The High Price of Preaching

 

 

 

"But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

II Timothy 4:5

 

Good Morning My Beloved,

Welcome to worship this Lord's Day!

We are so thankful for our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world, we are glad that you are all with us today.

 

When people won’t listen to the preacher, he must keep preaching the Word anyway. The man of God must go against the flow of the current culture, and at times, against the "Christian flow." There are times, when even Christians, will become intoxicated with the latest winds of false doctrine, however, the man of God, is to be the designated driver. He must keep his head about him and continue preaching the truth, according to the Word of God. However, it must be understood, that when you preach the truth of God’s Word, you will most certainly face hostility, censure and opposition. 

 

We must allow ourselves to become sidetracked by critics in the church, but must keep preaching the gospel message and going after lost people. Evangelism is the cutting edge of the church’s ministry. I believe before a pastor can preach to others, he must first must preach the gospel to himself. In other words, every preacher must examine his own soul first. The effectiveness of one’s ministry is, first and foremost, dependent upon his right standing in God's grace. Every pastor must be sure of his own salvation, and those in his own household, before he can powerfully proclaim the gospel to others, he must first embrace the message he preaches. Evangelism must begin at home.

 

Charles Hadden Spurgeon once wrote: A graceless pastor is a blind man elected to a professorship of optics, philosophizing upon light and vision, discoursing upon … the nice shades and delicate blendings of the prismatic colours, while he himself is absolutely in the dark! He is a dumb man elevated to the chair of music; a deaf man fluent upon symphonies and harmonies! He is a mole professing to educate eaglets." 

 

 

Let us bow our heads and pray.

Heavenly Father,

Father, thank You for your Word for us, we pray that You would bind it our hearts. May Your Spirit speak through me, and give the ungodly no rest in their sins. I pray that You grant me the boldness to preach it with power and persuasiveness. And that I might preach it making it in such a way that's easy for sinners to believe and accept the truth. Apply it to every Christian, that each believer would understand, they are responsible to declare Christ at every opportunity. Father, we ask that You would reveal those opportunities to us. Help us to be faithful to proclaim the gospel to the lost, and to hold one another accountable. Grant us the sober realization that not every church member is regenerate. Make us people of great boldness and courage in these last days, that we would faithfully endure to the end. May it all be for Your glory and for Christ's sake.

In His precious name we pray

Amen

 

 

Today's Message: The High Price of Preaching

 

There is an ethical imperative for the Christian to act and act quickly when lives are at stake, when justice is perverted, when truth is in jeopardy, when mercy is at risk, when souls are endangered, and when the Gospel is assaulted. As followers of Christ, we are admonished to make the most of every opportunity to share the Good News of the Gospel. And, we must do so with holy zeal, decisiveness, determination, single-mindedness, constancy, diligence, and passion. We must trust that His sovereign working will indeed make all things right and that His good providence will by no means be thwarted by the attempts of the world. However, we must be aware of Jesus' words to the disciples and us, in John 15, that "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you."

 

We are called to be aware of every deviation of the truth, that there will be deceivers who will sneak into the assemblies and insinuate themselves into positions of prominence and authority. We must understand, that there is a constant danger, that we are living in a time, when God’s people will insist on hearing what is pleasant rather than what is necessary and needful. We must also understand, there will be consequences for such choices.

 

In Isaiah 30:9-11, the prophet makes it clear; "For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the Lord; Who say to the seers, "You must not see visions";
And to the prophets, "You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions. "Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel."

 

God’s truth, in addition to pointing out error and sin, leads to reality, grace, and freedom. When we begin to think that we can hide from the truth, we only deceive ourselves and therefore, lead others astray. I believe that it is imperative, that a preacher of the Word, must not be tempted to become concerned with how their message will be perceived, lest they moderate their message, in order to make them palatable to the hearer. One of the things you will quickly realize when you are a pastor, is that there are a lot of people want their ideas confirmed, reinforced by the pastor. However, if you are committed to the truth, as given in the Word of God, what you will discover is that the Word of God does not reinforce any human viewpoint, but instead, tears it down. Therefore, I believe that the preacher must constantly nourish himself in the Word, confront boldly the error of false teaching of the day, give himself to suffering and enduring the hardships associated with standing firm in the truth, against the current culture.

 

 I invite you to open with me your Bibles to the Second Book of Timothy chapter 4 verse 5.

 

Allow me to remind you that in the opening words of Chapter 4, Paul reminds Timothy, in rather sobering tones, that although he was ministering in the pagan city of Ephesus, nevertheless he lived and labored in the full view of heaven, in the very presence of God the Father, and of Christ Jesus, the coming Judge of the living and the dead. In that awesome presence, remembering that heaven is watching, as it is watching all that we do as well, Timothy is to faithfully conduct his work for the Lord.

Timothy is then reminded that he was involved in the most significant work taking place on earth during that 1st century time. I would remind all of you today, that we too, if we are faithful Christians, true followers of Christ, are doing the most significant work taking place in this present day and age.

I encourage you to follow along with me as I read to our text for today, to set it in our minds, as we prepare our hearts for the Word from the Holy Spirit. II Timothy 4:5.

"But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

Paul begins  verse 5 with "But you," this is a contrast in comparison to what preceded it in verses 3 and 4. Allow me to quickly refresh your minds, "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, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths."

