Fleshly Failures that Damage a Ministry - Charles R. Swindoll

well good morning friends it is uh good to see you today it is my privilege to introduce our speaker today dr charles swendell chancellor emeritus of dallas theological seminary senior pastor teacher of stonebriar community church in frisco texas it's interesting there are very few people on the planet that need an introduction by just one name shaq share chuck today's chapel speaker dr chuck swindoll or simply known as chuck a familiar name to many christians around the world in fact many of you probably or maybe based your decision to attend this very seminary because of his association and affection for dts he served dallas seminary very well as the fourth president and is known by millions around the world for his practical application of the bible to every day living he serves dallas seminary as chancellor emeritus and is also as i mentioned the senior pastor teacher of stonebriar community church in frisco texas he and his wife cynthia reside here in the metroplex and they love to spend much of their time with their four grown children their 10 grandchildren and their seven great grandchildren dr schwendall thank you so much for your incredible contribution to this place your fingerprints and your dna are everywhere thank you for your consistency and your faithfulness to proclaiming the word of god and it's always a privilege to have you here even under the title of chancellor emeritus whatever that means would you please join me in welcoming dr swandahl today first i want to speak to you from my heart and then i want to open the word and speak to you from the scriptures i take this uh appointment seriously i give a lot of thought to what i believe the lord would have me say when i am with you i do my best to think through in a fresh way what i feel needs to be heard by students at the school the faculty is here and i'm happy to have them listen in there are people from our administration who attend and guests friends of the school and you who are visiting to take a look at the seminary we welcome all of you but i'm speaking especially as always to students i'm talking to you about the years you're here and even more importantly about the years to come as you enter into a lifetime of ministry however long your life may be and wherever it may be the lord calls you i also want you to know that i don't just go back and find a previous sermon in the barrel i have from the years of ministry and then warm it up for for the students here the notes i have were written this past couple of weeks with you in mind because i take this seriously and i want you to do the same i believe you will my interest this uh year this academic year is to go in two different directions along the same vein of thinking about the ministry first i'm talking during this fall semester about what is it that makes the ministry so difficult such a challenge what has made it difficult for me what will make it difficult for others things i share are not theoretical and for the most part they're not what i heard while i was a student back then things of this nature weren't usually addressed honestly i don't think i ever heard the word failure once during my four years at the school it was sort of like the theological f word back then and and you know it never dawned on us they would go through that and i that's regrettable i know the faculty didn't believe that but i'm sure they wanted to encourage us with words that would be free of such thoughts i want to encourage you but i want them to include thoughts about the difficulties i'm going to cover three areas this semester the last time i talked about difficult people you will encounter today i'm going to talk about our own humanity we bring that with us to whatever place we minister in whatever place god calls us you bring your own humanity all of the things you wrestle with at school you will wrestle with in ministry and i'll focus on that next time i'm going to talk as we address again for the third time what makes ministry so challenging things that happen to us that we didn't see coming unexpected things that can cut our legs out from under us and discourage us we'll talk about that when i'm back next month in the spring semester i'll turn to the other side of the coin and look at the the things that make ministry so rewarding so uh delightful so it's a joy and there are far more of those things than the things i'm addressing this fall if i could speak to the rest of my life and talk about that i would i would run out of time before i'd run out of subjects because of the blessings that accompany the ministry it's easy to lose sight of that when you're in the middle of your studies now let me clarify again from my heart some things that i think would be helpful for you to remember as students the ministry is not a job that you're hired to do it's a calling that you're compelled to fulfill furthermore the ministry is not about you it's about the one who calls you it's not about what you can accomplish or the money you can make or the books you can write or the people you can influence it's about him and what he wants to do through you since he has called you to do this his ministry to be carried out through you it's not about making you feel important or impressive those are silly goals for anyone in ministry it's about our father bringing him glory for he's the one who has placed us in his work and called us to do it he wants to use you as his example warts and all failures and all gifts and all you are the object of his attention and ultimately he wants to show others what