaker 1: be a proclaimer. The word cherox carried with it in
21:23
Speaker 1: the first century the concept of a herald, H-E-R-A-L-D, a herald.
21:28
Speaker 1: One who took the message of the king and announced
21:31
Speaker 1: it in the public square. He didn't fuss with the message.
21:36
Speaker 1: He didn't change the message. He certainly didn't make the
21:39
Speaker 1: message sound easy to hear. He announced the message. He
21:44
Speaker 1: was a kerux. He was a herald of the information
21:49
Speaker 1: of the message. And in this case, the message is
21:53
Speaker 1: the word. See it in verse 2. Preach the word.
21:58
Speaker 1: Others will remain in safe places, but you will be
22:01
Speaker 1: right there for all to hear and all to see.
22:04
Speaker 1: There is a message to proclaim, and you are to
22:07
Speaker 1: proclaim it as God's messenger. It isn't your message. It
22:11
Speaker 1: isn't your word. It is not to be discussed or debated.
22:16
Speaker 1: It is not to be twisted in any way to
22:21
Speaker 1: make it palatable. You are charged to declare it, not
22:25
Speaker 1: to make people believe it. The command is a divine
22:30
Speaker 1: charge and the divine charge is to proclaim the message.
22:33
Speaker 1: Your job is not first and foremost to pat people
22:36
Speaker 1: on the back and help them feel welcome. It is
22:39
Speaker 1: not to help seekers feel warmth and the goodness of
22:45
Speaker 1: others around them. It isn't to keep the center from
22:49
Speaker 1: being offended. It isn't to insert our opinions or our ideas.
22:54
Speaker 1: It certainly isn't to twist the words. so that they
22:57
Speaker 1: are easier to hear. It is to proclaim the message.
23:03
Speaker 1: Every pastor's calling is to stand and deliver that message.
23:08
Speaker 1: The message is truth. Now, right about now, some of
23:13
Speaker 1: you have already begun to think, man, this is a
23:17
Speaker 1: pretty blunt chart. This is pretty harsh stuff to tell
23:21
Speaker 1: people in the 21st century. Oh, really? Well, let's say
23:25
Speaker 1: we're not in church. Let's say we're in a doctor's office.
23:32
Speaker 1: Let's say you've had pains in your chest and they
23:34
Speaker 1: have troubled you for several days and your spouse has
23:38
Speaker 1: been hounding you to get them looked at. And that
23:41
Speaker 1: night before that appointment, you were seized with a deep
23:44
Speaker 1: pain that went all the way to your back and
23:47
Speaker 1: ran to your jaw and down your arm. So you
23:52
Speaker 1: look for the physician who will make you feel good?
23:58
Speaker 1: You go to the clinic that says, all people who
24:01
Speaker 1: want to hear what they want to hear, welcome. I
24:05
Speaker 1: will tell you what you want to hear. You would
24:07
Speaker 1: drive by that in a heartbeat. No pun intended. What
24:13
Speaker 1: do you want? Truth. Truth. You don't want a physician
24:20
Speaker 1: who will overlook a suspicious electrocardiogram. You don't want a
24:25
Speaker 1: physician who will ignore high blood pressure. You want a
24:29
Speaker 1: physician who says there's something about your urine that isn't right.
24:32
Speaker 1: I'm concerned about it. You want him to tell you.
24:35
Speaker 1: You don't want a physician who will dodge the fact
24:38
Speaker 1: that you may be in the midst of the beginning
24:41
Speaker 1: of a cardiac arrest. You want the truth. You want
24:46
Speaker 1: him or her to tell you exactly like it is.
