The Essential Ingredient for Ministry - Charles R. Swindoll

well good morning it is a pleasure to introduce our speaker today today's chapel speaker dr charles swindoll or simply known by one name chuck he's a familiar voice to many christians around the world in fact some of you likely based your decision to attend this very seminary because of his association and affection for it he served dallas theological seminary well as the fourth president and is known by millions around the world for his practical application of the bible to everyday living he serves dallas seminary as chancellor emeritus feel free to ask him what that role is after the service and he's also 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 and ten grandchildren and seven great grandchildren would you please join me in welcoming dr swandahl here today [Music] [Applause] well good morning 62 years ago i stepped on this campus as a first-year student fresh out of a tour of duty in the marine corps that's what you call a major contrast in life i had really no idea what to expect i had never seen the inside of a seminary never attended one class and had really only met a few of the professors of this school my world had been a world in the military for a number of years and now that that was over cynthia and i came on this campus just about as uh green as as we could be since that time everything in our world has changed and many things in the church have changed no one gave me a piece of paper that listed the things that i should anticipate and embrace in the changes that would come those things that were good healthy and wholesome nor was there a list of things given to me of things i should shun watch out for under the heading of warning this is dangerous this will affect your life and ministry negatively stay away from this those were choices that i would make in the next more than six decades and those choices would be up to me just as you who graduate some of you sooner others of you later from now you'll need to make on your own what i did receive as i look back were four wonderful years of biblical knowledge taught to me by a rather small faculty our student body was about 300 325 as i recall i also was provided with a to use a metaphor that would fit a box of tools that i would carry with me so that i could carry on in ministry without some professor telling me what to read or some course i was to take or some decision that i must make in order to graduate from something those days were over what i got was about a box of tools that needed to be kept sharp that i would use on my own i also left with a memory of magnificent mentors a few of the faculty had put their arms around me and cared about my wife and me as we were here those four years began our family here we knew nothing of rearing children that began here with our son who was born while we were beginning our third year at the school and the mentors that helped shape my life would be with me for the rest of my years to this day i can still recall some of the things they said the investment they made in me was for a lifetime in the midst of those four years the decades that have followed i've come to realize that there is one essential ingredient for ministry that was rarely mentioned there was no course on it there never will be as i recall i don't believe many chapel speakers ever addressed it if any but looking back i regret that i didn't hear more about it because i realize now having lived these years in the church and in christian ministry that it is invaluable it's what i'm calling the essential ingredient for ministry and i'm addressing this today in my message to all of you it is integrity integrity listen to the late warren weirsby's amplified definition of the word he writes the oxford english dictionary says that the word comes from the latin integritos which means wholeness in tiredness completeness the root word is integer which means untouched intact entire integrity is to personal or corporate character what health is to the body or 2020 vision to the eyes a person with integrity is not divided that's duplicity a person with integrity is not merely pretending that's hypocrisy he or she is whole life is put together for that person and things are working together harmoniously within that life people with integrity adds wearsby have nothing to hide and nothing to fear please remember that you'll need to remember it in the years to come nothing to hide nothing to fear their lives are open books that definition appears in his work the integrity crisis page 21. i've discovered the bible says quite a bit about integrity in the new american standard bible it is mentioned 27 times in the niv 22 times in the king james 16 times interestingly the term itself is mentioned in the old testament though the presence of integrity in various lives is found all the way through the scriptures proverbs is especially fond of it listen to a few he who walks in integrity walks securely but he who perverts his ways will be found out 10 9 another the integrity of the upright will guide them but the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them eleven three many a man proclaims his own loyalty but who can find a trustworthy man a righteous man who walks in his integrity how blessed are his children after him 20 6-7 and i've always loved psalm 78 70-72 as that psalm ends god chose david his servant and took him from the sheepfolds from following use with suckling lambs he brought david to feed his people and so he led them according to the integrity of his heart and he guided them with skillful hands i've observed in my years in ministry that god is still searching for men and women of integrity i hope you are one of them and if you are not i hope you will begin today to pursue it deliberately consistently faithfully what does it mean to minister or to shepherd a flock with integrity some of the character traits that came to my mind as a result of going through the scriptures it means you're verbally trustworthy listen to each one of these the list is somewhat long you're verbally trustworthy that means you speak the truth publicly and privately you don't change that message if it's in private or because you were before the public you speak of the truth consistently you're financially accountable you pay your bills you spend wisely you give generously you save prudently it means you're privately clean you hide no secrets you do not live a double life it means you practice intellectual veracity you're not guilty of plagiarism if you're using someone else's words you give them credit you state that these are not your words these are someone else's words that you are quoting intellectual veracity you're careful in doing your research you don't add to it to make it sound better you stay with it as it appears it also means you are ethically clean and clear as we mentioned earlier you have nothing to hide and nothing to fear it means your personally responsible that would include admitting your own failures never blaming another for what you are responsible for never you give others the credit they deserve always you don't take a moment credit for what you do not have coming to you you freely give it and faithfully give it to others it also means you're openly vulnerable to have integrity means you acknowledge your own lack of