he can do through an individual that's marked by humanity weakness and even [Music] the flesh and that brings up the rub within us is an old sin nature it'll never change it'll never go away until we breathe our last thankfully at that point it's gone it's like the old hymn we no longer sing the last stanza sounds like a tongue twister then we shall be what we would be then we shall be what we should be things that are not now nor could be soon shall be our own but not now not while we're on this earth you will forever wrestle with this old sin nature and it will forever want to take control of what you're doing it will want you to get the glory the credit it lurks and it lingers at every corner of your life urging you to patronize and publicize and please yourself and gratify your desires which are usually selfish you've got that nature so do i we just sang about it prone to wander lord i feel it prone to leave the god i love that's true of every one of us not just that songwriter no amount of education no degree you earn no spiritual gift you possess will ever nullify nullify your flesh it's there the secret is learning how to restrain it through the power of the spirit how to identify it how to sense its inaction going on right now and how to stop it from taking control it's with you every hour of every day and wants to be involved in every ministry you undertake in every decision you wrestle with you must rely on the power of the holy spirit to guide you to correct you to use you to shape you to break you to teach you and the flesh wants none of that now having said those things from my heart and i mean every word i want to speak to you from the first seven verses of ii corinthians 4. if you brought your bible i'd love to have you turn what i have to say about the passage is not important what's important is what god says through his word to each one of us and i don't say that to be pious i really mean it the word itself has power and whoever teaches it or preaches it needs to stay out of the way so that the word can have full impact you know that this passage is a continuation of of other things that were said before because it begins with therefore therefore since we have this ministry then he goes on to describe it one of my cherished mentors was ray stedman from peninsula bible church in palo alto california had the privilege of knowing rey and and uh learning from him during the summer of 1961 when he asked me to be a part of his first internship team of young men ray writes this about ii corinthians i quote the most succinct statement of a new covenant ministry is second corinthians 2 14 through 6 10. you may want to write that down ii corinthians 2 14 to 6 10 this will help you sustain a ministry that remains effective grace oriented and you must become familiar with these 71 verses at the core of everything in this section continuing with rey's words at the core of everything in this section are some of paul's most candid comments about the nature of a truly meaningful ministry when i heard that and i wrote it down while an intern and i've carried it with me i even pasted it on a card in my bible when i get near this section i remember those words so since it's so valuable we're not surprised that these first seven verses within the within the nucleus of those 71 verses play a very important role i want to unpack these verses for you and hopefully with you as we work our way through them look closely at what paul has written i want to make three general observations about these verses first with every ministry special mercy is needed now why would i say that look at the first verse since we have this ministry as we received mercy we do not lose heart with every ministry special mercy is needed or you'll lose heart paul love this word and oh he it's translated for us lose heart he uses it in galatians 6 9 where he read where he writes let us not lose heart in doing good again he uses it in ephesians 3 13. i ask you not to lose heart and in ii thessalonians 3 13 do not grow weary of doing good growing weary losing heart one of the common reactions of the flesh is losing heart the spirit never loses heart but the flesh often does some students begin strong at the seminary they get underway in their first year it's all excitement they get the syllabus that's sort of a downer when they realize everything that's in front of them they get the list of books that they're expected to read and they and they realize this is this is this isn't just a challenge this is impossible and the more they go through the list of things and realize what's in front the more tendency there is to lose heart to lose excitement not to be as encouraged as just before this the first day of class began you you need mercy and there's plenty of it available the song says there's a wideness in god's mercy like the wideness of the sea you'll need a draw on it you'll need to ask the lord to provide you the reminder of it with every ministry special mercy is needed if you go into youth work there's special mercy needed to work with the youth if you go into research work as a good friend of mine has done since earning his ph.d and in the research work special mercy is needed as you dig into those uh difficult parts of your work if you're in evangelism special mercy is needed in all the travel all the involvement with people all the responsibility of remaining financially accountable and and on and on we could go in every with every ministry special mercy is needed you see why so we do not lose heart so you don't quit let me go back to our first year student the tendency is to quit