service and ministry

Did you resolve to share Christ this year?

/ Richard Bargas / 4 Comments

At least he tried!I love fishing. I remember a time when a friend and I climbed a fence and hiked into an abandoned gravel pit to fish a pond we found inside of it. The pond wasn’t very large, (we were able to cast to the other side) but we figured that since it was inaccessible, it might have good fishing. We didn’t catch anything. There weren’t any fish in the little pond. No life at all. It was just a big whole where rainwater had collected.

Sometimes Christians are like that. They don’t venture out where the fish are, and they never catch fish. They reluctantly throw their hooks into a bucket. “Oh well,” they reason, “I guess I’m not an evangelist.” Or, we can be guilty of thinking that since we no longer have any unbelieving friends, we don’t need to share Christ.

Churches as a whole can be guilty of this as well. Instead of being about the business of saving souls, they focus on making everyone in the church comfortable, or inviting Christian friends from other churches to their church. Friends, that isn’t evangelism, that is, to change the analogy, sheep stealing. Moving sheep from one pen to another doesn’t increase the size of the flock.

Pastor E.V. Hill said that the church throughout the ages has struggled in this area, becoming “keepers of the aquarium instead of fishers of men.”

We are not to be keepers of our little (or big) aquarium. We are called by Jesus to be fishers of men.

In this blog post, I would like to call your attention to four facts about the call of every Christian to be fishers of men, or evangelists.

1. Jesus Uses Every Type of Person to Preach the Gospel. 

“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.” (Matt 4:18)

Jesus chose rough, unpromising men to be his Apostles. None of the original twelve disciples were formally trained, that we know of. The only exception was the Apostle Paul, who was a special exception all around. None of those Jesus chose were religious leaders. Many were fishermen. Matthew was a tax collector.

Many of them were so obscure in their background that we know very little about them. The other followers of Jesus included women, former prostitutes, slaves and slave-owners, businessmen and women, soldiers, and even politicians.

Although Jesus could have done the work of evangelism alone, his plan was to use his disciples to win other disciples for the kingdom. God uses means (us) to preach the gospel to the world (the end of which is to bring glory to God).

Have you ever considered how God has placed you where you are to effect change in your sphere of influence? We are called to take the gospel to our corner of the world, wherever that may be right not.

As a pastor, I have limited access to many different types of people in their “natural environment” even though I regularly evangelize and share Christ. As a matter of fact, whether at the barbershop or a party, nothing seems to kill a conversation quicker than the question, “So what do you do for a living?” I know that when I say, “I’m a pastor,” immediately most people tense up. I’ve seen beer cans disappear and language instantly cleaned up, followed by a change of subject or location!

Just talking.I have limited success and less opportunity to share the gospel with unsaved teachers as a Christian teacher can. I cannot reach out to unsaved businessmen in the same way that a Christian businessman can. I cannot gain the same access to unsaved students as a Christian student can. I can’t speak to your neighbors about Christ as well as you can. I don’t mean that you can explain the gospel in a different way, because the gospel message is the same to all of humanity. But we all have different relationships and are different people—and that gives us different opportunities and different personalities and different styles that God uses as his means for preaching the same gospel to different audiences. Everybody has access to a whole range of unbelievers that many others do not.

2. Jesus Calls Us to Evangelism as Part of Following Him.

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matt 4:19)

Peter, Andrew, James and John had had other encounters with Jesus before this incident in Matthew 4. This was not the first time they had followed Jesus. But now Jesus was calling them to make a bigger commitment. Included in this command to follow Jesus was the need to evangelize. Why?

  • It is the way of the wise (Prov 11:30)
  • It results in rewards (Deut. 12:3). This is our capacity to reflect the glory of God.
  • It is commanded (Matt 28:19-20). We may not be evangelists, but that does not exempt us from God’s command. As Paul told Timothy in 2 Tim 4:5, “Do the work of an evangelist”

Some excuses you may be using to excuse yourself, along with my response:

  • I don’t have any friends. So, make friends.
  • I only have Christian friends. So, make non-Christian friends.
  • I don’t know how to share my faith. Go to your pastor and tell him you’d like to learn. And then sign up to go out with your church when they do, or call an unsaved friend and make a date to have some coffee together.
  • I don’t speak well. Neither did Moses (Ex. 4:10-14)
  • I’m too busy.
    • Too busy to obey the Lord?
    • Too busy to pluck a soul from hell?
    • Too busy to throw the life-giving seed of the Word?
    • If this is truly the case, you are too busy and your priorities are sinfully warped and out of place.
  • I’m shy, I’m scared. This is the fear of man, and it is sinful.

