The Work of a Leader

English service - August 18, 2024

Messenger: Pastor Jim Allison

II Timothy 4:1-8

Greetings again in Christ’s name, everyone here at Open Door Chapel and those with us online. Today we are continuing a series of messages from God’s word on the subject of leadership in Christ’s Church. We have looked at the spiritual gifts and the personal character of a leader of a Christian church. Today we will focus on the actual work which God calls leaders to do. Our prayer is that through this learning, we can see more clearly what we need to prepare to ask our next leader to do when the time is right for us to call that person as our next senior pastor.

　　　　We’ve moved from I Timothy to II Timothy, where Paul is continuing the work of mentoring his “son in the faith.” We see his purpose in writing to Timothy in 2:2b, where he says, “Pass on to men you can trust the things you've heard me say. Then they will be able to teach others also.”

　　　　Many Bible scholars say that this letter is the last of those that Paul wrote. He seems to believe that his death is coming soon, writing about being “poured out like a drink offering” and saying it is time for him to leave in v. 6. More on that later. Here we are reminded of the saying that the Church of Christ is always one generation away from disappearing. Of course, God is not in danger of failing in His work. Jesus’ promise is sure when He says to Peter (Matthew 16:18), “On (you) I will build my church. The gates of hell will not be strong enough to destroy it.” But by its nature, ours is a faith that can only be passed along to people who are willing to receive it. From its start, it is based on love, which we know is impossible to force on someone. Paul knows how vital that preserving authentic faith is and wants very deeply to make sure that Timothy understands it. He wants his protégé to be ready to handle the faith with great care and then entrust it to others accurately and faithfully.

　　　　As we prepare to call the next pastor of our church, we need to remember the importance of placing our focus on the future. We need to set as a key goal not only maintaining what we have now and looking to our own needs, but turning our eyes to the people God wants to raise up to follow us when we are gone. After all, none of us will be here forever, of course, and we want to leave the wonderful work of God that is Open Door Chapel in trustworthy hands when it is time for us to say goodbye. Now is a very valuable time to prepare for that.

　　　　With those larger goals in mind, Paul has already challenged Timothy (II Timothy 2:15), “Do your best to please God. Be a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed.” Then he narrows the focus: “Teach the message of truth correctly.” That’s what I want to look at with you most carefully today.

　　　　Communicating the message of Christ faithfully to His followers is at the heart of the work of a church leader. It is not the only work. For instance, there is the work of prayer. In I Timothy 2:1-4, Paul has instructed:

　　　　I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Pastors do this and lead everyone in the church to pray regularly.

There is also the work of reconciliation. In II Corinthians 5:18, Paul writes about God, “He brought us back to himself through Christ's death on the cross. And he has given us the task of bringing others back to him through Christ.”

That is evangelism. I’ve been repeating to you the major areas of church life we need to consider as we look to find a leader. Besides evangelism, we can say they include worship, faith (relationship with God), community, and service. When the pastor’s particular gifts don’t prepare the church fully in these areas, we will trust God to use other members and their gifts to help us function well as His church. In all of these areas, prayer will be indispensable. So will God’s word, the Bible. Regularly listening to Him by learning His teachings will be at the heart of our life as a community of faith, so let’s continue today’s learning from v. 1 of our passage.

Paul says, “I give you a command in the sight of God and Christ Jesus. Christ will judge the living and the dead.” The New International Readers’ Version translation has the phrase “the living and the dead.” In the older King James Version it is “the quick and the dead.”

That makes me think of a crosswalk that is just outside the front gate of Hokusei Gakuen University, where I go to work each day. I think when there are people who walk across the street at a crosswalk, car drivers are supposed to stop and let them go ahead. But I notice that many don’t. So maybe those two categories are for those of us who try to use crosswalks like that one—“the quick and the dead”!

(About 30 years ago people in Hollywood made a western movie about people in the cowboy days doing gunfighting. It was called The Quick and the Dead for reasons you can imagine.)

Paul is talking about both living and dead people, saying that when Christ comes again at the end of the world, we will all meet Him, whether we are alive at that time or have died before then. “. . . He and his kingdom are coming” (v. 1b). All of us, including our pastors, will stand before God someday and answer to Him for how we have handled the priceless gift of life that He has given us each. He will particularly want to know what we have done in response to His giving His only Son on the cross to make a way for us to be saved. So we must not take lightly the call He gives to each of us as to how to serve Him. In view of all this, Paul says (1b), “. . . Here is the command I give you.”

