God saved us by His grace and has a wonderful ministry for each of our lives. The Bible says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." We all have a ministry unto good works and it is all part of God’s wonderful plan for our Christian life. Listen to this wonderful challenge God gives us concerning ministry in 2 Timothy 4:1-4:
"1. 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: 2. Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3. 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 to their own desires, 4. And will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths."
The challenges of ministry involve the "what we are to do" in ministry. To fulfill our challenges as a Christian we must first understand what we are to do and then how we are to do it. Let’s examine the "what we are to do" or our responsibilities as a Christian. Many Christians ask this question: "I want to serve God but what am I suppose to do?" Well, the answer is in 2 Timothy 4:1-4. Here God gives us four challenges that also answer the question of "what we are to do" in living our Christian life.
THE FIRST CHALLENGE IS TO PREACH THE WORD. Listen again to
verse 1-2a: "1. 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: 2. Preach the word...” There is a consciousness here of who is watching and before whom we labor and carry out our responsibilities as a Christian..
Paul says, "I charge thee." This was a serious moment, and Paul wanted Timothy to sense the importance of it. Two points need to be made here. First, Paul reminds Timothy that he carries on his Christian life in the sight of Christ Jesus, the One who is to be the Judge of all men. First Corinthians 4 says "We are made a spectacle before the world, before angels and before men." In Hebrews 11 the writer reminds us that “a great cloud of witnesses” surrounds us. Isn’t it strange that in our limited, finite observation of life we often feel like we have been abandoned to labor alone (I know I do at times), but we are not. Not only are we being observed and helped by these powerful forces for righteousness in the universe, but we are involved as Timothy was, with the greatest program the world has ever known. Second, Paul reminds Timothy they both would be judged one day when Jesus Christ appeared.
One day we will face God and our works, as a Christian will be judged. However, this truth offers great incentives for the Christian. For one thing, this realization should encourage us to do our work carefully and faithfully. It should also deliver us from the fear of man; for, after all, our final Judge is God. Finally, the realization that God will one day judge our works should encourage us to keep going even when we face difficulties. We are serving Him, not ourselves.
Notice Paul charges Timothy not only in the presence of God and of Christ, but "by his appearing and his kingdom." I believe the word "appearing" here can also be interpreted as a reference to the first coming of Jesus. When we involve ourselves in the hurts of others to speak a word of comfort and relief, and especially when we point men to the Savior who can change their lives, we are involved in this greatest of all human endeavors, in a work that eclipses in significance and importance anything that has ever happened in human history.
Paul says, "Preach the word...” The word "preach" means "to preach like a herald." This implies a messenger with a proclamation to be heard and heeded. Not to heed the ruler’s messenger was a serious offense in Paul’s day. This is also true today for those who do not heed the Word of God. The Word is what both sinners and saints need. It is a pity that many churches have substituted other things for the preaching of the Word, things that may be good in their place, but that are bad when they replace the proclamation of the Word. "Preaching the Word" is the one great essential that must be carried on to fulfill our challenge as a Christian and to advance the kingdom of God.
THE SECOND CHALLENGE IS TO BE READY IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON. Paul says, ".... be ready in season and out of season." This means share the Word with passion, with a deep belief in our own hearts that this is what is needed. It involves a deep sense of commitment and belief. It does not mean to push the gospel on people whether they want it or not. John R.W. Stott has wisely said, "This is not a biblical warrant for rudeness, but a biblical appeal against laziness."
Again, Gil, this word is not addressed to preachers only. It includes all the people of God, for it does not merely mean to preach but to "announce, proclaim, set forth, deliver or make known." My friend, it is easy to make excuses when we ought to be making opportunities. The Bible says, "He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap" (Ecc. 11:4) Where human hearts are open, seeking, longing and hurting, there is the place, there is the opportunity to "preach the word." God is saying, stop making excuses and get to work whether in season or not!
The gospel is the story of what God has already done for us. That is what ministers to the aching heart. The gospel is the news that God loves us, He pities us, He sees us in our hurt, our agony, our failure and our weakness. The gospel is that He sees us in our strutting boldness and pridefulness and still He loves us. That is the answer we Christians have to the increasingly obvious hurt and heartache of human need all around. It is the most effective thing we can do in our day. The darker the hour the greater the need for the preaching of the Word. That is to be done by every Christian in every conceivable circumstance of life. Do it whether you feel like doing it or not. Do it whether the opportunity seems good or barely feasible.
THE THIRD CHALLENGE IS TO REPROVE, REBUKE AND EXHORT. Paul says, "...reprove, rebuke, exhort,” There is an old rule among preachers: "He should afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted." In other words, biblical preaching must be balanced. Reprove is a word addressed to the mind. It means to reason or set forth in a systematic and reasonable way for the purpose of convincing another. Reproving often involves the process of answering questions and removing obstacles that are on a person’s mind. Likewise, some will need to hear a word of "rebuke." That contemplates someone who has fallen into sin, someone who needs a word that will appeal to the conscience because of sin, which is destroying him or her and hurting others, sin, which is demolishing, depersonalizing and dehumanizing those involved in it. Then, there are those you need to "exhort” or encourage. They need their wills challenged and encouraged to act.
THE FOURTH CHALLENGE IS TO BE UNFAILING IN PATIENCE AND IN TEACHING. The Apostle says, "with great patience and instruction." In other words, patiently keep on teaching. God’s speaker must be patient as he preaches the Word. He will not always see immediate results. He must be patient with those who oppose his preaching. True preaching is the explanation and application of Bible doctrine. Anything else is just religious speechmaking. Thus, I believe Christians ought to beware of pressure tactics that seek to make people act or say they believe when they are not yet really convinced. We are to keep on explaining; answering questions, clarifying, applying the gospel to specific situations. All of that is the work of teaching in which each Christian should be involved to the degree possible.
The Apostle Paul gives the reasons for these Christian responsibilities in verses 3 and 4: "3. 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 to their own desires, 4. And will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." In Timothy’s day there was an upsurge in evil and an increase in the voices that were denouncing faith and belief. Immorality was widespread in Ephesus; sexual perversions were accepted as an appropriate lifestyle in that city, just as they are in our day. People were and are still resistant and turn away from the truth.
This is true because the truth requires the admission of human weakness, which people do not like to admit; the restraint of passions, which they do not like to do; and submission to the authority of God and other authorities under him, which they dislike and reject. Paul says since they will not listen to teachers of truth, as the apostle says, they will look for others who will teach them what they want to hear. The fact that a preacher has a large congregation is not always a sign that he is preaching the truth. In fact, it may be evidence that he is tickling people’s ears and giving them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. We have a world saturated with falsehood.
The Apostle reminds us that the most effective thing to combat falsehood is, preach the word, announce the truth, tell of reality, make it clear, spread the word. All of heaven is watching, and all of the program of God is committed to blessing, fulfilling and carrying that through until the world at last arrives at the day that God himself has designated, that final end when all creation shall bow together before the Lord Jesus and declare that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
May your prayer and mine be that we will fulfill the charge that God has given us to do. Are you up to meeting your challenge as a Christian? Remember, walk so close to God that nothing can come between. Jesus paid it all, all to Him we owe, give Him the Glory!