Sometimes we would prefer to die for Jesus than to live for him….We are more concerned about looking stupid (a fear of people) than we are about acting sinfully (fear of the Lord). (Ed Welch, When People are Big and God is Small, pp. 39, 40.)

The reality is that a call to be a disciple of Jesus requires that we die to ourselves and live for Christ. Jesus said it clearly, “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matt 16:24). Our comfort and ease matter little in this regard.

3. Jesus is the One who Makes Us Into Fishers of Men.

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matt 4:19)

“I will make you fishers of men.”

Consider with me for a second the changes to John and James, two of Jesus’ disciples. Mark 3:17 says that Jesus gave these brothers the nickname, Boanerges, or “sons of thunder.” Why? It is quite possible because they were men who were rough around the edges—like bulls in a china shop, as we might say.  In Luke 9:51-56, the Sons of Thunder asked Jesus if they could call down fire from heaven to consume an inhospitable Samaritan village. This incident shows us that they did not have tender hearts of mercy for the lost (at least not all the lost). But they would learn, and they would be radically changed by the Lord.

James was the first of the Apostles killed for his faith (Acts 12:1-3). John was later known as the Apostle of Love because of his extensive writing about the love of God (see 1John 4:7-12). Both had learned to be servants and to love others as Christ loved them. They became excellent examples of fishers of men.

Peter preachingThink about the changes that happened to “first-to-stick-his-foot-in-his-mouth” Peter. Of course, he is most infamously known for being shackled by the fear of man when he had stated publicly that he would be willing to die for Christ before denying him (Matt 26:69-75). But the Peter we see after the resurrection is a completely different man. In Acts 2:14; 3:11-12; 4:7-8, he was set free from his fear of man to be bold for the Lord in his testimony. What was the difference? Acts 4:13 says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” They had been with Jesus and they had received his Spirit. This will be what makes a difference for us as well. As we spend time with the Lord, we will become more like him. We will grow in compassion for the lost and we will preach the gospel to them. When we deny ourselves, as Jesus did, all the excuses begin to melt away. When we remember that we are not alone in our evangelistic efforts, we find comfort and help. Consider Jesus’ words:

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:7, 13-14)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

You cannot evangelize in your own power. God empowers you to do what he commands you to do. He makes you a fisher of men.

4. Jesus Calls Some to Dedicate Their Lives in Full Time Gospel Ministry.

“Immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Matt 4:20). “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him” (Matt 4:22).

The disciples left everything (Matt 9:27). Worldly security. Family. Home. They did this to follow Jesus in full time ministry. But being dedicated to the ministry of the gospel is also a high honor (1Tim 3:1). Never again would Peter, Andrew, James and John be known as fishermen. These four and the rest would forever be known as Jesus’ Apostles.

God has not called everyone to be an evangelist or a full time minister of the gospel, but God has called every Christian to share his or her faith. This is not an option, nor is it a suggestion. It is a command. As we have seen, there is no excuse that we can come up with that is acceptable to the Lord. When we don’t share Christ with others, we are disobedient. There may be some who have felt that God might be calling them to give up their job for full time service in the gospel. Maybe it is to be a missionary or maybe to be a pastor one day. If that is the case, how are you preparing to obey the Lord’s calling on your life? Do something! If you don’t plan to do something, you are planning to do nothing.

What is Expository Preaching? Conclusion

/ Richard Bargas / 1 Comment

Expository preaching seeks to declare the Word of God in the clearest fashion so that the message that God intended is left unhindered. This can only be done by following the historical grammatical principles of hermeneutics so as to come to the proper understanding of the text. The structure of the sermon that is derived from that understanding must also be taken from the structure of the Scriptures so that the biblical text is always served by the homiletics, not the other way around. That sermon, when properly applied to the lives of the modern hearer will be used by the Holy Spirit to move the hearers as He sees fit. Above all, expository preaching has a high view of Scripture because it seeks to bring glory to God. Although there are many other forms of preaching that exist in the world today, it is this writer’s strong conviction that expository preaching is the only biblical method of preaching that does justice to God and His Word and therefore ought to be the norm in the Church today.

