pastoral ministry

Pastor Like Paul, part 5

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

close-to-corinth

“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,”–2 Timothy‬ ‭3:10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The Christian faith depends upon not only faithful discipleship, but on faithful disciples who continue in the pattern they have received. In their last four posts in this series we looked at 5 ways we need to follow (or strive to be) a godly Christian leader:

  1. Follow the Same Doctrine
  2. Follow the Same Conduct
  3. Follow the Same Purpose
  4. Follow the Same Faithfulness
  5. Follow the Same Patience

You can read part 1 here,  part 2 here, part 3 here and part 4 here. In this post we will look at “the greatest of these…”

6. Follow with the Same Love

The KJV uses the word “charity” here, which doesn’t mean what you give to less fortunate people, but a selfless act of love that is shown to others in the spirit of God’s love for us. This is that word Greek word for love known as agape.

The best way to define what Paul meant by follow his love, is to define his live by his own words and life. So, I compiled a list of ten features of love as described and modelled by Paul.

  1. Love is shown at the cross: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, ESV)
  2. Love includes patience: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant” (1 Corinthians 13:4, ESV); “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,” (Ephesians 4:2, ESV)
  3. Love must be pursued: “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14:1, ESV); “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” (2 Timothy 2:22, ESV)
  4. Love must be our motivation: “Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:14, ESV); “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;” (2 Corinthians 5:14, ESV)
  5. Love confronts sin: “For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” (2 Corinthians 2:4, ESV); “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,” (Ephesians 4:15, ESV)
  6. Love forgives: “So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.” (2 Corinthians 2:8, ESV)
  7. Love sacrifices: “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?” (2 Corinthians 12:15, ESV) ; “But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.” (1 Thessalonians 2:7–8, ESV)
  8. Love discerns truth from error:“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,” (Philippians 1:9, ESV)
  9. Love unifies Christians: “complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” (Philippians 2:2, ESV) ; “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Colossians 3:14, ESV)
  10. Love works hard in service:“remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:3, ESV)

That, my friends, helps us put the cookies on the lower shelf when we say, how can I show someone love, doesn’t it? Love is practical, painful and it must be pursued. Paul told Timothy, that he needed to continue to follow his example of loving in these ways, and so do we!

Brothers, we are leading others. The question is, where are we leading them? Are we leading them toward Christ, or away from him? Are we setting examples in our faithfulness, patience and love, or are we showing them instead an example of faithlessness, impatience and selfishness? If we fail we will not only feel remorse over wasted time, but we will also recreate our poor example in others, and worst yet, we will stand before the Lord and give an account for how we led others. May God help us to set the pace for those around us to follow Christ with their whole lives, just as we seek to do the same.

Preachers Who Don’t Love People

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

lloydjones“The trouble with some of us is that we love preaching, but we are not always careful to make sure that we love the people to whom we are actually preaching. If you lack this element of compassion for the people you will also lack the pathos which is a very vital element in all true preaching. Our Lord looked out upon the multitude and ‘saw them as sheep without a shepherd’, and was ‘filled with compassion’. And if you know nothing of this you should not be in a pulpit, for this is certain to come out in your preaching.”

-Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers

Pastor Like Paul, part 4

/ Richard Bargas / 1 Comment

Paul

“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,”–2 Timothy‬ ‭3:10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The Christian faith depends upon not only faithful discipleship, but on faithful disciples who continue in the pattern they have received. In their last three posts in this series we looked at 4 ways we need to follow ( or strive to be) a godly Christian leader:

  1. Follow the Same Doctrine
  2. Follow the Same Conduct
  3. Follow the Same Purpose
  4. Follow the Same Faithfulness

You can read part 1 here,  part 2 here and part 3 here.

5. Follow with the Same Patience

The KJV uses the word “longsuffering” here, which I always like. Makrothumiarefers to the patient enduring of pain or unhappiness. Literally, this is longsuffering!If we are an impatient society, which we are, then we don’t really practice longsuffering very well most of the time.

Why was Paul patient?

Because the Lord had always been patient with him! “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:15–16, ESV)

To whom should we be patient?

Not the false teachers of vv. 1-9! Look at v. 5. It says, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Timothy 3:5, ESV, emphasis mine).

