Fulfill your ministry: The ordination of Kyle Broady
I. The sacredness of the task
As we start this morning, I want to read to you a paragraph that explains what a perfect pastor is.
· The perfect pastor faithfully reads the text, exposits it, applies it, goes through entire books of the Bible in less than 3 month increments and preaches exactly 20 minutes, and then sits down.
· He condemns sin but never hurts anyone’s feelings.
· He works from 8 AM to 10 PM taking care of the finances, cleaning toilets, changing light bulbs, meeting with people… and studying and praying. He makes $60 a week, wears nice suits, buys good books regularly, has a nice family, drives a good car, and gives $30 a week to the church. He also stands ready to contribute to every good work that comes along.
· He is 26 years old and has been preaching for 30 years.
· He is tall and thin and handsome, but somewhat heavy set and average looking.
· He has one brown eye and one blue eye; hair parted in the middle, left side, and right side, dark and straight, but blonde and wavy.
· He has a burning desire to work with teenagers, and spends all his time visiting with older folks. He spends all his time with a straight face because his sense of humor keeps him seriously dedicated to his work.
· He speaks up so the older people can hear him, but not so loud that he wakes up everyone else
· He keeps the temperature in the sanctuary at exactly the right place so everyone is happy
· He makes 15 visits a day on church members, spends all his time evangelizing the unchurched, and can always be found at the office.
Ok, there you have it, Kyle. The qualities you need to be a perfect pastor.
Seriously,
This morning we embark on a very serious mission. Today should be understood as a day of great solemnity and soberness. Today we will set apart one in our midst for the gospel ministry. This is no juvenile act. This is not a game that we play. There is nothing fun and laughable about this action and this charge is not simply a superfluous tradition. I come this morning to bring honor to God by charging one who will be set apart and those who will follow.
It was six months ago that I first met Kyle. Our relationship has been brief, but there is a unity of spirit between us that I have with few men. This morning it is my privilege and my responsibility to charge him to the service of our King. From this day forward his life will change.
What we do today is serious and sober and sacred. There are churches that believe that Holy orders are even on par with Baptism and the Lords Supper. The Bishop is given a place of priority with God where he becomes in essence a vicar of Christ.
While we believe that ordination is a human ritual, I do not want to take away the importance and significance of what happens here today in the life of our church and the Church at large. In just a little while Kyle will kneel here in the front and all those who have been set apart as leaders in the church, those who have been ordained for an office will come by and lay their hands on him. When that is done he will take a new title—reverend. One who is revered, respected, and honored among men.
In such is the problem, “Reverend.” Were you ordained 200 years ago your honor would heralded and you task would be clear. But today, the role of one who is reverend is much questioned. In a world of 10 minute sermons, of sound bite morality, of movie clip entertainment, of bumper sticker theology, you who have a clear task will neither be hallowed, praised or even respected. Reverend? No my friend.
A clear task! A clarion call! I Corinthians 14:8 says, “Again if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?”
My charge to you this morning will be a charge to everyone I hope. The charge is simple. Fulfill your ministry. Fulfill your ministry.
It comes from this verse in 2 Timothy 4:5, “As for you, always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
In fact, lets just read the entire section if you don’t mind. Turn with me to II Timothy 4.
NIV 2 Timothy 4:1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:
2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-- with great patience and careful instruction.
3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Now there is in store 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 longed for his appearing.
Pray
II. What does it mean to “fulfill your ministry?”
I said the title of this sermon is “Fulfill your ministry. This phrase, “fulfill your ministry,” at the end of verse 5 is the culmination of Timothy’s task. Paul has sent his beloved Timothy a letter reminding him of some pretty important things. He reminded him of his calling in the first chapter and with that that many people have abandoned the truth. He called him to be a good soldier and to endure hardship as he himself is doing in chains. He told him that he should work hard and in so doing gain the approval of God (in chapter 2). He promised that there would be a great turning away from God in chapter 3, but that the word of God would prove trustworthy and would equip those who revered it. His last chapter, chapter 4 is a final charge to his disciple and his last charge to him is “fulfill your ministry.”
What does it mean to fulfill your ministry? How do you complete your task? How do you, as Paul did, fight the fight, finish the race, keep the faith, gain the crown?
I mean, lets be honest. That’s what we all want right. We are all headed for the crown.
And I think in all honesty that might be the first part of fulfilling your ministry.
1. Do your ministry with the presence of God in mind.
Do your ministry with the presence of God in mind
That is what this passage both starts and ends with. Verse 1 says “I 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.”
How do you fulfill your ministry? Do all things in the presence of God. Now of course, you do this, because God is omnipresent—he is everywhere, but what Paul is doing here is charging this man and making sure he knows the significance of what is happening. What I am about to tell you to do I am telling you to do in the presence of God. There is an eschatological perspective here that colors all that he will say. God is here and he will judge and this is what matters. It is the kingdom of God that matters. What does not matter? Everything else.