What Is Expository Preaching? Part 7

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THE EXPOSITORY SERMON – ITS EFFECTS
Once the sermon is prepared and preached it still has not completed its work. Hebrews 4:12 states that, “the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow,and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Such a powerful reaction can be expected to accompany the preaching of an expository sermon because it has allowed God to speak to His creatures. To be sure, wherever the Word is preached, there will follow certain effects.

It Glorifies God
In 2 Corinthians 4:5 Paul put preaching into perspective when he stated, “we to not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” Preaching is not finally about the preacher’s skill or ability to powerfully impact his hearers. It is not essentially about those who hear the message and their response to it. In the final analysis, preaching is about bringing glory to God.

The prophet Jeremiah was commanded to speak to the stubborn Israelites about then sinfulness, but God declared before Jeremiah spoke that they would not listen to his message, “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they
will not answer you” (Jer. 7:27). In declaring the Word of the Lord, Jeremiah was also declaring the righteous judgments of God not only to Israel but also to all the watching nations. The same thing is echoed in the words of the prophet Ezekiel, through whom God spoke saying, “But you shall
speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious” (Ezek. 2:7). The positive side of this call to faithfulness, is that when people hear of the mercy and forgiveness that has been purchased for them and they believe, then the name of the Lord is glorified (Acts 13:48-49).

Because expositional preaching allows the Word of God to speak rather than mixing God’s voice with other voices, it is God who is most clearly revealed in this type of preaching, and it is He who receives all the glory for His Word.

It Feeds the Soul
Jesus said it best when He declared, “It is written, MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.” Peter was instructed to make sure that he tended the Lord’s sheep in an appropriate manner that was reflective of the Good Shepherd (John 21:15-17), and that must include the regular diet of the Word of God.

Psalm 63 speaks of the hungering and thirsting for the Lord. This cannot be satisfied by emotional hype and other cheap substitutes. The satisfaction of the hungering soul can only be found in encountering God through the pages of Scriptures. It is also from this feeding of the soul through the preaching of the Word that Christians are able to grow up in their salvation (lPet 2:2). Of course, as the believer grows up in the faith, then it becomes his responsibility- to begin feeding himself (Heb. 5:12-13) along with the regular intake of the Word of God in preaching.

It Educates the Church
As a pastor feeds the sheep in his congregation on a steady diet of the Word expositionally preached, he will be developing in them a reverence for the Word as well as giving them a deepening understanding of how the Scriptures as a whole speak God’s message to them. In this day that we live in, our society is biblically illiterate. Some of this is because of our culture’s movement away from the biblical principles that were the
norm for society. But some of the blame must be laid upon the church for abandoning the expositional preaching of the Word of God for topical, thematic, biographical, social, moralistic and pragmatic messages that divorced the Word from its original message and intent.

The mission left by Christ, given to Paul and passed down to Timothy still applies to the church today, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2Tim. 2:2). It is therefore part of the expository preacher’s call to make sure that he is not just filling up forty-five minutes of time with lofty words, but that his message touches both the mind and the heart so as to produce faithful and knowledgeable disciples who are equipped to make other disciples themselves.

It Teaches Hermeneutics By Modeling
Part of the educational process of preaching is left unspoken but is a reality nonetheless. Expositional preaching (as all other types of preaching) eventually teaches the congregation how to study the Bible for itself. As the preacher proclaims the message, the listeners are discerning the process that he went through to derive such an interpretation. Shoddy preparation, eisogesis and shallow exegesis all proclaim to the church that the Word of God is not something to be taken seriously.

Because of this reality, the expository preacher must seek not only to be sure that he is fully prepared when he steps into the pulpit, but he must also seek to weave into his message explanations as to how he arrived at his conclusions and why he rejected others. Although he must be sure that he does not drown his listeners with confusing jargon and linguistics that they cannot understand, he must be prepared to teach them how they can delve deeper in their own personal studies. This will not only enrich their own lives, but it will also enrich the lives of those who are taught by them as well as further producing leaders and teachers who can equip others as well.

