Today for My 2 Cents, I would like us to examine the second chapter of John MacArthur's book "Ashamed of the Gospel." As you read it, please give it careful consideration and asked ourselves if we belong to the "User-Friendly Church." Do we seek to please men or do we seek to please God. Let us remember the words spoken to the Galatians;

Galatians 1:6-10  I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

May God give you wisdom and insight as you read these words. I ask that we be as the Bereans from Acts 17:11, check the scripture and see if these words are so.

Pastor Mike

 

The User-Friendly Church?

At a certain meeting of ministers and church officers, one after another doubted the value of prayer-meetings; all confessed that they had a very small attendance, and several acknowledged without the slightest compunction that they had quite given them up. What means this? Are churches in a right condition when they have only one meeting for prayer in a week, and that a mere skeleton?

Charles Haddon Spurgeon¹

The contemporary church is undergoing a revolution in worship styles unprecedented since the Protestant Reformation. Ministry has married marketing philosophy, and this is the monstrous offspring. It is a studied effort to change the way the world perceives the church. Church ministry is being completely revamped in an attempt to make it more appealing to unbelievers.

The experts are now telling us that pastors and church leaders who want to be successful must concentrate their energies in this new direction. Provide non-Christians with an agreeable, inoffensive environment. Give them freedom, tolerance, and anonymity. Always be positive and benevolent. If you must have a sermon, keep it brief and amusing. Don't be preachy or authoritative. Above all, keep everyone entertained. Churches following this pattern will see numerical growth, we're assured; those that ignore it are doomed to decline.

The kinds of innovation being tried are extraordinary, even radical. For example, some churches now offer their largest services on Friday or Saturday night instead of Sunday morning. These services are usually heavy on music and entertainment, offering people an alternative to the theater or social circuit. Church members can now "get church out of the way" early, then have the rest of the weekend to use as they wish. One Saturday churchgoer explained why these alternative services are so important: "If you go to Sunday school at 9:00 a.m., then to the 11 a.m. service and leave about 1 p.m., your day is pretty well shot."²

Judging from attendance figures, lots of church members feel spending the Lord's Day in church is tantamount to blowing the whole day. Non-Sunday alternative services in some churches are more heavily attended than traditional Sunday worship services.

That's not all. Many of these services offer no preaching whatsoever. Instead they rely on music, skits, multimedia, and other means of communication to convey the message. "This is the generation that grew up on television," one pastor told Time magazine. "You have to present religion to them in a creative and visual way." Some churches are taking that philosophy a step further, cutting out preaching on Sunday morning as well.

Even the music and skits are carefully chosen to try to make unbelievers comfortable. Almost nothing is dismissed as inappropriate: rock 'n' roll oldies, disco tunes, heavy metal, rap, dancing, comedy, clowns, mime artists, and stage magic have all become part of the evangelical repertoire. In fact, one of the few things judged out of place in church these days is clear and forceful preaching.

The whole point is to make the church "user-friendly." That is a term borrowed from the computer industry. It was first employed to describe software and hardware that is easy for the novice to operate. Applied to the church, it usually describes a ministry that is benign and utterly non-challenging. In practice, it has become an excuse for importing worldly amusements into the church in an attempt to try to attract non-Christian "seekers" or "unchurched Harrys" by appealing to their fleshly interests. The obvious fallout of this preoccupation with the unchurched is a corresponding deemphasis on those who are the true church. The spiritual needs of believers are often neglected to the hurt of the body.

Pounding the Pulpit?

Not that preaching has been entirely abandoned. Some of the user-friendly churches offer at least one service a week (often a midweek service) where a spoken message is the centerpiece. But even in those meetings the style is frequently psychological and motivational rather than biblical. Above all, the emphasis is on user-friendliness. I recently read through a stack of newspaper and magazine articles about the user-friendly phenomenon, and a common thread began to emerge. Here are some quotations from clippings describing the preaching in user-friendly churches:

• "There is no fire and brimstone here. No Bible-thumping. Just practical, witty messages."
• "Services at [the church featured in the article] have an informal feeling. You won't hear people threatened with hell or referred to as sinners. The goal is to make them feel welcome, not drive them away."
• "As with all clergymen [this pastor's] answer is God-but he slips Him in at the end, and even then doesn't get heavy. No ranting, no raving. No fire, no brimstone. He doesn't even use the H-word. Call it Light Gospel. It has the same salvation as the Old Time Religion, but with a third less guilt."
• "The sermons are relevant, upbeat, and best of all, short. You won't hear a lot of preaching about sin and damnation and hell fire. Preaching here doesn't sound like preaching. It is sophisticated, urbane, and friendly talk. It breaks all the stereotypes."
• "[The pastor] is preaching a very upbeat message.... It's a salvationist message, but the idea is not so much being saved from the fires of hell. Rather, it's being saved from meaninglessness and aimlessness in this life. It's more of a soft-sell."
• "The idea, [the pastor] says, is to get people through the front doors, then disprove the stereotype of the sweating, loosened necktied, Bible-thumping preacher who yells and screams about burning in hell for eternity."

So the new rules may be summed up as follows: Be clever, informal, positive, brief, and friendly. Never loosen your necktie. Never let them see you sweat. And never, never use the H-word.

 Most of the above quotations represent what outside observers have said about user-friendly churches, not how they portray their own ministries. Many of them would vehemently deny that they downplay or deny any point of evangelical doctrine. In fact, George Barna's bestselling book User-Friendly Churches includes this disclaimer twice: "None of the successful churches described in this book is interested in being user friendly in the sense of compromising the gospel or the historic faith of the church just to make friends with the age."³

But in fact the truth of Scripture is being compromised if it is decentralized and if in order to forge a friendship with the world hard truths are avoided, vapid amusements are set in place of sound teaching, and semantic gymnastics are employed to avoid mention of the difficult truths of Scripture. If the design is to make the seeker comfortable, isn't that rather incompatible with the biblical teaching on sin, judgment, hell, and several other important topics? So the biblical message is inevitably distorted by the philosophy. And what about the believer who should be fed?

Please understand, I'm not suggesting preachers ought to be sweaty, unkempt ranters and ravers who scream, yell, pound the pulpit, and thump the Bible. But let's face it, except in very narrow, hyper-fundamentalist sects, such preachers are hardly in abundance these days. The imagery of the Bible-thumper has become an easy stereotype that is often used against those who simply believe straightforward proclamation of truth is more important than making "unchurched Harry" comfortable.

The weakness of the pulpit today does not stem from frantic cranks who harangue about hell; it is the result of men who compromise and who fear to speak God's Word powerfully, with conviction. The church is certainly not suffering from an overabundance of forthright preachers; rather, it seems glutted with men-pleasers (cf Gal. 1:10).

The Customer Is Sovereign

At the heart of the market-driven, user-friendly church is the goal of giving people what they want. Advocates of the philosophy are quite candid about this. I noted in Chapter 1 that consumer satisfaction is the stated goal of the new philosophy. One key resource on market-driven ministry says, "This is what marketing the church is all about: providing our product (relationships) as a solution to people's felt need."⁴

"Felt needs" thus determine the road map for the modern church marketing plan. The idea is a basic selling principle: you satisfy an existing desire rather than trying to persuade people to buy something they don't want.

Accurately assessing people's felt needs is therefore one of the keys to modern church-growth theory. Church leaders are advised to poll potential "customers" and find out what they are looking for in a church-then offer that. Demographic information, community surveys, door-to-door polls, and congregational questionnaires are the new tools. Information drawn from such sources is considered essential to building a workable marketing plan. Ministers today are told they cannot reach people effectively without it.

Worst of all, it seems people's emotional "felt needs" are taken more seriously than the real but unfelt spiritual deficiencies Scripture addresses. "Felt needs" include issues like loneliness, fear of failure, "codependency," a poor self-image, depression, anger, resentment, and similar inward-focused inadequacies. Some of these are real, and some are fabricated by the psychological sales pitch. These problems, we are told, are behind drug addiction, sex addiction, and several dozen other syndromes. The real problem-the root of all such troubles-is human depravity, an issue that is carefully skirted (though seldom overtly denied) in the teaching of the typical user-friendly church.

No longer are pastors trained to declare to people what God demands of them. Instead, they are counseled to find out what the people's demands are, then do whatever is necessary to meet them. The audience is regarded as "sovereign," and the wise preacher will "shape his communications according to their needs in order to receive the response he [seeks]."⁵

The effect of such a philosophy is apparent; more and more people-pleasers fill the pulpits of our churches. Moreover, Scripture is overruled by the marketing plan as the authoritative guide for ministry. One textbook on church marketing includes this statement: "The marketing plan is the Bible of the marketing game; everything that happens in the life of the product occurs because the plan wills it."⁶ Applied to church ministry, that means a human strategy-not the Word of God-becomes the fountain of all church activity, and the standard by which ministry is measured.

That approach to ministry is so obviously convoluted and so grossly unbiblical that I am amazed so many pastors are influenced by it. But it has become an extremely influential philosophy. Thousands of churches have overhauled their entire ministry and are now attempting to cater to the masses.

In fact, the user-friendly-church movement has become so large that many secular newspapers have begun to take note of the trend. One article in the Los Angeles Times described how a megachurch grew out of a door-to-door survey conducted for a "marketing study" when this church was not yet formed. "Customer Poll Shapes a Church" was the title of the article-and it is fitting. The story described how the pastor "tailored the church's program to the needs and gripes people registered in his door-to-door survey."⁷ Of course, the article said, his messages are brief, low-key, upbeat, and topical, with titles like "The Changing American Dream." He spices his sermonettes with quotations from news and financial magazines.