before you graduate to get just enough to where you think you're ready and then to hit the road running you get through your second year and you think well that that should be enough maybe i'll take on part of the third year then i'm on my way you're not ready you're not finished it's called a course of study not half a course remember that when you come to this school brighter minds than ours planned it out very carefully at the beginning the it it's like a pile of puzzle pieces and and it isn't long before all that excitement turns to a sense of confusion as you take this course in that course and then you're led into this course and and then you've got the details of that course and and so much of it is brand new for you and and it's in a nomenclature or language and in terms you're not familiar with you don't come from a background that has emphasized that you're in a new world and you can lose heart in it same as in a ministry everybody's all excited when they candidate and if you're if you're not careful you'll preach your best sermon and they'll expect that from then on and you've given them your best hold back a little oh wait wait before you dump the full truck on them you just preach a reasonably good sermon if they'll call you with that they'll probably put up with you later on when you're spending time there and stay stay because it'll be tough and you'll be tempted to leave you'll lose heart see how practical the simple first verse is we have mercy so that we won't lose heart when you read your bible don't get in a hurry marinate these words turn them over in your mind meditate on them don't lose heart in doing good just because the ministry gets tough doesn't mean you're on your way to another ministry the one one man writes it very well the grass on the other side of the fence is not only not greener it's not even edible and you often think if i go to another place it'll be a lot better than here don't count on it you'll have stuff there that'll cause you to lose heart there as well you need mercy to stay at it it'll keep you from growing weary special mercy is needed so you don't jump ship you don't leave too soon there will be a time when you should lead you you leave you'll you'll know when that is hopefully you'll know it before everybody else knows it and and and you'll sense it you'll become restless opportunities will open you'll be directed and then you won't be moving in the energy of the flesh the spirit of god has used you here for that period of time in some places in my life it was four years in another place it was 23 years another place it was two years oh i was glad that was over man that was a tough spot and i realized in the middle of it i and i'll get back to this later i i i didn't fit that place and i said yes too quickly easy to do so we start where we just began and now we go to the second observation in every ministry the same things must be rejected that's in verse 2. look at the second verse but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of god we'll pause there in the middle of the verse he names three things to be renounced look at that word the greek term means forbidden rejecting the same three things must be rejected in whatever ministry you're a part of what are they they're right here in front of us first things hidden because of shame i call it hiding shameful things the term means disgraceful pretty hard to beat the word shameful that's what it is the flesh loves the shameful things but it will also help you hide it hide them things that are base things that have no business going on that's why you hide them do nothing in ministry you have to hide because they are wrong or shameful that's the first thing we have to reject in whatever ministry second please notice doing deceitful things not walking in craftiness we don't use that word much potter gea it's a little hard to translate it it's uh the outworking of insincerity or the absence of integrity the flesh urges you to develop deception not to come up front not to be wholly truthful the flesh urges you to do this even with people who trust you this passage says there's no business being a part of your ministry as you look back on wherever god used you may you never have to think i hid that shameful thing or i did a number of deceitful things here's the third right here in the verse i call it corrupting sacred things it's rendered in the new american standard walking and craftiness or adulterating the word of god that's the sacred part this is his sacred word when you attend the seminary here you will learn all about it old and new testament you will learn those who wrote it you will learn words they used you will even learn in certain courses the original language from that era and in that time you may become proficient in greek and or hebrew or both you will dig into the word of god may it never become just a textbook it's sacred it's holy heaven and earth will pass away my word will never pass away i never open his word on a sunday morning without realizing the sacredness of it i say to myself swindoll handle this carefully be careful here you corrupt sacred things when you use fallacious arguments or misrepresentations and you falsify what god has written in his word we are to allow the scriptures to say what they say and not twist them to say what we wish they would say that takes discipline it takes study through the years i've embraced three gates that i pass my teaching through on a regular basis accuracy clarity practicality i ask myself following the preparation of every message that i prepared is it accurate to the text it's what i am