I invite you to take your Bible, if you would,
and turn to 2 Timothy and to chapter 4. As you’re turning there, I just take a moment
to say what a privilege it is to be here once again to be in the company of those whom I
respect and learn from, and to have the opportunity of mingling among this vast crowd and to realize
all that it represents of the goodness of God in, not only the United States of America,
but indeed beyond the seaboards. So thank you for the privilege. 2 Timothy 4:1, and Paul is writing; “I charge
you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and
by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season;
reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not
endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers
to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander
off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure
suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink
offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished
the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not
only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” Amen. And just a brief prayer, here’s an old Anglican
prayer. “Father, what we know not, teach us. What we have not, give us. What we are not, make us. For your Son’s sake, Amen.” And a young man named Eutychus sitting at
the window sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down
from the third story and was taken up dead. So if a young person had heard this and someone
said “What kind of preacher was Paul?” they would have said “killer.” For those of you who don’t know the story,
you can read it in Acts 20. It ends very happily with a healing and the
young man is fine. So, don't be unduly concerned. But one of my friends, an Irishman, has just
written a book with an Australian – a dreadful combination but I think it'll be fine – and
Garry makes the observation on the strength of that verse from Acts 20. He says, “It ought to concern us if we,
as preachers, are able to accomplish in a matter of minutes what to Paul hours to achieve.” Richard Baxter, addressing the colleagues
in his day, says “It is a sad thing so many of us preach our hearers to sleep, but it
is sadder still if we have studied and preached ourselves to sleep and have talked so long
against hardness of heart till our own hearts grow hardened over the noise of our own reproofs.” Now, the assignment that is before us in this
session is to look to the Bible together as we consider the nature and the necessity of
preaching the Word of God. The kind of preaching as it is outlined in
your program that seeks to not simply pay lip service to the Bible but seeks to unfold
it in a way that will bring men and women to an understanding of who Jesus is and will
also by the power of the Holy Spirit quicken them as they seek to follow Jesus. Since the title is actually from the Bible
and from this passage, I decided that that was sufficient guidance for me, and so our
text is essentially the first five verses of 2 Timothy 4. And I want us to notice just three things. What we have here is a charge that is given
to young Timothy and I want us to notice first of all the solemnity of the charge. The solemnity of the charge. It's a long time since I've seen a notice
board in a church precinct that actually declares that in this building, you will find taking
place the solemnization of marriage. The solemnization of marriage. It’s almost gone from contemporary language,
I’m sure. Not least of all because of the nature of
marriage itself. But there is something very solemn about what
Paul is doing here. You will notice he's not giving Timothy a
good idea. He's not giving him simply a suggestion. But he is giving him solemn and a significant
directive. This is in keeping with what he's done throughout
the letter. At the very beginning of the letter, knowing
of his faith, he urges them to fan into flame the gift of God that was in him through the
laying on, presumably, of the hands of the elders. He very quickly encouraged him to share in
suffering with him for the gospel. Letting him know that this task was no easy
task, and then he's been concerned that while there is so much declension around him that
he will continue in what he has learned. As he nears the end of his letter, there is
a gravity to it and there is an urgency to it in his words. So just notice the way in which he frames
it. I charge you – notice – in the presence
of God. In presence of God – recognizing that in
God, that he finds that he’s searched out and he’s known. God knows when he lies down, he's acquainted
with all his ways. God knows Timothy entirely, and He wants him
to be aware of the fact that what he is now entrusted with, it takes place in the presence
of God, and he says “of Christ Jesus who is going to judge the living and the dead. The Father has given all judgment into the
Son” as John records for us in his gospel, and it is in relationship to his appearing
and his kingdom. There's a tremendous amount in that. It's not my purpose to seek to unpack it all
this evening, but he is pointing out that this challenge that he lays before him is
set within this vast eternal context. The kingdom of God which has come first in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ – remember at the beginning of Mark, he says “The time
is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel.” The kingdom of God has come in the person
of Jesus. The kingdom of God continues through the progress
of the gospel. And then and only after that, then it will
