DO YOU LABOR IN VAIN?

 

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.  (1 Cor.15:58)

Maybe it has been a hard week—there are always challenges in ministry.  The Devil will see to that—and sometimes he isn’t even needed, as some church folk seem to fill the role of “Accuser” quite well.  Now, the hour for the Sunday morning sermon is coming like a freight train down the tracks.  So, can we suck it up, and go forward?

Paul says that we can—and we must.  It isn’t that we are promised reward here.  We may not see the success we pray for now.  What we do, we must do in light of eternity.  Jesus is alive and that makes all the difference!  After expounding the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Paul makes the application for all the saints in 1 Corinthians 15, but I think is very pointed for pastors.

The reality of the resurrection is a call to STAY THE COURSE by being “steadfast.”   Be faithful to the finish.  Don’t back up or back down!  Things looked awfully bleak on Friday night with Christ’s corpse locked up in the darkness of a tomb.  That changed come Sunday morning, did it not?  When we feel the darkness enclosing, don’t despair for a new day will dawn—and especially that eternal day.  At the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will be thrilled to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

The reality of the resurrection is furthermore a call to STAND OUR GROUND by being “immovable.”  Our faithfulness must be grounded on the bedrock of Biblical convictions.  We live in days when hurricanes of heresy rage against us.  We must dig in our heels and not be moved.  Too many evangelical preachers have become like weather vanes adjusting to the prevailing winds of modern man.  God has given us His Word—anchor your ministry on it.  Stand up and speak up!

The reality of the resurrection is also a call to SERVE WITH EXPECTANCY by “always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.  I have been preaching for nearly 40 years now.  There was a time I was a young preacher—like some of you reading this—but I got over it and so will you!  Life rushes by.  Death may come suddenly, but it will come, sooner than we anticipate.  In light of eternity, what are we doing today that will outlive us?  I assure you that work done in the name and for the glory of Jesus is never wasted and ultimately rewarded!  My mentor, the late Stephen Olford, said many times, “Only one life; ‘Twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last!”  He lived by that creed and I have tried to follow his faithful steps. 

It will be worth it all when we see Jesus!  Dear brothers, our labor is not in vain!

SEEK UNCTION!

A living, loving, gospel sermon, however unlearned in matter and uncouth in style, is better than the finest discourse devoid of unction and power. A living dog keeps better watch than a dead lion, and is of more service to his master; and so the poorest spiritual preacher is infinitely to be preferred to the exquisite orator who has no wisdom but that of words, no energy but that of sound. The like holds good of our prayers and other religious exercises; if we are quickened in them by the Holy Spirit, they are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, though we may think them to be worthless things; while our grand performances in which our hearts were absent, like dead lions, are mere carrion in the sight of the living God. O for living groans, living sighs, living despondencies, rather than lifeless songs and dead calms. Better anything than death. The snarlings of the dog of hell will at least keep us awake, but dead faith and dead profession, what greater curses can a man have? Quicken us, quicken us, O Lord! ^[1]

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^[1] Spurgeon, C. H. (2006). Morning and evening: Daily readings (Complete and unabridged; New modern edition.). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.

INSTANT INSPIRATION

 

“Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.  ‎For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”  (Luke 12:11-12)

I cannot but wonder how I would respond if my life were threatened with persecution for the cause of Christ.  It would be easy to be full of bluster and self-confident today that I would surely stand then.  In reality, I have doubts—about myself.  That is where my faith must rest on the promise of Christ, and not in the power of man—for that is wholly inadequate.  There is a breaking point for me—and it might not be much—yet, there is limitless power in Him.

What would I say?  What would I do? 

Trials are coming; opposition is intensifying.  Al Mohler, the President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said, "We will know very soon where every church and pastor stands on crucial questions. There will be no place to hide."   

We can speak up!  The Spirit promises instant inspiration—I need not plan ahead of time.  He will speak through me. The grace will be there when demanded—and not a minute before.  Truly, I have seen this miracle happen.  Although I have never faced a trial so severe as what Jesus alludes to here, I have been “put on the spot.”  Someone has challenged my faith, someone has attacked me verbally, or just the circumstances of life have driven me, so that I had to have instant inspiration—and the Spirit has given it!

A peril, however, is for the lazy pastor who wants to claim this promise out of context—and rather than study, squander his time on the trivial, and ask God for instant inspiration!  God does not bless sloth!  The late Bible teacher, John Phillips, commenting on these verses, and on that kind of folly in failing to prepare a sermon, writes, “The man who does not know what he is going to say five minutes before he gets up can be sire that most people will not remember what he said five minutes after he sits down.” (“Exploring the Gospel of Luke,” p.180).  In this case, the people will find their spiritual hunger unsatisfied by the small packet of instant inspiration we try to microwave and serve them!

