Leading the Charge
Fail-Proof Spiritual Leadership
by
John MacArthur
All Rights Reserved
(A copy of this message on cassette tape may be obtained by calling
1-800-55-GRACE)
1 Thessalonians 2:1-6 Tape GC 52-4
The
highlight of our time together as we worship the Lord is communing with Him
through His Word. I invite you to turn in your Bible to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2...1 Thessalonians chapter 2. And in our ongoing study of this
epistle, as God would have it in His wonderful providence, we come this morning
to chapter 2 verses 1 through 6. This is not only God's message to our
church at this time, but is definitely God's message for those who are
attending our Shepherds' Seminar. It never ceases to amaze me how God
orchestrates even apart from our planning to bring a word to us that is for the
very moment and that is the case this morning.
If
I were to title these six verses I would title them, "Fail‑proof
spiritual leadership....Fail‑proof spiritual leadership."
Everybody knows there is a great premium on leadership and everybody realizes
that there are fewer leaders than are needed, fewer faithful leaders than are
expected. We also know that leadership is very difficult. Even in the
world when the team doesn't win they fire the coach. And when the employees
don't produce they fire the president. Everybody recognizes the
tremendous need for capable, enthusiastic, inspiring influence which is the
primary role of leadership. And the leadership crisis in our nation is a
small matter when compared to the leadership crisis in the church. The
failures of leadership in the church seem to be common and almost
epidemic. And I'm afraid more such failures fill the future.
The
question that comes to mind then is how can spiritual leaders be
effective? How can spiritual leaders be successful spiritually? How
can they have a genuine and lasting impact on their charge? Is there a
path to genuine spiritual effectiveness for the leader that God has identified
in His church?
As
the leaders go, so go the people. The New Testament tells us to follow
those who are over us in the faith and pattern our lives after them. Is
that a safe thing to do? How can we guarantee the effectiveness of
spiritual leadership?
Well
before answering that question it might be somewhat reasonable to rehearse for
just a moment or two the things that make spiritual leadership so very
challenging. Those who are called to preach, those who are called to
pastor, those who are called to be elders in the church have an immense
responsibility. Their responsibility is to administer the ordinances in
such a way as to lead the people to renew their covenant of obedience and to
confess their sin and to purify themselves from all filthiness of the
flesh. Their responsibility is to oversee the church, to govern its life
including the rebuke of the disobedient and the strengthening of the
faint. Their responsibility is to train and to appoint teachers and
workers for each believer so that they reach all of those who are in their care
and are able to in a diverse way offer biblical counsel and example for
resolving their doubts, their weaknesses, their fears, their difficulties,
their sins and their anxieties.
The
responsibility of the spiritual leader is also to be the physician who runs the
hospital which cares for all their infections, whether vice or heresy and leads
them to holy cures or expels them. And the spiritual leader is
responsible to be the tender shepherd who cares to see that all their needs are
supplied and all their wounds are healed and all their distresses are resolved.
The spiritual leader is to champion the truth, defending it and its flock. And
for all of that he must answer to Christ. And in all of it he is to be a
model of spiritual virtue and is to live what he wants the people to become.
Who
is qualified? Who can discharge such an immense responsibility
effectively? And yet here we are...called, ordained, set apart, put into
the ministry and now we are held against this standard that God has
established. We have such an immense range of responsibility, such a high
degree of responsibility before God, with all of our weaknesses in the flesh,
it is questionable whether any of us could ever succeed, and so many of us live
with the fear of failure. That's not uncommon.
All
of that should welcome us to this text. For in these marvelous six verses
Paul shares with us the principles for an effective ministry. He was like
us. He had the call of God. He had been set apart and
ordained. He had been given immense responsibility, the care of all the
churches which was the greatest burden that he bore. Called to preach,
called to lead, called to set the example that others could follow. He
too struggled with his flesh and found himself not doing the things he wanted
to do and doing the things he didn't want to do. He too battled the thorn
in the flesh which continually humbled him and made him dependent on God.
And so we can learn from him because he's one of us.
Follow
as I read those six verses which I trust shall bring to our hearts the principles
for an effective fail‑proof ministry. "For you yourselves
know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had
already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the
boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much
opposition. For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or
by way of deceit, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with
the gospel, so we speak not as pleasing men but God who examines our hearts.
For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for
greed, God is witness, nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from
others even though as Apostles of Christ we might have asserted our
authority."
In
those brief six verses I find the key to a fail‑proof ministry for all of
us. Here is the standard of spiritual leadership laid down that can
guarantee an effective ministry as God measures effectiveness.
