Preach the Word and Fulfill Your Ministry

Transcript

GRM 570
4/19/1998
Preach the Word, Fulfill Your Ministry
2 Timothy 3:4-4:5
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention today to the book of 2 Timothy. We have been looking at some miscellaneous passages that are review for us and yet focus on what are essentials for the ministry of this local church and others. And we’ve looked at a number of passages in Timothy, even though we haven’t worked through II Timothy in a systematic
verse by verse way. The last time we were in 2 Timothy together we looked in chapter 3 in the opening verses there, reminding us that in the last days difficult times will come and people will hold to a form of godliness, even though they have denied its power. People will be going through the motions, claiming to be followers of Christ and yet the power of the gospel will have been removed.

As you come down to the end of that chapter where we did not focus attention, I want to just draw your attention to the closing verses of 2 Timothy, chapter 3, because they are the foundation for what we are going to be looking at in chapter 4. In verse l4 Paul says to Timothy, “you, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Earlier Paul had indicated that Timothy had been blessed to have a godly mother and a godly grandmother. His mother was Jewish, his father was Gentile and from his mother and grandmother, he had been taught the truths of the Old Testament scripture, which prepared the way for the coming of Jesus Christ, and thus set the foundation for the message that Timothy would hear from the apostle Paul and believe in Jesus as the Messiah and Savior.

You note these sacred writings referred particularly to the Old Testament scriptures, which is what Timothy had as a young man and his parents, his mother particularly. They are the message that has enabled to lead you to salvation, which is in Christ. So through the Old Testament scriptures you are prepared and directed toward the coming of Christ and the salvation He would provide. And then the great statement in verse l6, that “all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” “All scripture is inspired by God,” literally God breathed, breathed out from God. That would include all the Old Testament scripture, as well as what we have now as the New Testament.

The apostle Peter, at the end of his second letter, included the apostle Paul’s writings as part of scripture. He referred to people who twist the scriptures and he said they twist the writings of Paul just like they do the rest of scriptures, drawing attention to the fact that what Paul had written was part of God’s breathed word. So, all scripture is God breathed. That’s why this book is unique and different from any other writing that has ever been given or is in existence today. This is the word of God. It’s been breathed out from God. When you read this, you are reading what God says. And so it is “profitable for doctrine or teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” These things are going to be picked up in chapter 4, as we look into it in a moment. God’s purpose is that the man of God may be adequate, may be equipped, may be prepared. In other words, the scriptures will make you everything God wants you to be, and it will equip you to do everything God wants you to do. There you have a statement of the character of the Scriptures and of the supernatural work of the Scriptures. It’s the Scriptures that leads you to salvation in Christ. It’s the Scriptures that make you everything God wants you to be as His child. It’s the Scriptures that equip you to do everything God wants you to do. That would include how you live your life. The Scriptures are totally sufficient in the accomplishing of God’s purposes in our lives, both for salvation and for growth and development, for salvation and sanctification, as we would say.

This is the basic foundational truth, that the Scripture is God breathed, and you must understand that many who would claim to be Christians, do not believe in the complete inspiration of the Scriptures. The very fact that scriptures are God breathed means they are without error. If God has breathed forth the Scripture, He cannot breathe forth error.
Now that doesn’t mean that there are not errors recorded, such as when Satan speaks a lie, what he said was recorded accurately. But the very character of the scripture is established by its author, it’s God breathed. Well, it came through human beings. We saw when we studied Peter, for example, “holy men of old wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God.” So, we have the scripture as God’s word and by nature of the fact, by the fact that it is God’s word by its very nature, then it accomplishes God’s purposes for our salvation, for our sanctification. We don’t need to go anywhere else, to delve into anything else. This will make me everything God wants me to be and quip me to do everything God wants me to do.