Also look at what Paul wrote in Titus 3:10-11, “As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.” (Titus 3:10–11, ESV)

We are to be patient with one another, and most notably with immature Christians. “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:2, ESV)

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14, ESV)

There is a repeated refrain you hear throughout the Old Testament—Israel is a “stiff-necked” people (Ex 32:9; 33:3, 5, 9). The people are “stubborn” (Deut 9:6, 13). They are “rebellious” (Deut 31:27). The best example this is in Isaiah 48:4, where the Lord said, “Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,” (Isaiah 48:4, ESV)! Wow!

The Lord is longsuffering with his people! We are all too often guilty of being stiff-necked, stubborn and rebellious. But I want you to think about this. The steadfast love of the Lord is never ceasing! That phrase “steadfast love” occurs 393 times in the ESV translation, with the majority in the book of Psalms. The steadfast love of the Lord is made most evident in his longsuffering with us. That is why it was sung by Israel, because God’s people know how much we deserve wrath, and yet we receive his patience and love instead!

Paul had learned this about the Lord, and so should we. How would Paul address that troubled church that was so mired in its sin and broken in disunity? How would he speak to them and about them? In 1Corinthians 1:10, Paul begins, “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” (1 Corinthians 1:10, ESV). He appeals to them! He calls them “brothers!”

And when Paul wrote to his friend about a runaway slave, we find a similar patience in his words. In Philemon 8-9, Paul wrote, “Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus—” (Philemon 8–9, ESV)

O how we need to learn longsuffering with God’s people! What faith we will need! If you need to grow in you patience with people, then you will need this last characteristic of a godly leader—love. We will look at this in the next post.

How NOT To Grow Christ’s Church

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

A556B2E1-789A-403C-BB6E-3F9FD5BD3550

“What we see happening most often is that a Christian bored or unsatisfied with the goods and services at his church goes to the more attractive church with the more rockin’ worship, more dynamic preacher, fancier facility, better coffee, bigger kids’ or students’ ministry, etc., but five to six years later (and in many cases, even less), they become dissatisfied with that experience and are ready to go find another. It seems in fact that the very paradigm of the attractional church creates this instability. As a church seeks to speak into a particular demographic or life stage, channeling significant resources into certain key areas of a church, it ends up attracting people whose life stage or circumstances most resonate with those offerings. But when they stop resonating, they stop going. So the retention rate for the attractional megachurch is not very promising.”—Jared Wilson, The Prodigal Church, 35.

Pastor Like Paul, part 3

/ Richard Bargas / 2 Comments

“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,”–2 Timothy‬ ‭3:10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We have been learning what it means to follow a good leader, and how to be a good leader ourselves. We are doing this by reading Paul’s last letter to his spiritual child, Timothy, who was a pastor in Ephesus.

The Christian faith depends upon not only faithful discipleship, but on faithful disciples who continue in the pattern they have received. In their last two posts in this series we looked at 3 ways we need to follow the good Christian leader:

  1. Follow the Same Doctrine

  2. Follow the Same Conduct

  3. Follow the Same Purpose

You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here.

4. Follow with the Same Faithfulness

Faith Defined

The Greek word pistos refers not just to the content of our faith, but it also can be rendered “faithfulness.”

Faith, in general, means to believe in something, to have confidence and trust in something or someone, but Hebrews 11:1 defines it more accurately. It says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, ESV)

Faith Lived Out

It is important to note that this definition of faith comes at the head of a whole chapter of earthly struggles that God’s people overcame in the strength of the Lord. Hebrews 11 shows us that biblical faith is not a painless faith, it is not an easy faith. To believe is only part of it. But faith runs deep and it trust God even in the hardest and darkest times.

Think about what Paul is going through at the time he penned these words to Timothy. He is facing certain death and his life up to this point has been hard. Read with me 2 Cor 6:4-10 to remember what Paul suffered for Christ: “but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.” (2 Corinthians 6:4–10, ESV)

Do you see how faith looks when it is lived out? Paul wants Timothy to have this sort of faith. Surely he had seen the suffering and hatred he faced. Paul’s teaching, conduct and aim in life had led to this sort of treatment for him, and it would surely lead to this in Timothy’s life as well. And will have this response if we follow the model Christ laid out for us as well.

Timothy seemed to have struggled with wavering faith that resulted in fear and shame at times.

  • “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,” (2 Timothy 1:7–8, ESV)
  • which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.” (2 Timothy 1:12, ESV)
  • “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains,” (2 Timothy 1:16, ESV)
  • “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15, ESV)

Timothy needed to learn that “the promises of God are true and reliable.” We need that lesson too.