THE ROD OF GOD

So the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod." (Exodus 4:2 )

Moses is one of the great Bible heroes. His first attempt at delivering his people, however, had been a disaster. Seeing an Egyptian abusing one of Moses' fellow Hebrews, he killed him and buried him in the sand. How long would it have taken to deliver Israel at that rate--one per day? Not only so, but Moses' bloody secret was out. The cat was out of the bag--or in this case the corpse! So, he fled for his life. He would spend forty grueling years tending his father-in-law's flock on the backside of the wilderness. This was God's discipline to humble him and shape him that He might use him. Until God brings us to the end of ourself, we will never discover what He alone can do because He alone is all we have.

There was THE SERIOUS PROBLEM Moses posed to God. When the Lord calls him, he recalls his failure, and an objection arises, "But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice" (4:1) It was an excuse masquerading as a reason not to obey. There was an element of truth, however. If Moses could not back up his claims, then his efforts would bring another failure, on a grander scale. The fact is that we cannot lead people wfor God publicly until the evidence is there that we have listened to God privately.

Here is THE STARTING POINT.  So the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" (4:2) We often think that when we get to a certain place, obtain better resources, or develop greater skills that God can use us. What we fail to grasp is that God meets us where we are to bring us where He wants us to be. In the midst of the mundane, God can intersect with us. An old scrub bush in the wilderness can become the sacred spot where the Eternal One is encountered. The piece of wood in our hands can become a tool for God to work wonders! Remember how Jesus took a lad's lunch and fed 5,000? The starting point of the miracle was when all was surrendered to Jesus.

We must deal with THE SERPENT'S POISON.  And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. (Exodus 4:3) Moses must have wondered why God would have him throw away a perfectly good staff. When he obeyed, he found it had the nature of the serpent about it so long as Moses controlled it. Anything not surrendered to God does.

Moses then finds THE SPIRITUAL POWER.  Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail" (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), "that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you." (4:4-5) From now on this staff that in the hand of Moses could only do what Moses could do would be known as the rod of God and through it God would do only what He could do!

What has God called you to do? Will you surrender all you have so He can use you?

THE CENTRALITY OF THE CROSS IN OUR PREACHING

 

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  (1 Corinthians 2:2)

In the very center of London you will find a place called Charing Cross.  The locals simply call it “the Cross.” The story is told of a London police officer who came upon a lost child.  The child was crying and unable to tell him where he lived. The boy said, “If you will take me to the Cross, I think I can find my way home from there”.  That is still true today!  In an age where many churches are taking down the cross from their buildings so as not to be offensive, we will still cling to the old rugged cross!  When has it not been offensive?  At the center of our faith stands the cross.

 The cross is central in its PROCLAMATION (1 Cor.2:1)  It was the core of New Testament preaching.  Paul underscores this in his ministry.  He did not seek to enthrall them with soaring oratory—with human eloquence—or to enchant them with sublime philosophy—with human intelligence.  Rather it was a simple sermon—a testimony.  Notice that the Apostle connects his preaching with the glory of God (1 Cor.1:26-31), so he will not seek to exalt himself but exalt Christ!  No preacher can seek his own glory and seek God’s at the same time.  Paul wrote in Gal.6:14, “God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   

The cross is central in its PREEMINENCE (1 Cor.2:2)  There had been many crosses erected on that skull-shaped hill outside Jerusalem.  Perhaps hundreds of Jews had been crucified there.  On that day there were three crosses—but it is the central cross that is pre-eminent—the cross where Jesus was crucified.  That is our focus.  It draws our gaze.  We stand transfixed at it—its horror and its attraction, at the same time.  There are those who want to take the cross and make it an object of beauty—gilding it with gold and setting it with precious gems.  That is not the cross of Christ.  Rather it was a cruel instrument of death.  It is in the Son of God crucified that we can be forgiven—paying the debt of sin we couldn’t pay.