knowledge and if you don't know you say i don't know you don't fake it you don't deny your inadequacies you make no attempt to impress others please hear that goes on in ministry all the time people often shape what they do or what they say depending on what someone else is going to say or think that's a lack of integrity you don't worry about making a name for yourself you're never doing what you're doing to impress everyone it also means you are morally pure and relationally fair you refuse to participate in acts of corruption [Music] deception or manipulation i'll tell you men and women the longer the list gets the tighter the squeeze on your carnality you don't use people you don't take unfair advantage of them because of your title or your position often graduates from the seminary wind up in places of leadership sometimes enviable leadership and people just automatically because of the position look up to you how easy it is when that happens to take advantage of them to play that role integrity won't let you do that and by the way the more pronounced one's position the greater the need for self-awareness i read somewhere i forget exactly where it was in a a magazine on on business uh matters and it spoke about the value of the strong natural leader and the one ingredient most often missing it stated was self-awareness it's amazing as you grow and become more known and more in demand how less aware you are of your own stupidity of your own of failure in statements of your own duplicity or hypocrisy self-awareness is essential so you have to set up checkpoints uh for your life you you apply your own restraint because you know yourself ideally better than anyone else unless it's your mate in life and you invite your wife or husband to please help you with that and believe me they will they'll they'll step into that when they should when you consider a life like i've just described you ask can anybody ever measure up i mean it sounds like it's humanly impossible if it were the lord would never expect it of us it isn't impossible it just works against the old nature it doesn't uh massage our pride now in answering the question can anyone ever measure up i'm pleased to say that uh there is a wonderful example in the old testament daniel chapter six of the man himself who finds himself in the medo-persian empire it was a vast empire and it needed oversight accountability because it would be easy for there to be financial misdealings acts of corruption where individuals would be self-serving and so darius the one who led the kingdom decided he would set over it 120 sat a word we never use it's an old persian word for protector of the kingdom or more specifically provincial governor so we said 120 governors over the kingdom and to oversee them so that they wouldn't take advantage of him he chose three commissioners or as some renderings handle it vice regents of those three daniel was one think of that in that vast kingdom daniel is one of three commissioners verse 3 of daniel 6 states that daniel's integrity began to emerge in so many words because the scriptures state he began distinguishing himself we would say he stood out among the groups of delegates of governors and commissioners alike quite likely it included his work ethic his competence his awareness of needs his honesty his attention to priorities and his loyalty to authority in all of that daniel was a model he stood out darius noticed it we're not left to speculate what he noticed because the word because appears in the text because he possessed an extraordinary spirit i love that that would include i would imagine a great attitude a positive outlook on life faithfulness to one's calling to fulfill one's responsibilities [Music] and we may assume great relational skills as well he was a man of diligence consistency trustworthiness he was a man of integrity these marks of personal integrity did not go unnoticed by the king and so as you're familiar from your knowledge of daniel the king decided to appoint him over the entire kingdom like what we might call a prime minister second in command only to darius imagine that daniel's getting up in years daniel's a proven worth not overlooked by darius so he planned the promotion and the word spread as you would imagine the other two commissioners who weren't chosen and the 120 governors who weren't chosen none of them the immediate reaction was a mixture of envy resentment jealousy it never fails never fails when you stand out there will always be those envious of you you cannot let that affect you you cannot let it go to your head you cannot ignore it either you must be wise aware knowing that's going on but what daniel did not know quite likely was the plot they set in motion jealousy envy [Music] turned this plot into a serious and in-depth investigation for some secret compromise some distrustful act some proof of insubordination some private dealing in governmental affairs they were determined to find something wrong in daniel's life think about that let's pause here let's move it from daniel to your life as a minister of the gospel and a group of enemies and you will have them are determined that they will find something against you when you stop to number it that's 122 resentful people who made daniel the target of their probing activity fueled by relentless suspicion prejudice and determination it was like an ancient 60 minutes investigation think about that in your ministry those guys are like hungry lions stalking their prey all of them set to point out something anything anything they could find against daniel anything that would serve as tangible proof that they could report to darius by the way i noticed this we read nothing of daniel's panic knee-jerk reaction quick attempt to cover up some wrong doing some secret activity the presence of integrity in one's life is like a thick warm blanket on a cold day it gives you deep inner security there's nothing to hide so there's nothing to fear just as we're as we define the word it's a good time for me to pause and and remind you of the value of that in ministry if you begin to do anything that you must hide it is wrong you will be found out it will break the heart of your family it will embarrass the church you're serving or the ministry you're a part of it will turn those who have trusted you against you because you have lied with your life but look at the end of verse 4. the good news unfortunately we're so familiar with it it doesn't surprise us to read it but it is a surprising ending to the plot but they could not find ground of accusation or evidence of corruption inasmuch as he was faithful no negligence or corruption was to be found in him read in that integrity nothing was out of line amazing eugene peterson renders this section in this way the vice regents and governors got together to find some old scandal or skeleton in daniel's life that they could use against him but they couldn't dig up anything he was totally exemplary and trustworthy they could not they could find no evidence of negligence or misconduct so they finally gave up and said we're never going to find anything against this daniel there's prejudice in the way that's written the way they spoke we'll never find anything against him unless we can cook up something religious that's exactly what they did their failed investigation