Things We Do to Make Ministry Difficult

today's chapel speaker is dr. Chuck Swindoll and he is ready to go serves as our chancellor prior to becoming Chancellor he served as the seminaries fourth president he's founding pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco Texas the author of more than 90 books and is the featured Bible teacher on the popular radio program insight for living which is aired nearly 2,000 times daily worldwide Chuck and Cynthia Cynthia his partner of life and ministry reside here in the Metroplex and loved to spend much of their time with their four grown children ten grandchildren and now five great-grandchildren would six great-grandchildren would you please join me in welcoming dr. Swindall today [Applause] this the first time I've ever spoken after someone is closed in prayer first time that's a great moment yo you handle that beautifully before I go any further let me welcome you who are looking over the school trying to make up your mind regarding where you should go for your graduate school education in theology you have a big decision in front of you make it carefully decide slowly and when you do finally make that decision and it happens to be Dallas seminary if it does plan to stay don't plan to come and go or come and get a taste of it and leave or you won't know what Dallas seminary offers it's a very carefully thought through program put together by minds greater than ours who were in ministry longer than most of those in this room they knew what they were doing when they put the course together it's a whole curriculum that makes good sense that won't early on when you begin honestly I often refer to it as putting a puzzle together you know how you just dump all the pieces on the table and they're a pile and you try to match the same color areas as you start the puzzle and that's the first year here and the second year that was the first year student that just answered up and the second year you get a corner and maybe another corner of the puzzle perhaps even three corners and you're starting to get an idea of what shape it's taking and what the picture looks like but the third year it's coming together and you're always looking back thinking I'm so glad I didn't act on impulse and quit back when it was really tough to put it together in my mind and figure it out and then finally for however long you hear you may squeeze four years into six or seven I don't know or your course may be a three year course whatever may be the length of it take your time don't eat your heart out because you aren't out ministering you're preparing for a lifetime of that this is the only time you will be in the classroom poring over these things at length in depth with a lifetime in front of you most of the great preachers will tell you that if they could have done anything over they would have prepared better many of them prepared longer I even heard one say if I had three years to minister I'd spend two of them getting ready so your time of preparation is in value I look back on my four years and I tell you to this day I give thanks and I draw on what I learned the habits I formed the truths I picked up the books the authors I became acquainted with and I filled my library with similar kind of works and I'm so grateful for those years so no extra charge for that pep talk just keep in mind we know it's expensive so don't grouse about that we know it's hard as one student would agree it's it's hard but ministry is hard part of what I want to talk to you about guess who said this do not enter the ministry if you could help it it was the great preacher of the Victorian era in Great Britain named Charles Haddon Spurgeon I repeat his words do not enter the ministry if you can help it I'm assuming we're here because we can't help it and some of you are determining if you can help it and if you can don't come because you are entering into something as permanent as a marriage till death separates you you are in it for your life it reminds me of a woman who said in my study it's been years ago now we were in Fullerton California she and her husband had just broken up and she was there to grieve the break-up the number of years of marriage and two wonderful very bright children an older son and a younger daughter and and we were talking about what happened and she said when I go back to figure out where the erosion began I go to my wedding day and I remember tweeting Chapel standing in the of that what do they call it narthex vestibule standing Justin behind the double doors and when the organ began to play the wedding march the double doors opened I took my father's arm and I leaned over and said to my father daddy daddy I should not be doing this think about that not only as the bride but as the daddy and and she said I should not be doing this I ought not be here this is not what I ought to be doing her daddy leaned over and said just keep walking honey just keep walking I know the daddy well I know the daughter better and understand I've been the daddy and two weddings with daughters and two weddings with sons and it's it's it's harder with daughters I'll tell you like an Hania verse right of areas to a gorilla when you hand over a daughter to a groom but oh I just wish her daddy had said you serious are you serious I mean is this for real knowing her I think she would have said yes and he would have walked down there alone and cancel a wedding now it's tough to do you got a living room full of gifts you got a chapel half full of people that are looking forward to it you got both families on the edge of their seat you got a groom that that just can't wait for the joys of marriage and the fulfillment and and and and a bride to be saying I ought not be doing this now what do I bring that up because now's the time for you to determine this not a wedding but a ministry you determine this you see not only is it based on like a wedding like a marriage