Now that being the case, we move into chapter 4, as we have it in our letter, moving on as Paul gave it and he’s going to exhort Timothy and challenge and charge Timothy with his responsibility and thus, through Timothy, regarding our responsibility, who have been the ones who have received this message passed down through the centuries since Paul gave it. There’s going to be a series of commands that Paul will set forth here regarding Timothy’s responsibility. Just note in verse 2 of chapter 4, there will be five commands in that one verse. Then when we get down to verse 5 there will be four more commands given. So nine commands will be given in the first five verses, centered in two of the verses, the rest of it filling out what he is saying. Paul is getting ready to wrap up this letter. This is the last letter that is part of inspired scripture that we have from the pen of the apostle Paul, and remember this is part of what God has breathed, so it is really God speaking through Paul to Timothy and to all of those who will read what has been written here.

He begins by giving a solemn charge. “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word.” Now this solemn charge is given in light, particularly of what he has just written at the end of chapter 3. All scripture is God-breathed. It’s profitable to make the man of God everything God wants him to be, to equip him to do everything God wants him to do. These God breathed scriptures lead you to salvation which is found in Christ. “I solemnly charge you, preach the word.” God has spoken. Now your responsibility is to pass on what He has said. But the solemn charge to Timothy is done before witnesses. The concept would be similar to what we would have when a person takes an oath in a courtroom for example. He’s placed under obligation before that court. Well here before the court of heaven, if you will, before God and His Son, Jesus Christ, Timothy, I am placing this responsibility upon you and this Jesus Christ, who is a witness to what I am charging you with today and challenging you with, is the one who will judge the living and the dead. So, Timothy, your fulfilling this charge will be evaluated by the One who is observing the charge given to you today, Jesus Christ, who is the judge of the living and the dead. I charge you in light of His appearing in His kingdom. Timothy, we live on the brink of the return of Christ, from the brink of when you will be called to give an account of your faithfulness to the charge I am giving to you. It’s a solemn matter.

Timothy, keep your focus. Your faithfulness, your success, if I can use that word in a limited sense, will be evaluated by the ones who are the witness of this charge today, God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and really they’re the only ones who matter, because the one who will evaluate your ministry, the one who will sit in judgment over you is Jesus Christ, the one whose presence I charge you today. Very solemn, serious matter here. Forget about everybody else, Timothy, except this charge in the presence of the one who will judge you and evaluate your faithfulness in the light of carrying out this charge. Jesus Christ being the one who will judge everyone.

We won’t take the time, but in John, chapter 5 Jesus said that God the Father has committed all judgment into the hands of the Son. Acts l7:3l says that “God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. He will judge the world by a man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” So, every single person in this auditorium will someday stand personally before the throne of Jesus Christ to be judged. There is no escaping Jesus Christ. Every person, whoever was born, will someday stand before the throne of Jesus Christ for judgment. Timothy, you need to take into serious consideration the responsibility that is being entrusted to you in light of that day.

Five sharp commands are given in verse 2. The charge is I charge you, preach the word.
The seriousness of the charge is in light of those who are witnesses, before whom the charge is being given, God and His Son, Jesus Christ. The content of the charge is “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” And really the first command here, “preach the word,” encompasses the rest of what unfolds here. “Preach the word.” The word for preach here is the word of a herald. Herald forth the word. A herald was one who had been entrusted with a message. We think of it in the days when they had kings and did not have the technology that we have today to pass on messages. So, the king would prepare an edict, or a statement to his subjects. Then a herald would be sent out to the surrounding towns, and we’ve all seen in movies and so on, where what, you start out here ye, hear ye, and here’s the message of the king.

Now the very choice of words carries the concept here. All scripture is God breathed, chapter 3, verse l6 says. Now the responsibility of Timothy is to herald forth what God has given, “preach the word,” give forth the message that God has given forth. Very simple, yet solemn responsibility. The herald was not to make alterations. He didn’t go to one town and say, well the people in this town probably aren’t going to like part of what the king said, so I’ll just edit it for him, I’ll leave out what they wouldn’t want to hear anyway. Or it will probably make a better impact if I say some additional things. No, the work of the herald was simply to state what the king had said, not to add to it, not to take away from it. And when you stop and think about it, there’s great audacity in the very concept that I should need to edit what God has said. I have a message from God, but this is the 20th century. I think some of what He’s said, you would find offensive, so I will help God out by being His editor and leaving out what I know you wouldn’t want to hear from Him.