Another Southern California newspaper ran an article entitled, "Marketing the Maker." It describes several local churches that have employed the market-driven philosophy-and seem to be booming. One church "bought time on classic rock stations for an ad that sounded more like a pitch for a social club than an invitation to join a church. And newspaper ads were placed in the entertainment section, not the religion section."⁸

There is nothing wrong, of course, with a church placing ads in the entertainment section. But it is wrong for a church to promise-and deliver-a "church service" that is merely a form of entertainment. And that is precisely what many of these churches are doing. "A celebration-not a service" is how this particular church promotes its meetings, held, appropriately, in a movie theater.

One "church" has taken the concept to its logical conclusion-"a church service created for the medium of television. Our sanctuary has no pews ... our sanctuary is [the] viewers' television set."⁹ Created by the founder of the Home Shopping Network, "Worship" is a 24-hour "non-stop Christian church service." How can a "church" like that offer meaningful fellowship? you ask. The founders of "Worship" feel they have that covered. "At Worship, fellowship is a significant part of each service, but this, too, is handled in a unique way through modern tools of communication.... Worship employs the latest technology in digital telephone equipment to enable viewers from around the country to quickly connect to a Fellowship partner."¹⁰

And so the "customer" achieves ultimate sovereignty. If he doesn't like what he sees, he can simply turn off the set. If he doesn't enjoy the "fellowship," he can hang up the phone.

Turning Church-Growth Theory Upside Down

Scripture says the early Christians "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6, kjv). In our generation the world is turning the church upside down. Biblically, God is sovereign, not "unchurched Harry." The Bible, not a marketing plan, is supposed to be the sole blueprint and final authority for all church ministry. Ministry should meet people's real needs, not salve their selfishness. And the Lord of the church is Christ, not some couch potato with the remote control in his hand.

I never hear the term "user-friendly church" without thinking of Acts 5 and Ananias and Sapphira. What happened there flies in the face of almost all contemporary church-growth theory. The Jerusalem church certainly wasn't very user-friendly. In fact, it was exactly the opposite; Luke tells us this episode inspired "great fear ... upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things" (v. 11). The church service that day was so disturbing that none of the unchurched people "dared to associate with them." The thought of attending such a church struck terror in their hearts, even though "the people held them in high esteem" (Acts 5:13). The church was definitely not a place for sinners to be comfortable-it was a frightening place!

Let's look carefully at this passage and try to understand it in the proper context. To do that we must go back into Acts 4. Remember, the church was newborn, in all its pristine beauty and freshness and vitality. It was yet unstained by gross sin or human failure. The people were intensely studying the apostles' doctrine. Those early days of church history were bright, happy days, full of love and real fellowship. The joy was overwhelming, and the love was deep and all-inclusive; consequently their testimony was loud and clear. The results were that some fifteen to twenty thousand had come to faith in Jesus Christ in just a few weeks' time. Already Satan had tried by persecution to thwart the purpose of the church. It made no difference; the believers only prayed for more boldness. God answered that prayer, and even more people were saved. God was very real; Christ was very much alive; and the Holy Spirit was displayed in great power in those days.

But Satan was already plotting a more dangerous attack. If he couldn't destroy the church by an external assault of persecution, he would try the more subtle internal approach. And that is exactly what happened.

Sin in the Camp

This is the first recorded occasion of sin in the church. Of all the firsts in Acts, it is the saddest. Satan's strategy of infiltrating the church began at this time, and it is still continuing today.

This entire account is a classic example of the Bible's stubborn honesty. God could have given us a soft-focus picture of the church with all the imperfections hidden. But Scripture never leaves the truth out-even when it is painful and ugly. The church is not perfect and never has been. Some people use that as an excuse to stay away: "I'd go to church, but there are too many hypocrites." I always think, Well, we have room for one more. The objection itself is hypocritical. Of course there are hypocrites in the church. That's one of the truths we glean from this account in Acts 5. So there's a sense in which a passage like this can be an encouragement. Not that we are encouraged by sin. But it is encouraging to know that the early church grappled with exactly the same kind of problems we have today.

Even the apostle Paul must have sometimes been discouraged by problems he encountered in the churches. In 2 Corinthians 11:24-27, he gave a list of all the kinds of trials and persecution he had endured:

Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

Then in conclusion he adds this, the supreme trial of all: "Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches" (v. 28). He wasn't talking about administration; he was speaking of the battle to bring believers to maturity.

Beginning with this incident in Acts 5, the sins of the saints became a perpetual problem for the church. Every epistle Paul wrote in the New Testament included something of major consequence about sin in the church. In Romans 16:17, 18 he wrote, "Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting." The Corinthian church was overrun with problems: divisions, strife, immorality, misuse of spiritual gifts, and so on. The Galatians were tolerant of false teaching and legalism (cf Gal. 3:1-4). Paul had to entreat the Ephesians to walk in a manner worthy of their calling, to be humble and gentle, patiently showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (4:1-4). He had to urge the Philippians to be like-minded, united in peace, intent on one purpose (2:1, 2). He even named two women, Euodia and Syntyche, whom he wanted to get along with one another (4:2, 3). In Colossians 3 Paul repeats a whole list of spiritual deficiencies, capped by a command for the Colossians to clean up their lives. He unrelentingly waged war against sin in the church.

A Sharing Community

The church had begun as a sharing community. Acts 4:32-37 says,

The congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and lay them at the apostles' feet; and they would be distributed to each, as any had need. And Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means, Son of Encouragement), and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

THEY HAD TRUE SPIRITUAL UNITY

The congregation had already burgeoned and blossomed to include thousands of people, and they were continually multiplying. Nevertheless, they "were of one heart and soul." It was not just that they all belonged to the same organization, but that they had true spiritual unity. They believed as one. They thought as one. They were in the truest sense a body, a single organism with one heartbeat and one soul (cf Phil. 1:27). They were preoccupied with each other and with winning the world. They were too busy with those priorities to worry about their own selves. Everyone was caring for everyone else, so everyone's needs were met. Selfishness was therefore rendered unnecessary. What a beautiful kind of preoccupation that was! How rich and sweet their fellowship must have been!

THEY SHARED ALL THEIR POSSESSIONS

Many people misunderstand this passage. "All things were common property to them" does not mean these people lived in a commune. Remember, at Pentecost, Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims who came for the feast. During religious feasts, as many as a million people would come to Jerusalem. They obviously needed housing and food, and there weren't enough inns to accommodate everyone. So it was customary for believers to open their homes and allow people to live with them. Suddenly, at Pentecost on this particular year, hundreds of these people embraced Christ, and then began to win their friends and families to Him. Surely many of them remained in Jerusalem to sit under the apostles' teaching.

The financial pressures on these people and their hosts must have been tremendous. In addition, there were many poor people in Jerusalem. And some believers' income may have been cut off when they testified of their faith in Christ. To deal with these things, all believers were willing to share what they had.

This was not a commune. People did not drop out of society, quit their jobs, pool their money, and live in a common building or camp. Acts 2 describes what they were doing:

And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved (vv. 44-47).

This was a spiritual community, not a cloister. Christians still owned their own houses-they continued "breaking bread from house to house" (v. 46). That is, they broke bread, or had communion, in private homes. "Selling" and "sharing" in verse 45 are perfect-tense verbs, suggesting that the selling and sharing were going on all the time. There was no one point when the community of believers sold all they had and pooled their funds. A continuous process was going on whereby people who had resources were sharing them with believers who did not. They did not live in a communal shelter or put up barracks to accommodate everyone. That would have undermined the God-ordained priority of the family unit, which God designed to be independent and to function as the building block of society and the means of passing truth and righteousness from generation to generation.

People were selling selling their possessions-their land holdings and their portable goods-and sharing the proceeds when they knew others had needs. Paul commanded giving in this same spirit. He urged the Corinthians to be generous in giving to the needs of the saints in Macedonia, "your abundance being a supply for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your want, that there may be equality" (2 Cor. 8:14). Is that any different from what we do today? Not if our churches are healthy. Christians who see a brother or sister in need should have a natural desire to supply the need (cf 1 John 3:16). That's what these early Christians were doing. Those who sold possessions did so completely voluntarily. This becomes a crucial point when we examine the sin of Ananias and Sapphira.

THEY WERE NOURISHED BY POWERFUL PREACHING

"With great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection" (4:33). The preaching was bold and powerful. They were not ashamed of the gospel, though there was much persecution in those days. In fact, it specifically says they were preaching about the resurrection. That is the very truth that got them in the most trouble. At the beginning of this same chapter we learn that the priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees, "being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead" (v. 2), seized Peter and John and threw them in jail. Peter and John weren't trying to win approval from the Sadducees and priests by preaching a message they wanted to hear! They boldly proclaimed the very thing that most offended them! They refused to tone down the great doctrines of the Word of God to eliminate the offense. They never suppressed the biblical message because someone might be offended.

The apostles' preaching ministry included teaching as well as evangelism. Acts 2:42 says that those who believed "were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching." This was a well-fed but voracious flock.