Now
by way of footnote, the tone of Paul's words here is polemic. It sounds
like a defense and it is sure that it is a defense. Somehow and in some
way not known to us, the church in Thessalonica was being told lies about
Paul. Someone was attacking his integrity and someone or some group was
attacking his sincerity. They were doing everything they could to be
hostile toward the church and one way to tear up the church was to destroy its
confidence in the one that God used to found it, namely Paul. This group
may have included the Jews who were so utterly hostile to the gospel, it may
also have included pagan Gentiles who would be hostile to it as well.
Just
a little bit of a picture might help to understand how this can come to
pass. The ancient world was full of phony spiritual leaders. Leon
Morris writes and says this, "There has probably never been such a variety
of religious cults and philosophic systems as in Paul's day. East and
west had united and intermingled to produce an amalgam of real piety, high moral
principles, crude superstition and gross license. Oriental mysteries,
Greek philosophy and local godlings competed for
favor under the tolerant aegis of Roman indifference. Holy men of all
creeds and countries, popular philosophers, magicians, astrologers, crack pots
and cranks, the sincere and the spurious, the righteous and the rogue,
swindlers and saints jostled and clamored for the attention of the credulous
and the skeptical," end quote.
And
in that kind of a forum there was a tremendous amount of charlatanism. And it
would be easy for these accusers to just throw Paul into that same bag with all
of the rest of the phonies who were in it for their own personal gain of power,
possessions and prestige. The accusation then was being made against Paul
and no doubt against Silas and Timothy who were his partners in this ministry
with the Thessalonians. The attack was against their integrity and
against their sincerity. It was an effort to make the Thessalonian church
believe that they were wicked intentioned men, that they were self‑seeking
phonies like so many others. And so Paul writes back to this church,
answering his critics in a very simple, very direct way.
There's
a little footnote here also that will help you. He really calls them to
remember their own experience with him as validation enough. Verse 1,
"You yourselves know..." Verse 2, middle of the verse, "As
you know.." Verse 5,
"As you know." Verse 9, "For your
recall, brethren." Verse 10, "You are
witnesses." Verse 11, "Just as you
know." Six times in eleven verses he says let me just appeal
to what you know. I was there. You don't have to take second‑hand
information, you had first‑ hand experience. And by the way, he
calls on their knowledge again in chapter 3 verses 3 and 4, chapter 4 verse 2,
chapter 5 verse 2 and twice in 2 Thessalonians. All they had to do was
remember and that could dispel any such accusations.
But
in the process of calling them to remember how he minister, he goes back and
touches the principles that made his ministry effective. Now let's see
where he begins in verse 1. This is a general statement about the
effectiveness of his ministry, "For you yourselves, brethren, know that
our coming to you was not in vain." And he by the use of the word
"our" embraces both Silas and Timothy who were with him. He
says you know our coming to you was not in vain. You yourselves know it
is self‑evident, it was your experience, no one
needs to tell you, it is obvious. In verse 9 of chapter 1 he had said,
"They themselves report about you the tremendous change." Now
he says you yourselves know. It isn't a report you heard from someone
else, you know it by experience. Our coming to you means our entrance
with the preaching of the gospel. And he says it wasn't in vain.
The word kenos means it wasn't empty, it wasn't useless, it wasn't
without product, it wasn't fruitless, it wasn't pointless, it
wasn't futile. The word carries the idea of without purpose, of no
effect, inconsequential, of no importance. He says that's not how it
was. You know yourselves, brethren, that it was
not like that. It was not a failure. Conversely, it was a
success...just the opposite was true and you only have to reach back to last
Sunday to remember how successful it was as we trekked our way through the
tremendous richness of chapter 1 and how the Apostle Paul in verse 1 says you
are a church in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 2, we
give thanks to God always for all of you, meaning they were all for real and genuine.
And we know, he says in verse 3, your faith works, your love labors, and your
hope perseveres. And verse 4, we know, brethren, you're the beloved of
God, you're the elect. We know, verse 6, that
you became imitators of us and of the Lord. You became examples to all
the believers, verse 7. The Word of the Lord trumpeted out from you,
verse 8. Verse 9, you turned from idols to serve a
living and true God. And verse 10, you've been waiting for His Son
to come back.
Those
are all marks of a true work of God. So he says remember how it was, you
don't need anybody to give you second‑ hand information, you saw, you
experienced. The ministry was not in vain, not in vain in its quality,
not in vain in its content, not in vain in its results. The quality was
not hollow, it was packed with power. The content was not pointless, it was the dynamic Word of God. The impact
was not shallow; it was deep and far‑reaching, touching the world.