I mean the very concept boarders on blasphemy, wouldn’t you say? God has spoken. The seriousness, the solemnity of that requires that what He said be passed on as He said it. What arrogance that I should say God didn’t understand that you wouldn’t like what He had to say. I mean, if you were offended by what my king says, that’s your problem. If I was the herald of the king l,000 years ago and I went out and read what the king said, they might not like what the king said, they might kill me as his herald, but the real issue is what has the king said.

So Timothy, remember God is the witness here and His Son, Jesus Christ. Your responsibility is heralding the word and Jesus Christ will be your judge. It puts it all in perspective. This is a serious and solemn matter. Herald, the word becomes a condensed way of talking about the word of God, the word of truth. In fact, back up to II Timothy, Chapter 2, verse 9. Paul said he was in prison because of his preaching the gospel but note the end of verse 9. But the word of God is not in prison. You see it’s the word of God. Down in verse l5, the end of the verse, we are to be handling accurately the word of truth, the word of God, the word of truth. We are to preach the word. So, the word is just a condensed way of talking about the word of God, the word of truth, what God has given forth. And now Paul is entrusting it to Timothy, to give it forth, and Timothy is to give it forth to others, to faithful men, as Chapter 2 said, who will entrust it to others, chapter 2, verse 2. So herald the word, you speak the word of truth, you give them what God has said.

Second command, back in chapter 4, verse 2, be ready in season and out of season. The King James version said be instant in season, out of season. The word is to be ready. The herald is to be ready to preach the word. So, as God’s people, this would have particular impact to me as a preacher, but I think also in a broad sense to all of us as God’s people, entrusted with God’s word. We are to be ready with God’s word, in every situation and every circumstance, in season and out of season. Be ready all the time in the context of giving forth the word of God, in season and out of season. You know what’s beautiful about this, my responsibility gets very, very simplified. We talk about well, I want to know if this is an open door or a closed door. I would like open doors. In the context of scripture an open door is an opportunity for the presentation of the gospel. A closed door would be where people are not open to the gospel. In season would be when there is a receptivity to what you are sharing from the word. Out of season would probably refer to when people aren’t very receptive. But you know what, I’m to be ready all the time. You know, it’s not the herald’s job to decide whether the people of this town will like what the king said or not like it. He’s simply to go and tell them what the king said. So I don’t have to be primarily concerned with whether you were going to like what God has said in 2 Timothy, chapter 4, since this is the portion of the word we’re considering. I only have to be careful that I tell you accurately and clearly what God has said in 2 Timothy, chapter 4. We do it in season or out of season.

You know we spend too much time praying about things that God has already spoken to.
I’m to be ready to give forth the word in season or out of season. I’m walking around praying, Lord, is this a good time to tell them, is this a good time to share your word.
Every time is a good time. Every time is not a time when you get response like you would like, but we share the word in season and out of season. That doesn’t mean we’re not sensitive to a situation, that we’re rude and walk up to two people who are having a conversation and say, let me interrupt you, I have to tell you you’re on your way to hell.
Well, obviously that’s out of season and it’s not consistent with biblical conduct either.
But you understand what I’m saying, in season and out of season. This will come up in a moment. As we develop on, I think you’ll see even more clearly how it fits.

A series of three commands here, reprove, rebuke, exhort. So, you’re preaching the word and you’re ready to do this to herald forth and give forth the word “in season and out of season.” In this context of the ministry of the word you reprove, you rebuke, and you exhort. Now it’s interesting to me, Paul first mentions the negative and he uses two words to mention the negative and only one to mention the positive. You reprove people, you speak to the fact they have departed from the truth. You correct them, you tell them that they’re in sin, what they’re doing is wrong. You reprove them. Rebuke is even a stronger word than reprove. There’s the idea of a severe reprimand. You know if you’re going to preach the word and speak what God has said, you’re going to have to deal with the issue of sin and the issue of individual people being sinners. You know, I can stand up here and say everyone here is a sinner. You say fine. But I want you to understand this is personal, you individually are a sinner. You are condemned and on your way to hell and there is no escape, except through Jesus Christ, who is “the way, the truth, and the life.”