What is the command? In v. 2: “Preach the word.” “Preach.” Proclaim. Make a truth claim. Announce. The nuance of the word Paul uses is something like that. It is from the term kerusso. It means to be a herald, the official messenger of someone important like a king. A herald could be like an ambassador, representing the nation’s leader in a significant matter such as a war. So a “preacher” must never make the message about, for example, his or her opinions or favorite topics. That would be as crazy as the king’s messenger beginning to insert personal comments into the negotiations with a foreign country. It would not only be unwise but dangerous, too.

This kind of proclaiming is what people do when there is big news—something important to let everyone know about. It’s not about today’s exchange rates or tomorrow’s weather forecast. Furthermore, to “preach” does not mean to scold or condemn, though that’s the way you may hear the word used in conversation often.

Neither is preaching the same as teaching. It is not simply analyzing or describing, though they are often parts of proclaiming God’s message. We have a number of teachers at Open Door, and we may tend to turn preaching into classroom-style teaching, even without noticing. But if the “messenger” does not proclaim the truth of the message from God, that person is doing something different from preaching. If the “sermon” does not lead us to prayer, to a deeper relationship with God, to living in godlier ways, to service in His name, something different from preaching has happened. Or maybe nothing of consequence has happened. Even if the speaker succeeds in telling stories or presenting information in skillful and interesting ways, and the listeners are entertained, that is not the preaching that the Bible’s God commands. We need pastors who will tell the plain and pure word of God.

What is that, “the word”? The New Revised Standard Version has it “the message.” At the time Paul is writing to Timothy, this means the Old Testament. They may have some level of understanding that this letter will become an official part of the written word of God, but that process will take hundreds of years. For now, Paul is making the preaching of the Bible central in a church leader’s work. And he is very much focused on Christ. That says something important about the Old Testament. We do not discover Jesus only in the New Testament. The entire Old Testament, in one true sense, is preparation for the coming of the Messiah. You can’t understand the Law or history of Israel or prophets without understanding what they show about Jesus Christ. So “preach the word” is a command that was appropriate for Paul and Timothy’s time and applies to all times.

In v. 2: “Be ready to serve God in good times and bad.” In the King James Version it is “Be instant, in season, out of season.” In I Corinthians 9:16, Paul puts it in a negative way: “How terrible it will be for me if I do not preach the good news!” The writer of Ecclesiastes 11:6 gives it a more positive wording: “In the morning plant your seeds. In the evening keep your hands busy. You don’t know what will succeed. It may be one or the other. Or both might do equally well.”

Timothy’s job is not done if he stands in front of people and proclaims God’s word to them skillfully. There’s a lot more to it than that. As the saying in education goes, “Talking isn’t teaching. Listening isn’t learning.” Misunderstandings happen. People resist God’s leading. So Paul continues (v. 2b), “Correct people's mistakes. Warn them. Cheer them up with words of hope. Be very patient as you do these things. Teach them carefully.” That means I haven’t done my job as pastor if I only agree with everyone and say nice, “supportive” things to them. We have to have enough trust built up between us so that, when a pastor confronts or corrects a brother or sister, that person won’t think the whole relationship is being called into question or threatened. We all know that even then there is something deeper holding us together.

Let’s look at the word translated “Cheer them up. . . .” (from parakaleo in v. 2b). Different translations can be pretty different here, especially because the original word can be used in various senses. For one, it can have the nuance of asking someone to do something that you believe that person should. For example, in Matthew 8:5ff, this is what the Roman commander does when he goes to Jesus with the problem of his servant who is suffering terribly. He “asks for Jesus’ help.”

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a Roman commander came to him. He asked Jesus for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home and can't move. He is suffering terribly.”

Gladly, Jesus goes and heals him.

The same word shows up in Jesus’ famous words, “Blessed are those who are sad. They will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). Here it is used in the sense of encouraging or supporting people.

So which of these senses does Paul have in mind in writing to Timothy? Are church leaders supposed to fervently ask people to do what is right in obeying God’s word? Or should we put our energy into helping people feel comforted, accepted, and supported? It’s probably a mistake to choose between the two. Both of these are things that church leaders need to do routinely if they are going to lead God’s people to follow Him actively and faithfully. We need to seek out a person who will lead in both of these ways in choosing our next pastor.

It would be a mistake to assume that the pastor we most want is the one that we most need, Paul seems to be telling us. As the Bible scholar and philosopher Dallas Willard often said, “Our wanters are broken.” Human beings are complicated. For example, we may think we want a leader who will help us grow in faith, while also wanting someone who will in effect tell us we are fine the way we are. We may look for a leader who will say what we want to hear. Christ never promised to lead us that way. People He puts in place as leaders to continue His work shouldn’t, either. So as we look for our next lead pastor, let’s be honest with ourselves and truly challenge ourselves to accept the comfortable and the uncomfortable parts of the Bible’s teaching that that person presents to us.