A strong church was born.
So
he had a powerfully effective ministry. But the question we want to ask
ourselves is how. What are the ingredients that made for effective
spiritual leadership? Let me give you five of them, and you have your
outline if you want to note them, we'll move through those five as rapidly as
we can.
Let
me just say this, you will notice that each of those five principles of
leadership relates to Paul's view of God. They relate to Paul's view of
God. And let me say what is so very very essential
for you to know. How you live your life and how you effectively operate
your ministry is in direct relationship to your view of God. That is the
most substantive underlying foundational element of theology in the life and
ministry of anyone. Why was Paul's ministry so dynamic in Thessalonica?
Because...one, he was confident in God's power. Two, he was committed to
God's truth. Three, he was commissioned by God's will. Four, he was
compelled by God's knowledge. And five, he was consumed with God's glory.
All of us live lives that reflect our view of God.
Now
let's look at these five. Number one, he was confident in God's power and
that gave him tenacity. Verse 2 he says, "But after we had already
suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in
our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition." Simply
stated, the man had such tremendous confidence in the power of God to energize
his ministry and to protect him from anything that might come against him to
harm him that he had a sense of invincibility. That translated immediately into
boldness and courage.
The
word but, ala, is a strong adversative. He is saying our ministry
was not in vain, but on the other hand, our ministry came to you with great
boldness and was full and rich and effective. Why? Because we knew
the power of our God and we were confident that our God was more powerful than
our opposition. That's what gives strength to the ministry,
tenacity. You don't bail out.
Just
to touch with what he says specifically, after we had already suffered and been
mistreated in Philippi, takes us back to Acts 16, doesn't it? You
remember the story of
The
term for suffering is obvious, it means just that. The term for
mistreatment perhaps needs a little understanding. It means to treat
shamefully, to treat in an insulting way, to treat outrageously in public,
calculated to insult and humiliate. So they were publicly humiliated as
well as physically abused. Physical pain, public
degradation. Why? For preaching the
gospel. So Paul says, either after or although, you can translate
that word either way, maybe we could translate it although, "Although we
had already suffered and been mistreated in
Now
what he didn't say, and I think I need to note this,
what he didn't say was this, since we offended so many people in
You
remember back in Acts 5 and verse 41, the wonderful testimony there, "So
they went on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they
had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name and every day in the
temple and from house to house they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus
as the Christ." What offended
So,
Paul said we came to you with the courage to speak out no matter what the
response might have been and no matter what the consequences were. The
tone of Paul's statement, I think, makes it clear that confident preaching
doesn't lead to popularity. Confident bold biblical preaching leads to
conflict which requires courage and boldness.
And
I have to say that the minister or the preacher's responsibility is not to
minimize conflict. The preacher's job is to expose sin, to expose the
symptoms of sin and the seat of sin, to confront the fatal condition of
unredeemed humanity and offer the cure for their wretchedness in the gospel of
Jesus Christ. We confront sin, we preach judgment, we preach law, we preach Christ crucified and we call for repentance and
often what that produces is opposition.
So,
he says we came and we were bold in much opposition. The word
"opposition," agon, struggle,
conflict, fight. The term refers to a life/death struggle, an
agonizing. And in the ministry, you know, there's always pressure to
compromise, there's always pressure to mitigate the message, there's always
pressure not to offend someone, always pressure to soften the Word somehow, to
sugar coat the message, to make it acceptable to sinners so it doesn't offend
them. But that wasn't Paul's strategy.
Now
where did he get this courage? Well right there in verse 2, "We had
the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God." We had
the boldness in our God. That is the source of his confidence. His
confidence is not in his flesh, it's not in his method, it's not in his
cleverness, it's not in his popularity. He knew
that if he preached a true message, he would not be popular. But he
trusted God who would hold him up and sustain him.
What
does it say in Ephesians 6:10? "Be strong in the Lord and in the
power of His...what?...of His might." Our
strength is in God. And he believed his God to be mighty and
powerful. And so he preached the gospel of God. That's a beautiful term,
by the way, the gospel of God. It's used over in verse 8 and also down in
verse 9 of the same chapter. It's used in Romans 1:1, it means the gospel
of which God is the source...and the gospel of which God is the subject. The gospel of God, God's gospel, the gospel from God about God, the
good news from God about what God is doing for sinners through His Son Jesus
Christ. He didn't alter it. He says we boldly gave God's
gospel. And our boldness came because we believed in the power of our
God.