I don’t care how religious you are, if you’ve been baptized, if you’ve been confirmed, if you attend church every week. You are a filthy, vile, hell deserving sinner and that’s where you will end up unless you lay hold of the mercy and grace of God as given you in Christ. Christ loved you and died for you. Unless you turn from your sin and believe in Him, you’re going to hell. I don’t care if you come to this church every day of your life and are the biggest giver and the hardest worker. There is no other way for you to be saved but in Christ. I have to reprove and rebuke and declare you a sinner and reveal you for what you are. If you attend this church and you get into sin, you will be disciplined for that sin.

You know, we think we live in a different day today, because people don’t want to hear the negative. I’ve shared with you the major book on church growth today in the Evangelical Church, has an emphasis for preachers that you must preach a positive message and people will come to hear a positive message. But God hasn’t come to tell me to preach a positive message. We’ve joked about the new bible that’s out. The book, they’re calling the New Bible, that’s the joke. A man has gone through and taken out only the positive things in the bible and put that in, now you can buy a positive bible. He’s removed all the things that are negative from the scripture. You saw that in the cartoon section, right? No, really do that. But the problem is can you preach the word if you don’t reprove and rebuke. You say, well if I invite my unsaved neighbor to church, he’s going to tell me he didn’t come here to get reproved and rebuked. If he didn’t come here to hear what God says, what can you do. I mean we’re in a box. I am in a box. You know, that’s why I like to preach in my normal pattern, starting at the first verse of a book of the bible and going through to the last verse. That’s the way you need to hear it. But even more seriously, that’s the way I need to give it because, you know what? If I don’t do it that way, as my pattern, I’ll skip things, because there are things I don’t like to preach about. There’re things I know you would prefer I didn’t preach about.

Some of you have shared in recent weeks you did have friends here and I mention things and you go, here he goes again. You almost hold your breath. But you know, isn’t amazing how God works in a life. When God is working in a life, you don’t offend them with the word and when God is not working in a life, you cannot not offend them unless you alter the word. You have to reprove and rebuke when you’re preaching the word, when you’re being ready in season and out of season.

That’s not all we do, we also exhort. That’s to admonish and encourage. So you reprove people about sin, you reprimand them regarding sinful conduct and behavior, you exhort them and admonish them and challenge them to holiness and godliness of life. And this is to be done with long suffering, patience. A reminder, it’s not going to be an easy ministry.

We say, oh yes, we want to be biblical, we want our church to be biblical. You understand you’re going to have to be longsuffering for that to happen, patient. It’s not going to be easy. The word of God does the work in a life that nothing else can do, but the word of God is convicting, the word of God is offensive, the word of God makes people uncomfortable, the word of God takes time in its work in a life, and we have to stay with it. That’s why I like to encourage men who are going into the ministry and God is sovereign. You may go into the ministry to pastor a church and you may be in your first church in only two or three or four years, maybe by your choice, maybe by their choice.

It may be a short ministry, but I encourage you to seek by God’s grace, a place where He will plant you for a long-term ministry. Because God develops and matures His people over time and you need to be with them over time so you can be longsuffering with them, and them with you, so that you grow and mature and develop.

There are no biblical ministries that do not require long suffering of the people involved, because God’s work in a life is done over time. It’s like being a parent. Well great, I like to raise kids. I’d like to devote about a week and a half of my life every year to it. Doesn’t work that way, does it. Somehow that’s what we think we do with developing God’s people. Remember the word of God will make you everything God wants you to be and equip you to do everything God wants you to do. This takes time. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering with all teaching. With the preaching of the word, the heralding of the word we are instructing God’s people and in this instructing there is the correction, there is the reproving, there is the exhorting. They are learning and growing because they are being taught God’s word.

Now it’s important that we know what the measure of an effective, faithful church is. It is not measured by the number of people sitting in an auditorium. A number of people who call themselves members of this church, the measure is, in light of the solemn charge given to Timothy, who was responsible in the church at Ephesus before God, I solemnly charge you, Timothy, before God and Christ Jesus, to build a big church. No. To get as many people together as you can. No. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season.