The cross is central in its POWER (1 Cor.2:3-5).  Apparently, there was nothing imposing about Paul’s physical presence.  He may have sounded more like Don Knotts than James Earl Jones.  But it wasn’t the charisma of his person, but the content of his preaching that provided the power to transform lives.  He contrasts the faith that is rooted in man’s wisdom and that which is in God’s power.  The former is a sham-faith and the latter a saving faith.  In the first, some Christian salesman uses emotional manipulation and psychological techniques to talk someone into a decision.  I bought a time-share like that once—and came to regret it and sold it.  It wasn’t what it was cracked up to be.  That only cost a few thousand dollars.  This kind of preaching can cost an eternal soul!  When the Gospel is proclaimed in faithfulness, the Holy Spirit’s power convicts of sin, and generates faith in the heart of man. It is a miracle—a dead man coming to life, a blind man coming to see, a deaf man to hear, and a crippled man to walk!  Only God can do that!  Brothers, I implore you, "PREACH THE CROSS!"

WE SPEAK FOR GOD

Will it be well when He searches you out?  (Job 13:9a)

It is not a claim to make rashly: “God has called me to preach.”  When we stand behind the sacred desk, we are claiming to speak for God.  That is a grave responsibility.  What we say will be searched out at the Judgment Seat of Christ.  Will it be well with us then?  That is the question Job directs to his three “comforters.”  These men show no hesitation to claim to speak for God.  But, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as the old saying goes.  Job was convinced that they would be weighed in the balances on that Day and be found wanting—the words which became a heavy burden upon Job would prove to be as light as dust in eternal significance—blown away and gone with no reward.

Job speaks of their sermonizing this way:

But you forgers of lies,

You are all worthless physicians. 

Oh, that you would be silent,

And it would be your wisdom! 

Now hear my reasoning,

And heed the pleadings of my lips. 

Will you speak wickedly for God,

And talk deceitfully for Him? 

Will you show partiality for Him?  

Will you contend for God?

Will it be well when He searches you out?  

Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man? 

He will surely rebuke you

If you secretly show partiality. 

Will not His excellence make you afraid,

And the dread of Him fall upon you?

Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes,

Your defenses are defenses of clay.  (Job 13:4-12)

Sound doctrine is vital—let us hammer out our theology on the anvil of Scripture, heated by the fire of fervent prayer, lest we be the forgers of lies.  People are spiritually sick—will we give them a placebo or a cure?  Will we pat them on the back and tell them they are well, when they are carrying a malignant evil that needs to be removed by the scalpel of Scripture?  It would be better to shut up, than to claim to speak for God words of folly!  How much error will be propagated in pulpits tomorrow in the disguise of truth?  May we consider the dreadful experience to stand naked before the Judge and have our sermon dissected and found to be nothing but pious platitudes and an indefensible doctrine.  The congregation longs to be fed, and woe to the shepherd who fills their mouth with ashes.  The sheep look for refuge from the wolves of this world, and do we fashion for them a wall of clay?  Let us fall on our knees in urgent petition and solemn humility and ask God to speak through us.  It is a serious thing to claim to speak for God!

RUNNING ON FUMES

 

The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain…. (2 Timothy 1:16)

Paul was running on fumes.  Locked up on death row—he was worn down, cold, suffering, isolated—it would have been easy to give up.  Don’t say you have never been tempted to walk into the pulpit, resign, walk away and wash your hands of the whole business!  I’ve started to do that several times.  This morning I felt like I was running on fumes—the gas gauge was way below the E.  What kept Paul going is a man named Onesiphorus who put some fuel in the Apostle’s tank!  He would show up—sent by God—time and again, when the old preacher needed it most.  Others may have deserted him—ashamed of Paul and his message—not Onesiphorus.  He exulted in the courage of the elderly man of God, and boldly announced his affiliation with the Gospel jailbird!  Paul prays for God to pour out great mercy on that man and his family because of what he had done for the cause of Christ in supporting God’s preacher.  This morning, “Onesiphorus” sent me an e-mail—commending me for the daily devotionals I am sending out.  He had so much good to say about my ministry, at a time when I was feeling very disillusioned about it.  That “Onesiphorus” put some fuel in my tank!  I can run a bit farther down the Highway of Holiness in the Bible Bus now.  God, bless him and his sweet wife!  He made a difference in me!  I pray that you have an Onesiphorus.  Every preacher needs at least one.  Sometimes the faces and names change, but the heart is always the same—a love for God’s man who brings God’s message.  Precious servant of the Lord, will you let me be that to you right now?  Listen to me: your work is not in vain!  God sees.  He is keeping account.  There is a reward coming.  May God give you great power as you preach the Word!

Precious Father,

Would you send that discouraged servant an Onesiphorus to put some gas in his tank?  Please stand by him, for he cannot stand alone.  Raise up an Aaron and Hur to hold his hands up. 
For the glory of Your Name,
Amen!