come openly and universally. So, it is within the presence of God, but
you will notice also if you look down to verse 6 that this charge, this solemn charge, comes
in the presence of God, and in the reality of the absence of Paul. He has not left yet but he is now announcing
to him that he is already being poured out as a drink offering. “The time,” he says, “has come for my
departure.” It’s an interesting word. It’s the word that you would use if you’d
been camping somewhere and you struck your camp and you folded it up to go home. It’d be what you used as word to weigh your
anchor and head back to the safety of the harbor and so on. So there's no panic in what Paul is saying. He now realizes that he faces his death, his
race run, the fight has been fought and so on. And it is in that context that this transition
has to take place, and it is an important transition because it is the transition from
the Apostolic to the post-Apostolic church. When Paul goes and the others go, then it
will be an entirely different sphere. In the Olympics of last year, we enjoyed a
lot I think, especially in Britain, since we won more medals than we've done in many,
many years. But of all my races, my favorites apart from
the 10,000 and the 5000 meters are the relay races, and particularly because of that nail-biting
20 meters. The box; there is a 10 meter acceleration
box, but it is in the 20 meters box that the baton has to be transferred safely from the
hand of the one runner into the hand of the other runner. And that is exactly what is taking place here
in this transition. Henley Mole writing on this says, “Humanly
speaking, the church in Timothy’s day was trembling on the brink of annihilation. Humanly speaking. After all, there was so much defection, Paul
has said in the fifteenth verse at the opening chapter. “You’re aware that all who are in Asia,
turned away from me,” and then he identifies some in particular. He's identified the fact in verse 12 of chapter
3, that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Defection, persecution and confusion abounds
not simply amongst those who are identified here as the women who are weak-willed women,
(which is not the description, a generic description of women obviously), but of a certain kind
of woman who's always learning and yet never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. And so there is confusion that is part and
parcel of the context in which Timothy is going to minister. Morally, people confused about how they're
supposed to behave. Doctrinally, confused about what it is they're
supposed to believe. Now, you don't have to spend long with a sentence
like that without recognizing that there is an immediate point of application, isn’t
there, to the contemporary church. Here we are tonight at this point in the twenty-first
century, gathered in this way for this express purpose, and yet humble enough to acknowledge
that within the broader framework of Christianity in this nation there is amazing confusion
theologically and morally. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that
Timothy is not sucked into that vortex. That he continues as he says in chapter 3,
he continues in what he has learned and has firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned
it, and how from childhood you've had these things made known to you. What a wonderful heritage he enjoyed through
his mom and through his grandmother. And it is good from time to time to pause,
those of us who have enjoyed such a heritage. To thank God again for those, whether it is
within the sphere of family life, or within the context of children's ministry in a church,
or someone who took us under their wing when we're a teenager; put their arm around us
and taught us the Bible and helped us. And the very fact that we’re here tonight,
that we continue in these things, that we’re continuing that in that of which we have become
convinced. Yesterday, Dr. Howard Hendricks died – the
professor from Dallas Theological Seminary – died at the age of 89. After a lifetime of seeking to do this very
thing to make sure that those who are under his tutelage would have the baton of the truth,
their understanding of the Bible, the necessity of its preaching just firmly implanted within
them. When I was in Scotland, before ever I came
here, of course, I knew of this man. They call him ‘Howie.’ Sounded very American. Howie Hendricks. And I had never met him, and then I had an
invitation, but I always knew this man is completely into helping young men and encouraging
young men in the Bible. That's all I knew about him. Well, I was invited to speak in Grand Rapids,
it’s years and years ago now, and I got up there late in the evening. He was on the ticket as well. I was so excited. I didn’t know where he was or who he was,
but I never saw him. The evening ended, I still never saw him. I got up in the morning and I went down into
the little restaurant where we were staying. And as I got a bowl of cereal and I was walking
back to a table by myself, a voice said “Sit down, young man.” And I turned around and looked and here he
was – Howard Hendricks. If he said sit, you sit, and I sat down. And this is the first word out of his mouth
to me. He said, “I was here last night, and I thought,
oh goodness gracious.” That means he heard me. And he said “You rang my bell.” I didn’t know if that was like hear it not
for it is a knell, you know. I didn’t know if it was sort of Macbeth
ring or a good ring, but I was gratified that something rang in any case. Well, there are many, many, many young men