a calling of God it's also based on the commitment of the couple in your case the commitment of the one going into ministry there is no magic in these buildings in the desks where you sit in the Carol's in the library that there is no magic in the books no courses offer magic there there there's there's no Aladdin's lamp that you can rob and all of a sudden you got it it is hard gut-level hard work you will think deeper than you've ever thought you'll be tested as you've never been tested up until this time the test will only intensify part of my message of the morning but you gotta meet business Cynthia nos celebrated 62 years of marriage because we're committed to each other not because there's any magic in our lives not because we we had some sort of corner on on on marriage she was 18 I was 20 I mean it was just next thing to illegal how young we were and how ignorant we were but by the grace of God and you know what else the absolute determination no matter what this is going to work no sound like I've left out the love part of course that's a big part of it but it isn't like there's a there's a popular love song made popular in the 50s I really like it Matt king cold sang it when I fall in love it'll be forever or I'll never fall in love but there's a line in the middle of that love song that always puts kind of a chill down my back too many moonlight kisses have been cooled in the warmth of the Sun pretty good lyrics too many valleys of testing have cooled the impulse of those that just sort of jumped into ministry you don't jump into this you think about it you pray about it you talk about it and as time passes you settle in on this is a Spurgeon I cannot help it I'm in it because I cannot help it I can't imagine being fulfilled doing anything else could I be successful doing something else maybe could I be fulfilled never it's the most fulfilling the most rewarding the most magnificent life a person can have is to be in the core in the nucleus of God's will and for some of us that's called the ministry now now that I've gotten past the introduction this semester I'm talking about the things that make a ministry challenging and I'm centering on three specific areas there are more than three but these three are big ones number one difficult people I talked about that last time in ministry you're dealing with difficult people folks are troubled some folks are angry some people make you the scapegoat some people are confused some are just exhausted some have come out of legalistic ministries and they are spent having gone through all the rigors of that with no sense of fulfillment or satisfaction so you're dealing with people like Alexander with Paul who Paul says he and in so many words he made my life miserable so he said to Timothy watch out for Alexander and I'm supposing that Alexander outlived Paul so tell me that you got to deal with him so difficult people the second area would be the stuff we dragged into ministry and we bring four in our old nature that's what we're talked about today the stuff that won't change just because you go through Dallas seminary the stuff that's still there would you get one of our degrees if you are selfish when you came and you don't come to terms with that at some time along the way you leave selfish so you take selfishness into the ministry with you if you're if you have a problem with your ego when you come on the campus and you do fairly well at school and you you pretty important to yourself you'll feel really important when you graduate and then you'll carry that into ministry and you'll make a mess of things because the ministry is not for those who see themselves as important I just was reading again this morning Paul's frequent reference to himself his favorite word was servant a bond servant I'm a servant I mean who is the polisseni way just be he water who is Paul I planted God gave the growth we're just servant were just stewards so if that's your thing you're gonna you're gonna struggle it's gonna take a lot of the joy out of ministry if you don't come to terms with that and we have some wonderful courses here thank goodness that will help you look into your own life and do some self examining and find out how your roots affected your life and how certain habits if carried on are gonna really haunt you in the years ahead so the stuff we bring to it and the third would be unexpected circumstances a tragic car accident that takes the life of your wife or your husband and your son that changes things or a doctor's report that says actually it is a malignancy well we got to deal with it it's an unexpected circumstance it may be a mother and dad that divorce and all the fallout that comes from that every divorce breaks the hearts of the kids or most every everyone you uh I could go on you got the picture those are unexpected circumstances I think it's interesting now as we look at second Timothy chapter four let's go there first we're gonna get into second Corinthians four but first I want you to see one verse so first you can quote 2nd Timothy 4 verse 7 you know it don't you I fought what the good fight I have finished the course what's the last one I have kept the faith the first one he names is the fight we we jumped through that because it's so familiar and familiarity really does a number on us because we miss some great things out of familiarity so when I come to familiar verses I deliberately pause and linger the word fought is the Greek word are gonna a gon a we get our word agony from it it's a good fight that's the word fight I have fought the Greek says puts the fight first the good fight I have a ghen eyes the the a gonna I'll have a gonna July that's the idea same root word it was used of athletes in in in the midst of their the extreme level of training and the exertion of energy and often in the case of the Greek wrestler which was a big sport in Paul's day Paul was a real sports fan and he