Reprove, rebuke, exhort. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, that was the first century, this is the 20th century, people don’t come to church to get reproved and rebuked. And what good does it do if I finally work on getting my neighbor out to church, the first time they come they get reproved, so they’ll never come back again.
Well certain things are between each individual and God. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to be friendly; we want to manifest God’s love, God’s concern, His kindness. But we’re stuck with the message.

Timothy, I solemnly charge you, preach what you think would be appropriate. No. Preach the word and do it with all long suffering and all patience, with all teaching. Now the reason why this is necessary. So, you have those five commands given. Now you have a reason why, Timothy, you got to be doing this. Do it now and do it in the future, “for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires.”

Some people think I preach this message every week, because so often we refer to this passage. But we need to be reminded, “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” Now there is another element when this may be true of people who are not part of the church, who do not attend church. But then again, that was true in Timothy’s day. The pagan Romans worshipping in their idol temples, they never did endure sound doctrine, and the Jewish leaders who led in the crucifixion of Christ and continued their persecution of Paul and were instrumental in his martyrdom, they never did endure sound doctrine.

So when he said “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,” he’s talking about a change in the group that were being exposed to it, and I think here what he’s talking about is the changes that take place in churches. You can read where the church at Ephesus went in the first letter to the churches at Asia, contained in Revelation, chapter 2. The deterioration that took place there over the next 30 years, the very church that Timothy is part of as Paul writes to him. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. In the seasons of the church, there is deterioration that takes place, and you can see churches after churches after churches that we can clump them together. If Jesus Christ does not come in the foreseeable future, but His coming is yet many years off, you know what the pressure on this church will be? That it will move toward a time when it will not want to endure. The word means to put up with something, sound doctrine.

I have an opportunity to visit with pastors and men who are new in different churches and are impressed. Men go to a church and the church says, oh yes, we’re a bible believing church, we’re looking for a man to teach the word. The man goes in there and starts to teach the word and he creates total chaos, upsetting, irritation, anger. He says, well, I thought you were a bible believing church and you wanted the word taught. Well, this is not what we had in mind. What happened? That church that somewhere in its past history was noted as a center of truth and a place where the word of God had been taught, had moved from that position, and no longer was willing to put up with sound doctrine. Sound doctrine, sound is the word healthy or healthful, doctrine is teaching. They will not put up with healthy teaching. Isn’t it amazing, there comes a time when people who professed to believe the bible, who profess to be followers of Christ, are not willing to put up with teaching, which is healthy for them spiritually? Sad state of affairs. How do they get to that point? By a process of deterioration, where the word of God first is not denied, it’s just minimized.

You know I could preach portions of the scripture to you week after week, selectively choosing what we will cover, and being careful how I present it, and you would say, well our pastor doesn’t deny the word, in fact he uses the scripture. In fact, if you turn on the public access channel and listen to some of the liberal church pastors, you will hear them use the scripture over and over and over again. Men who have never been born again, men who do not believe that this is the God breathed scripture, but they use the scripture. So what happens is first of all, I begin to selectively chose what we will study. I want to have a positive message. I want to preach in such a way you will be able every Sunday, to bring your unbelieving friends and not be afraid I’ll offend them. Well now I’m going to decide what in the word of God merits being preached or proclaimed. I won’t deny the other stuff, it just won’t be part of Sunday morning.

Well, then that gets shuffled to the side and over the process, the word of God is minimized. People don’t come to hear sermons that are an hour long, they don’t come to hear sermons that are 50 minutes long. In fact l0 minutes will fit a liberal church. How did they decline to that point? Well, first lets back it up. I’m not saying an hour is the standard, 50 minutes would be acceptable, but praise the Lord we have backed off from the Puritan’s three and four hours, so be thankful for what you’re not getting. But let’s face it. You don’t do much with the word of God in l0 minutes, you don’t do much with the word of God in l5 or 20. There has to be enough time that we’re seriously going to get down and grapple with something here to give it our consideration, but if I’m going to consider, now these are going to be geared toward unbelievers who have no interest in the word. Bring your friends, we’ll tell you how to raise your kids. Bring your friends, we’ll tell you how to be a better businessman. bring your friends, and pretty soon we’re talking about, what? Well, we’re not denying any of the scripture. The deterioration goes on and we get lighter and more superficial in our handling of the word.

