SUCCESSFUL SERVICE

Should we pursue success in the Lord’s service?  Let me put it this way, “Do you want to be a failure at such a vital assignment?”  I want to hear above all when I stand before the Judge, “Well done, good and faithful servant…Enter into the joy of your Lord,” (Matt. 25:23). The question is, “By what metric do we measure success?”  

In the modern church world it is has often been gauged by how many buildings we put up, how many bucks we took up, and how many backsides we sat down. Those are not insignificant, but not the final measurement. Paul lists three standards for successful service in 1 Thessalonians 2:10 that any servant of the Lord can attain.

First, we are to be devoted toward God, “how devoutly…we behaved.”  This is service that is RESPONSIVE. The grace of God was not given in vain to Paul. He was devoted to the Savior who dedicated Himself to the Apostle. His service was not to earn God’s favor, but a response to God’s love. In Rom. 12:1, he set this as our standard, “ “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” The first commandment is to love God with all our being. 

Second, we are to be just toward man, “how…justly…we behaved.”  This is service that is RIGHTEOUS. Our conduct in the world is to be just in how we deal with our fellowman. In the neighborhood, the marketplace, or wherever we go, we are to treat people right!  The second commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. To claim to love God is only credible as we love those who are created in His image. 

Third, we are to be blameless toward believers, “how…blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe.”  This is service that is RIGOROUS. We are called to scrupulously seek sanctification. Holiness is to be the gauge of our service in the fellowship of the saints. It should be more than a claim expressed, but a conduct exhibited. God is our Creator and we are to love Him, humanity is His creation and we are to love them, but the church is His Bride and we are to love her. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another,” (John‬ ‭13‬:‭34‬‬). The church is His new creation and Christ calls us to a new love that He demonstrated —a rigorous commitment to the people of God.

Be faithful in pursuing these three spheres of service and God will make you fruitful as He sees fit.

POWERFUL PREACHING

Paul was a powerful preacher. His impact is still felt two millennia later, and has shaken earth and eternity. It was not his personal charisma (he had none) nor his persuasive communication (he could not). In fact, this is what others said of him, “his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible,” (2 Cor.‬ ‭10‬:‭10‬‬). 

The Apostle would not deny the description, as he said this, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Cor.‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭5‬‬). 

Paul gets to the reconciliation of these polar opposites—human frailties overcome by heavenly force. This is what makes for powerful preaching as defined in 1 Thess. 1:5. 

Powerful preaching demands EXPOSITION THAT IS ACCURATE, “Our gospel.”  The Gospel Paul preached was accurate. The message was comprehensible, and convictional. If the message is not accurate, then God will not bless it. One may draw a crowd, but will not build a church.  People do not need novelties and entertainment. They need the Gospel, whether they know it or not and whether they want it or not.

Further, powerful preaching requires EXHORTATION THAT IS ANOINTED, “did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit.”  Paul knew what Martyn Lloyd-Jones called, “The Sacred Anointing.”  Being accurate is essential, but it is not enough. As old Vance Havner said, “You can be straight as a gun barrel theologically, and empty as one spiritually.”  We must have the Holy Spirit’s anointing abiding on us if there is to be true spiritual fruit. This is reinforced in the old hymn, “Brethren, We Have Met to Worship.”

Brethren, we have met to worship

And adore the Lord, our God

Will you pray with all your power

While we try to preach the Word?

All is vain unless the Spirit

Of the Holy One comes down

Brethren, pray, and holy manna

Will be showered all around. (George Askins)

Also, powerful preaching calls for an EXAMPLE THAT IS ASSURING, “and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.”  The Apostle did not just declare the truth—he demonstrated it. The old saying is, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”  Something may look tasty, but you do not know for certain, until you put it in your mouth. Assurance that the message is from God is that the preacher does not just speak the Word theoretically, but shows the Word visibly.  The people will receive the message when they see it modeled.  Otherwise, we are heralds who are hypocrites. This short-circuits the power of the Spirit. 

Weigh these words from the aforementioned Lloyd-Jones:

What is this [anointing]? It is the Holy Spirit falling upon the preacher in a special manner. It is an access of power. It is God giving power and enabling, through the Spirit, to the preacher in order that he may do the work in a manner that lifts it up beyond the efforts and endeavors of man to a position in which the preacher is being used by the Spirit and becomes the channel through which the Spirit works (Preaching and Preachers, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, p. 305).

God, help us be clothed in power when we speak Your Word!  That is the prayer for myself and all men of God who will preach the Word.

DIMENSIONS OF DIRECTION

Paul exhorts Archippus in his ministry. There are three dimensions in Colossians 4:17 that give direction in Gospel work. The Apostle points the preacher to the past, present, and future. The Holy Spirit inspired Word is as applicable to ministry today as it was then. 

There is the past dimension of calling, “the ministry which you have received in the Lord.”  Paul points Archippus to the sacred work of God in selecting him and setting him apart for his task. We do not deserve this high calling. It is a sovereign work of God’s grace—a treasured opportunity—that we have received. As someone once said, “If God calls you to be a preacher, do not stoop to be the president!”  It would be a step down!  Never get over the marvel that God would call someone such as us to such a noble work. 

There is the present dimension of caution, “Take heed.”  Archippus was being put on alert.  Satan is roving about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” He will pounce on a preacher quicker than anyone, unless the man of God stays alert to the peril. If Satan can bring down God’s preacher then God’s people will stumble over him. The warning is for caution against compromise doctrinally and morally which disqualify the minister.  We see the scandals of fallen preachers, but must understand that the car wreck of ministry is seldom from a blowout, but a slow leak. They did not “take heed” to the pressure gauge and so little by little in small compromises the disaster eventually comes.

There is the prospective dimension of completion, “that you may fulfill it.”  Archippus is directed to the future—when he will stand before God and give account of his ministry.  We want to finish well, for there awaits the Judgment Seat of Christ. As a preacher has come to the end—he has preached his final sermon—and the last breath will be taken and the last beat of his heart will pulse, we want to have finished faithfully. I want to sprint down the homestretch and cross the finish line in glory a champion. There awaits a crown of completion to those who do.  Peter addresses the preacher who shepherds God’s flock faithfully to the finish as he promises, “and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away,” (1 Pet.‬ ‭5‬:‭4‬‬)!