draws on that picture isn't it interesting he calls he as he looks back he's in a dungeon I called I called second Timothy dungeon talk if you read it and forget he's in a dungeon you won't get as much out of it but if you realize and he's hearing boots above him on the streets of Rome from the maritime prison or dungeon written by the way when you go to Rome always ask the guy to take you there it's not in the normal tourist tour ask for that part of the tour and go there and take your time there and go down the stairs that lead you to the dungeon if it is the same place if it is the same one it certainly would be one like that it is a dreadful place and that's where Paul spent his last hours that's why he would say to his friend come before winter poor so a lot of emotion in that statement he missed Timothy he's there alone it's cold he isn't well clothed he doesn't have his books he wants to keep his studies up god bless him and he looks back over his life and he says it was a fight now yes he fought with some people but I really believe that's more reference to his own stuff Paul had a lot of stuff that he brought into the his conversion he was a terrorist he had turned thumbs down on Christians he was on his way to kill more of them or at least get him arrested so they would be incarcerated and hopefully killed getting rid of all of these Christians on his way to Damascus so he is a he is a Pharisee of Pharisees he carries all of that with him into ministry we don't think about that and he's the kid he's the apostle of grace how good is that which says you can change Paul does what he wrote in Romans seven the good that I would do I don't do and the evil that I don't want to do I find myself constantly doing that's Paul so he's fought a good fight it's been good because he's by the end of his life found victory over many of those things that were struggles along the way I I want to urge you while in the process of I'm not going to see all of you with seminary students okay not just potential but I'm going to see your seminary student while you were here and you become real good students of yourself you'll learn about Jesus you'll learn about the apostles you'll learn about the prophets you'll learn so much about the scriptures you'll learn great theology you'll you'll learn such excellent techniques that will help you you will be equipped as best as the school can equip you but it can't it can't teach you everything it can't give yourself control it can't grab you and pull you by the collar back away from that lustful temptation and if you're given to lust you'll really be given to lust in ministry if you take things that aren't yours you'll take things that aren't yours in ministry so you'll be fighting a fight remember what you sang in my soldier of the cross a follower of the land and should I fear to own his cause or voice to speak his name are there no foes for me to face must I not stem the flood is this my world a friend of grace to help me on to God sure I must fight if I must rain writes Isaac what increased my courage Lord I'll bear the toil endure the pain supported by your word I just read Watts biography before I got here this morning his life was a life of fighting you to fight his dead to sustain his art dad never saw the value in his art Watts was dripping with with the ability to write verse and most deaths don't have much place in their life for her son that quotes poetry or writes it or is a musician and maybe you were raised like a bad to have like that you got to get over that you got to work through that most of you don't even know what your sweet spot is hopefully you'll discover more and more of that or much of your ministry will be spent trying to find the fit for you see what I'm dealing with what I'm talking about these are very real things and so as you make a study of yourself and as you come to terms with these areas that are not under the cross and it not been brought under the control of the spirit go there not just for the sake of your classmates or your professors you have to deal with you but for your sake and your future parishioners and your elders that you'll be serving with and the people in your church who will be looking to you as something of a model now 2nd Corinthians 4 let's suck let's look at that together okay when I was an intern with mr. Reis Stedman at Peninsula Bible Church I learned from Ray that the most succinct statement of a new covenant ministry is in the 71 verses between 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 through 6 verse 10 don't miss that 2nd Corinthians 2:14 through 610 the core of those 71 verses is in chapter 4 and I have made a serious in-depth study of 4 1 to 10 in my life I want to sort of pick and choose my way through that right now and show you why it is so valuable as it relates to you and me in ministry tying it in to what I've just been saying ok got it 2nd Corinthians 4 verse 1 therefore as soon as you see that you all have a mental arrow in your mind that points up to the previous verses it's a summation connective therefore means I've had some things to say before this and now what kind of want to summarize from this point on so that's a crucial word time doesn't allow us to go back but remember that when you're doing your own study and you've come across a word like that now look at the first several verses I'm reading from the new American Standard since we have this ministry as we receive mercy we do not lose heart but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God but that's a connective that's a contrast it's shouts most of the butts that appear are saying go in the other direction but in light of what we don't do this is what we should be doing but by the manifestation of truth it's a big word for putting on display living out in your life the truth we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God it says something about the lost person who's