24:51
Speaker 1: And not to mess around, you want it declared exactly
24:54
Speaker 1: as it is. You don't even mind if he uses
24:57
Speaker 1: the C word. In case you've gone with a growth
25:01
Speaker 1: and there's been a biopsy and they've come back with
25:03
Speaker 1: the test results and they call you in, you want
25:06
Speaker 1: him to tell you. That's why you've gone in. Not
25:11
Speaker 1: to do so is called malpractice. I will never forget
25:18
Speaker 1: hearing a professional golfer who was in front of his
25:23
Speaker 1: physician when the physician told him that he had cancer,
25:28
Speaker 1: happened to be cancer of the prostate. The golfer said
25:32
Speaker 1: as soon as he left the office of the physician,
25:35
Speaker 1: he walked into the men's room and threw up. When
25:40
Speaker 1: the truth of his disease hit him, it stunned him
25:45
Speaker 1: and made him nauseated. You want that kind of truthfulness?
25:51
Speaker 1: You want the word of God delivered in that kind
25:55
Speaker 1: of honesty. Not to tell the truth at a pulpit
26:00
Speaker 1: is malpractice of the ministry. Don't ever forget that. Timothy,
26:06
Speaker 1: your responsibility is to preach the word. Call it what
26:13
Speaker 1: it is. When you get to the statement as it appears,
26:17
Speaker 1: read it as it is printed and declare it as
26:22
Speaker 1: it says. Now, let's go to the next word, be ready.
26:31
Speaker 1: About now I feel like saying be ready for anything.
26:34
Speaker 1: The Greek command means to stand by, to stand by.
26:38
Speaker 1: It's the idea of being insistent, being urgent, being ready. J.B.
26:45
Speaker 1: Phillips paraphrases it, never lose your sense of urgency. and
26:51
Speaker 1: that readiness covers all conditions, look at what it says,
26:54
Speaker 1: in season and out of season. In other words, press
27:00
Speaker 1: it home on all occasions. I've thought of a few examples.
27:05
Speaker 1: When it's convenient, when it's not convenient. When it's early
27:10
Speaker 1: or when it's late. When the crowds are large or
27:13
Speaker 1: when there are only few. When you are loved or
27:16
Speaker 1: when you are being criticized. When it's hot or when
27:19
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 to my
27:31
Speaker 1: first full pastoring. I left Texas after serving as an
27:35
Speaker 1: assistant pastor with Dr. Jane White Pentecost at Grace Bible
27:39
Speaker 1: Church in Dallas. The Lord led us to New England, Massachusetts.
27:44
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, I was young and full of all
27:48
Speaker 1: kinds of crazy ideas, like in about the first six months,
27:51
Speaker 1: I'm going to evangelize New England. The next six months,
27:54
Speaker 1: I'll do some follow-up work. And the third six months,
27:57
Speaker 1: I'll have them coming out. Boy, there'll be people all
27:59
Speaker 1: over the place. Man, was I in for a surprise.
28:02
Speaker 1: The first six months, I didn't even find my way
28:04
Speaker 1: around Massachusetts, to say nothing of setting them straight. And
28:09
Speaker 1: by the way, speaking of crowds, I counted the people
28:12
Speaker 1: there one July 4th Sunday. There were seven, and three
28:16
Speaker 1: were Swindolls. So we weren't packing them in, shall we say.
28:24
Speaker 1: But I preached the word. I was not responsible for
28:28
Speaker 1: filling the church. I was responsible for preaching the word. Now, admittedly,
28:32
Speaker 1: I was impatient. If there was a mistake to be made,
28:35
Speaker 1: I made it. If I didn't, Cynthia did. If she didn't,
28:39
Speaker 1: we both made it. If the two of us didn't,
28:41
Speaker 1: our children made it. So we were good at mistakes.
28:46
Speaker 1: But we stayed strong in the truth. In season and
28:52
Speaker 1: out of season. Believe me, in New England, there's a
28:54
Speaker 1: lot of out of season. It's known as an evangelist's graveyard.
29:02
Speaker 1: Tough place to serve, but great training for great days
29:07
Speaker 1: in ministry. Before I leave this, some of you may
29:12
Speaker 1: have the false idea that the pastor's responsibility is to
29:15
Speaker 1: be rude. No. It's to be truthful. I appreciate the
29:20
Speaker 1: warning and the wise counsel of John R. W. Stott.