I
submit to you that that is a mark of effective ministry. You preach a
true Word, you do not mitigate, you do not alter the gospel of God, you preach
God's gospel, not your own, you preach the message that God has identified and
laid out in His Word, not some other message. You do it not for
popularity but for the sake of truth. And when the opposition comes, you
trust in the power of your God no matter what the opposition. That's a...that's
a fail‑proof element for effective ministry. They counted the cost, they believed the message was right. They believed
their God was powerful. And they were true to the message and true to
their faith and their God and that gave them tenacity. There's more to
say but let's go to point two.
He
was committed to God's truth. He was not only confident in God's power
but he was committed to God's truth and that gave him integrity...that gave him
integrity. You see, the enemy would always think he could...he could
destroy you by opposition, not Paul. Then the enemy would think that he
could destroy you by questioning your integrity and having people lose their
confidence in you. If he can't destroy you with sheer
force. He'll try to get people to stop trusting you, to not trust
the honesty or sincerity or integrity of your heart. So that attack could
come as well. And in verse 3 he says this, "For our exhortation..."
and by the way, the word exhortation means an urgent appeal with a view toward
judgment, a cry, an appeal, a calling. And again, it speaks of the
urgency, the directness of his message. But he says, "Our
exhortation doesn't come from error or from impurity or by way of
deceit." And undoubtedly these were the things that were being
said. "Well, he's saying things that aren't true...if you really
knew him you'd know he was an impure man and a deceiver...he's preaching
untruth, he's preaching deception, he's a hypocrite." And so he
responds.
First
he says, "Our exhortation doesn't come from error." The word
"error" is so interesting. It's the word plane,
we get the word planet from it. The word error means to wander, to
roam. That's where planet came from. Error is roaming from the
truth, wandering as it were without any standard, without anything to contain
or control you. So they say...Look, he's just teaching error. Paul
says no, our exhortation does not come from error. He was committed to
God's truth. It was accurate. He was not deceived, neither was he a
deceiver. There was no false teaching here. There was only the Word
of God.
Some
must have accused him of ignorance, if not outright heresy or error.
Perhaps the antagonistic Jews were accusing him of being ignorant of the Old
Testament revelation. But he said I faithfully taught the truth, never
error. Paul was a guardian of the truth. When we were studying 1
and 2 Timothy, remember I told you time and time again how Paul says to
Timothy...guard the treasure. There's a guardianship. And I really
believe that somehow that might be lost in the pastorate very frequently.
We are guardians of the truth, keeping it pure to hand it to the next
generation. That's our responsibility.
When
you look for a church don't ask how good is their music, how good is their
children's program. Don't ask how clever is their preacher, how
interesting is he, ask this...how well do they guard the truth...how well do
they take care of the treasure of truth....that's the issue. He was a
faithful guardian of the treasure of truth. First Timothy chapter 6 verse
3, "If anyone advocates a different doctrine and doesn't agree with sound
words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the doctrine conforming to
godliness, he's conceited and understands nothing." That's
right. If he doesn't guard the truth, he's conceited and doesn't
understand anything. Why is he conceited? Because he'd
rather tell you his opinion than the truth. And how do you know he
doesn't understand anything? Because if he did
understand anything he'd be teaching the truth instead of his own opinion.
Chapter 6 verse 20, "O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to
you...guard it."
Second Corinthians chapter 2, one of the most provocative
verses in all of Pauline literature. Paul says in 2
Corinthians 2:17, "We are not like many, peddling the Word of
God." Hucksters, kapelos(?), con men, charlatans, peddling the Word of God
insincerely for their own ends and their own goals and their own
aggrandizement. But we're sincere from God and we speak in Christ in the
sight of God. We're not hucksters, con men, phonies.
He knew his stewardship. And that's why he reminds Timothy and all of us,
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who doesn't
need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of truth." He was
committed to God's truth. He did not speak from error. He spoke from
truth.
Beloved,
I'm telling you, that is the compulsion of my life, to
be sure that the best I can I speak the truth. False prophets, spiritual
phonies are still everywhere. Religious fakes are still common as they
were then. Philosophers, magicians, astrologers, crackpots, cranks,
rogues and swindlers as we said earlier, clamoring for people's minds are still
all over the place. The demand for effective ministry comes
down to...do you speak the truth? But he was not only committed to
speaking the truth, look back at the verse, he was committed to living the
truth. There is the integrity. Exhortation doesn't come from error
or impurity. I speak truth out of a pure life.