 

Beloved, this a stark and sobering reality concerning the state of the church just as the age of the church is ready to end. The church, the blood-bought saints themselves, will begin to lose their appetite for sound doctrine. Instead they will become interested in hearing teachers that tell them what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear, and they will become infatuated, with speculative myths, not with biblical truth.  So Paul tells Timothy, in contrast to those who are rejecting the truth, those who are rejecting sound doctrine, as all of this is going on, you are to continue on in teaching sound doctrine. So here, the "But you" is in direct contrast with Timothy’s life and how it’s to be held in comparison to the masses and what they are interested in. 

 

Here, in verse 5 are four important commands. I want you to understand, these are not merely suggestions, it is not try this and see if it works, these are direct commands from the Apostle Paul to Timothy, as it relates to what he is to focus on in his ministry. I'd like you notice the first command, "But you, be." The next command is "sober in all things." Here, Paul is commanding Timothy to be cool headed, wide awake, and under self-control, because you’re living among a group of people that will not have those characteristics or those tendencies. Turn with me to chapter 3 verse 2, to refresh your minds what Paul is speaking about here. "For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;" 

 

I must be honest, I find it beyond disturbing, that in our society, mob violence and a willingness to riot occurs so quickly, over the slightest over disagreements about this, that or the other. This is the characteristic of people of the last days. Allow me to remind you, that we, as God’s people, are not to be rioters, we are called to be people that function under sobriety, and under self-control.  I'd also like to remind you that this command, is not to be sober in some things, but "be sober in all things." All things! 

 

I'd like for you to just think for a moment, to think of all of the things in this life, that challenge us to move away from a spirit filled life. Materialism, sexual temptation, impure thoughts, out of control tempers and emotions, things that would lead us astray from God's standard, in pursuit of self gratification. Things that promise to make us happy, the desire to be liked, the desire to be popular, things that would cause us to compromise the truth, telling others what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear. Beloved, these are the very things from which we must be on guard.  Allow me to remind you, that Scripture never calls us to be liked, to be popular, however, it does call us to be faithful. It might sound as though we are being called to make a choice, a decision as to whether we want to be popular or we want to be faithful. We are, however,only you can make that call. Where in Scripture does it tell us that the Christian life will be easy? Certainly God will assuredly provide us with His grace and His strength to help us, but nowhere is it ever said that the Christian life one of ease!

However, we do have a promise from God that "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." In John 16:33, Jesus speaking to the eleven, knowing what they are going to endure on his account said, "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." I love the way Jesus end this verse

"In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." So we have so "be sober" and "endure hardship."

 

Now, the Apostle Paul gives us the third command in verse 5, "do the work of an evangelist." I'd like you to notice, that Paul begins this command with the word "do." So, what is it that we are supposed to "do?" The first thing, that I believe we are called to do, is say something! We are to say something about sin, about how sin alienates us from the presence of God. The second thing that I believe we are called to do, is say something about Jesus Christ, the Savior! Say something about how Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sin. And, He did so, with them in mind. Then, I believe we must say something about salvation. How they are presently lost, estranged from God, but through Christ's sacrifice, they can have a right relationship with God, by faith alone in Christ alone. Allow me to encourage you today, to say something to someone you encounter, say something about sin, say something about the Savior, and say something about salvation.

 

That bring us to the last command Paul gives Timothy in verse 5, "fulfill your ministry." In other words, don't become so preoccupied with teaching the Word of God, that you forget to evangelize, I am often surprised how many in our churches are doing one or the other. Allow me to remind you that we are to do both, preach the Word and evangelize the lost. So often we can see this occurring in our churches today. We often become so focused on the Word of God and training the saints, that we become sort of a holy huddle. We tend to easily forget the fact that the world out there, the person who lives next door to us, the person sitting in the cubicle or in the next office, who are on their way to hell. I realize that everyone is not gifted as an evangelist, and according to Hebrews gives the spiritual gifts according to His will. 

 

In Closing...

 

In this world, we will encounter many people that can easily be lead to Christ, just like that. However, we must also be aware that to a very large extent, a lot of people do not want to hear the gospel , they're offended by the truth, because they know that if they hear the gospel and respond to it, it forces them to acknowledge that they’ve been thinking wrong about their relationship with God. Yet, there are a lot of people who are waiting for a voice from God to speak to them. Communicating the Bible clearly can be hard work, but what a wonderful opportunity we have to share it with those in need. I would to encourage to pray for those who are putting forth great effort to spread the Good News, including myself. Pray that God would reveal to us those whose hearts He has prepared to receive the gospel message. 

 

The man of God encourages where the Word encourages, he teaches where it teaches and he rebukes where it rebukes, even if the whole world takes offense. I believe it is a great honor and privilege to preach the Word, all of it, and I do so with joy!

I realize that the flock will not always enjoy what is being said from the pulpit and the sheep, they may resist the direction in which the shepherd endeavors to lead them. However, the preacher must not become exasperated or angry, berating the flock because they are not doing as he wishes. Rather, he must bear in mind that it is not his flock, he is merely an under shepherd serving the Great Shepherd. The flock belongs to God; they do not belong to the preacher. We who preach would do well to remember the patience of Christ, that has been expressed toward us.

 

If Christ has shown the preacher this measure of patience, saving him, appointing him and bearing with him, then surely the preacher should be just as patient with the flock over which the Master appointed him. In this same way, the entire church is to grow in such patience with others.

 

May it be so..

 

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 

 

 

 

 

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