29:24
Speaker 1: He writes, what we are given here is not a
29:26
Speaker 1: biblical warrant for rudeness, but a biblical appeal against laziness.
29:34
Speaker 1: My job is not to be rude in what I say.
29:37
Speaker 1: It is to be truthful. in what I say and
29:43
Speaker 1: in order to prepare myself for it I cannot be
29:45
Speaker 1: lazy or you will be receiving information that isn't carefully
29:51
Speaker 1: studied thought through or accurate with the text. After being
29:55
Speaker 1: told to preach the word and to be ready regardless
30:00
Speaker 1: what is happening, look at the third word, reprove. This
30:06
Speaker 1: is a command related to assisting others in realizing the
30:10
Speaker 1: truth regarding their sinfulness. Don't hedge, don't hold back, obviously
30:20
Speaker 1: don't come across as a hypocrite as if you're not
30:22
Speaker 1: guilty of sin. Sin needs to be exposed. It needs
30:27
Speaker 1: to be realized, not explained away or excused. I have
30:31
Speaker 1: never seen anyone change until they realize what they are
30:36
Speaker 1: doing is wrong or can be improved. I appreciate the
30:44
Speaker 1: words of one very helpful writer. The road to perfection
30:50
Speaker 1: lies through a series of disgusts. Somehow or other, the
30:57
Speaker 1: sinner must be made to feel disgusted with sin. An
31:02
Speaker 1: unfaithful preacher is mostly concerned with being popular, not true
31:06
Speaker 1: to the text. He deals in flattery and panders to self-esteem.
31:12
Speaker 1: The faithful pastor is concerned with truth and allowing it
31:17
Speaker 1: to land with full force, even the pain of conviction.
31:23
Speaker 1: I've said for years, pain plants the flag of reality
31:26
Speaker 1: in the fortress of a rebel heart. You come with
31:31
Speaker 1: a rebel heart and you hear the truth proclaimed. It
31:33
Speaker 1: isn't long before the pain of that proclamation will either
31:37
Speaker 1: drive you away running or will bring you to your
31:41
Speaker 1: knees in repentance. You can't abide the reproof of the
31:45
Speaker 1: scriptures and remain the same, staying under the sound of
31:51
Speaker 1: the word. So we must reprove. We must also rebuke.
31:55
Speaker 1: It's akin to reprove, but it's different in that this
31:59
Speaker 1: term does not result in conviction, but it implies the
32:03
Speaker 1: possibility of a consequence. Declaring the truth and its consequences
32:11
Speaker 1: if ignored. That's the job of the pastor. Not simply
32:17
Speaker 1: to preach truth, but to let you know what happens
32:20
Speaker 1: should you choose to ignore it. And fifth is a
32:24
Speaker 1: helpful balance. It's the word exhort. See that in verse 2?
32:29
Speaker 2: Exhort.
32:30
Speaker 1: This provides necessary balance. All the rebuke and the reproof
32:34
Speaker 1: will 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 2 concludes it is
32:58
Speaker 1: to be done with great patience and instruction. Beautiful words.
33:07
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, macrothumia 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 idea. Long-tempered.
33:34
Speaker 1: We have the word short-tempered, but the pastor is to
33:37
Speaker 1: be long-tempered. And you'll be tested at that. It's difficult
33:43
Speaker 1: to stay patient. You will see people in carnality, and
33:47
Speaker 1: they choose to stay there. I pastored one church for
33:51
Speaker 1: over 20 years. Some people were carnal when I arrived,
33:55
Speaker 1: and they were carnal when I left 23 years later.