The Jerusalem church would have been a wonderful place of fellowship. They did not follow any of the contemporary user-friendly marketing techniques, but the fellowship was warm and real. They lovingly met one another's actual needs. And they had rich and ample teaching. Acts 2:42 tells us, "They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." None of that was designed to attract unbelievers. Nevertheless, new people kept coming, because the Lord kept adding to the church day by day those who were being saved (v. 47).

A Positive Role Model

Luke records how resources were shared among needy believers. Those with surplus property and possessions sold them, then placed the proceeds at the apostles' feet (4:34, 35). The apostles distributed the funds to those who had needs. Through that simple system, all the needs were met (v. 34). That is essentially the same system we use today when we take an offering in the church. The money goes into a common fund, where the leaders of the church have the responsibility for stewardship of it.

Barnabas is the specific example Luke chose to show a spiritual role model. Barnabas was a nickname, meaning "son of encouragement." Apparently this man, "Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth," had the gift of exhortation, so he was given a nickname that fit. Barnabas later accompanied the apostle Paul on his first missionary journey.

Barnabas was a Levite, a member of the priestly tribe of Israel. It is unlikely that he, a priest, would have been a very wealthy man. But somehow he had acquired a piece of property. He sold it. Then he brought the money to the apostles to be distributed. He didn't ask for recognition. He didn't try to control how the money was used. He just turned it over. What is clear from Acts chapter 4 is that Barnabas gave from love out of a pure heart-just for the blessedness of giving. And we can assume that a whole lot of others in the Jerusalem church did the same thing.

A Negative Role Model

But not everyone. The story that follows makes a startling contrast to the tone of Acts 4. It is shocking to see sin in this church. It is appalling to see the brazen falsehood Ananias and Sapphira conspired to tell. Most of all, it is astonishing to see how severely the Lord dealt with their sin:

But a certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God." And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came upon all who heard of it. And the young men arose and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter responded to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?" And she said, "Yes, that was the price." Then Peter said to her, "Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out as well." And she fell immediately at his feet, and breathed her last; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things (Acts 5:1-11).

As generous and sacrificial and selfless as the saints at Jerusalem were, there was an exception. Ananias' sin was spawned by the seeds of greed and deceit. It is to the book of Acts what Achan's sin is to the book of Joshua. Both were deceitful, miserly, selfish acts that interrupted the victorious progress of God's people and brought sin into the camp at the height of great triumph.

The saints in Jerusalem were giving out of a Spirit-filled heart. Ananias' sin revealed a Satan-filled heart (v. 3). The contrast between the end of the fourth chapter and the beginning of the fifth could hardly be more dramatic.

Ananias' name means "the Lord is gracious"; Sapphira means "beautiful." Their deed was anything but gracious or beautiful. Seeing that others were selling property and giving the money to the apostles, they pledged to do the same. Verse 2 tells us, however, that when the time came to give, they "kept back some of the price." It is clear that both of them were in on the plot.

The Leaven of the Pharisees

What was their motive? They wanted a little spiritual prestige. They wanted to appear to be giving sacrificially, yet keep some of the money for themselves. That suggests they loved money. And "the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil," Paul wrote Timothy. "Some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang" (1 Tim. 6:10). That was certainly true of Ananias and Sapphira. The book of Hebrews says "Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you'" (13:5).

Here were two characters so tainted with the love of money that they were willing to conspire together to commit public hypocrisy. They sold their land, but rather than giving all the proceeds to the Lord as they had promised, they gave only a portion to the Lord under the pretense that it was the whole price. They must have thought they could gain spiritual esteem and some cash through the charade.

Their sin was not that they did not give everything. There was no divine requirement that they give everything. They had a perfect right to keep or give whatever they desired. They didn't even have to sell their property. It was all voluntary, as is all giving spoken of in the New Testament.

The sin was their lie. They had evidently made a vow to the Holy Spirit publicly in front of the congregation. They lied to the entire congregation, but worse still, they lied to God (Acts 5:4). Perhaps they thought of this as a secret sin, but it didn't stay secret long. God Himself exposed it to the entire congregation.

Now let's be honest. This kind of hypocrisy is not a particularly uncommon sin. Nor is it the kind of evil we tend to think of as heinous. Lots of people give money under false pretenses. This is the moral equivalent of the man who rolls up a few dollar bills so it will look like he's putting a large wad into the collection plate. Or the woman who makes a great show of depositing an offering envelope, when there's only a quarter inside. It's like the Pharisees who had someone blow a trumpet in the synagogues and streets when they gave alms, so that everyone would notice (Matt. 6:2).

Jesus says of such people, "they have their reward in full" (Matt. 6:2, 5, 16). They want people to see their show of good works; people notice. That's their reward. They seek glory from people, not from God, so the human recognition is the only reward they will ever get. "But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you" (6:3, 4). This sin may seem petty to us, but not to God. God hates hypocrisy and feigned holiness. Jesus called it "the leaven of the Pharisees" (Luke 12:1).

Now this leaven was threatening to infect the infant church. God would deal with it harshly and abruptly, sending signals to everyone about the seriousness of life in the church.

Peter's Response

Peter, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, saw through their hypocrisy. Imagine the shock that hit Ananias! He came before the apostles, laid his money at their feet, and smugly told them it was all the money he got from selling his property. He probably stood there a moment, basking in what he thought was their approval. He must have assumed that they were looking at him as a spiritual example, a generous and godly man.

Suddenly Peter said to him, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land?" (Acts 5:3)-a rather confrontive thing to say in a church service.

In many churches Ananias would hhy is it that you have conceiveave received the approval he sought, no matter what his motives. A pragmatic church leader might reason, After all, this is a substantial sum of money. OK, his motives aren't pure, but, hey, he's not a bad guy, and we can use the money. We can't embarrass him in front of all the people. If we do that, we'll never get another dime from him.

Not Peter. He confronted the sin directly. "Why has Satan filled your heart?" Notice that Peter was putting the blame on Ananias, not Satan. "Why?" he asked. Then again in verse 4: "Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart?"

Peter made clear that the sin was Ananias' hypocrisy, not his keeping half the money: "While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control?" (v. 4). He could have done whatever he wanted with the money. He could have kept his land. There was no requirement for him to do otherwise. It would not have been sinful if Ananias had said, "I sold my property, and here is part of the money." He had every right to give as much or as little as he wanted. But he sinned by claiming he was giving everything when he had actually kept some for himself.

And he lied to God, not just to men. More specifically, this was a blatant lie to the Holy Spirit.¹¹ How had he lied to the Holy Spirit? He had vowed to give the full value of his property and failed to follow through. The Old Testament sage wrote, "When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it, for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay" (Eccl. 5:4, 5). Moses' law contained a similar warning: "When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the Lord your God will surely require it of you. However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you. You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have promised" (Deut. 23:21-23).

God's Judgment

God's response to the situation was immediate, severe, and final. He struck Ananias dead on the spot. "As he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last" (Acts 5:5). This was a judicial act of the Most Holy God. Perhaps Ananias' heart simply stopped out of sheer terror. Right in front of the entire church.

User-friendly? Hardly. In fact, the effect was that "great fear came upon all who heard of it" (v. 5). God had made Ananias an example to others who might be tempted to trifle with Him and taint the purity of the church.

Does God always judge sin this way? Obviously not, but like Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10), Korah (Num. 16), Achan (Josh. 7), Herod (Acts 12), and others throughout Scripture, Ananias was immediately judged for his sin and paid with his life. God sovereignly chose to strike him dead summarily. He thus became an example to all. The truth is, God could judge every sin this way. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). It is only because of the Lord's infinite mercy that we are not all consumed (Lam. 3:22, kjv). Sometimes God does judge sin with physical death. Paul wrote to the Corinthians who were disrupting and defiling the Lord's table, "He who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep" (1 Cor. 11:29, 30). "Sleep" in that verse refers to physical death. God was actually judging those irreverent Corinthians by making them physically ill, and some were even dying.

With Ananias, however, there was no illness, no time lapse. He dropped dead on the spot. God's judgment was swift and terrifying.

Sapphira's Sin

Scripture says, "The young men arose and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him" (Acts 5:6). Sapphira was not present when her husband died. "There elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened" (v. 7). Sapphira was oblivious to her husband's fate, perhaps thinking she would make a grand entrance, with everyone admiring her for the great act of generosity she and Ananias had done.

Peter immediately confronted her: "Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?" And she said, "Yes, that was the price" (v. 8). This was a deliberate lie, proving that she and her husband had conspired together to commit a premeditated act of hypocrisy.

Peter was as direct as he had been with Ananias: "Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out as well" (v. 9). She never even had the opportunity to respond. "She fell immediately at his feet, and breathed her last; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband" (v. 10).

Judgment Must Begin at the House of God

God is serious about the purity of the church. This was an early and unforgettable lesson about how God views sin among the fellowship of believers. In essence, God was saying, "I am not playing church. I will not trifle with sinners. I am not interested in user-friendliness. I desire righteousness, truth, and sincere hearts." He thus served notice that He is deadly serious. The church is no social gig.

What was the result of this episode? Again, "Great fear came upon the whole church" (5:11). You can be certain there was a lot of careful self-examination going on in the Jerusalem church that day. And that was the point. God was purifying His church. He wanted His people to take sin seriously. He wanted to discourage shallow commitment. He wanted the people to fear Him. The church meets to worship God, and that demands the confrontation of sin. Here the Lord gives us the very basic model for the church's meeting-sin is dealt with fiercely. The issue is not what unbelievers think about such severity; it is what God thinks about such iniquity.