“The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,” healthy teaching. But note, “wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires.” They will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. Now note, these people don’t want to quit coming to church. They’re not even opposed to having someone preach to them, but the measure now is what I want to hear, teachers who give me what I want, my own desires have become the measure, not what God has said, but what I want. There is the process of change. Two major churches leading the way in the Evangelical world today started their churches from scratch by going through the neighborhood, taking surveys. What don’t you like about churches? What would you want in a church you would attend? Then out of that they developed the kind of ministry that they would have. Sounds to me an awful lot like what is being condemned here. People “want to have their ears tickled.” In other words, they want to hear what they want to hear. They want teachers in accordance to their own desires. Now look, the popularity here. If you read the church growth books they will guarantee you can get a crowd if you will do it this way. Well, that’s not new. Almost 2,000 years ago Paul wrote under the inspiration of scripture, they will accumulate for themselves, it means to heap up in piles, teachers according to their own desires.

So it shouldn’t surprise us to say, man, we’re seeing a lot of churches growing. And I’m not saying every church that’s growing is sacrificing truth, but I’m saying we have been warned that you will be able to be popular and there will be an abundance of teachers, because there will be an abundance of people who want these kinds of teachers, who will say what you would like to hear. Now Paul is writing this to Timothy under the direction of the Spirit of God as a warning to what will take place in the church and why we must be faithful in the ministry of the word.

There is pressure in the evangelical church today, to make the adjustment. People will say, it’s not that I don’t want to hear the word, but I want something that’s practical. I need more help in living my life. More help than the word of God? If this is the word, according to chapter 3, verse l7, that will equip you for every good work, that what God provides you to live your life the way He wants you to live it, what do you need outside of this book? Don’t tell me that studying the book of Revelation is not practical in that sense. It’s what God has provided to equip you to live. How does that do that? Because it brings you face to face with the character of God, His majesty, His holiness, His sovereignty. That is of great help in living your life day by day. This is what prepares and molds and shapes you to be a godly person. That is absolutely essential for raising children. We want to psychologize our lives, and what we really do is abandon God’s truth, under the guise of being more helpful.

No church begins a drift by saying, first of all, I want to tell you we don’t need this book.
It starts out by me saying, well we’re not going to be directly studying the scripture. Let me direct you to a couple of passages though. Then I want to talk to you about husband/wife relationships. I don’t want to teach you what the bible says about a husband or wife, but I want to talk about husband/wife relationships and I can give you all kind of practical things about taking your wife on a date, and on and on we go. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with those things. I’m saying that’s not what the ministry of the church is.

I mean you can go to all kind of places that are not related to the church in any way, and are not even believers, and they will give you this helpful stuff. I’m not saying there’s not a place for learning helpful stuff like that. I’m saying we come to the church and the church is the pillar and support of the truth. Why am I telling you this? Because we can’t forget it or we begin to drift. I can begin to drift. And you ought to be ready when, and if, I begin to drift. I’m getting older, you have to watch out for me.

And you ask me why are you talking about the bible now and not teaching us the bible? Why did you just pull out a couple of insights from the opening verses of the chapter, but you didn’t walk me through these like we used to? Why don’t we study the scripture anymore? It seems like you talk about the bible. You refer to the bible and you quote verses, but we’re not studying the bible. You ought to call me to account, hold my feet to the fire.

People leave and go other places, they’re in other churches. Wonderful, but I want to know from them, are you studying the word. Oh, it’s such a practical place. No, we don’t study the word like you would there, but it’s such a loving atmosphere. What does that mean? I went to the restaurant; they sang Happy Birthday to me. It was a loving atmosphere. You know, in this mushy stuff, how do I get a handle on it.