34:00
Speaker 1: They chose not to change. They gave me grief. They
34:05
Speaker 1: gave other people in the congregation grief because they refused
34:10
Speaker 1: to change and align their lives with the truth. My
34:14
Speaker 1: responsibility was to be patient and to instruct. To be patient,
34:20
Speaker 1: to instruct. So I am to be bold in proclaiming,
34:24
Speaker 1: urgent in my approach, uncompromising in my convictions, patient in
34:29
Speaker 1: my style and temperament, intelligent in content and delivery. Why
34:33
Speaker 1: such exacting requirements? Why not just sort of hit the
34:37
Speaker 1: floor running and help people feel good and we'll all
34:40
Speaker 1: come back next week to feel good again? Why not
34:43
Speaker 1: do that because of verses 3 and 4? See the
34:46
Speaker 1: connective verse 3 begins with the word for. It's an
34:50
Speaker 1: explanatory connective. In other words, you could read it because
34:54
Speaker 1: or let me explain or since. You're to do these things, Timothy,
35:01
Speaker 1: because now he's going to move into the future. Now
35:05
Speaker 1: how do I know verses 3 and 4 have to
35:07
Speaker 1: do with the future? Did God in my study come
35:11
Speaker 1: and go, Chuck, Verses 3 and 4 are about the future. No,
35:20
Speaker 1: he didn't do that. I would wish he would talk
35:22
Speaker 1: to me like that sometime, but occasionally it isn't that
35:27
Speaker 1: at all. It's other things that I'm hearing. But what
35:33
Speaker 1: I read is clear. Look at the verse, verse 3.
35:36
Speaker 1: The time will come. Oh, got your pen, Andy? Circle will.
35:41
Speaker 1: That's the future. When they will not, circle will. That's
35:46
Speaker 1: the future. But wanting to have their ears tickled, they will.
35:50
Speaker 1: Circle that. That's the future. Verse 4. And they will.
35:56
Speaker 1: Circle that. That's the future. And they will turn aside.
36:01
Speaker 1: Five times in two verses. Well, even a defective student
36:05
Speaker 1: can get that. Five times it says will. So it's
36:10
Speaker 1: about the future. Duh. Timothy, this is the reason you
36:14
Speaker 1: need to stand firm. Why? Well, look at the times
36:18
Speaker 1: in front of you. We could say the times have
36:21
Speaker 1: already come, but they were future to Timothy. Verse 3,
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, what?
36:54
Speaker 1: Will not endure sound doctrine. That's a prediction. And we've
37:03
Speaker 1: come to see the day when it's true. Well, what
37:06
Speaker 1: do they want instead of sound doctrine? Keep reading. They
37:11
Speaker 1: want to have their ears And because of that, they
37:17
Speaker 1: will accumulate for themselves teachers who will scratch their itches.
37:24
Speaker 1: Sort of a Swindoll paraphrase. They will accumulate to themselves
37:28
Speaker 1: teachers in accordance to their own desires. Let me sum
37:35
Speaker 1: it up. We have come to a day when people
37:39
Speaker 1: find the truth intolerable. After all, everybody's attention span is
37:44
Speaker 1: much shorter. You can't preach for any length of time
37:49
Speaker 1: or people will walk out. They'll be bored. They won't care.
37:52
Speaker 1: They have an intolerance for the truth. Second, they will
37:55
Speaker 1: turn away from the truth. They don't want the truth.
38:00
Speaker 1: And they will embrace muthos, translated here myths, instead of truth.
38:07
Speaker 1: I ask you, does that characterize the 21st century? Like you,
38:14
Speaker 1: I was listening to an interview, a very public and
38:17
Speaker 1: well-publicized interview with a very well-known preacher. And the interviewer
38:23
Speaker 1: asked the preacher about his preaching on sin. And he
38:27
Speaker 1: frowned and said, oh, I've never used that word. Enough
38:31
Speaker 1: is being said about sin. People don't want to hear
38:33
Speaker 1: about sin. And if you listen to his work as
38:38
Speaker 1: a televangelist, you will not hear the word sin. which
38:42
Speaker 1: tells you right away he is not delivering the truth.
38:46
Speaker 2: Think.
38:48
Speaker 1: It's a myth. It's a myth. Well, what's wrong? Well,
38:56
Speaker 1: there's a strange pathological disease running wild these days called
39:01
Speaker 1: itching ears. It's an ear problem. Ellicott says they have
39:07
Speaker 1: an itch, an itch for novelty. Practical diagnosis. Let's see
39:13
Speaker 1: if I can analyze it. First, they are hard of listening.