saying true to the scriptures i don't want to adulterate the word of god i don't want to tell people what i wanted to say if it's convicting to me i still preach it because it's the truth and i must be accurate with the truth accuracy second is it clear can anyone understand what i'm saying regardless of their background or their age or their level of maturity or am i talking in secret code language known only to seminary graduates or the upper crust of those who have been educated most use will minister to will not even have a college degree so you break it down so that it's clear they get it it doesn't mean they're not intelligent it just means they haven't learned things you've learned so you don't parade that you use that to break it down so that it's clearly presented i would say everything i've said thus far is pretty clear you you haven't missed anything because it it's gobbledygook or it's over anybody's head i couldn't do that if i tried and so i i simply say it like it seems to be saying in his word is it clear and finally is it practical can a person take what you have what i'm teaching and go home with it and use it will it be remembered in such a way that it makes them a better husband or wife or dad or mom or citizen or workman can the person take this truth and apply it in a way that makes sense holds water and gives them an opportunity to live a little better than they lived the previous week is it practical okay a quick review number one with every ministry special mercy is needed so we don't quit second in every ministry we keep rejecting the same things hiding shameful things doing deceitful things corrupting sacred things and then right in the middle of the verse there is an emphatic negative but instead it's the most emphatic greek term to us to represent a contrast allah right in the middle of the verse look for yourself we've renounced the things hidden because of shame not walking in craftiness adulterating the word of god but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of god here's the third observation through every ministry an authentic example must be modeled say it again through every ministry authentic example must be modeled instead of losing heart instead of hiding shameful things doing deceitful things and corrupting sacred things still of allowing those things to go on we are to demonstrate represented by the word manifestation of the truth we are to demonstrate truth we demonstrate truth when we have a lifestyle that isn't a fake we lift up christ as lord he goes on to say we preach christ as lord and not ourselves verse six we give ourselves to others as authentic servants what a pleasure what a privilege it is to do that but in order to do it we must be real people spot phony right away they observe it when you work hard at being pious or looking like something you're not in fact he goes on to say in verse 7 one of my favorite we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of god and not from ourselves look at that earthen vessels we are clay pots the niv renders it that way the we are clay pots the new living translation we are like fragile clay jars uh how are hendrix one of the props i had while here loved him dearly used to render it this way we have this treasure in peanut butter jars not a good way to put it the the tasty parts on the inside the rest is just jar all we are is just the pot we're just molded by god each one molded differently steadman used to say just some are moldier than others we are we're we're all molded in a different way but the treasure is what's on the inside so here's my advice to all of us draw on god's mercy determine to be authentic and devote yourself to serving others as you demonstrate grace regularly in his book between two worlds john stott writes in his chapter of sincerity and earnestness nothing is more nauseating to contemporary youth than hypocrisy and nothing more attractive than sincerity in this moreover they reflect the mind of christ who reserved his most scathing denunciations for hypocrites young people hate our adult shams and subterfuges they have a very sensitive nose with which they can smell the faintest odor of religious humbug from a considerable distance they are especially suspicious of us preachers and of our long loud pretentious pretensions they sniff around us to see what inconsistencies they can discover like dogs after a wreck they are right to expect high standards of integrity in us you notice when you rear your family everything rocks along pretty well until they become teenagers and then they they they smarten up they they uh they start to to spot of the phony part of us or others i remember one sunday i was sick and uh unusual for me to be sick on a sunday but that particular sunday i was and uh as a result i stayed home from church and we had a substitute step in for me thankfully and my youngest son stayed home with me well around 11 o'clock i said to him hey why don't we turn in and to a another church service and and listen to another preacher knowing he had listened to one all his life and he might want to have a chance to hear a terrific one and so we we found the station where there was a fairly well-known ministry and a quite well-known preacher and uh he was he was getting at it and i was sitting there with arms folded watching in my pajamas and chuck was sitting right next he was about 12 years old 13 maybe and uh and the man was talking about god except every time he said god he he said god god so finally chuck with a side said hey dad i said what he said why didn't he just say god how come yesterday go god and then he said