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, Timothy. Make them feel good. Boy, well, it’s not quite what it says. You say, am I against good feelings. No. Is the goal of my teaching you the word to give you good feelings? No. I mean we have to be careful. We get subtly weaned off the word and then the confusion of our life is overwhelming. They will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. Shocking, shocking! That methodology of developing the church is what is being taught in seminaries that have been considered evangelical.

I was reading in the leading seminary quarterly, a critique of the man who teaches pastors there, how to plant churches. He totally opposed to the method that I am sharing with you today, totally in favor of that which I’ve just critiqued and this is in a leading evangelical seminary. I say, and you tell me that the church won’t role over in the next few years as men coming out of there, have this as their adopted methodology. It just is not practical in our day to think you’re just going to get up and do a serious exposition of scripture and build the church.
The church will roll over. It is in the process. Not the true church, the church will survive. I don’t want you to misunderstand, but the warning here is of great importance.

They will turn away their ears from the truth, will turn aside to myths. You know, this is the truth. This is the word of truth. You realize when you turn from this there’s only one thing to turn to, myths, men’s ideas. So, it’s not enough to learn the word, be taught the word and come out to minister the word to build a church. You have to learn this methodology. You have to decide, first of all, do you want to reach a boomer or a buster, because we have baby boomers and baby busters and baby booboos. You really have to know them, because, you have to know their characteristics. You have to know what they’re looking to hear. You have to know how they want you to dress, because I’m trying to reach a buster or a boomer and if they’ve got a tie on or they don’t wear ties, then they won’t. Of course, they say we would never sacrifice the truth. They turn aside to myths. I’m not saying you can’t build a big group. I’m saying you cannot build the church of Jesus Christ this way. We ought not to be deluded because we sprinkle a few verses in, that we’re doing what is biblical. God must build His church and my goal is not to get this place packed with the non-elect. My goal is to endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they might come to the salvation which is in Christ Jesus.

Now four more commands as we bring it to conclusion. Note the contrast, verse 5, but you, in contrast to these who will not endure healthy teaching, who will accumulate for themselves, teachers according to their own desires, who will turn aside from the truth to myths, but you be sober in all things. That word is always used of spiritual or mental sobriety in the New Testament. Be mentally and spiritually on the alert. You be awake at all times. There’s no excuse if we drift. God commanded us to be spiritually and mentally alert, not walking around like a drunk. I talk to some people who claim to be believers and they don’t even know what’s going on. They don’t know what the problems are. They say, why do you always have to be talking about what’s wrong and what’s going on. So, you’re alert. I don’t think I’m out of line when I see somebody is going to step off the curb and here comes an 18 wheeler at 60 miles an hour down the street. I say, hey, there’s a truck coming. Well, who are you to tell me there’s a truck coming? Mind your own business. Go ahead, get squashed. But you do it in the spiritual sense, then we’re an unloving church. They think they’re the only ones who are right. They think they’re the only ones who know what an 18-wheeler is. I mean be sober, wake up, be alert. In all things, every circumstance, it’s not enough to be alert here and not there. Be alert in every circumstance, in all situations. To be characteristic of a believer that we are a people who are spiritually alert. We’re watching all the time.

“Endure hardship.” God never promised it would be easy. “Endure hardship.” I mean let’s face it, you’re going to be out of step. They’re not going to want to hear what you have to say, Timothy. They’re going to want a different kind of message, different kind of teacher. Don’t adjust, endure the hardship that goes with not being accepted, and that goes for being part of a church like that, committing your life to such a ministry. I’m so committed to the truth that, as painful as it is to lose my friends, I’ll lose my friends. Paul has that kind of thing in mind. Remember he started out this letter by telling Timothy all those who are in Asia have abandoned me. In other words, all those who were from your region of the country, Timothy, who were with me in Rome have bailed out. It doesn’t look good for their future.

“Endure hardship.” Oh, I just can’t, my friends are bailing out, that’s too great a price. We’re going to have to make up our mind here. If we’re going to have this kind of ministry, where the word of God is the priority at whatever the cost. Whatever the price, I am committed to minister the word. Then you have to be ready to endure hardship. We say, oh yea, that’s where I want to be. That’s where I want to be.