have reason to thank God for the transition between Hendricks and their lives and ministry,
and it is right to acknowledge it. He was a man of the Word. Jesus said “Heaven and earth will pass away
but my words will never pass away.” And it was this word that was entrusted to
Timothy to be the proclaimer of, and it was for this that he had been set apart in his
life. And it is a wonderful thing for us to remind
ourselves of that God has given wonderful gifts to the church. Hasn’t he? He's given us first of all the Bible, a book
like no other book. When Paul is writing here in verse 16 of 3,
he’s not informing Timothy that the Bible is inspired. He is making clear to him that the usefulness,
the utility, the effectiveness, the impact of the proclaiming of the Word of God is directly
tied to its source. That it is a book like no other book. That it is breathed out by God Himself, and
it has abiding authority, and it has power and significance in itself, brought home by
the work of the Spirit of God. And so it is that this encounter that needs
to take place is with the Word, through his servant, to the people. So He has not only given the Bible to the
church but He has given gifts to the church, part of them being the gift of a pastor and
a teacher. Let me tell you something. Your pastor and mine will be far more effective
in preaching his sermons if you will only pray for him. Pray for him before he preaches. Pray for him while he preaches. Pray for him after he preaches. The mass exodus from the average evangelical
church in America after the final amen is reprehensible. Where is everybody going? And why in such a hurry? Do you know how hard it is to teach your children,
just to teach your congregation, your spiritual children to sit down at the end of the service
following the benediction and take a moment to ask God to bring His Word home to my heart,
to our hearts, to fulfill his purposes. Think about the encounter that makes this
clear in that wonderful little section in Acts chapter 8, just to dodge out of here
for a moment, where the man is coming back from the equivalent of the Ligonier conference,
in Jerusalem. He’s not really – he went to it but he
didn't really understand much of what was going on. But he enjoyed the book store, and he was
going home with a book and he was reading it. Actually he was going home with a scroll. Let’s not be anachronistic. He was going home with a scroll. And he’s returning seated in his chariot,
reading the prophet Isaiah. And you know the story, of course, the record
of it, the Spirit of God takes Philip, relocates him, puts him on this road and sends him along. And of course, Philip runs alongside this
chariot and he hears him reading. Now, Philip’s question is important and
it was the right question. Let me tell you what he didn't ask him. He didn't come alongside the chariot and hear
the man reading from the prophet Isaiah and ask him the average local Bible study question
– how does it make you feel? I mean, aren't you sick and tired of being
in – if you're in a small group and that's question number one after you’ve read the
passage, remove yourself immediately from the context. It’s going to be a singularly unhelpful
evening. He doesn't write it. He doesn't run alongside. He doesn't – this is not a State of the
Union address. OK? He doesn't run alongside and ask how does
it make you feel. He doesn't ask them of what does it remind
you that you would like to share. He doesn’t say is there anything in the
passage you’d like to change. But he says do you understand what you’re
reading. Do you understand what you're reading? That's the question, isn’t it? And the response of the Ethiopian gentleman
is not – well, I don't think it’s about understanding – or he doesn’t say, “After
all, it’s not so much about the meaning as it is to discover what it means to me.” No. No. His response is the right response. How can I unless someone explains it to me. Calvin, in his work, points out on one occasion
just how vitally important it is that people understand that although they're able to read
the Bible for themselves, they have been given the gift of those who have been entrusted
with a responsibility to open it up, to make it clear. He says if, however all that was happening
in preaching was just a religious of professional talking down to those who didn't have as much
information as him then of course that could be dispensed with. But when he recognizes that God deigns to
take to Himself as it were the mouth, the tongue of a mere mortal in order in the very
weakness of that proposition to convey the wonder of this truth, then you realize that
something else is taking place – something far more magnificent. How can I unless someone explains it to me? And then Philip opened his mouth and beginning
with this Scripture told him the good news about Jesus. He must've spent some time telling him all
that God had done in Christ in order to save us from sin and from the Devil and from death. Well, back to Timothy, that’s where we’re
supposed to be – the solemnity of the charge, and then secondly, the clarity of the charge. The clarity of it. It’s not difficult to understand. It's very straightforward, isn't it? It's essentially there in a phrase – preach
the Word. Preach the Word. Now, we aren’t really just simply to be
able to say “Well, then that's fine we understand that.” But no. We now are in a situation where we've got
to go back to school and make sure we know what we mean when we’re talking in these
terms. Is it too simplistic to say that we teach