i've had enough he got up before he walked out he said by the way dad don't ever start talking weird like that you know what he what he wants he wants real so do you we don't say oh when we're talking to people about the father who is gone we say god just say it and get on with it unless you want to try to impress and then you look stupid you look like a jerk and a pulpit doesn't make you look better that's what this is about we have this priceless treasure that we don't take advantage of make sure we deliver it like it was written as best we can we don't turn people off by our super piety i remember just something comes to me i want to tell you about uh when i ministered in california those years i always had a rub on super bowl sunday because we did sunday night services and uh so i always missed the super bowl and uh i've never learned how to tape it so um don't try to tell me because i i'll i'll never get it and uh so i finally groused about it enough and one sunday morning i said today's super bowl sunday but i'll see you in church tonight and uh i didn't do that but i was thinking that and i told him every sunday night when there's a or every super bowl sunday when sunday night service comes i always miss watching super bowl well i had a couple of smart uh ushers who decided to play a trick on me our church service that evening began with the baptismal service at six o'clock which is about the middle of the of the football game happened to be the cowboy game they were going to play as i recall the buffalo bills and beat the snot out of them and i i knew they would but i wanted to watch it and cheer them on and without my knowing it these ushers put a television set in the bottom of the pulpit so i'll walk out for the baptism you couldn't see it from the audience everybody knew it because they paraded it in to show everybody they put it under and they turned it on there it is mute and i walk into the baptistry in my white robe and i turned around and there's a game on and i go before i pray let me check the score as i recall when i preached that sermon i prayed about 40 times who am i kidding so when i started our new church here in frisco we don't have a sunday night service well let me tell you a few things you cannot do okay i usually don't make lists like this but this will help you i'll click them off one after the other and i'm through these are things you cannot do in ministry eight of them number one you cannot control everything that's god's job stop trying to stay in control you cannot control everything second you cannot change anybody or fix them you cannot fix their problem you can hear them you can enter into that with compassion but you can't fix them third you cannot meet everyone's expectations fourth you cannot dodge the hard questions or the tough assignments fifth you cannot let all the criticism get to you six you cannot believe all the stuff they tell you at the door when everybody's leaving they dump all this great stuff on you hendricks used to call that the glorification of the worm i think that's a good way to put it seven you cannot teach a pig to sing now that needs to be explained here's why i say it nobody will enjoy it and it annoys the pig so don't try to teach a pig to sing here's what i mean guard against pushing someone into a responsibility that the person isn't qualified to fill you'll notice in a good choir there are auditions the reason is the people that are monotones always want to sing in the choir so a good choir director doesn't ever let them in he has a way of screening them out uh if a person isn't qualified to serve in a particular capacity you're not doing them a favor or the church by pushing them into it don't try to teach a pig to sing number eight you cannot make it all on your own you can't do it nothing in ministry can be carried out all on your own you need others and you need to say so it took me a long time to learn that last one because i'm so blame independent but i finally learned to use that wonderful four-letter word help could you help me with this and i found filling the church were people loving to help but they were waiting for me to ask them you're called into a ministry remember your flesh works against you but the spirit wants to use you let him use you just don't try to be wonder woman or superman because you're not you really are not one of my most embarrassing moments in new england was when i served communion with my fly unzipped and i didn't i didn't know it was of course and one of the elders walked up to pick up one of the trays and he said to me your car is open i go you're kidding he says no look so i used my favorite line and said let us pray so always check your fly and your tie before you go out before it or wear a robe that's the safest thing [Applause] now you've heard enough you've heard more than you'll ever be able to pull off and most of which i'm not able to so i'm working on all of it personally thank you lord for putting up with us thank you when you called us you never had in mind calling perfect people but you're willing to use us as we are to carry out the work as you want it carried out peanut butter jars carrying the priceless treasure thank you in advance for each person here who dreams of the day they'll be used for you and by you guard them from themselves as they serve you faithfully in jesus name everybody said amen you

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 3,775

Rating: 4.9384613 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: lx3AtZEOCgA

Length: 48min 23sec (2903 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 02 2021