39:18
Speaker 1: They hear well, but they don't listen. Second, they become
39:22
Speaker 1: seekers of ticklers. Third, they turn into finders of entertainers.
39:31
Speaker 1: And they get entertainment. And they cultivate a taste for
39:39
Speaker 1: junk food. In case you need a reminder of junk food,
39:43
Speaker 1: think of Halloween night. where all of us filled bags
39:50
Speaker 1: of children with junk food. Parents who have taught them
39:55
Speaker 1: for years, don't eat this stuff, bring them around and
39:58
Speaker 1: we fill their bags with this stuff. What's wrong with
40:02
Speaker 1: this stuff? What does every parent say? There is no
40:05
Speaker 1: nutritional value in that. Why? It's junk food. No one
40:10
Speaker 1: lives on potato chips and pizza. Sometimes it sounds pretty good,
40:15
Speaker 1: but we don't live on potato chips and pizza. Why?
40:19
Speaker 1: Because it doesn't nourish us. Ladies and gents, I have
40:23
Speaker 1: just described the 21st century church. In the words of another,
40:29
Speaker 1: what the people do is stop their ears against truth
40:31
Speaker 1: and open them to any teacher who will relieve their
40:34
Speaker 1: tickle by scratching it. What they reject is the sound teaching,
40:38
Speaker 1: and what they prefer is their own likings rendered here desires.
40:45
Speaker 1: Thus they substitute their fancy for God's revelation. They do
40:48
Speaker 1: not first listen and then decide whether what they have
40:51
Speaker 1: heard is true. They first decide what they want to
40:56
Speaker 1: hear and then select teachers who will oblige by towing
41:00
Speaker 1: their line. It says they will turn away their ears
41:06
Speaker 1: from truth and will turn aside to myths. Amazing, isn't it?
41:10
Speaker 1: We live in a day where churches that once had
41:12
Speaker 1: strong pulpits have moved the pulpit out We're not to
41:16
Speaker 1: have pulpits nowadays, in case you haven't heard. Now, I've
41:19
Speaker 1: looked through my Bible, see where we're supposed to throw
41:23
Speaker 1: out the pulpit, and I cannot find it anywhere in
41:27
Speaker 1: Old or New Testament. And we're not supposed to preach
41:31
Speaker 1: doctrine because people are weary of doctrine. And again, I
41:35
Speaker 1: look over this other way. I cannot find where it says,
41:38
Speaker 1: go light on doctrine. Feed them potato chip. Well, there
41:43
Speaker 1: it isn't. No, just kidding. It's not there. Now, does
41:46
Speaker 1: this mean there's no place for humor? You know better
41:49
Speaker 1: than that. Great communication includes humor. To go back to Spurgeon,
41:54
Speaker 1: he was a man who was way ahead of his
41:56
Speaker 1: time as a man with a great sense of humor.
41:59
Speaker 1: In fact, he shocked those rather proper Brits. Some of
42:04
Speaker 1: them were among his elders, and they called him in.
42:07
Speaker 1: And they spoke to him about his humor and laugh.
42:10
Speaker 1: Sometime in the pulpit, he would laugh out loud. Very
42:13
Speaker 1: few other people were laughing, but he was laughing out loud.
42:17
Speaker 1: So they called him on him. He said, oh, gentlemen,
42:20
Speaker 1: if you knew how much I held back, you'd be
42:22
Speaker 1: proud of me. You'd be proud of me. Very few
42:30
Speaker 1: churches today would ever think of calling Charles Haddon Spurgeon
42:33
Speaker 1: to be their pastor. Very few. First of all, they
42:38
Speaker 1: don't want a pastor who smokes cigars. And that bothered
42:43
Speaker 1: some of Spurgeon's buddies, and they attacked him for it.