Surely in first-century Jerusalem there were a lot more contemptible sinners than Ananias and Sapphira. What about Herod, for example? Why didn't God strike him dead? As a matter of fact, He ultimately did (cf Acts 12:18-23). But as Peter wrote, "It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God" (1 Peter 4:17). God judges His own people before He turns His wrath on pagans.

Can the church avoid God's judgment? Yes, but only by purifying herself. After warning the Corinthians that God was already judging sinning church members with sickness and deatGentile and a taxgathererh, Paul told them, "If we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged" (1 Cor. 11:31). In other words, it is the job of faithful church members to maintain the church's purity. Frankly, this is a far more powerful word to unbelievers about reality than some bland and light-hearted talk intended to make them feel welcome and accepted. This lets the unbeliever know that the church is a holy people and is not for unrepentant sinners, but for the redeemed ones who love righteousness.

We maintain purity by following the process Jesus outlined in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew: "If your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer" (vv. 15-17, emphasis added). We refer to this process as "church discipline." It may not seem like a very user-friendly concept, but it is what God commands. His design is to purify the church and thus to bless and protect His people from His judgment. Paul wrote, "When we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world" (1 Cor. 11:32).

Jesus went on to say, "Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst" (Matt. 18:18-20). Remember, in this context our Lord was describing how to deal with sin in the fellowship. The point is that Christ carries out His own will in the church through the discipline process. "I am in their midst" means He personally works in and through believers to purify His church as they follow the steps He outlined. The effect is that repentant believers are restored (their sin is "loosed" from them), and hardhearted sinners are exposed and ousted from the fellowship (their sin is "bound" to them). If we don't follow this process and keep the church pure, He will intervene in judgment (1 Cor. 11:30).

Knowing the Terror of the Lord, We Persuade Men

Here is the salient point for this book: God's judgment against Ananias and Sapphira had an effect beyond the fellowship of believers: "Great fear came upon ... all who heard of these things" (Acts 5:11). Verse 13 says unbelievers did not dare associate with them! This is precisely the opposite of the user-friendly philosophy that is so popular today. Instead of luring people to church by making them feel comfortable and secure, God used fear to keep unbelievers away.

The fear of God was a central doctrine in the early church, as in the Old Testament. Unbelievers and believers alike were taught to fear Him. None but a rank fool would deal frivolously with God. It was that very fear that drew people for salvation and kept them obedient. Salvation doesn't come from wanting to join the fun and end emotional pain-it comes when the heart cries out for deliverance from sin!

The contemporary user-friendly movement aims for just the opposite. Rather than arousing fear of God, it attempts to portray Him as fun, jovial, easygoing, lenient, and even permissive. Haughty sinners who ought to approach God in terror (cf Luke 18:13) are emboldened to presume on His grace. Sinners hear nothing of divine wrath. This is as wrong as preaching rank heresy.

As we learn from the account of Ananias and Sapphira, God's wrath is not to be taken lightly. Peter wrote, "If [judgment] begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?" (1Pet. 4:17). Paul spoke of divine wrath as one of the primary motivations for evangelism: "Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Cor. 5:11).

Where Is User-Friendliness Taking theChurch?

The user-friendly philosophy is a sharp turn down a wrong road for the church. I am convinced that the downgrading of worship, Scripture, and theology will ultimately usher in serious doctrinal compromise. In fact, that may already be happening. Christian leaders who identify themselves as evangelical are beginning to question cardinal doctrines such as hell and human depravity.

One of the most popular movements afoot today embraces a doctrine known as "conditional immortality," similiar to annihilationism.¹² It is the idea that unredeemed sinners are simply eradicated rather than spending eternity in hell. A perfect fit for the user-friendly philosophy, this view teaches that a merciful God could not possibly consign created beings to eternal torment. Instead, he obliterates them completely.

Conditional immortality and annihilationism are not new ideas. History shows, however, that most people and movements who adopt annihilationist views do not remain orthodox. Denying the eternality of hell is tantamount to a running start on the down-grade.

Spurgeon attacked conditional immortality as one of the great errors of the nineteenth-century down-grade. He said that those who deny the eternality of hell "have pretty nearly obliterated the hope of such a heaven as we have all along expected. Of course, the reward of the righteous is to be of no longer continuance than the punishment of the wicked. Both are described as ‘everlasting' in the same verse [Matt. 25:46], spoken by the same sacred lips; and as the ‘punishment' is made out to be only ‘age-lasting,' so must the ‘life' be."¹³

Scripture says, "The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Rev. 20:10). Jesus told of the rich man who "In Hades ... lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame'" (Luke 16:23, 24). It was also Jesus who said, "If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:47, 48). And Revelation 14:11 describes the eternal state of those who follow Antichrist in the Tribulation: "The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." The most prolific teacher on hell in all of Scripture was the Lord Jesus Himself. He had more to say about the subject than all the apostles, prophets, and evangelists of Scripture put together.

Preaching that downplays God's wrath does not enhance evangelism; it undermines it. The urgency of the gospel is utterly lost when the preacher denies the reality or severity of everlasting punishment. The authority of Scripture is compromised when so much of Christ's clear message must be denied or explained away. The seriousness of sin is depreciated by this teaching. And therefore the gospel itself is subverted.

How deeply has the tendency to deny hell penetrated evangelicalism? One survey of evangelical seminary students revealed that nearly half-46 percent-felt preaching about hell to unbelievers is in "poor taste."¹⁴ Worse, three out of every ten self-professed "born again" people surveyed believe "good" people will go to heaven when they die-even if they've never trusted Christ.¹⁵ One in every ten evangelicals say they believe the concept of sin is outmoded.

Too many who have embraced the user-friendly trend have not carefully pondered how user-friendliness is incompatible with true biblical theology. It is, at its heart, a pragmatic, not a biblical, outlook. It is based on precisely the kind of thinking that is eating away at the heart of orthodox doctrine. It is leading evangelicalism into neo-modernism and putting churches in the fast lane on the down-grade.

The answer, of course, is not an unfriendly church, but a vibrant, loving, honest, committed, worshiping fellowship of believers who minister to one another like the church in Acts chapter 4-but who eschew sin, keep one another accountable, and boldly proclaim the full truth of Scripture. People who have no love for the things of God may not find such a place very user-friendly. But God's blessing will be on the fellowship of true believers, because that is what He ordained the church to be like. And He will add to the church, as He promised.^[1]

---

^{1 1}            "Another Word Concerning the Down-Grade," The Sword and the Trowel (August 1887), 397-98.

^{2 2}            Cited in John Dart, "Protestant Churches Join the Fold, Fill Pews with Saturday Services," Los Angeles Times (15 September 1991), B3.

^{3 3}            (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1991), 1, 15-16.

^{4 4}            George Barna, Marketing the Church (Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1988), 51.

^{5 5}            Ibid., 33.

^{6 6}            Ibid., 45.

^{7 7}            Russell Chandler (11 December 1989), A1.

^{8 8}            Mike McIntyre, The San Diego Union (6 November 1988), D8.

^{9 9}            "Designed by the Holy Spirit to Forever Change Christian Television" (advertisement), Religious Broadcasting (October 1992), 4-5.

^{10 10}        "In Spirit and in Truth," Religious Broadcasting (December 1992), 12.

^{11 11}        This passage is one of the proofs for the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. In verse 3 Peter said Ananias had lied to the Holy Spirit. In verse 4 he tells Ananias, "You have not lied to men, but to God." The Holy Spirit is God. By lying to the apostles about what he was doing, Ananias had committed an even greater offense against the Holy Spirit.

^{12 12}        Conditional immortality teaches that human souls are not inherently immortal; thus those damned in the judgment pass into oblivion, while the righteous are given immortality. Annihilationism is the view that all souls are immortal, but the wicked lose their immortality in the judgment.

^{13 13}        "Progressive Theology," The Sword and the Trowel (1888), 158.

^{14 14}        James Davison Hunter, Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1987), 40.

^{15 15}        George Barna, The Barna Report (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1992), 52.

^[1] MacArthur, J. (1993). Ashamed of the gospel : When the Church becomes like the world (45-66). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

 

 

 

Today for My 2 Cents, I would like us to examine this first chapter of John MacArthur's book "Ashamed of the Gospel." As you read it, please give it careful consideration and asked ourselves if we are on that "Down-grade." Then let us all heed the words of the Apostle Paul from 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test! May God give you wisdom and insight as you read these words. I ask that be as the Bereans from Acts 17:11, check the scripture and see if these words are so.

Pastor Mike

 

Christianity on the Down-Grade

Doth that man love his Lord who would be willing to see Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, while for himself he craves a chaplet of laurel? Shall Jesus ascend to his throne by the cross, and do we expect to be carried there on the shoulders of applauding crowds? Be not so vain in your imagination. Count you the cost, and if you are not willing to bear Christ's cross, go away to your farm and to your merchandise, and make the most of them; only let me whisper this in your ear, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"

Charles Haddon Spurgeon¹

 

If you're familiar with the life of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, you have probably heard of "the Down-Grade Controversy." Spurgeon spent the final four years of his life at war against the trends of early modernism, which he rightly saw as a threat to biblical Christianity.

The name by which history remembers the controversy comes from the title of a series of articles Spurgeon published in his monthly magazine, The Sword and the Trowel. (See Appendix for an overview of the "Down-Grade" articles and a fuller account of the ensuing controversy.) Spurgeon wanted to admonish his flock about the dangers of moving away from the historic positions of biblical Christianity. Biblical truth is like the pinnacle of a steep, slippery mountain, Spurgeon suggested. One step away, and you find yourself on the down-grade. Once a church or individual Christian gets on the down-grade, Spurgeon said, momentum takes over. Recovery is unusual and occurs only when Christians get on the "up-line" through spiritual revival.