Now
this is fascinating. The term "impurity," akatharsia,
we get the word catharsis from it which is a cleansing. This is a‑catharsis,
something that's unclean. The word can be used of a physical uncleanness,
dirty, it can be used of some kind of social stigma, social uncleanness, but
primarily refers to sexual uncleanness. And let me just open the window
of your understanding a little bit on this. Most often this word seems to
have sexual connotations. It has always been true, it is still true that
charlatans, phonies, false teachers, false prophets
are not pure in the sexual area. We have had that exposed to us in major
ways, haven't we, in the scandals we've seen in the
last couple of years in Christianity. That's nothing new.
In
Paul's day the same thing was true. Many of the Greek cults, the mystery
religions for sure, were associated with sexual perversion. And in most of the
temples of the cults of ancient days there were temple prostitutes, ritual
prostitution which made the sex act with a ritual prostitute a religious
experience. Now that kind of religion would be very popular. False,
wicked religious leaders would seek converts then for the purpose of having a
sexual encounter with them. Orgies were common.
You
say, "Why did they do that? What was that all about?" Listen
very carefully. The spiritual leader, the religious leader was the man
who was closest to God, or the temple prostitute was the woman who was closest
to God. And so when you had a sexual relationship with them, that's how
you got in touch with deities. That's how they sold their religion.
Supposed leaders of the mystery religions were the link to deity and the link
was the through the phallus, the males were the real links with deity.
And so that's why they worshiped the cult of the phallus because that's how
they linked up with deity. The intercourse with the leader or the
charlatan or the phony religious faker was union with the deity and so intimacy
with the gods was achieved through fornication.
So
it was very typical then for these charlatans to come along and to woo women to
themselves for the sake of sexual satisfaction under
the illusion that this was a religious experience uniting them with the
deities. Sort of a counterfeit church as the bride of
Christ concept. By the way, the strange twist of this is the idea
that began in the ancient church that virgins were encouraged to dedicate their
members and their flesh to this kind of union, that's where the temple
prostitutes came from. The temple prostitutes were only for the temple and for
the religious leaders to enjoy. They were totally devoted to the gods and their
devotion reached the gods through intercourse with the temple leaders. By
the way, it might shock you to know that's where the whole concept of nuns came
from. And nuns to this day often wear a wedding ring because they are wed to
Christ.
What
can happen in this kind of situation is they're accusing Paul of winning
converts for sexual favors. Unimaginable. That's...that's
perhaps what underlies the word akatharsia,
lecherous love for the sake of fornication. Hey, was it common?
Remember the prophetess Jezebel in chapter 2 of Revelation who teaches her
followers to commit...what?...fornication? Sure,
that was part of the religion.
Peter
knew it. Under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, 1 Peter 2, he
describes the false teachers, the false leaders as sensual in verse 2. In
verse 3 they exploit you. He goes further than that even, he says in verse
12 they are unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured
and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge. Verse 13, they are
stains and blemishes reveling in their deceptions, they carouse,
they have eyes full of adultery. That was typical among those ancient
religionists.
Paul
is no filthy dreamer. Paul is no fornicator. Paul is no
adulterer. He speaks truth, he speaks it out of
a pure life.
The
third thing he says in verse 3 is that he does not come from deceit. Here
he moves from preaching to living to motive. And he says, "My motive is
not deceitful." The word "deceit" is dolos,
fish hook, trap, trick, that's what it means. He's not a deceiver.
The Greek false teachers would go to any length with their sorcery, their
magic, their juggling, their tricks, and their theatrics to gain a convert not
only for sexual favors but for money. They did it for filthy...what?...lucre...sure, 2 Peter 2:15 to 18, Jude 11.
Listen,
you show me a false teacher and a false prophet and I'll show you a person who
is looking for sexual favors and money. The pattern has never
changed. Go back to Jeremiah 23, the false
shepherds in the nation of
Psalm
78, "He also chose David, His servant, took him from the sheepfolds, from
the care of the ewes with suckling lambs he brought him to shepherd Jacob His
people in Israel, His inheritance...why?...so he shepherded them according to
the integrity of his heart." God wants a shepherd who has a heart of
integrity.
A
third essential element of effective ministry is brought out in verse 4, the
first part, he was commissioned by God's will and that gave him
authority. Not only tenacity and integrity but he had authority. He
was commissioned by God's will, verse 4, "But just as we have been
approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak." Stop at
that point. Boy, I love that statement.