blind to the gospel in the next two verses but it's thought continues in verse five for which is the connective of explanation he's not going to explain what he meant by that we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus our Lord and here he is again and ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus sake mere mark my word earlier his word for himself is most often a bondservant and that's that's how Paul came across to the Corinthians and how we want to come across in our ministry okay let me point out two or three things that I see in these early verses of second Corinthians 4 first with every ministry special mercy is needed I believe that's what verse 1 is saying with every ministry special mercy is needed since we have this ministry we have received mercy so I'm passive in that God graciously gives me the mercy that I need to fulfill this ministry - which is called me and the process when I allow him to do that we don't lose heart got it Paul loves to refer to not losing Hardy says it in Galatians says it again in Ephesians says it again to the Thessalonians we don't lose heart we don't lose heart we don't give up we don't quit trust me in every ministry you serve you'll be tempted to quit there'll be days you or your spouse if you're married will we'll have to really do some self-talk here to keep you at it so you don't lose heart because something great is to be said for those who have long turn our ministries and they stay at it they stay at it year after year after year after year it takes special mercy so with every ministry sustained by Mercy we're able to continue it without losing heart whatever ministry God calls you to and you do not know what that is if you're already engaged in it obviously you do but those of you are still students keep an open mind you don't know what his plan is but you can be sure when you wind up there mercy will come with you you'll have plenty of it you'll have mercy to deal with the people you'll have mercy if you happen to be in another culture to handle the culture and the language you'll be given mercy to face whatever is your responsibility talk about that how about those ministering right now in Las Vegas you thought about those pastors I know several I can only imagine what they're going through and one wonders how many of their own people were killed by that savage last Sunday night but you'll not lose heart with every ministry special mercies needed here's the second comment from the second verse in every ministry the same things must be rejected in every ministry the same the same things must be rejected where do I get that verse 2 we have renounced the word means to forbid we have forbidden three areas they're right here in the text look at them we have forbidden things hidden because of shame we don't do shameful things and hide them from those to whom we Minister we've renounced that so we're hiding we're not hiding shameful things second doing deceitful things see how he puts it not walking in craftiness it's used of Satan in first Corinthians 11 as he with craftiness tempted Eve a great a great technique of our enemy is deception he's a great salesman and and he he will deceive us so the Apostle writes that he doesn't walk in in trickery ponder Ghia interesting word it has been mine cunning it's the lack of sincerity basically the lack of integrity we are who we say we are we keep our word we acknowledge when we have done wrong we ask forgiveness when we have offended is all part of not walking in craftiness again I repeat there's no magic it's just a lot of it's common sense he says we have rejected doing deceitful things and third we don't corrupt sacred things see how he puts it or adulterating the Word of God we allow the word to speak we don't rationalize around it to make it fit our lifestyle i I was in a church where I watched it happen as a pastor was simply talking himself into an ability to have an affair as he developed a whole nonsense of the doctrine of privacy doctrine of privacy where is that I could never find the doctrine of privacy it doesn't exist you can do that we sit here and it's also easy to take this in because we're all together we're all pretty much you know agreeing on these same things but when we're out there alone who said it's a horse of a different wheelbase I'll tell you and and you are you can't believe what you'll think about doing especially when you get a little Authority and everybody starts really respecting you none of those things change that I just read because in every ministry the same things are rejected I I came across a great statement from John Stott in an old book called between two worlds listen the doctor starts words now gone unfortunately nothing is more nauseating to contemporary youth than hypocrisy and nothing more attractive than sincerity jumping ahead he says he writes I'm convinced that in our day simple sincerity has not lost any of its power to appeal or to impress it was back in 1954 that Billy Graham first hit the headlines in Britain with his Greater London crusade approximately 12,000 people came to the Haringey arena every night for three months most nights I was there myself and I looked around that vast crowd and I could not help comparing it with our half-empty churches a lot of these people come to listen to Billy Graham I ask myself when they don't come to listen to us now I'm sure that many answers could have been given to that question but the answer I kept giving myself was this there was an incontrovertible sincerity about that young American evangelist even his fiercest critics concede that he is sincere I really believe he is the first transparently sincere Christian preacher many of these people have ever heard what a statement he being Brit would know what he's talking about I really believe he is the first transparently sincere Christian preacher many of these people have ever heard today 25 years later as