In the controversy that transpired, Spurgeon resigned from the Baptist Union. Later, he was the subject of an official censure by the Union. Within a few years the Baptist Union was hopelessly lost to the new theology and Spurgeon was dead. In 1900, Spurgeon's wife, Susannah, wrote,

So far as the Baptist Union was concerned, little was accomplished by Mr. Spurgeon's witness-bearing and withdrawal.... But, in other respects, I have had abundant proofs that the protest was not in vain. Many, who were far gone on the ‘Down-grade,' were stopped in their perilous descent, and, by God's grace, were brought back to the ‘Up-line'; others, who were unconsciously slipping, were made to stand firmly on the Rock; while, at least for a time, in all the churches, Evangelical doctrines were preached with a clearness and emphasis which had long been lacking.²

She believed the Lord would ultimately make clear how right her husband had been in his "protest against false doctrine and worldliness."³

To this day, church historians debate whether Spurgeon was right to withdraw from the Union. Many believe he should have stayed and fought to keep it orthodox. He considered that option, but concluded it would have been futile. I am inclined to believe Spurgeon was right to withdraw. But whether we agree with his course of action or not, we must acknowledge that history has vindicated Spurgeon's warnings about the down-grade. In the early part of the twentieth century, the spreading "false doctrine and worldliness"-theological liberalism and modernism-ravaged denominational Christianity throughout the world. Most of the mainline denominations were violently if not fatally altered by these influences. The result in Spurgeon's own England was particularly devastating. A hundred years after Spurgeon sounded the alarm, most theological education in England is rank liberal. Church attendance is a fraction of what it was then. Evangelicals are a tiny minority, true biblical preaching is uncommon even in supposedly Bible-believing churches, and the evangelical movement has been dangerously susceptible to almost every theological fad exported from America. In short, evangelicalism in England never recovered from the modernist/liberal assault that began a century ago.

A hundred years later, we are seeing history repeat itself. The evangelical church has become worldly-and not just worldly, but studiously so. Winds of doctrinal compromise are beginning to stir.

"False doctrine and worldliness"-the same two influences Spurgeon attacked-always go hand in hand, with worldliness leading the way. Christians today tend to forget that modernism was not first of all a theological agenda but a methodological one. Early modernists were not trying to hit at the core of biblical faith; they were simply trying to make Christianity more palatable to a cynical world.

The same spirit is rampant in the church today. I am convinced that most of those behind it would not deliberately undermine biblical Christianity. Nevertheless, they have introduced into the church a philosophy of pragmatism and a spirit of worldliness that, if left unchecked, will eventually reap the same bitter harvest as the modernism of a hundred years ago.

Market-Driven Ministry?

The new philosophy is straightforward: The church is in competition against the world. And the world is very good at capturing people's attention and affections. The church, on the other hand, tends to be very poor at "selling" its product. Evangelism should therefore be viewed as a marketing challenge, and the church should market the gospel the way all modern businesses sell their products. That calls for some fundamental changes. The goal in all marketing is "to make both the producer and consumer satisfied,"⁴ so anything that tends to leave the "consumer" unsatisfied must be jettisoned. Preaching-particularly preaching about sin, righteousness, and judgment-is too confrontive to be truly satisfying. The church must learn to couch the truth in ways that amuse and entertain.

One best-selling author has written, "I believe that developing a marketing orientation is precisely what the Church needs to do if we are to make a difference in the spiritual health of this nation for the remainder of this century."⁵ He adds, "My contention, based on careful study of data and the activities of American churches, is that the major problem plaguing the Church is its failure to embrace a marketing orientation in what has become a marketing-driven environment."⁶

That all may sound very modern, and very shrewd-but it is not biblical. And it has given the church a hard push onto the slippery slope. Marketing principles are becoming the arbiter of truth. Elements of the message that don't fit the promotional plan are simply omitted. Marketing savvy demands that the offense of the cross must be downplayed. Salesmanship requires that negative subjects like divine wrath be avoided. Consumer satisfaction means that the standard of righteousness cannot be raised too high. The seeds of a watered-down gospel are thus sown in the very philosophy that drives many ministries today.

And make no mistake, the new philosophy is altering the message the church conveys to the world, although many who propound these ideas think of themselves as loyal to biblical doctrine.

Christianity is on the down-grade again.

Toward a Biblical Philosophy of Ministry

How does market-driven ministry compare with the biblical model? How would Timothy have fared under Paul's tutelage if he had followed the advice of twentieth-century marketers?

We have a thorough answer to that question from the two epistles Paul wrote Timothy in the New Testament. Paul had personally mentored the young pastor, but Timothy encountered severe trials when he was assigned the task of leading the church at Ephesus out of sin and error. He struggled with fear and human weakness. He was evidently tempted to soften his preaching in the face of persecution. At times he seemed ashamed of the gospel. Paul had to remind him to stand up for the faith with boldness, even if it meant suffering: "Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner; but join with me in suffering for the gospel" (2 Tim. 1:8). The two rich epistles from Paul to Timothy outline a ministry philosophy that challenges the prevailing wisdom of today.

Paul instructed Timothy that he must:

• Correct those teaching false doctrine and call them to a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith (1 Tim. 1:3-5).
• Fight for divine truth and for God's purposes, keeping his own faith and a good conscience (1:18, 19).
• Pray for the lost and lead the men of the church to do the same (2:1-8).
• Call women in the church to fulfill their God-given role of submission and to raise up godly children, setting an example of faith, love, and sanctity with self-restraint (2:9-15).
• Carefully select spiritual leaders for the church on the basis of their giftedness, godliness, and virtue (3:1-13).
• Recognize the source of error and those who teach it, and point these things out to the rest of the church (4:1-6).
• Constantly be nourished on the words of Scripture and its sound teaching, avoiding all myths and false doctrines (4:6).
• Discipline himself for the purpose of godliness (4:7-11).
• Boldly command and teach the truth of God's Word (4:12).
• Be a model of spiritual virtue that all can follow (4:12).
• Faithfully read, explain, and apply the Scriptures publicly (4:13, 14).
• Be progressing toward Christlikeness in his own life (4:15, 16).
• Be gracious and gentle in confronting the sin of his people (5:1, 2).
• Give special consideration and care to those who are widows (5:3-16).
• Honor faithful church leaders who work hard (5:17-21).
• Choose church leaders with great care, seeing to it that they are both mature and proven (5:22).
• Take care of his physical condition so he is strong to serve (5:23).
• Teach and preach principles of true godliness, helping his people discern between true godliness and mere hypocrisy (5:24-6:6).
• Flee the love of money (6:7-11).
• Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness (6:11).
• Fight for the faith against all enemies and all attacks (6:12).
• Keep all the Lord's commandments (6:13-16).
• Instruct the rich to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous (6:17-19).
• Guard the Word of God as a sacred trust and a treasure (6:20, 21).

In his second epistle, Paul reminded Timothy to:

• Keep the gift of God in him fresh and useful (2 Tim. 1:6).
• Not be timid but powerful (1:7).
• Never be ashamed of Christ or anyone who serves Christ (1:8-11).
• Hold tightly to the truth and guard it (1:12-14).
• Be strong in character (2:1).
• Be a teacher of apostolic truth so that he may reproduce himself in faithful men (2:2).
• Suffer difficulty and persecution willingly while making the maximum effort for Christ (2:3-7).
• Keep his eyes on Christ at all times (2:8-13).
• Lead with authority (2:14).
• Interpret and apply Scripture accurately (2:15).
• Avoid useless conversation that leads only to ungodliness (2:16).
• Be an instrument of honor, set apart from sin and useful to the Lord (2:20, 21).
• Flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, and love (2:22).
• Refuse to be drawn into philosophical and theological wrangling (2:23).
• Not be an arguer but kind, teachable, gentle, and patient even when he is wronged (2:24-26).
• Face dangerous times with a deep knowledge of the Word of God (3:1-15).
• Understand that Scripture is the basis and content of all legitimate ministry (3:16, 17).
• Preach the Word-in season and out of season-reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with great patience and instruction (4:1, 2).
• Be sober in all things (4:5).
• Endure hardship (4:5).
• Do the work of an evangelist (4:5).

Nothing in that list hints at a market-driven philosophy. In fact, most of those commands are impossible to harmonize with the theories that are so popular today. To sum it all up in five categories, Paul commanded Timothy: 1) to be faithful in his preaching of biblical truth; 2) to be bold in exposing and refuting error; 3) to be an example of godliness to the flock; 4) to be diligent and work hard in the ministry; and 5) to be willing to suffer hardship and persecution in his service for the Lord.

Of course, the practical significance of this goes beyond those who are pastors. Every Christian is called to a life of ministry and is to follow the example of pastors (1 Tim. 4:11-12). So Paul's instructions to Timothy contain principles that apply to every believer in every form of ministry. When the church is on the down-grade, it means that multitudes of individuals are carried along on the spiritual decline. "False doctrine and worldliness" in the church infect every member of the body. Paul's instructions to Timothy are by no means meant only for the "elite" in Christian leadership or professional ministry. That is to say that ministry philosophy-and the issues we are addressing in this book-should be the concern of every Christian; these matters are by no means the exclusive domain of professional clergy.