Why
do you speak, Paul? Why are you doing this? Because we've been
approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak. We've been
commissioned by God's will. I'm under divine authority and yet I have
divine authority, a delegated authority. He didn't teach
error...no. In fact, he taught truth and it was the truth that God entrusted
to him. God entrusted with the good news. And so he moves from
commitment to the truth to the commission of God by which he had that
commitment.
Look
at the phrase "just as we have been approved by God." It's the
Greek verb dokimazo which means to be tested
and found valid, found good, to be approved after testing. It's a perfect
tense verb which means it indicates a lasting approval. We have been and
continue to be approved by God. God tested us, we passed and we are the
authorized ministers of the gospel. Paul is saying...I'm not self‑appointed,
I'm not doing this on my own, I was called by
God. And, of course, we all remember his calling, don't we, in Acts
chapter 9 on the
That
particular phrase he likes to use. And he uses it on a number of
occasions. First Corinthians 7:25, "Concerning virgins I have no
command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord
is trustworthy." He says God trusts me. I love that. God
trusts me, He trusts me with His truth, He trusts me to be His agent, He trusts
me to be His emissary, He trusted me to be His
minister.
Ephesians
3 verse 8, "To me the very least of all saints this grace was given to
preach to the Gentiles." God gave me the grace to do it, it isn't
that I am worthy apart from grace, but I am worthy in His grace. So he
says I'm not self‑appointed, I'm divinely commissioned, that puts
authority in my life. When I speak I speak in the place of Christ.
When I speak I speak in the place of God. I've been entrusted with the
gospel.
We
can get so far a field from that. The primary calling we have, ladies and
gentlemen, we who preach the Word of God, is to dispense that which we have
been entrusted with...the good news and all of its ramifications and
implications. Paul says God called me, God set me apart. He says
even in Galatians that he didn't even consult with men, he had such a unique
training time, God trained him personally and set him
apart for this ministry.
In
1 Timothy 1:11 he says, "The glorious gospel of the blessed God with which
I have been entrusted, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened
me because He considered me faithful, putting me into service who before was a
blasphemer," and so forth. We if we are in the ministry rightly have
been put there by Christ. Titus 1:3, "At the proper time manifested
even His Word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the
commandment of God our Savior."
So
here you have a man who is under command, under authority and yet has delegated
authority. And I believe that we have authority in our ministry that when
we speak we speak as those who have been chosen, approved, and placed by God in
this world to preach His truth. So we speak...I love that.
Literally, are speaking...present tense. We speak with the authority of
God who approved us for ministry. In fact, at the end of verse 6 he says,
as I read earlier, "We have a right to assert our authority because it is
the authority of God."
And
I don't believe that any of us can be effective without that authority. And
what gives authority to your ministry? Speaking the
Word of God powerfully and clearly. Your authority doesn't go
beyond the Scripture, but, boy, when you come you better come with the message
entrusted to you and know that when you preach it with power and conviction you
carry the authority of God. That's what makes an effective ministry.
There's
a fourth element in this. He was compelled by God's knowledge. He
was compelled by God's knowledge which gave him accountability. He not
only had a ministry marked by tenacity, he had a ministry marked by integrity
and he had a ministry marked by authority, he also had a ministry marked by
accountability. And that's the balancing point to authority in many
ways. Notice again verse 4, the middle of the verse, picking up that
little statement "so we speak," "Not as pleasing men but God who
examines our hearts for we never came with flattering speech as you know, or
with a pretext for greed." Why? "God is witness."
What's
he saying? I am compelled by God's knowledge. What do you mean by
that? I mean God knows everything. What motivates me is His
omniscience. He examines my heart. He witnesses everything about
me. That is a great measure of accountability, isn't it? In verse 4 he
says, "I don't come as pleasing men, I wasn't commissioned by men, I don't
preach the gospel of men, I was commissioned by God, I preach the gospel of
God, I do not preach it to please men."
Nowhere
does he make that more clean then in Galatians
1:10. After he has just blistered the Galatians up one side and down the
other he says, "For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Am
I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men I would
not be a bondservant of Christ." Apparently some had accused Paul of
being a men pleaser. And after he had laced them a few times, he then
says...does that sound like a men pleaser? He was no men pleaser.
He spoke the truth not to please men but to please God.
There
is one exception to that of great interest to us and I would just draw it to
your attention lest you be confused. First Corinthians 10:33, in 1
Corinthians 10:33 Paul says, "Just as I also please all men in all things,
not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many that they may be
saved." What he is here saying is quite different. When he
says I do not please men, he means I do not preach a message for the purpose of
pleasing men. What he means when he says “I do please men” in 1
Corinthians 10:33, is that I will gladly sacrifice my own profit and all my own
benefits in order that they might be saved. That's what he means.