42:47
Speaker 1: He said, if I ever take it to an extreme,
42:49
Speaker 1: I'll stop. So one of his Baptist friends asked him,
42:52
Speaker 1: what is an extreme? He said, two at one time. Now,
42:59
Speaker 1: how do we respond to all of this? Hey, there
43:02
Speaker 1: are several options. One, don't make waves. Don't make waves.
43:07
Speaker 1: This is the move of the day that you want
43:09
Speaker 1: people to see you as a dinosaur. Don't make waves. Second,
43:12
Speaker 1: fall in line. Start entertaining. Dumb down your message. Do
43:18
Speaker 1: a lot of skits and fun stuff and a lot
43:20
Speaker 1: of things that'll keep them happy and clappy and they'll
43:23
Speaker 1: keep dancing around and loving it. They'll pack the place out. Really?
43:26
Speaker 1: What are they eating? Junk. 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 9-11. They can't
43:55
Speaker 1: make it. Well, maybe I should learn how to prepare
44:01
Speaker 1: a food that's a little more scratch in the itches.
44:06
Speaker 2: Really?
44:07
Speaker 1: So I'm supposed to change the message? I can't. It's
44:13
Speaker 1: not my message. Maybe I'll just stay quiet and it'll
44:18
Speaker 1: all just kind of go away. Remember when you were
44:20
Speaker 1: a little kid and you were afraid of the booger man?
44:22
Speaker 1: Probably ought to call him bogey man, but when I
44:24
Speaker 1: was little I called him the booger man. And you
44:26
Speaker 1: pull the blanket up over your head, you think if
44:29
Speaker 1: I just hide he won't hang out. Believe me, if
44:33
Speaker 1: somebody's breaking in, the blanket won't keep them away. and
44:37
Speaker 1: they're breaking into the church. Don't stay quiet. So what
44:44
Speaker 1: do we do? None of the above options I've given you,
44:47
Speaker 1: verse 5 tells us what to do. But you, but you,
44:50
Speaker 1: don't you love that? He's done it three times in
44:53
Speaker 1: this section of scripture. Verse 10, now you.
44:55
Speaker 2: Verse 14, you however, Chapter 4, verse 5, but you,
45:03
Speaker 2: 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've got to do, Timothy.
45:20
Speaker 1: First of all, be sober in all things. It's the
45:23
Speaker 1: idea of being steady as she goes. Keep your head.
45:28
Speaker 1: Stability must characterize the faithful pastor in an upside down world.
45:35
Speaker 1: Steady as she goes. Stay balanced. Remain a model of self-control.
45:40
Speaker 1: Don't attempt to compete with the ear ticklers. An insane
45:45
Speaker 1: world needs a steady voice. In season and out of season.
45:51
Speaker 1: When the kids go off to college and when they
45:53
Speaker 1: come back four years later and they hear you preach,
45:57
Speaker 1: Help them remember you're the same guy and it's the
45:59
Speaker 1: same Bible that it was when they left to go
46:02
Speaker 1: to school. Be there, be there, be steady, be sober,
46:06
Speaker 1: be stable. Number two, be willing to endure suffering. See
46:11
Speaker 1: the verse? Endure hardship. No man, by the way, in
46:15
Speaker 1: the office of president was ever more maligned than Abraham Lincoln.
46:19
Speaker 1: He was called a gorilla, an ape, a fool. And
46:24
Speaker 1: 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, but it takes a while for
47:00
Speaker 1: the truth to be known. Truth forever on the scaffold,
47:03
Speaker 1: wrong forever on the throne, wrote James Russell Lowell. So
47:09
Speaker 1: be willing to endure suffering. Number three, keep on giving
47:13
Speaker 1: out the good news. See the way it reads? Do
47:15
Speaker 1: the work of an evangelist. I gave the gospel as
47:20
Speaker 1: we began the message today. In fact, Franklin Graham on
47:23
Speaker 1: the screen gave the gospel. Christ died today. for our
47:26
Speaker 1: sins and rose from the dead. And he spoke of
47:29
Speaker 1: children coming to Christ. I gave the gospel before the offering.