the Bible by teaching the Bible? How do you teach the Bible? By teaching the Bible. Listen to Gresham Machen. “It is with the open Bible that the real
Christian preacher comes before his congregation. He does not come to present his own opinions. He does not come to present the results of
his researches in the phenomena of religion. But he comes to set forward what is contained
in the Word of God. To set forward what is contained in the Word
of God. The preacher then must be experiencing the
power of the truth that he conveys in his own soul.” And Richard Baxter, again, warned his colleagues
in his day. It’s recorded for us in the Reformed Pastor,
about being those who offer the bread of life to others. A bread that he says “Some of you have never
eaten.” Spurgeon puts it a little more indelicately
when he refers to such individuals as “windbags” he says. Windbags, the purveyors of second-hand information. Now, people are very discerning. They can tell whether this fellow is full
of nonsense, whether he has understood, what it is he seeks to make clear. That he understands that the story of the
Bible is the story of salvation. And therefore he is to be a gospel person
making this clear. Wrestling with a mystery that God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself, learning to say with Charles Simeon “Jesus took our
nature upon him in order to obey the laws we had broken and bear the judgment our sins
deserved.” Recognizing that as Jonah says “Salvation
belongs to the Lord.” Perfectly clear in his mind it is Jesus that
saves us. We do not save ourselves. So that the message that is proclaimed to
the congregation is not a story of what we must do in order to be accepted by God, but
is the amazing story of what God has done in the Lord Jesus Christ in order that we
might be reconciled to Him. So in the most essential and practical terms,
here are the elements that must be in place if there is going to be effective teaching
of the Bible so that we might pray for one another in this regard and pray that our pastors
will become better in this respect. First of all, an awareness of the fact that
the source of the message that we proclaim, the source of the message we proclaim is in
Scripture alone. It is in Scripture alone. That message is then extracted from the Scriptures
by careful work, careful exegesis. So the pastor, if you’re going to allow
him to study for all that time, is supposed to study, and when he studies, he's not trying
to think up clever ways that he can impart material to the text, insert things, but rather
that he might be able to unearth them so that he will then be able to come to the congregation
seeking to explain the meaning and the setting in which it’s found. So that he doesn’t leave the congregation
saying “How did he get there?” The person said “Did I fall asleep for a
moment or was that just a phenomenal non sequitur.” Someone says “You mean like when he was
doing that thing in Acts 8 just now?” Yeah, that kind of thing. Once we've understood that the text was written
to Corinth, we can begin to apply it to Cleveland. But only once we realize that it was written
to Corinth, that it wasn’t written to Cleveland, it wasn’t written to you. It wasn’t written to Orlando. I haven’t found anything written to Orlando. OK? Sorry. But I haven’t found anything written to
Cleveland either. Ultimately it was all written to us. But only once we understand the historic setting
in which it is found, may we then apply it to the congregation before whom we come. And we have to, as Eric Alexander used to
say, “We have to preach to the congregation we have, not the congregation we wish we had.” And you have to listen to the pastor you have. Now, what is Paul telling Timothy here? He’s telling him at least this, that he
is a servant of the Word. He is a servant of Scripture. The preacher is serving the Scriptures. The Scriptures are not serving the preacher. It's not unusual for the pulpits of our country
today to produce all kinds of notions that seem far removed from this. A conjurer pulling rabbits out of remote passages. Can you believe how we got that? Yeah, I can. He put it in, then he took it out. I mean, it’s like – you don’t think
there was no rabbit in the hat, do you for goodness sake? Not an entertainer, not a gymnast bouncing
up and down on the Bible like a trampoline. A couple of verses bounce a few ideas around
and head for home? No, it’s what’s – no. Tillich says the pulpit draws the preacher
the way the sea draws the sailor. Tillich says to preach, to really preach is
to die naked, and every time you do to realize that you’re going to have to do it again
at six o'clock in the evening, and then the next Sunday, and the next Sunday, and the
next Sunday. To preach, to really preach – when is it
to be done? In season and out of season, when the time
seems opportune, when it isn’t opportune. And you will notice how carefully he puts
this and when you do this, reprove, rebuke and exhort. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort. In other words, it covers all these areas. And those verbs actually help us with a question
that almost inevitably comes. Well, isn't there a difference between teaching
and preaching? Well, yes, there is. The distinction is actually there when you
read the Acts of the apostles. Paul and Barnabas are referred – I think
it’s in chapter 15 or so – they’re referred to as doing both the teaching and the preaching
within the context of one verse. So what is it? Well, in teaching, we seek to give people