Paul warns Timothy in v. 5b that the work will be demanding, but he is not to give up. He must “Work to spread the good news.” In the King James Version and others, it is “Do the work of an evangelist.” What is that? Judging from the examples and teachings in the Bible, evangelists came after the apostles and helped grow the churches that they had planted. That process has continued for many centuries now. Evangelists are not there for the long term, as pastors are, but they may live in an area for some time to get the new church off the ground. They may lead it until a more permanent leader is in place. Our prayer for Open Door is that we will be a fully-formed, mature church and be active in planting the next one, then move on to others as we place the new one in reliable hands under God’s leadership.

Paul finishes and summarizes his charge to Timothy in v. 5 “Do everything God has given you to do.” The wording is interesting here and differs quite a bit translation to translation. Here are some examples.

“. . . Discharge all the duties of your ministry.” [New International Version]

“. . . Fulfill your ministry.” [New King James Version, New American Standard Bible]

“. . . Carry out your ministry fully.” [New Revised Standard Version]

“. . . Perform your whole duty as a servant of God.” [Good News Translation]

“. . . Do everything your service to God requires.” [Complete Jewish Bible]

“. . . Do a thorough job as God's servant.” [The Message (paraphrase)]

OK, Paul, I think I’m following you pretty well. Not part but all. Still, my question is, All of what? Can you spell that out for me a little more?

All right, Open Door. First, do all parts of the work God has given you to do—not just the ones you feel particularly good at. Not only the ones you like more than the others or the ones people praise you for or keep asking you to do. Keep doing everything God gives you to do. Second, serve all the people God sends you to serve—not just the ones you feel more comfortable with or the ones who are nice to you. Don’t pay more attention to the ones who pay the biggest part of your salary or the ones who have the most political power in the organizations you belong to. Serve everyone God enables you to serve. Third, serve with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength—everything you’ve got, not holding anything back. Fourth, serve all the time—for as long as God enables you to do this work—never stop until He tells you it’s time. We need a pastor who is committed to this. We all need to commit to it ourselves in order to do our best work together with the next leader of ODC.

Giving yourself 100% is like pouring out the “drink offering” at a ceremony following the Old Testament Law. God tells His people in Numbers 28:7, “. . . Offer a quart of wine as a drink offering. It must be given along with each lamb. Pour out the drink offering to the LORD at the sacred tent.” Paul has modeled this kind of life—fully committed to God—and he challenges Timothy to do the same, with God’s help.

As Paul’s life in this world comes toward its close, he writes that he has “finished the race” (v. 7). We saw a lot of runners reach the finish line at the Paris Olympics recently, didn’t we. Some of them fell down on the track and didn’t take a step for a while because they were so exhausted. But they had relief and smiles on their faces because they knew they had run a good race, and it was worth all the effort. Finishing the race is a fitting mental picture for us to keep in our minds because we are followers of the Christ who completed His life on the cross with the statement, “It is finished” (John 19:30). That is the attitude that we are to take into the work we are given to do, together with our leaders, whatever it is. I find that very attractive now as I near retirement age. I don’t want to just end the work God puts before me. I want to finish strong and complete it. Let’s make it our prayer that we can say together, “Mission accomplished.”

When we follow God’s leading to the end of our lives’ journey, there will be “a crown” for us as a reward, Paul says (v. 8). That word for crown, stephanos, was a wreath given at Greek Olympic games in Paul’s time, like a medal given at the Olympics today. This life we are in can feel exhausting and sometimes push us beyond the limits we thought we had. But as we continue to trust our needs, situations, and lives themselves into God’s hands, we will sooner or later come to see that He has empowered and protected us all along the way. And it has been more than worth it, in view of the unspeakable goodness of the reward of eternal life in His presence.

Let’s pray.

God who speaks to us through your word in the Bible, give us ears open to hearing your voice. Give us minds ready to learn and hearts willing to obey when we do. Most of all under your own direction, and through the leadership of the person you choose to send as our next leader, help us together to grow closer to you and each other as we place ourselves under the authority of your word. Help us to live by it, under its authority and in its power, more each day. This is our prayer, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

References

Begg, A. (2019, September 16). Elders – Taking Care of God’s Church. Exposit the Word. Line by Line Bible Study. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l8 PReSTp0U

Bible Study Tools. (2024). Salem Web Network. Salem Media Group. https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/kerusso.html

https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/ parakaleo.html

https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/stephanos.html

Henry, M. (1706). Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete). https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/2-timothy/4.html