My friends leave for a reason and we’re bailing out. Wait, wait, wait a minute, I thought that’s what you were committed to. Well, I didn’t mean losing a friend. Well, Paul’s on his way to death. In verses 6-8 he’s going to say the process has already begun that will result in my execution. You think he had any sympathy for those who weren’t willing to lose friends over this. I mean, come on, this is a serious matter. We’re in a spiritual war.

Chapter 2 he exhorts them to be a good soldier. We want a ministry of the word, but we don’t want to pay any price. There is no such ministry in the world. Endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist. Timothy was centered in Ephesus. That was to be a center of gospelizing, a word for evangelist, one who is giving forth the gospel.

You note again, that doesn’t mean he was going to have a big church in Ephesus. You note, we’re never given the statistics on the church in Ephesus. In fact, in my study of the scripture, if I’m wrong, point it out to me, not now but after the service, I don’t know of any letter to any church in the New Testament, including the seven churches of Asia, where they are rebuked because they don’t enough people attending.

Now Paul told the Corinthians that there are some who do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. The shameful thing is you haven’t gotten the gospel to everyone but that doesn’t necessarily mean that that equates to how many people are coming. Our desire and longing is that everybody in the city, and beyond, would hear the gospel. We must do the work of an evangelist. What God does with that gospel in the hearts of those who hear will be between Him and that person. “Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” What a statement. “Fulfill your ministry.” This is in the context of verse 7, where Paul says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. I have fulfilled my ministry, Timothy. My burden for you is fulfill your ministry, fulfill your ministry, complete all of its demands, all of its requirements, be everything God has called you to be.

My desire for my own ministry and for the ministry of this church is that we fulfill our ministry. But I would like to have ten thousand people that have come to know the Savior and are growing in Him. That would be wonderful. That’s not what drives me. What drives me is that we fulfill our ministry, that I fulfill my ministry. I want the testimony of this church to be a church that fulfilled its ministry. We will someday give an account before Jesus Christ. What will matter? Lord, we had the biggest church. Lord, I was most popular. Lord, everybody I brought just loved it. Did we fulfill our ministry? Well, what’s our ministry? That’s a complicated thing you know. Well, it didn’t seem very complicated as I walk through this. Maybe I missed something. It’s not so complicated. Not easy, but not complicated. “Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. Be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Praise God for what He has called us to do. Praise God that He has so blessed us. We are blessed to have numerous people as part of this body. God has brought a body together and I am blessed to carry on in ministry in this environment. If anyone does not have an excuse for unfaithfulness, I would be one who would not have an excuse. Why?
God has placed me in a context where people have been responsive to the word, where literally hundreds of people encourage me in the ministry of the word, join with me in that ministry in all its facets. We are a blessed people. I am blessed as a pastor. We, of all people, would have no excuse for not fulfilling our ministry. You have the encouragement.

You may have lost many friends but look around you. There are people who are committed to the word. I’m not saying we’re the only church in this city, don’t misunderstand the context I’m putting, but this is the church I’m concerned about.
It’s the church that God has called me to. I praise God for every other ministry in this city and every other city that is committed to the word of God and the ministry of the word.

Timothy was responsible at Ephesus. Here is our responsibility. I trust that we will be a church that fulfills its ministry. I don’t want some day to be looking back and say, I remember a time of our glory, when we did do what God told us to do. I trust that will characterize us. There may be highs and lows in attendance and battles and so on, but may there be a steady, unchanging line, as a church that is committed to fulfilling its ministry. And its ministry is what it was entrusted to it, in the context of the eternally true word of God. Preach the word. Let’s pray together.

Thank you, Lord, that you have spoken. Thank you, Lord, that this truth has been passed on to us by your grace, through faithful people down through the centuries of time. Lord, thank you for those who fulfill their ministry. Lord, we desire, personally and as a church, to fulfill our ministry. May we take this truth to heart. May You apply it to our lives individually and to us as a church. Lord, may we be thrilled with the privilege of being charged in Your presence, to preach the word and be faithful until You come. We thank you in Christ’s name. Amen.