an understanding of the truth, so that they'd read the Bible and they say “Well, OK. That makes sense. There is logic to that.” They’re able the follow a line of reason. That is, in teaching the text, showing up,
opening it up, taking what is all knotted up and unraveling it, taking what is confusing
for people and seeking to make it clear in teaching. In preaching, we take that same teaching and
we make an appeal then both to the minds and to the wills and to the emotions of our listeners. So that preaching is not less than teaching. It's more than teaching. It is teaching plus exhortation – calling
people to respond to that which they have now understood because we've been faithful
in teaching them. In other words, preaching is deliberately
directive, and it ceases to be biblical preaching when it is non-directive. It's not a lecture. Professor John Murray of Westminster, on one
occasion, was driving in the car with a Scottish friend, and he liked teasers, and he was teasing
his companion. He asked him, “What’s the difference between
teaching between a lecture and preaching?” That was the question from the professor. His companion was not very good at coming
up with anything, and eventually, the professor wearied and said “Well, let me tell you
what it is.” He says, “In preaching you have a personal,
passionate plea.” A personal passionate plea. Said the companion, “In what sense do you
mean?” Said Murray, “In the sense of 2 Corinthians
5. ‘I beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled
to God.’” And when that takes place, the manner in which
it is exercised is in the final phrase of verse 2: “To be with complete patience,”
and in the ESV, “teaching,” in the NIV “with complete patience and careful instruction.” Aware of the fact that it is the work of the
Spirit of God to open blind eyes and soften hard hearts. The solemnity of the charge in the presence
of God, and in the impending absence of Paul, the clarity of it (preach the Word), and the
necessity of it for our third and final word. “For the time is coming,” routinely coming,
“when people,” he says, will turn from sound and healthy robust teaching and they
will chase down other avenues. I think I have time just to tell you this
anecdote about preaching in Ireland. It’s – I think it's on the point. I preached in Ireland many, many years ago
now, and there was a little man called T.S. Mooney, he’s gone to heaven some time back. He was known affectionately as the Bishop
of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. He was a sweet little man, knew the Catechism
perfectly, and at the age of 78, he was running young people’s events in Londonderry in
Northern Ireland. I'd been invited to speak at that. I stayed with him for the week. We drove back and forth every day together
and he was with me and I was with him constantly. We got to become friends. We would go in the prayer time before the
evening event, and he would pray and pray with great concern for the preaching of the
Word. And then on Monday night, I went out to preach
and I had only been going, you know, five or seven minutes, and I could see that Mooney
was already in the third stages of anesthesia. And he – there was not a chance of him ever
returning, and I noted it as I went past. I didn’t say anything to him on the way
home, but by Wednesday, as he was now – had repeated it three times, I couldn't stand
it. And as we drove home, I said to him, “TS,”
I said, “you know, you pray very honestly. I mean, you're a very gracious man. You pray about the preaching of the Word,”
and I said “Every night you’ve fallen sound asleep within 10 minutes.” He said, “Well, it’s just like this. I just stay awake till I know you’re sound,
then I just leave you on your own then.” So I said “You know, I’m supposed to be
encouraged by that. That’s what you’re telling me.” “No, they’re turning away,” he says,
“from the kind of teaching that points out that humanity is divided into only two groups:
by the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ (those who are saved) and those who are lost. “God did not send His Son into the world
to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned,
but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the
name of the only Son of God, and this is the judgment that is come into the world: that
men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.” It's going to take real courage, Timothy,
for you to hold that line especially in the context of such doctrinal confusion. But Timothy it’s imperative that you do. They will be down all kinds of roads, looking
for all kinds of things. And time and again throughout history – and
surely we’re in a classic situation at the present time in our own country – where
people are so intensely interested in spiritual things and yet so vehemently opposed to the
notion that in Jesus Christ there is in His death and in His resurrection not only the
central event of theology, but the pivotal event of human history. Totally opposed to it. David Wells, in the “Courage to be Protestant,”
refers to it as the spirituality that begins with our yearnings and with our emptiness
and with our psychological dysfunctions. A spirituality that rejects what the Bible
has to say about man as man, sinful and guilty, and responsible and lost. “Today, says Wells, “the Evangelical church
is in a life and death struggle with these spiritual alternatives. These spiritualties from below are lethal
to Christianity. Which is why the biggest enigma we face today
is the fact that its chief enablers are Evangelical churches, who for different reasons, are seeking
spirituality disconnected from Biblical truth.” “No, these fellas and girls,” he says,