He doesn't mean I will fit a message that will make them happy; he means I will
give my life to get them saved. I will please all men in all things in
the sense that I will reach to them and try to touch them and embrace them with
the gospel at any cost. But apart from that intent which is much like
what he said also in Corinthians when he said I become all things to all men
that by any means I might win some...he is simply saying in this context, I
want to please them in the sense that I want them to know that I would give my
life for them that they might know Christ. But I do not want to please
them...back to 1 Thessalonians...to the extent that I sacrificed truth, purity
or true motives.
So
he says, back to our text not as pleasing men but God. Why, Paul?
Why are you so consumed with pleasing God? Because God
examines our hearts. God examines our hearts. He's referring
here by the word "heart" to the inner self, the real you, where
thought and feeling and will and motive all meet. He says God scrutinizes
my deepest self, God scrutinizes my motives, God scrutinizes my intentions, God
knows those deep things and He knows so much that I am very aware that He will
know whether I am seeking to please men or Him. And I am compelled by
that knowledge.
Turn
back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4 for a moment. In verse 1 he says,
"Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of
the mysteries of God." In other words, let it be known that we are slaves, we are huperetes,
under rowers, third level galley slaves, the lowest kind of slaves of
Christ. We gladly take the most abject role of servanthood
under Christ and we are stewards, they're guardians of the treasure of the
mysteries of God, the new covenant. And with stewards, one thing is
needful, that they be found...what?...trustworthy,
faithful. You've been entrusted with it. Guard it. You're to
be trustworthy. Then he says this, now let's talk about evaluation.
"To me it's a very small thing that I should be examined by you or by any
human court." It doesn't really matter to me what you think, or what
any human tribunal thinks. In fact, I don't even examine myself.
First of all, it doesn't matter what you think because you don't know my heart.
And you're not the judge. Secondly, it doesn't even matter what I think
because, verse 4, I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by
this acquitted. Why? Because I'm not omniscient.
Even when I don't know anything against myself, God might know a lot of things
against me. So you can't judge me and I can't judge me. You don't
know me and you're biased against me. I know me and I am biased for
me. So neither of us are valid.
Furthermore,
neither of us is omniscient, and neither of us can really know all that needs
to be known. By the way, beloved, that will put you in touch with the
fact that you don't need to be all the time...all the time...all the time
fussing over your motivation because even when you don't know something against
yourself, God might know something against you, points to the fact that you're
not even a totally valid critic of your own life. So you just have to
yield up what you don't know to God and ask Him to make you what you ought to
be. And that's what he says. The end of verse 4,
"The one who examines me is the Lord." He lived under
that. He says, "Look, we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ to receive for the things done in the body whether they be good or phaulos."
Hey,
I'm under that. I'm under the realization that some day I'm going to
stand at the Bema Seat Judgment and the Lord is going to reward me for what He
knows. Verse 5, "Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the
time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the hidden
things in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts and then each
man's praise will come to him from God." That's accountability,
beloved. My accountability is not to the church. And I have said
this. Sometimes people say, "Well, you know, John, you need to have
more accountability to men because you might fall into sin." Listen,
I could have accountability to a hundred men and you can't...none of those men
can guard my thoughts, none of those men can guard the
intentions of my heart. No one can police that but my own heart and the
knowledge in my heart that God sees everything. That is the highest level
of accountability. That is the point of accountability. First Chronicles
28:9 says, "The Lord searches the heart." Revelation 2:23
Christ says, "I am He that searches the heart." And in verse 5
he says, "Look, we...we never came with flattering speech, as you know,
nor with a pretext for greed, God is witness." And he applies it.
Hey, God knows, God knows we didn't do that cause God knows everything about
us. You might be used to people who flatter you and you might be used to
people who are greedy and they come with a pretext or a pretension and they
want gain, they want physical sexual favors, they want money, they want power,
they want prestige. We didn't come that way, God is witness. We
live under the scrutiny of God. Your typical verbal hucksters may be
hypocrites, those liars with demon theology spawned by the pit may be hypocrites,
we never came with flattering speech.
You
know what flattery is? It's a form of exploitation. Flattery is
based on the fact that everybody's ego loves to hear good things about
themselves, right? We love to hear good things about ourselves. Now
if you say a good thing about a person and you have no intent other than to say
good about them, that's not flattery. If you say a good thing about a
person and have in your mind some purpose for that which will come to your benefit,
that's flattery. So you say something good to someone as a ploy to win
them to yourself for self interest and personal gain. You set them up for
your own deceptive purposes. Proverbs 29:5 says, "A man who flatters
his neighbor is spreading a net for his steps." Proverbs 26:28 says,
"A flattering mouth works ruin." And because people are so
egotistical, when people say nice things about them they get sucked in.