47:32
Speaker 1: The responsibility of the pastor is to give the gospel,
47:35
Speaker 1: not always at the end of a message. Some churches,
47:38
Speaker 1: if they don't hear it at the end, the people
47:40
Speaker 1: walking down the aisle tell me, well, you didn't give
47:42
Speaker 1: the gospel. There's no place in the scriptures about walking
47:45
Speaker 1: down an aisle. Giving the gospel is telling people that
47:49
Speaker 1: Christ died for their sins and rose from the dead
47:51
Speaker 1: for them and they can live forever if they'll receive it.
47:54
Speaker 1: That's the gospel. Do the work of an evangelist. Part
47:56
Speaker 1: of putting boxes together with the gospel contained in it
47:59
Speaker 1: is evangelizing. Part of giving out food in the community
48:03
Speaker 1: is sharing the message of the gospel with people who
48:06
Speaker 1: are hungry. We do it constantly. That's our responsibility. Do
48:10
Speaker 1: the work of an evangelist. And he says, finally, fulfill
48:13
Speaker 1: your ministry. The Greek term means to bring in a
48:16
Speaker 1: full measure of something. I think of a large sailing
48:20
Speaker 1: vessel and the sails are unfurled and the wind is
48:24
Speaker 1: filling the sails and the ship is moving forward. It
48:30
Speaker 1: occurs to me, Ella Wheeler Wilcox's great piece, which I'll paraphrase.
48:34
Speaker 1: One ship sails east, another ship sails west, regardless of
48:38
Speaker 1: how the wind blows. Tis the set of the sails
48:40
Speaker 1: and not the gales that determine the way that you go.
48:46
Speaker 1: The wind is blowing in this direction, Chuck. I don't
48:48
Speaker 1: care which way the wind's blowing. I've set my sails
48:51
Speaker 1: towards 2 Timothy 4, 1 to 5. That's where we're going.
48:57
Speaker 1: That's where we're going. That's how we started this church.
49:00
Speaker 1: That's how we'll sustain this church. That's where this church
49:03
Speaker 1: will be when I'm but a memory and you as well.
49:07
Speaker 1: That's what has established Stonebriar Community Church and will always
49:11
Speaker 1: be true of it by the grace of God. Other
49:17
Speaker 1: than that, the ministry. If you can do anything else,
49:23
Speaker 1: go there. But if you can't do anything else that'll satisfy,
49:28
Speaker 1: welcome aboard. You're in for the ride of your life. Father,
49:35
Speaker 1: thank you for the great news, which is for all
49:39
Speaker 1: the saints. that we are to deliver the truth and
49:43
Speaker 1: we are to stand on it and not apologize for
49:46
Speaker 1: it and we are to do it in a way
49:48
Speaker 1: that connects and gives you room to work in the
49:51
Speaker 1: hearts and lives of each one of us, including the preacher.
49:55
Speaker 1: Thank you for speaking truthfully to me and to all
49:59
Speaker 1: of us. May this passage land in full force upon
50:04
Speaker 1: our lives and may we never forget the importance of
50:11
Speaker 1: your truth. We believe in it, we stand on it,
50:15
Speaker 1: we declare it, we base our lives on it, knowing
50:21
Speaker 1: that we will give an account to the one who
50:25
Speaker 1: modeled truth and always will, Jesus Christ himself. Thank you
50:33
Speaker 1: for the privilege of handling your word and I pray
50:36
Speaker 1: that you will be glorified as a result of the
50:40
Speaker 1: dissemination of this message wherever it will go, including today.
50:45
Speaker 1: In the name of Christ, our Lord, our Master, we pray.
50:49
Speaker 1: Everybody said, Amen.
50:54
Speaker 3: The preceding message, Every Pastor's Job Profile, was copyrighted in
50:59
Speaker 3: 2009 and 2015, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
51:03
Speaker 3: 2015 by Charles R.
51:04
Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
51:06
Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
51:10
Speaker 3: commercial use is strictly prohibited.