was twisted into a conspiracy of deception and they themselves lack integrity in the way they went to the king and said remember you're the one that's to be worshipped you're the one we're to bow before sign this edict make it clear to everyone that you and you alone are worthy of worship daniel refused to do that as you know so well and the result was he was thrown into a den of lions who never sunk a tooth in him since as vernon mcgee has put it he was three-fourths gristle and the rest backbone there was nothing to eat they lost their appetite god took it away so much for daniel i'm speaking today to you who are preparing for a lifetime of ministry a lifetime of being watched a lifetime of being up front a model like it or not you are the example accepting any position of leadership means you will be observed quoted and examined it won't always be fair as in the case of daniel it won't always be from a pure motive it often is not but nevertheless it will happen and unless you determine during your years at this school as part of your training to figure out what has been missing that has meant such duplicity and hypocrisy in your life that it's got to get cleaned up unless you go there you're going to carry that with you into ministry and you'll just learn to fake it as you get older you'll get a little more creative and you'll get a little more dangerous if you're not careful you will you will [Music] focus your entire years at the school only on theological subjects nothing wrong with that except the only part there's more to learn here than theology if you fail to give attention to this ingredient in your life you will regret it again and again you must make one of your major goals becoming a woman or man of integrity that goal will not be reached easily or automatically that's why it's so rare among those in ministry we care too much about pleasing other people that doesn't change when you get promoted you only get more suave at that you get increasingly more phony so easy for that to happen we forget that we serve an audience of one one one amen he's the one who will honor acts of righteousness who will reward deeds that are done in the power of the spirit but we get so blame impressed with powerful people or people with money or individuals who have titles that are enviable we forget that audience of one principle i put it this way in my notes hardly a day goes by that we do not have to choose between compliance to what is expedient rather than being loyal to and pleasing only the lord our god that applies to everyone at the school from the president to the first year student so i want to challenge you today to pursue a life of integrity and to make that your life goal don't be afraid of saying so put yourself on the spot spread the word that that's your main focus now let me wrap all this up with a story that's true i started my message today by taking you back 62 years to my first day walking onto this campus i want to end it by looking ahead to your final day on this planet you're on your deathbed you're surrounded by those who love you the most they're running their fingers through your hair they're holding your hand they're singing the songs of the faith they're praying over you they've loved you throughout your life they're saying their final goodbyes you'll be there someday if christ doesn't return you'll live long enough to be at that place on your last day all of them will be left with one thing you leave for them memories memories of you the closer they were to you the better they knew you and there will be an individual or two who will have the unenviable task of going through all of your private effects personal belongings which brings me to the story this happened to a friend of mine named bob a number of years ago his beloved father died large italian family close knit dad was just everything to all of them they loved him deeply and intimately he was a man who had been the kind of man a son would long to have as a father kind devoted to bob and his and bob's mother he was humble joyful strong in convictions pure of heart a man of genuine integrity to bob and all their sin all of his siblings their father was almost too good to be true it was that thought that haunted bob when the family looked to him and said we'd like you to be the one who goes through all of his personal effects he would be the one chosen to sit at the desk where his father had set to open drawers that only his father had opened to read through letters and notes only his father had read quite likely to see photographs he had never shared with others file folders little boxes not even his wife had opened very private papers that other eyes had never seen the day began as bob wondered to himself what he would find loved his dad dearly as i said admired him greatly were there secrets he had kept was there another life had there been other women meticulously and tediously bob spent hours as best i recall almost an entire day searching reading sometimes smiling other times wiping away tears remembering what a task to his delight he found nothing untoward there was nothing scandalous there was nothing even near suspicious or questionable the man was as clear and clean in his private world as his family and others had believed him to be in his public life the bob i'll refer to is bob garipa who served here for years as the dean of students love bob dearly hated to see him retire the kind of man everybody wanted to be with bob was raised right with this kind of dad he realized that his father was a modern daniel no negligence or corruption was found in him daniel 6 4. as i recall bob telling me he wept audibly out of gratitude and joy the man he had admired and respected throughout his life his beloved father was everything he had believed him to be my closing words i pray that will be true of me when i'm gone when i breathe my last and my oldest son kurt is the task of going through my things my computer my internet my private world my journals that i wrote in when kurt wasn't even around i hope this will be true of me i want that to be true of me more than i can put into words and i pray it will be true of you as well here's what it will take living our lives with uncompromising integrity and it is never too late to start doing what is right i urge every one of you from the president down of the first year student if any of this has brought conviction that's come from the holy spirit pay attention to it may integrity mark your ministry and mine dear father we pause in this heartfelt moment and place ourselves before you we unfold our lives with you there is no secret even with you there's nothing hidden we are naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do that you and i thank you that that is true continue to watch over my life that i not yield in these later years and become an embarrassment to the swindoll family may the student body gain the reputation of being men and women of unswerving uncompromising integrity if it's not going on now may it start today i pray in the name of the one who models this every day he was on this earth even jesus christ and everyone said amen

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

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Length: 42min 28sec (2548 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 03 2021