The Benefits of Expository Preaching

/ Richard Bargas / 2 Comments

  • It gives glory to God alone. Since expository preaching begins with the text of Scripture, it starts with God and is in itself an act of worship.
  • It makes the preacher study God’s Word. The first heart God’s Word needs to reach is the preacher.
  • It helps the congregation. It enables the congregation to learn the Bible.
  • It demands treatment of the entire Bible. It prevents the preacher from avoiding difficult passages or from dwelling on only his favorite texts.
  • It provides a balanced diet. Exposition affirms the priority and sufficiency of a text. We serve our people best when we make clear that we are committed to teaching the Bible by teaching the Bible.
  • It eliminates Saturday night fever. It liberates the preacher from last minute preparation and it doesn’t leave the congregation wondering what the preacher will talk about on Sunday.

Adapted from the new edition of Preaching for God’s Glory by Alistair Begg.

HT/Crossway

What is Expository Preaching? pt. 5: Abusing the Bible in Preaching

/ Richard Bargas / 2 Comments

Preaching is both an art and a science. There are some things that can be taught in a seminary and some things that must be given by God and developed by the preacher. With that said, there is some place for creativity in the sermon, although it must always be subservient to the biblical text and cannot drive the sermon.

When an expositor has done his homework (deriving the meaning of the text from grammatical, historical and contextual studies in the exegetical process) he will more easily be able to construct an exegetical outline of the text—one in which the biblical language and “dress” are still present and the main idea of the chosen text is firmly established. This “main idea” is not flexible—it is the idea that the original writer meant to convey when he wrote to his original audience.

This is important to get right before jumping ahead to a preaching outline and application. If this original meaning is not established and these important steps are skipped over, then anyone can make the Bible say anything that they want. But Scripture is clear that this is not the way one is to treat the biblical text:

 Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2Pet 1:20-21)

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. (2Tim 2:15)

The Apostle Peter knew that he would soon be dying for the faith (2Pet 1:14) and that there were some claiming to have extra-special experiences and secret teachings that, in their opinion, should override the Apostles’ teaching (2Pet 1:16). Peter had experienced the Transfiguration of Christ, a clear manifestation of heavenly glory, complete with the double Apostolic witness of James and John in the presence of Jesus (v. 18). This experience, Peter wrote, was not as valuable or reliable as the very Word of God revealed (v. 19).

And Paul, who is also facing his own martyrdom, wrote to his young protégé Timothy from a Roman prison (2Tim 4:6-7) is not concerned for his own life, but rather that Timothy is faithful to “preach the Word” faithfully (2Tim 4:1-2) and accurately.

Yet, some pastors handle to Word so loosely that they teach the sheep in their congregation to do the same—handling it haphazardly, with little regard for what God meant when he wrote his Word.

The following is an example of an example of such careless abuse of the Word of God from a pastor who should know better, but apparently does not. This excerpt is from a local church’s website describing the senior pastor’s “revelation” from God including “God’s own words.”

One night, God ministered to Steve from Isaiah 54:2–4. Steve read it like this, with God speaking His words right into his heart.

“Enlarge the place of your tent”: It’s time to move to a bigger place so that I may do a bigger work.

“And let them stretch out the curtains”: Steve, I will have other people come by your side to co-labor.

“Do not spare; lengthen your cords”: Strengthen your leadership!

“And strengthen your stakes”: Steve, I am going to do a deeper work.

“For you shall expand to the right and to the left”: The church shall reach out to the right and left of the Los Angeles 110 freeway.

“Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed!”

The property the church began looking at would fulfill all that God had promised to Steve. [1]

Notice that in its original context, the Scriptures are addressed to God’s people, specifically future Israel. If a person were to stop and look at the Isa. 54:1, the prophet Isaiah calls Israel “barren one” and verse 7 says that for a brief moment, the Lord had deserted her.  Would this pastor and church say that they had been barren and deserted by God previously, but now they were turning from their wicked rebellion and returning to God so that he would bless them? I do not think so, but even if they would say that this was true, it was not written to them for a private interpretation such as was given by this pastor, complete with references to the 110 freeway. Such fanciful interpretations are reckless.

This is why the whole sermon must be driven by the text and not the other way around where the pastor comes to the text with his own point of view and finds a text to fit his own preconceived ideas. To do so is to rape the biblical text.

[1] Bold emphasis mine. Quote taken from http://www.ccsouthbay.org/pastor-steve/. Accessed 4/19/11.