Recently I spent some time reading a dozen or so of the latest books on ministry and church growth. Most of those books had long sections devoted to defining a philosophy of ministry. Not one of them referred to the instructions Paul outlined so carefully for Timothy. In fact, none of them drew any element of their ministry philosophy from the New Testament pastoral epistles! Most drew principles from modern business, marketing techniques, management theory, psychology, and other similar sources. Some tried to illustrate their principles using biblical anecdotes. But not one of them drew their philosophy from Scripture- although much of the New Testament was explicitly written to instruct churches and pastors in these matters!

Ministering in an Age of Itching Ears

Unfortunately, the market-driven ministry philosophy appeals to the very worst mood of our age. It caters to people whose first love is themselves and who care not for God-unless they can have Him without disrupting their selfish lifestyles. Promise such people a religion that will allow them to be comfortable in their materialism and self-love, and they will respond in droves.

Paul foresaw such a time. Near the end of his second epistle to Timothy, after outlining the principles we have listed above, Paul abridged his advice to Timothy in this well-known verse: "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" (2 Tim. 4:2). Then the apostle added this prophetic warning: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths" (4:3, 4). The King James Version translates the passage like this: "After their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth."

Clearly there was no room in Paul's philosophy of ministry for the give-people-what-they-want theory that is so prevalent today. He did not urge Timothy to conduct a survey to find out what his people wanted. He did not suggest that he study demographic data or do research on the "felt needs" of his people. He commanded him to preach the Word-faithfully, systematically, reprovingly, patiently-and let it confront the spirit of the age head-on.

How Do We Define Success?

Notice that Paul said nothing to Timothy about how people might respond. He did not lecture Timothy on how large his church was, how much money it took in, or how influential it was. He did not suggest that the world was supposed to revere, esteem, or even accept Timothy. In fact, Paul said nothing whatever about external success. Paul's emphasis was on commitment, not success.

Contemporary ministry philosophy is infatuated with worldly standards of success. The churches most often judged "successful" are the large, rich megachurches with multimillion-dollar facilities, spas, handball courts, day-care centers, and so on. But not one church in a thousand falls into that category. That means one of two things: most churches are pitiful failures, or the gauge of success in ministry must be something besides material prosperity.

The answer is obvious to anyone who knows Scripture. External criteria such as affluence, numbers, money, or positive response have never been the biblical measure of success in ministry. Faithfulness, godliness, and spiritual commitment are the virtues God esteems-and such qualities should be the building blocks of any ministry philosophy. That is true in both small and large churches. Size does not signify God's blessing. And popularity is no barometer of success. In fact, it can be a reason for condemnation. God told Jeremiah, "An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so!" (Jer. 5:30, 31).

Look again at Paul's instructions to Timothy. Instead of urging Timothy to devise a ministry that would garner accolades from the world, he warned him about suffering and hardship-hardly the stuff of modern church-growth experts' aspirations! In Scripture external success is never a valid goal. Paul was not telling Timothy how to be "successful," he was encouraging him to pursue the divine standard.

That, of course, is what defines true success. Real success is not getting results at any cost. It is not prosperity, power, prominence, popularity, or any of the other worldly notions of success. Real success is doing the will of God regardless of the consequences.

Or, using the terms as the world often employs them, the appropriate goal is not success, but excellence.⁷ Paul was encouraging Timothy to be all that God had called and gifted him to be. He was not advising Timothy to seek success; he was urging him to pursue excellence.

The Foundation of an Excellent Ministry

Let's look a little more closely at these few verses from the beginning of 2 Timothy 4:

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry (vv. 1-5).

That brief passage defines biblical ministry. It includes nine reminders from Paul to Timothy that no minister dare disregard. Those who are derelict in these duties are on the down-grade, whether they realize it or not.

REMEMBER YOUR CALLING

"I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His Kingdom"-thus Paul begins this final section of the last inspired epistle he ever wrote. He was a prisoner, near the end of his own life, anticipating his own execution (v. 16). He knew he would soon stand before God to give an account. These thoughts were heavy on his mind. And so he reminded Timothy of the seriousness of the young pastor's own commission.

He counseled Timothy to live and work in light of impending judgment. Timothy needed to concern himself with what God thought of his ministry, not what people thought. Notice that Paul invoked "the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead." He wanted Timothy to understand that the One who would judge him is the One in whose presence he was then ministering. God judges by His own criteria, not by what people think.

Elsewhere Paul says, "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.... So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God" (Rom. 14:10, 12). That is the point he wants to make with Timothy. He must not be ministering to please men, but to please God.

PREACH THE WORD

What kind of ministry pleases God? "Preach the Word" (v. 2). Obedience to that simple command must be the centerpiece of every truly biblical ministry philosophy. The preacher's task is to proclaim Scripture and give the sense of it (cf Neh. 8:8). All other content is extraneous.

My father is a pastor, and when I first told him years ago that I believed God had called me to a life of ministry, he gave me a Bible in which he had written, "Dear Johnny, preach the Word. 2 Timothy 4:2." That simple statement became the compelling stimulus in my heart. I have never forgotten that simple biblical instruction from my dad-preach the Word. What else is there to preach?

Preaching the Word is not always easy. The message we are required to proclaim is often offensive. Christ Himself is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense (Rom. 9:33; 1 Peter 2:8). The message of the cross is a stumbling block to some (1 Cor. 1:23; Gal. 5:11), mere foolishness to others (1 Cor. 1:23). "[The] natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised" (1 Cor. 2:14). Why do you suppose Paul wrote, "I am not ashamed of the gospel" (Rom. 1:16)? Surely it is because so many Christians are ashamed of the very message we are commanded to proclaim.

As we have noted, Timothy evidently struggled with the temptation to be ashamed. Paul admonished him not to be "ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" or ashamed of Paul (2 Tim. 1:8). Timothy seems to have become a timid soul, exhibiting "a spirit of timidity," not at all like the strong and courageous apostle Paul. He was young, and some people demeaned him because of that (1 Tim. 4:12). He knew full well that even being associated with Paul was dangerous. Publicly proclaiming God's truth could land him in prison with Paul. At the very least, he was sure to incur hostility and debates from Jews who were antagonistic to the Gospel.

What is more, Timothy apparently struggled with the impulses of youthful lust (2:22). He may have felt he was not all he should be.

Those were some compelling reasons for Timothy to silence his proclamation. So when Paul commanded him to preach, he was demanding that he go against his own inclinations and inhibitions.

What was the Word that Timothy was to preach? Paul had made this clear at the end of chapter 3: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16, emphasis added). This is the Word to be preached: the whole counsel of God (cf Acts 20:27). In chapter 1 Paul had told Timothy, "Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me" (v. 13). He was speaking of the revealed words of Scripture-all of it. He urged Timothy to "Guard ... the treasure which has been entrusted to you" (v. 14). Then in chapter 2 he told him to study the Word and handle it accurately (2:15). Now he is telling him to proclaim it. So the entire task of the faithful minister revolves around the Word of God-guarding it, studying it, and proclaiming it.

In Colossians 1 the apostle Paul, describing his own ministry philosophy, writes, "Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God" (v. 25, emphasis added). In 1 Corinthians he goes a step further: "When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:1, 2). In other words, his goal as a preacher was not to entertain people with his rhetorical style, or to amuse them with cleverness, humor, novel insights, or sophisticated methodology-he simply preached Christ crucified.

There have always been those in the pulpit who gathered crowds because they are gifted orators, interesting storytellers, entertaining speakers, dynamic personalities, shrewd crowd-manipulators, rousing speech-makers, popular politicians, or erudite scholars. Such preaching may be popular, but it is not necessarily powerful. No one can preach with supernatural power who does not preach the Word. And no faithful preacher will water down or neglect the whole counsel of God. Proclaiming the Word-all of it-is the pastor's calling.

And so preaching the Word must be the very heart of our ministry philosophy. Any other philosophy replaces the voice of God with human wisdom. Philosophy, politics, humor, psychology, homespun advice, and human opinion can never accomplish what the Word of God does. Those things may be interesting, informative, entertaining, and sometimes even helpful-but they are not spiritually transforming, and they are not the business of the church. The preacher's task is not to be a conduit for human wisdom; he is God's voice to speak to the congregation. No human message comes with the stamp of divine authority-only the Word of God. I frankly do not understand preachers who are willing to abdicate this solemn privilege. Moral lectures and motivational talks are no substitute for God's Word. Why should we proclaim the wisdom of men when we have the privilege of preaching the Word of God?

BE FAITHFUL IN AND OUT OF SEASON

Paul next reminds Timothy that this duty is a never-ending task. Not only is he to preach the Word, he is to do it regardless of the climate of opinion around him. He is to be faithful when such preaching is tolerated-but also when it is not.

Let's face it-right now preaching the Word is out of season. Humanity is experiencing God's wrath as He gives people over to the consequences of sinful choices (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28), "the due penalty of their error." Society may be feeling this divine abandonment in our age more than ever before. And the decline of preaching in the church can actually contribute to people's sense of helplessness. Martyn Lloyd-Jones argued that "in many ways it is the departure of the Church from preaching that is responsible in a large measure for the state of modern society.... The Church, having abandoned her real task, has left humanity more or less to its own devices."⁸

This is certainly no time for weak men, weak messages, and weak ministries. What is needed is moral strength and courage, and uncompromising proclamation of the truth that can set people free. "So far from saying that we must have less preaching and turn more and more to other devices and expedients, I say that we have a heaven-sent opportunity for preaching."⁹

But the market-driven philosophy currently in vogue says that plainly declaring biblical truth is outmoded. Biblical exposition and theology are seen as antiquated and irrelevant. "Churchgoers don't want to be preached to anymore," this philosophy says. "The baby-boom generation won't just sit in the pew while someone up front preaches. They are products of a media-driven generation, and they need a church experience that will satisfy them on their own terms."