The only thing that matters is that which is done in light of the presence of God. He is the only one you must please. "If we displease God, it doesn’t matter who we please; and if we please God, it doesn’t matter who we displease."
I remember Sununu, the white house chief of staff being interviewed one time and the interviewer said, you must have a really difficult job, Sununu’s answer came quickly, “No I don’t.” The interviewer assumed he didn’t understand and repeated again, no, I mean your job must be really hard.” Again, Sununu said, “No it isn’t. My job is easy because my constituents are minimal—one. I must please only one person, the president of the United States.
Kyle, you please only one—its not your parents, its not your wife, its not your children, its not this congregation, and its not your boss (me)—you live to please only Jesus. You live every moment in light of that day when he will award you a crown of righteousness.
And my friends, this is not a charge for Kyle only. See the end of verse 8—“and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.” We must all live in light of the presence of the kingdom. We must all make the glory of Christ our ultimate goal. And that crown of life is for all those who live for the consummation of the kingdom
2. Be aware of the problem
Living in light of the presence is easily said, but there is a problem. The problem has already been stated more or less. Not everyone longs for his appearance. Not everyone loves the kingdom. Not everyone is living for that crown of righteousness. Not everyone lives for the glory of Christ.
The problem is right there in verse 3 and 4. “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” I hope everyone here understands that what Paul is predicting has been here for centuries, millennia even. People suiting their passions. The passions change with every new, cool thing, but they all have this in common, they steal away our attention from sound teaching; from truth. What do these things look like today? What is it that is so engrained in our culture that keeps us from the absolute beauty of truth? I am going to tell you and I expect all of you to tell everyone else as well. But when you do, remember that they don’t want to hear this and they will fault you for it, but remember also your constituency is only one.
Ø the world
Now there are a ton of terrible things in this world that steal from the truth. But I expect these. I fully expect the world to do whatever it can to roadblock our desire for truth.
The world creates beauty to divert our attention—like Wii, like 24, like Sunday sports, like Saturday night parties that leave us too tired for Sunday school. Like vacations taken so we can “just do nothing for awhile.” I have to wonder about the whole concept of just doing nothing. But even if some of these things are good, we must recognize that they are made to suit our passions.
And why are our passions concerned with these things? Why do these things steal us away so easily? I think because God has not so stolen our hearts as to make these things secondary. He is still just a piece of our lives and not our entire life.
But my concern this morning is with the church. How has the world been able to sneak into the church? I will tell you how, but let me tell you what has snuck in first.
Ø Liberalism
For sure liberalism has crept in. The Bible is great and has some wonderful stories, but the idea that a man really rose from the dead is a children’s fairy tale, a story told for the gullible and the depressed and the needy. Myths have arisen that replace the truth and they are wrapped in the guise of scholarship, enlightenment thinking and the next best new thing.
Ø I deserve
But liberalism is not even my main concern. I am more concerned with a church culture that thrives on “I deserve.” We think that because we work hard, we should have the pleasures this world has to offer. We are Christians we shouldn’t have to do without. If we work, then we should get to play. Its our right after all. Its not only what this world promises us but its what the preachers say is inherent in the Scriptures themselves. God wants you to be happy, healthy, and wealthy and anything less is not living up to our potential.
Kyle, if you tell people that Kenneth Copeland is preaching a false gospel, you will lose people under your care. If you tell them that Joyce Meyer is deluding people into a more worldly mindset than the Bible actually does, people will walk away.
Ø Self esteem
But health and wealth gurus aren’t our main concern in our ultra-conservative southern Baptist world. But what about self-esteem? We all need self esteem. My ears are truly itching for someone to tell me I am worth something so maybe I am the one to tell myself it. If I just say it over and over again I will believe it and others may too. Consider Robert Schuller’s “ profound” and damning words that sin is nothing more than life without self esteem. If we just believe in ourselves, we can have our best life now. These are terrible and damnable lies and Paul confronts this with his call that we be looking not to our life now, but to our life later.
Ø Tolerance
Liberalism, health and wealth, self-esteem…what about tolerance? For the sake of unity in the church we give up all doctrinal necessities. We join forces with those who think we must work for our salvation because at least then we will have a moral town. I am so sick of morality. That’s not exactly what I mean. I like morality. I want us to be good people, but that is not what we are about. We aren’t about working to be good people. We are working based on the good work of one who died. But we tolerate everything as long as it’s done with sincerity. Another major problem in the church. Sincerity trumps everything. It’s okay as long as they are sincere. But its not. God is looking at a sincere heart only, he is also looking for truth. We must not tolerate evil, or lies, or even doctrinal error.