he's writing the book I found no reason to change my mind sincerity has become an even more vital quality in the television age and he goes on in that I agree you disarm your congregation you disarm your classes you disarm whoever may be the realm of your ministry with your absolute unquestionable sincerity you're not hiding anything you're not doing something behind the scenes that's shameful you're not faking it you're not trying to impress you're not putting on a show you just yourself filled with the spirit armed with the Word of God quick to get out of the way so that God can get the glory when lives begin to be changed I'll tell you they will come to be around you because they don't see that that is rare rare even among those in ministry which is why their speaks with such impact in every ministry the same things must be rejected and there's a third point through every ministry a convincing example must be modeled that's in that's in verse 2 and verse 5 know very yes verse 2 by manifestation of the truth by the display of truth by living out the truth by putting that on display before everyone and in the sight of God and in doing so verse 5 we don't preach ourselves but Christ Jesus is Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake I love that statement it's all said and done and Paul is finished and he rose up the scroll and he walks away and the crowd begins to disperse they talked about Jesus it wasn't how impressed they were with Paul he loved it that that's what happened and that's the way it ought to be so remember this men and women guard against cultivating any habit of hiding shameful things doing deceitful things corrupting sacred things part of that happens by just plain old familiarity you can sort of serve the lord's table while yawning you can quote the verses right out of first corinthians 11 without looking and before you know it you could do a wedding and hardly even know the bride or grooms name you get good at it don't get good at it if it means you're enamored and you began to have that polished style I wonder how I would close this and I came up with a simple little list of things you cannot do it's not a legalistic list it's simply the truth it's what I've learned over these almost 55 years before the public these are things I've learned that there are eight of them that I cannot do number one I cannot control we cannot control everything so if you're a controller leave that at the door come to terms with that stop the controlling you don't control the church you serve you don't control the decisions that are going to be made when you try to do that you're walking in the flesh and you're gonna regret it see you cannot control everything number two you cannot fix anyone and you're looking at the number one fixer in the city of Frisco I fix and that's a dumb thing to take I can fix anybody just dealt with a guy yesterday it's very difficult to deal with and Cynthia quietly reminded me if you're trying to fix him remember we're not able to do that he's got to take care of himself you got to do whatever you can to help him see it but the fixing of him is not your job you cannot fix any one third you cannot be somebody you're not and get away with it you cannot for you cannot meet everybody's expectations took me half of my ministry to learn that because I like people and I want them to be pleased and I don't want them to be happy and and I also want every day to be 70 degrees and I don't want have to put any acid in my pool and I don't I don't I don't want to ever get a rash and I I don't want to any the kids to ever disobey and I turn it on and on and I want sent you to keep saying yes darling yes sir so that's anything gonna happen you cannot be somebody you're not okay number whatever number it is five cannot meet everybody's expectation that's it you cannot dodge the tough questions and the difficult issues you can't you just can't you got to deal with them you'll stay up late at night because you'll realize this is beyond you we're all in way over our head because that's God's work so we have to say on rather frequent occasions Lord please take this please handle this please give wisdom that I don't have please change such-and-such because I can't change it next you cannot concern yourself with who gets the credit if you're the type that likes to get the credit don't go into ministry there's enough of them like that already you're going to be surrounded by very faithful servants who deserve the credit learn to give it to them learn that when you do that God honors that kind of thing very few things are ever done solo very few things number whatever you cannot let criticism get to you that's enough I've already given you more than I'll ever live up to but I want to dear father we are just fragile clay pots we crack easily we are we struggle we have limited knowledge and with all of our training it is long before we come up against something that we never dreamed would be dealing with so we thank you for your constant attention your mercy which is new every morning and that's why we adore you you never write us off you never walk out on us I you never throw us away you just have a wonderful way of showing us how we can keep going and we thank you finally Lord make it clear to these men and women what they ought to do and then may they do it and never look back and second-guess because it gets tough or because they run out of money or because something happened that they didn't think would occur may they be faithful like you are in the name of Jesus everybody said you you

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 13,737

Rating: 4.826087 out of 5

Keywords: Dallas Theological Seminary, DTS, Jesus, Bible, Grace, Community, Dr. Chuck Swindoll, 2 Corinthians 4:1-10, wisdom, faithfulness, spiritual life, expectations

Id: PgxMmiCndfA

Length: 51min 48sec (3108 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 09 2017