“they'll be chasing around seeking to serve their passions. It's not difficult to see in that all of the
emphasis on sensuality, wandering off into all kinds of ideas and notions.” These are the times in which you are living,
Timothy, and so it is absolutely imperative, that as for you, Timothy, now, you’re my
replacement. You're my boy. You’re my man. I love you, Timothy. And listen, you need to know. You need to “be sober-minded.” (This is verse 5.) Otherwise your head will be spun. You need to “endure suffering.” The very beginning of his letter, he says,
“Join me in suffering for the gospel.” He doesn’t say become a pastor and you know,
everything will be hunky dory. “Join me in suffering for the gospel.” “Be sober minded.” “Do the work of an evangelist.” Tell people that Jesus is mighty to save. Tell them that Jesus is the only savior, because
Jesus is the only one who is qualified to save. “Fulfill your ministry.” And listen, it's a man-sized task. It's a man-size task. Let me give the final quote to another man
who died in the last while, who was a great preacher, and that is the late John Stott. And he sets the challenge before the preacher
and the congregation straightforwardly in this way. He says “To preach salvation by good works
is to flatter people and so avoid opposition. To preach salvation by grace is to offend
people and so invite opposition.” So you can either avoid it: tell the people
what they want to hear – because the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing. The message of the cross always and ever offends
against the pride of men and women, both intellectually and morally. Morally because it says they cannot fix themselves,
and intellectually because it sounds so bizarre that the death of this man so long ago has
settled the issue of our alienation. All of our alienations, our alienation from
God. “All Christian preachers have to face this
issue,” says Stott. “Either we preach that human beings are
rebels against God under His just judgment, and if left to themselves lost, and that Christ
crucified who bore their sin and their curse, is the only available Savior, or we emphasize
human potential and human ability with Christ brought in only to boost them, and with no
necessity for the cross except to exhibit God's love and to inspire us to greater endeavor.” In other words, no penal substitutionary atonement. The former is the way to be faithful. The latter is the way to be popular. It is not possible to be faithful and popular
simultaneously. I guess the takeaway from this is to realize
that it was only from a human perspective that the church trembled as Mull said, on
the brink of annihilation, because God was sovereignly in control. And today we look at the circumstances that
are before us, and we may be tempted to think that we are trembling in a similar way. But God is still in control. He is the ascended Christ. He is the living Lord. He is fulfilling His purposes. And so we need to be about the business of
doing what God has called us to do. If you want to have effective preaching, if
we wish to have effective preaching in our churches, we need to have humble, honest,
diligent, praying pastors, and humble, honest, diligent, praying congregational members. It’s actually about duty. Discharge all the duties of your ministry. I don't expect you to know British history
very well, but it was on that note of duty that Nelson actually went to his death sending
out the message from the flagship HMS Victory in 1805, as the battle of Trafalgar was about
to begin. The key battle in the Napoleonic Wars where
Britain went onto victory thus making sure that they would not be vanquished by France,
that we'd not be overrun by France. They would then be able to control the seas
for some foreseeable future and the message that was sent from the flagship was, “England
expects that every man will do his duty.” It doesn’t say, “England expects every
man to do his duty.” No. The encouragement was from the Admiral: “England
expects that every man will do his duty. And do their duty they did. Nelson dies. The battle ensues. Victory is secured. Another Admiral falls, a Hendricks, a whoever
it is, we're all getting older. If I hear anybody tell me one more time “Well,
all the main guys are all getting old. They’re all dying. I don't know what's gonna happen. The whole church is falling apart.” Give yourself a shake, would you, for goodness
sake? Well, that’s a great finishing note, isn’t
it? Let’s pray. O God our Father, we look to you. It’s – oh help us, we pray. Help us. Help us, Lord, as we think about so many of
the congregations in which we serve, and the longing that we have to see the surrounding
neighborhoods touched again with the power of the gospel. Help us then, to be about the business into
which you have called us. Help us by the power of the Holy Spirit to
do what you've asked us to do. We know that You put Your treasure in old
clay pots so that the power might be seen to belong to God, and not to us. But help us Lord to be willing to say, “We
implore you on Christ's behalf; Be reconciled to God,” so that we might see the great
appeal of the gospel riding on the waves of divine sovereignty as men and women turn to
Christ in repentance and in faith. Thank you for this straightforward charge. Thank you for the sense of urgency that attaches
to it. Thank you that there is nothing trivial about
it. Help us as we seek to follow hard after Christ,
that we may be a help and not a hindrance to one another in running this race. For we pray in Christ’s name, amen.