There's
a very vivid illustration of God's attitude toward flattery in Psalm 12:3,
"May the Lord cut off flattering lips." The purpose of flattery
is to gain power over people, a common ploy among religious charlatans.
Paul says we didn't do that because God's watching.
Secondly,
we didn't come with a pretext for greed. Not only did they want power but
they want possessions. This is to gain possessions. The pretext
means they hide their real intent. The word "pretext" is cloak, it's
an over cloak, covering the real intent. We didn't come putting a coat over
our greed. Let me tell you, false teachers all the same, they want sexual
favors, they want money, they wear a cloak, they'll flatter you to gain you and
then they'll strip you naked. Paul says I have not put a spiritual robe
over my greed, I'm not in the ministry for money, I'm
not in the ministry to get you. You remember what he said in Acts 20,
"I have coveted no man's silver and no man's...what?...gold
and I have worked with my hands so that I don't make the gospel chargeable to
anybody. God sees my motives. God sees my heart. I have
tremendous accountability.
Finally,
in the last verse, he was consumed with God's glory and that gave him
humility. He was consumed with God's glory and that gave him
humility. Verse 6, "Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you
or from others, even though as Apostles of Christ we might have asserted our
authority." We didn't look for esteem. We didn't look for
honor. We didn't want praise. We aren't Diotrephes.
The word zeteo here, seek, means to habitually
seek. We weren't habitually seeking honor, habitually seeking awards and
laurels and stroking and appreciation dinners and attention and accolades, and
applause and plaudits and prestige. The only glory Paul ever sought was
eternal, right?‑‑ 2 Corinthians
4:5. But he never sought what belonged to God, 1 Corinthians 9:16 he
said, "Look...16 to 18, he said...don't commend me, don't honor me, woe is
unto me if I preach not the gospel." I'm not worthy of any reward, I
didn't ask to be in the ministry, God placed me in the ministry. It was
against my will. If it was my will that did it maybe I could be
commended. It was against my will, don't commend me. Even though as
Apostles we could have asserted our authority, we were too preoccupied with all
the glory going to Him. We were specially called messengers. An
Apostle here means in the very technical sense Paul who was one of THE Apostles
and in a less specific sense, Silas and Timothy who were apostles not apostles
of Christ, that is chosen by Him, but apostles of the
church chosen by the church. Apostles can stretch beyond the Twelve and
Paul to embrace others, such as Epaphroditus.
So
he said we had some delegated authority but we never asserted ourselves and we
never sought honor, prestige. We never sought the chief seats; we never
sought to be the big shot. We knew our authority had to stop and be
balanced with accountability and humility.
It's
kind of a three‑legged stool that you sit on. If you have a throne
it has three legs, authority, yes, delegated from
Christ to speak His Word boldly and powerfully. Accountability, yes, you
better know that God knows everything you're doing and every thought and intent
of your heart. And humility, yes, you better be sure you seek not the praise
of men but that you give all the glory to God. Paul never said it better
then he said it in the glorious doxology of Romans 11, "For from Him and
through Him and to Him are all things, to Him be the glory forever,
amen." Humility.
What
makes an effective ministry? Tenacity, because you
trust totally in the power of God. Integrity,
because you're fully committed to the truth of God. Authority,
because you know you have on your life the commission of God.
Accountability, because of the knowledge of God, He knows everything. Humility, because you are consumed with the glory of God.
Bow your heads with me.
Let
me ask some questions particularly to those of you who serve in spiritual
leadership. Ask yourself this, will you? In the moment of silence...am
I willing to be bold no matter what the opposition, confident in God's
power? Am I willing to be a pure vessel with a pure message and a pure
motive committed to God's truth? Am I willing to wield the sword of
spiritual authority, the Word, without compromise, commissioned by God's
will? Am I willing to guard my heart motives and be utterly unselfish,
compelled by God's omniscience? Am I willing to seek only His honor and
humble myself, consumed by His glory? If yes to these, my ministry will not
be in vain.
Father,
confirm these things to our hearts this morning. Thank You for this rich
hour together in Your Word. Make us what You
want us to be. Give us leaders like Paul. We pray in Christ's
name. Amen.
Added
to the John MacArthur Collection located at:
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
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