Throughout church history there have been men and women who have accomplished great things for the Lord. William Carey is one of them.
William Carey is sometimes called the father of modern missions. He left for India from England in 1793 and never came home. He labored 40 years without a furlough. He lost two of his three wives in death plus several children. Yet he continued on with his ministry.
His story begins simply. He made shoes. But as a young man he became convinced that the great commission given by Jesus applied to everyone and that God was calling him to give his life in foreign mission work.
His great gift was in linguistics. He translated the Bible into many of the languages of India. He started a school. He worked for social reform. He planted and pastored churches. He baptized at least 1500 people himself. He developed medical care facilities. He started mission agencies. He wrote books.
The work was not easy there in India. Once after almost 20 years of linguistic and translation work—a fire broke out and destroyed years of his work. That fire was likely started by his enemies while Carey was out of town. When his coworker Marshman told him tears filled his eyes, and later he said, “In one short evening the labors of years are consumed. How unsearchable are the ways of God!”
Coworkers fought against him. Friends and family disowned him. Supporters refused to send him money. He lost two wives and one literally went insane. The work was hard but Carey believed it was worth it.
Most famously he said. Expect great things. Attempt great things.
He is one of my favorite missionaries for his tenacity and his faithfulness and his ambition. I think we can all agree that he did great things for the Lord.
But sometimes I feel woefully inadequate in my ministry when I compare it to all he accomplished. Anyone who ministers for the gospel can at times feel like their work is unimportant and their results are too few. And we can grow discouraged and want to give up because we just feel like it is not worth it.
In this conference, I want us to work through Paul’s words to Timothy in the last letter written by Paul. 2 Timothy. I want us all as ministers to be encouraged to stay at it. To keep going. To refuse to give up.
2 Timothy 4:1-8.
I want to focus on Paul’s phrase, his exhortation to Timothy, in verse 5 fulfill your ministry. Vs1-4 lead up to this exhortation and we will work on those in this first session. And then verses 6-8 express why Paul needs Timothy to keep at it and we will work on those in the second session.
These eight verses hinge on Paul’s exhortation to Timothy and to us, Fulfill your ministry.
That word ministry is the same word in Greek as the word deacon. It means service or ministry or contribution. Specifically here it does not refer to pastoring a church or preaching on Sunday. It is simply a word that means: your way of serving the Lord.
Here today not all are pastors, but all are ministers working in all kinds of different ministries. Some are public like preaching and pastoring, but many are much more behind the scene. Working with children. Being deacons. Feeding the hungry. Leading worship. Cleaning and counseling and evangelizing. Loving orphans.
Paul’s word here refers to simply however you are serving the Lord. So think about the primary way you are serving the Lord. Fix that way or that service or that ministry in your mind. That is the context. Your way of serving the Lord.
Paul says to Timothy, and he says to all of us. Fulfill your ministry. That word fulfill means to make it happen. To accomplish it. To complete it. To stay at it. To refuse to give up.
So the primary exhortation in verses 1-8 is for you to think in your mind about your primary service to the Lord and how you plan to stay at it until completion.
In this example in these verses, Timothy was a pastor. By the time Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, Timothy had been ministering to the church at Ephesus for four years. Paul probably wrote 2 Timothy during his second imprisonment in Rome. Expecting that death would come soon, Paul wrote what is sometimes called his “farewell” letter to Timothy urging him to stand firm and asking him to come for one final visit.
In chapter 4, vs 2, when Paul says to Timothy preach the Word, he was referring to Timothy’s primary job in Ephesus. His job, his ministry was to preach the Word the people. To proclaim the gospel. To teach the people the scriptures. That was Timothy’s ministry.
Paul summarizes what it means to preach the word in verse 3: be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. That is preaching. That is doing your job Timothy.
So again the big exhortation in these verses is to complete your ministry. Stay at your ministry. For Timothy, that ministry was to preach the word. Your ministry may not be to preach the Word, but Paul’s exhortation still applies as do his cautions in verse 3-4.
Let’s look at these cautions again.
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
He says to Timothy that you will have difficulty in your ministry, in preaching the word. Some people won’t want to hear what you have to say, but instead will look for people who will say what they want to hear.
In other words, some people will get mad at you Timothy and will leave your ministry.
Listen closely to what Paul says. He says that the root problem with those who reject sound teaching and wander off into myths is not intellectual, but emotional. This is so true in ministry. We will confront problems of various kinds, but isn’t it true that most of the problems in ministry are problems with people. And not very often is the problem intellectual or philosophical. The problem is usually people and their emotions.
People are selfish. People have desires. They have wants. They try to get ahead. They will cheat. They will lie. They will manipulate. They will think that you and your ministry exist for them and become users of you. This is true in all our ministries. In all my years of being a pastor, the biggest difficulties haven’t been doctrine or philosophy, but people. Think in your ministry. Haven’t people and their desires and their problems created the largest of your problems? It was the same for Timothy and it was the same for Paul. And it is the same for us.
The biggest problem in ministry is almost always people.
Our biggest discouragement and the reason we most often want to quit and give up is because of the people who we are serving in our ministries.