But Paul says the excellent minister must be faithful to preach the Word even when it is not in fashion. The expression he uses is, "be ready." The Greek term (ephistēmi) literally means "to stand beside." It has the idea of eagerness. It was often used to describe a military guard, always at his post, prepared for duty. Paul was speaking of an explosive eagerness to preach, like that of Jeremiah, who said that the Word of God was a fire in his bones. That's what he was demanding of Timothy. Not reluctance but readiness. Not hesitation but fearlessness. No cool talk but the fire of the Word of God.

REPROVE, REBUKE, AND EXHORT

Paul also gives Timothy instructions about the tone of his preaching. He uses two words that carry negative connotations and one that is positive: reprove, rebuke, and exhort (2 Tim. 4:2). All valid ministry must have a balance of positive and negative. The preacher who fails to reprove and rebuke is not fulfilling his commission.

I recently listened to a radio interview with a preacher who assiduously avoids any mention of sin in his preaching because he feels people are burdened with too much guilt anyway. The interviewer asked how he could justify such a policy. The pastor replied that he had made the decision to focus on meeting people's needs, not attacking their sin.

But people's deepest need is to confess and overcome their sin. So preaching that fails to confront and correct sin through the Word of God does not meet people's need. It may make them feel good. And they may respond enthusiastically to the preacher, but that does not mean such preaching meets real needs.

To reprove, rebuke, and exhort is to preach the Word, for those are the very same ministries Scripture accomplishes: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16). Notice the same balance of positive and negative tone. Reproof and correction are negative; teaching and training are positive.

The positive tone is crucial, too. The word "exhort" (parakaleō) means "encourage." The excellent preacher confronts sin and then encourages repentant sinners to behave righteously. He is to do this "with great patience and instruction" (4:2). In 1 Thessalonians 2:11, Paul talks about "exhorting and encouraging and imploring ... as a father would his own children." This often requires great patience and much instruction. But the excellent minister cannot neglect these aspects of his calling.

DON'T COMPROMISE IN DIFFICULT TIMES

There is an urgency in Paul's charge to young Timothy: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires" (2 Tim. 4:3). That is a prophecy reminiscent of those found in 2 Timothy 3:1 ("Realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come") and 1 Timothy 4:1 ("The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith.") This, then, is Paul's third prophetic warning to Timothy about the difficult times to come. Note the progression: The first one said that the time would come when people would depart from the faith. The second one warned Timothy that dangerous times were coming for the church. Now the third one suggests that the time would come when those in the church would not endure sound doctrine, but desire instead to have their ears tickled.

Fearless preaching is all the more necessary in such dangerous times. When people will not tolerate the truth, that's when courageous, outspoken preachers are most desperately needed to speak it.

Why are people unwilling to endure sound teaching? It is because they love sin. Sound preaching, as we have seen, confronts and rebukes sin, and people in love with sinful lifestyles will not tolerate such teaching. They want to have their ears tickled (v. 3).

Paul employs the expression "sound teaching" in 1 Timothy 1 as well. In verses 9 and 10 of that chapter, he speaks of "those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching" (emphasis added). A society filled with and influenced by liars, perjurers, murderers, and homosexuals is by no means tolerant of sound teaching.

Note that Paul does not suggest that the way to reach such a society is to soften the message so that such people will be comfortable with it. Just the opposite is true. Such ear-tickling is abominable. Paul urges Timothy to be willing to suffer for the truth's sake, and keep preaching the Word faithfully. That's the only way intolerant people can be exposed to the truth, which alone can soften their hearts.

Incidentally, the interpretive question raised by this passage hinges on the word "they" in verse 3. To whom does the word refer? To the world? Or to the church? Surely it includes the world-unregenerate people seldom are willing to tolerate sound teaching. But here Paul is speaking of people to whom Timothy preaches. This seems to refer to people in the church. It suggests that a time would come when professing Christians in Ephesus would not stand for sound preaching.

But isn't that also the state of the church in our society today? In fact, it is precisely what marketing experts are pointing out to church leaders. The whole basis of their philosophy is that people don't want to hear the truth proclaimed; they want to be entertained. The marketing plan says, give them what they want. Scripture says otherwise.

There are thousands of supposedly evangelical churches worldwide that cannot stomach sound doctrine. They would not tolerate for two weeks strong biblical teaching that refutes their doctrinal error, confronts their sin, convicts them, and calls them to obey the truth. They don't want to hear healthy teaching. Why? Because people in the church want to own God without giving up sinful lifestyles, and they will not endure someone telling them what God's Word says about it.

What do they want to hear? "Wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires" (v. 3). Ironically, they seek out teachers. In fact, they heap to themselves teachers-but not sound ones. They choose the teachers who tell them what they want to hear. They want what tickles their ears and feeds their lusts. They want what makes them feel good about themselves. Preachers who offend them, they reject. They accumulate a mass of teachers who feed their insatiable, selfish appetites. And the preacher who brings the message they most need to hear is the one they least like to hear.

Unfortunately, preachers with ear-tickling messages are all too abundantly available. "In periods of unsettled faith, scepticism, and mere curious speculation in matters of religion, teachers of all kinds swarm like the flies in Egypt. The demand creates the supply. The hearers invite and shape their own preachers. If the people desire a calf to worship, a ministerial calf-maker is readily found."¹⁰

This appetite for ear-tickling preaching has a terrible end. Verse 4 says these people will ultimately "turn away their ears from the truth and will be turned aside to myths." They become the victims of their own refusal to hear the truth. The phrase "they will turn away" is in the active voice. The people willfully choose this action. "Will be turned aside to myths" is in the passive voice. It describes what happens to them. Having turned from the truth, they become victims of deception. As soon as they turn away from the truth, they become pawns of Satan. The absence of light is darkness.

This is happening in the church today. Evangelicalism has lost its tolerance for confrontive preaching. Now the church is flirting with serious doctrinal error. Christians madly pursue extrabiblical revelation in the form of prophecies and dreams. Preachers deny or ignore the reality of hell. The modern gospel promises heaven apart from holiness. Churches ignore the biblical teaching on women's roles, homosexuality, and other politically-charged issues. The human medium has overtaken the divine message. This is evidence of serious doctrinal compromise. If the church does not repent and return to the up-line(as Spurgeon would say), these errors and others like them will become epidemic.

Look again at the key phrase in verse 3: "wanting to have their ears tickled." Why won't they endure sound doctrine? Why do they heap to themselves teachers? Why do they turn away from the truth? Because down deep inside they simply want to have their ears tickled. They don't want to be confronted. They don't want to be convicted. They want to be entertained. They want preaching that produces pleasant sensations. They want to feel good. They want their ears tickled with anecdotes, humor, psychology, motivational lectures, reassurance, positive thinking, self-congratulation, ego-massaging sermonettes, and agreeable small talk. Biblical reproof, rebuke, and exhortation are unacceptable.

But the truth of God does not tickle our ears; it boxes them. It burns them. It first reproves, rebukes, convicts-then exhorts and encourages. Preachers of the Word must be careful to maintain that balance.

In John 6, after Jesus had delivered a particularly hard message, Scripture tells us, "As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore" (v. 66). As the crowds left, our Lord turned to His disciples and asked, "You do not want to go away also, do you?" (v. 67). Peter's reply on behalf of the Twelve is significant: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life" (v. 68). That was the right response. It revealed the difference between true disciples and hangers-on: their hunger for the Word. Jesus said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed" (John 8:31, kjv). People seeking to be entertained or fed, curiosity-seekers, and people who just follow the crowd are by no means true disciples. It is those who love the Word that are true followers of Christ. They will not desire preachers who tickle their ears.

BE SOBER IN ALL THINGS

The attitude of the excellent minister must be one of thoughtful sobriety. "Be sober in all things" (v. 5) is not merely a warning against drunkenness. Nor is Paul suggesting that Timothy should be somber, joyless, gloomy, morose. Sober means self-controlled, steady, attentive. It describes a state of mental alertness and control of one's faculties.

The excellent minister is a solid person, a stable person, like an athlete who has brought all his passions and appetites and nerves under complete control to perform at a maximum level. To put it in the negative, a preacher is not to be flaky, not to be trendy, not to be a pursuer of whims. In the face of a changing world, in the midst of a vacillating church, in the context of a rocking and reeling society, ministers had better be rooted, steadfast, stable, rock-solid. We cannot compromise when the pressure is on.

The church has had enough erratic, trendy, whimsical preachers whose style depends on the mood of the mob. What is most needed now are those who remain totally steadfast in an unstable world, and who know their priorities. We need ministers whose heads are clear of deceit, false teaching, and unorthodox notions. We need preachers who will courageously declare the whole counsel of God. How wearisome it must be to God to hear His inspired Word replaced by insipid, innocuous pablum dribbled out of pulpits!

The noble preacher is balanced, consistent, solid. He is unmoved by the cries of those who beg to have their ears tickled.

