The Ministry of the Word of God for the Man of God

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; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 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. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
~2 Timothy 4:1-5

As I have been working through a text for Sunday's sermon, the Lord has renewed a sense of importance of being true to what the Lord inspired the text to be saying and the necessity of effectively communicating His message. At the same time I have been reading John MacArthur and the Master's Seminary's book entitled Preaching: How to Preach Biblically which has also reminded me the importance of taking my personal study and exegesis of the text seriously. The last thing I ever want to do is to misinterpret God's meaning or miscommunicate a crucial truth He has inspired the authors of Scripture to record.

Unfortunately, the current state of the pulpit is a sad state indeed. Several pastors are not being true to the teaching of the Word. They are not taking time to sufficiently study to personally understand what God is saying in the text. Instead of studying to figure out the original intent of what the authors were inspired to write, they place their own agenda on the text and become the master over it instead of allowing the Scripture to be their master with their job being careful not to overstep the boundaries of what the text is saying. My heart has been broken several times as I have had the privilege to travel to different churches and preach and see how hungry some congregations are because their pastor is not doing their best to truly feed them the Word of God. He may be giving them crumbs when they are starving for a meal.

The importance of God's Word to the ministry of the pastor is apparent in Scripture. It is something which cannot be easily neglected. In fact, the Apostles were so committed to the teaching of the Word of God that they would not allow trivial matters to hinder this ministry. When a dispute arose from the Hellenistic Jews due to their feelings that their widows have been overlooked in the provision of food, the Apostles make the powerful statement, It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables (Acts 6:2). This is not to say that the care for the widows was not important, because the apostles still took care of the problem by having the believers choose seven men of godly character to handle the problem. They just realized that they were responsible to minister the Word of God and that they needed sufficient time to do this effectively. This is a reason the office of deacon probably developed, to aid the pastor in service matters so that he can devote more time to the ministry of the Word.

Paul's second letter to the young pastor, Timothy, is filled with the importance of the Word of God in his ministry. Early in the letter, Paul encourages Timothy to not be ashamed of Christ but to join him in his suffering for the gospel (1:8). He urges him to Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth (2:15). Scripture is able to ground the young minister and keep him from being led astray by the deception of evil men and impostors and lead to salvation (3:14-15). It is also his sole handbook for his ministry and fully sufficient for his every work (3:16-17) (for a fuller exposition of these two verses, please see my previous note entitled: The Reliability and Sufficiency of Scripture).

Right after showing Timothy how important and fully sufficient Scripture is for the ministry of the man of God, he gives the young pastor this charge: preach the word (4:2). This is a charge for ministers everywhere which should not be taken lightly. After all, this charge is given with two of the most important witnesses, God and Jesus who clearly has authority. This is a charge which is for all time. It is not just for Sunday morning or Wednesday night. The pastor must so saturate himself in God's Word that he is prepared in season and out of season to proclaim and teach it. There is no such thing as an inappropriate time to teach the Word of God. The world may make such claims, but Scripture is clear that the pastor should always be ready to live out this charge. Also apart of this charge is to reprove, rebuke, exhort. These resemble the list given in 3:16 concerning what Scripture is profitable for. In fact, the Greek verb for reprove, "elegcho," is very similar to the noun, reproof, "elegchos". This must be done with great patience and instruction and not in anger. One reason Paul charges Timothy to be ready at all times and to make sure it is done with patience is that a time is coming when men will no longer listen to sound doctrine but instead seek to be comforted with what they want to hear in contrasts to what they need to hear. We are seeing this warning lived out today with many who have problems with sound biblical teaching leaving certain churches to form their own where they teach what they want regardless of what Scripture has to say or they flock to hear pastors which preach what they desire Scripture to say instead of conforming their lives to Scripture. Too many are flocking to hear a message of "health, wealth, and prosperity" and neglecting the fact that Scripture states that God chooses to use suffering to purify His children's faith and work to conform them into the image of Christ. Several are buying into a message of how to have "your best life now." (Side note: if you are able to describe this life as your best then what does that say about your eternal destination?) Other examples exist and are too numerous to mention but Paul's point is clear. Instead, Paul urges Timothy to keep his head and stay the course of his ministry, which is not always an easy job. Paul could be instructing Timothy to do the work of an evangelist for those who are following myths and not the truth. The role could be to tell them the truth of the Word of God in hopes that the Lord will lead them to the saving knowledge of the truth. Overall, the necessity of the commitment of the man of God to the Word of God is evident.

I would like to close this note and exposition with a statement from an anonymous member of one congregation concerning the importance of the Word of God for the man of God. It is lengthy but powerful and well worth the read. I read this last night and was strongly encouraged. If you are a pastor, may this be an encouragement to you to saturate yourself in the Word of God and be faithful in your studying, teaching, and living it out. If you are not a pastor, may this be an encouragement to you to hold your pastor or pastors accountable and demand them to uphold the truth of God's Word.

Fling him [the pastor] into his office. Tear the "Office" sign from the door and nail on the sign, "Study." Take him off the mailing list. Lock him up with his books and his typewriter and his Bible. Slam him down on his knees before texts and broken hearts and the flock of lives of a superficial flock and a holy God.

Force him to be the one man in our surfeited communities who knows about God. Throw him into the ring to box with God until he learns how short his arms are. Engage him to wrestle with God all the night through. And let him come out only when he's bruised and beaten into being a blessing.

Shut his mouth forever spouting remarks, and stop his tongue forever tripping lightly over every nonessential. Require him to have something to say before he dares break the silence. Bend his knees in the lonesome valley. Burn his eyes with weary study. Wreck his emotional poise with worry for God. And make him exchange his pious stance for a humble walk with God and man. Make him spend and be spent for the glory of God. Rip out his telephone. Burn up his ecclesiastical success sheets.

Put water in his gas tank. Give him a Bible and tie him to the pulpit. And make him preach the Word of the living God! Test him. Quiz him. Examine him. Humiliate him for his ignorance of things divine. Shame him for his good comprehension of finances, batting averages, and political in-fighting. Laugh at his frustrated effort to play psychiatrist. Form a choir and raise a chant and haunt him with it night and day—"Sir, we would see Jesus."

When at long last he dares assay the pulpit, ask him if he has a word from God. If he does not, then dismiss him. Tell him you can read the morning paper and digest the television commentaries, and think through the day's superficial problems, and manage the community's weary drives, and bless the sordid baked potatoes and green beans, ad infinitum, better than he can. Command him not to come back until he's read and reread, written and rewritten, until he can stand up, worn and forlorn, and say, "Thus saith the Lord."

Break him across the board of his ill-gotten popularity. Smack him hard with his own prestige. Corner him with questions about God. Cover him with demands for celestial wisdom. And give him no escape until he's back against the wall of the Word. And sit down before him and listen to the only word he has left—God's Word. Let him be totally ignorant of the down-street gossip, but give him a chapter and order him to walk around it, camp on it, sup with it, and come at last to speak it backward and forward, until all he says about it rings with the truth of eternity.

And when he's burned out by the flaming Word, when he's consumed at last by the fiery grace blazing through him, and when he's privileged to translate the truth of God to man, finally transferred from earth to heaven, then bear him away gently and blow a muted trumpet and lay him down softly. Place a two-edged sword in his coffin, and raise the tomb triumphant. For he was a brave soldier of the Word. And ere he died, he had become a man of God.

In Christ,
Lee Smith
Soli Deo Gloria!!!