For instance, sometimes people say there is no perfect church. But I disagree. When I was a missionary in Paraguay, SA, I found the perfect church. We were traveling somewhere and we passed by a church building that was in pretty good condition on the outside, but on the door was an obviously new sign that said, now closed.
So I said to my wife, hey look, I finally found the perfect church. There are no people in that church. It’s the perfect church. I want to pastor that church. And she said, then it wouldn’t be perfect anymore.
Nearly every ministry and every minister struggles most in his or her ministry with people. It has always been that way and it is true for all of us.
But have you ever thought this. Maybe you are someone else’s biggest struggle in his or her ministry? Are you the person that other people say is the hardest part of their ministry?
Did you know the Bible actually addresses this? Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Do the people who are working with you find you to be a joy or do they find you difficult? How do you expect to have people in your ministry who are a joy to you, if you are not a joy to them?
Ministry is about service, but it is also about leadership and leadership is all about influence. We can misuse power and misuse influence to get what we want in ministry. We can use people to accomplish our ministry. Instead, be the model of a person who is a joy to work with so that the people who work with you can then be a joy for you.
Paul tells Timothy that underneath their rejection of truth and their rejection of you and your ministry is always something deeper, namely, desires, passions, that are being threatened. So don’t just fight for truth at the intellectual level. Fight at the heart level. Fight at the emotion level. Fight against their fleshly desires. Fight against their sinful passions. Fight against their selfishness.
Most of fighting in ministry is a fight with people and their desires. It’s really not a fight against you, like they are somehow against you. You are fighting against their desires. They are not the enemy. Their desires, their emotions, their passions are.
Because of the struggle that we have with people in our ministries, Paul exhorts Timothy to have three mindsets in verse 5 and if he has these three mindsets he will then be able to fulfill, to stay at his ministry.
1. Control yourself. Take your ministry seriously. Keep a level head. You are not just fighting against their selfishness, but your own. Don’t you give into your emotions and passions. Keep your composure. Remain calm. Don’t feed the flesh. It literally means to dominate yourself. Control yourself.
2. Persevere which is the positive spin on his word endure suffering. Stay at it. Don’t give up. Keep working. Ministry is going to be discouraging. You will want to give up. You will be criticized. Other people will say they can do it better. You won’t see results. You will be attacked. You will want to quit.
Anyone who is a minister to Jesus Christ will experience these realities and these feelings.
I was in China a few years ago and worked with four pastors who oversaw multiple churches. All four of those pastors had been imprisoned for being pastors. All four had been beaten for being pastors. All four had been disowned by their families for being Christians. One had been tortured and beaten so badly by the hilt of a gun that he almost died. I felt very inadequate preaching and working with those men.
Every time I feel discouraged and every time I feel like a target, I think of those guys. They endured suffering. Literal physical suffering. When I think of their suffering and I think of their torture and I think of all they lost, it helps me endure. It gives me perspective. If they endured, I can endure too. Their suffering was far greater than my own. Don’t give in. Persevere.
3. Be an example. The word work here carries this idea of behavior. He says behave or act as an evangelist would. Be an example, Timothy, of what an evangelist does and how he lives.
Be exceptional. Be outstanding. Be a difference maker. So in your ministry, in your area of serving the Lord, be the very best minister possible. Don’t just go through the motions. Don’t just go half way. Don’t just pretend. Strive to serve in the very best way possible.
Those are three great mindsets. But look closely here. In verses 3-4 he lists some of the problems Timothy was going to have with the people in his church. They will get mad. They will be hurt. They will criticize. But then in verse 5 he gives these 3 mindsets that Timothy has to have to fulfill his ministry.
Again, In verse 2 he tells Timothy how to preach. In vs 3-4 he tells the problem with the people. And in verse 5 he tells Timothy to have those three mindsets. Pay attention here. There is something missing.
Wouldn’t you assume that Paul would tell Timothy how to deal with the people problem. Their emotions. Their passions. Their criticisms. Their manipulation. But he doesn’t. Instead he tells Timothy to have these mindsets. Why would Paul omit how to handle the people problem?
Here’s why. In ministry, you can only control you. You cannot control anyone else. Yes the people will be the problem. Yes you will be discouraged. Yes you will want to get angry and yell at them. Be you cannot control them.
But you can only make sure you are doing the right thing. You can only make sure you have the right attitude. You can only make sure to be the example. You can only control you.
Make sure you see that the biggest discouragement is them, but you can only control you. Which means that it is more important for you to grow as a person and develop your spiritual character and grow the fruit of the spirit than it is to be liked, or successful, or be in charge, or to be busy.
Who you are on the inside contributes more to ministry success than any other factor. Who you are on the inside influences directly your ability to fulfill your ministry.
People who quit are those who first quit on the inside where the battle for their heart and minds take place.
So the exhortation here from Paul to Timothy is that the secret to fulfilling your ministry begins with being a man or a woman of God on the inside. Cultivate the inside. Care for your soul. Work on the problem areas. Grow spiritually. Control yourself. Stay at it. Be an example. Don’t neglect yourself in the pursuit of serving Jesus.
That’s how you fulfill your ministry.
Paul now can move on to explain to Timothy why it is so important for him to fulfill his ministry.