ENDURE HARDSHIP

Obviously, excellent ministers cannot be those who yearn for earthly applause. Neither can they be lovers of earthly comfort. The life of ministry is not a life of leisure. Timothy needed to be willing to endure hardship (v. 5). He could not have the kind of ministry God desired of him unless he was willing to go through some suffering.

No ministry of any value comes without pain. I often encounter young men headed for ministry who are looking for a church without problems, a ministry without challenges, a congregation that will make life easy. There is no such place for the faithful preacher of the Word. The notion that ministry can be both effective and painless is a lie. You will encounter hardship if you preach the unadulterated Word. And when adversity strikes, you have two choices. You can endure and remain steadfast, or you can compromise. The faithful minister holds the line for the truth. You cannot do that and escape suffering. "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Tim. 3:12). Thus faithfulness and hardship go hand in hand.

This is a repeated theme in 2 Timothy. In 2:1, 3, Paul wrote, "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.... Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." Now he reminds Timothy again that suffering is as much a part of the faithful minister's duty as any other aspect of the work.

Did Timothy follow Paul's counsel? Evidently he did. Hebrews 13:23, an obscure little verse, says, "Take notice that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom, if he comes soon, I shall see you." The writer of Hebrews obviously knew Timothy well and loved him. He tells the Hebrews that Timothy had been "released." Released from what? The Greek word used there suggests that Timothy had been released from prison. We can assume that when the suffering came, Timothy endured it. He did not compromise. He remained faithful, even though it evidently meant imprisonment. He did not try to find a cheap way out.

DO THE WORK OF AN EVANGELIST

At first sight it might seem that the command to "do the work of an evangelist" is an abrupt change of direction. But it is not. Paul was encouraging Timothy to reach out beyond the comfort level of his own flock and boldly proclaim the Word to unbelievers. Paul was not suggesting that Timothy's office was that of an evangelist. He was telling him that part of his duty as a pastor was to evangelize unbelievers.

Again, Paul was commanding Timothy to declare the truth boldly. Timothy may have been tempted to seek a haven in the comfort of the flock. Paul was urging him to minister instead on the front line. He wanted Timothy to face the world courageously and preach Christ crucified. He wanted him to proclaim sin, righteousness, judgment, and God's law. He wanted him to declare the depravity, not the dignity, of humankind. He wanted him to herald the Second Coming and warn of eternal judgment. He wanted him to magnify the cross, the resurrection, the atonement, grace, and faith. He was urging Timothy to be solemn and persuasive in confronting unbelief.

FULFILL YOUR MINISTRY

Paul's brief charge to Timothy ends with a final imperative: "Fulfill your ministry" (v. 5). "Fulfill" means accomplish, fill it up, do it all. He might have said, "Don't serve God halfheartedly; do it with all your might." Paul was coming to the end of his own life, and he was able to say, "I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing" (4:6-8). He wanted Timothy to reach the same point someday.

Remember, this charge from Paul to Timothy has implications for every Christian. We are all to be ministers in some sphere of service. Whether you are a mother ministering to her own children, or pastor of a huge congregation, these principles apply to you. There is no room for compromise. There is no place for timidity. There is no time for delay. There is no need for fear. Fill up your service to the Lord; accomplish it all. That is possible only if the ministry is done right.

Holding Fast the Faith

At the height of the Down-Grade Controversy, two weeks after he was censured by the Baptist Union, Charles Spurgeon preached a message entitled "Holding Fast the Faith," in which he said,

We must never hide our colours. There are times when we must dash to the front and court the encounter, when we see that our Captain's honour demands it. Let us never be either ashamed or afraid. Our Lord Jesus deserves that we should yield ourselves as willing sacrifices in defence of his faith. Ease, reputation, life itself, must go for the name and faith of Jesus. If in the heat of the battle our good name or our life must be risked to win the victory, then let us say, "In this battle some of us must fall; why should not I? I will take part and lot with my Master, and bear reproach for his sake." Only brave soldiers are worthy of our great Lord. Those who sneak into the rear, that they may be comfortable, are not worthy of the kingdom....

Brethren, we must be willing to bear ridicule for Christ's sake, even that peculiarly envenomed ridicule which "the cultured" are so apt to pour upon us. We must be willing to be thought great fools for Jesus' sake.... For my part, I am willing to be ten thousand fools in one for my dear Lord and Master, and count it to be the highest honour that can be put upon me to be stripped of every honour, and loaded with every censure for the sake of the grand old truth which is written on my very heart....

Before I could quit my faith ... I should have to be ground to powder, and every separate atom transformed.¹¹

Spurgeon closed with these words:

Everybody admires Luther! Yes, yes; but you do not want any one else to do the same to-day. When you go to the Zoological Gardens you all admire the bear; but how would you like a bear at home, or a bear wandering loose about the street? You tell me that it would be unbearable, and no doubt you are right.

So, we admire a man who was firm in the faith, say four hundred years ago; the past ages are a sort of bear-pit or iron cage for him; but such a man to-day is a nuisance, and must be put down. Call him a narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one. Yet imagine that in those ages past, Luther, Zwingle, Calvin, and their compeers had said, "The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our chambers, put on our night-caps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better."

Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous bogs of error would have swallowed all. These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on. Note what we owe them, and let us pay to our sons the debt we owe our fathers.

It is to-day as it was in the Reformers' days. Decision is needed. Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day? We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors, who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it. The faith I hold bears upon it marks of the blood of my ancestors. Shall I deny their faith, for which they left their native land to sojourn here? Shall we cast away the treasure which was handed to us through the bars of prisons, or came to us charred with the flames of Smithfield?

Personally, when my bones have been tortured with rheumatism, I have remembered Job Spurgeon, doubtless of my own stock, who in Chelmsford Jail was allowed a chair, because he could not lie down by reason of rheumatic pain. That Quaker's broad-brim overshadows my brow. Perhaps I inherit his rheumatism; but that I do not regret if I have his stubborn faith, which will not let me yield a syllable of the truth of God.

When I think of how others have suffered for the faith, a little scorn or unkindness seems a mere trifle, not worthy of mention. An ancestry of lovers of the faith ought to be a great plea with us to abide by the Lord God of our fathers, and the faith in which they lived. As for me, I must hold the old gospel: I can do no other. God helping me, I will endure the consequences of what men think obstinacy.

Look you, sirs, there are ages yet to come. If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to his truth to-day. We have come to a turning-point in the road. If we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our children's children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to his Word. I charge you, not only by your ancestry, but by your posterity, that you seek to win the commendation of your Master, that though you dwell where Satan's seat is, you yet hold fast his name, and do not deny his faith. God grant us faithfulness, for the sake of the souls around us! How is the world to be saved if the church is false to her Lord? How are we to lift the masses if our fulcrum is removed? If our gospel is uncertain, what remains but increasing misery and despair? Stand fast, my beloved, in the name of God! I, your brother in Christ, entreat You to abide in the truth. Quit yourselves like men, be strong. The Lord sustain you for Jesus' sake. Amen.¹²

Spurgeon did his part. He passed the baton to another generation, and they passed it to another. They finished their course having kept the faith, and now it is our turn. Will we keep the faith? Will we fulfill our ministry? Are we willing to suffer hardship for being faithful? Are we committed to a biblical ministry of preaching the Word without shame?

We who love the Lord and His church must not sit by while the church gains momentum on the down-grade of worldliness and compromise. Men and women before us have paid with their blood to deliver the faith intact to us. Now it is our turn to guard the truth. It is a task that calls for courage, not compromise. And it is a responsibility that demands unwavering devotion to a very narrow purpose.

In the same sermon I have been quoting from, Spurgeon included this reminder:

Dear friends, this name, this faith, these are our message. Our only business here below is to cry, "Behold the Lamb." Are any of you sent of God with any other message? It cannot be. The one message which God has given to his people to proclaim is salvation through the Lamb-salvation by the blood of Jesus.... To tell of Jesus is our occupation, we have nothing to say which is not comprised in the revelation made to us by God in Jesus Christ. He who is our comfort is our one theme.¹³

That echoes Paul's words to Timothy: "Preach the Word." We have nothing else worth saying. There is no other message. There is no other valid ministry. Until the church recovers the centrality of that truth and that single-minded commitment to our calling, evangelicalism will continue to be pulled relentlessly further into the down-grade.

^[1]

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^{1 1}     "Holding Fast the Faith," The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 34 (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1888), 78. This sermon was preached 5 February 1888, at the height of the Down-Grade Controversy, just after Spurgeon's censure by the Baptist Union (see Appendix).

^{2 2}     The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon, 4 vols. (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1897), 4:255.

^{3 3}     Ibid., 4:257.

^{4 4}     George Barna, Marketing the Church (Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1988), 41.

^{5 5}     Ibid., 13.

^{6 6}     Ibid., 23.

^{7 7}     A helpful contrast between success and excellence may be found in Jon Johnston, Christian Excellence: Alternative to Success (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1985).

^{8 8}     Preaching and Preachers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971), 35.

^{9 9}     Ibid., 42.

^{10 10}     Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, 4 vols. (New York: Scribner's, 1900), 4: 321.

^{11 11}     "Holding Fast the Faith," 78, 83.

^{12 12}     Ibid., 83-84.

^{13 13}     Ibid., 81.

^[1]MacArthur, John: Ashamed of the Gospel : When the Church Becomes Like the World. Wheaton, Ill. : Crossway Books, 1993, S. 21