We had a recital yesterday from our music school. I was looking around at our community, enjoying Sam’s performance. For those of you who do not know him, Sam is a student of the Bangalore Conservatory. He has autism, somewhat rare condition, in which his brain does not function like everyone else’s. Sam gave a beautiful performance last night. For me the pleasure of the program was not just hearing some music, although he did a fine job with what he did. But just looking around at the community, the way that so many people in the campus have befriended Samuel and supported him in the program; seeing the peace and joy and the enjoyment that everyone experienced was very heart-warming. And when I have experiences like that and see that the Lord brings people together, the way that God takes all of us from our different backgrounds, each of us with our various strengths, weakness, personalities, problems and pains, bringing us together, so that we can work together to learn what it is to be God’s people, it is really amazing.
This morning we will see what it means to be working together in the church. We are going to talk about Pastor Paul, who experiences many pains, but also many pleasures in the ministry.
READ 2 Timothy 4:9-18
Paul is explaining to Timothy his recent experience. And we know from this passage and later passages that Paul knows that he is about to die. In fact 2 Timothy is the last written record that we have of the words of Paul.
So this great apostle, who established so many churches, whose ministry was so extra-ordinarily blessed and anointed, brought many thousands of people to Christ, and because of whom about 12 out of the 28 letters of the NT were written by him. He was the author although other people did the writing in many cases.
So we can see in his expression to Timothy of what is grieving him as well as what is causing him joy. And it looks like his relationship with Timothy is part of what brings joy.
The Pain
PAIN FROM OPPOSITION
Anybody who goes into ministry and decides to do God’s service is going to experience opposition. It is just a part of doing God’s work. Jesus Himself was opposed. He said, “If they accepted My word, they will accept yours. If they have rejected Mine, they will reject yours too. The servant is not greater than His Master.” So you will face opposition.
Paul also faced opposition in his day, especially from Alexander the copper smith. We read about him in 1 Timothy 1.
“Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. 20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.” 1 Timothy 1:19-20
We see him first time mentioned in Acts 19. He’s listed among the Jews of Ephesus, not the Christians. There is tremendous opposition against the believers in Ephesus. One gentleman who makes idols to their favorite god is losing some of his income because so many people who used to worship Artemis are coming to Christ, and they are no longer buying his idols. So he begins to stir up the city against Paul and against the people in the church. And they go to this big amphitheatre. Luke describes it beautifully. There is a whole crowd that went to the stadium and many people in the crowd did not even know why they were meeting together. They were just following. But somebody began to yell out, “Great is Diana of Ephesus.” And they were just yelling for an hour or two. Nobody knew what they were meeting for, but they knew they wanted to yell. The Jews pushed Alexander forward to offer defense. It was when he began to speak that all these other people started to make a ruckus. So Alexander was a leader among the Jews, but he was against the church.
Paul faced the opposition of the Roman government as natural, and as opportunities for ministry. The opposition from Judaizers, people who should have been Paul’s natural friends, was much more difficult. Obviously, Paul was also Jewish. So Alexander in essence would have been a brother to Paul. But rather than supporting Paul, he opposed Paul. It looks like a group would follow Paul’s team to different cities, and if they were bringing people to Christ, they would follow them around and oppose them. So Paul had the pain of opposition.
Paul deals with this kind of opposition by handing such people over to God. Notice he does not scheme and connive some means of counter-attack. He does not handle Alexander as a physical opponent. Instead, he hands him over to spiritual judgment, and leaves it in God’s hands.
PAIN FROM DISAPPOINTMENT
Maybe there is nothing more disappointing that somebody that you worked together with, someone whom you pour your life into, ends up going away and into a different direction, maybe wasting the benefit given.
Paul talks about Demas, “Demas, who loved the world and went to Thessalonica.” Thessalonica may have been Demas’ home. Paul was probably in Rome. He is waiting for his chance to go before Nero for the second time and according to church historians, he was condemned to death and was beheaded. There is a chapel that is supposed to be there, which is about 3 miles from Rome.
When Demas is in Rome, he could not handle the pressure and the discomfort of being there with Paul and working the ministry. Paul is doing the ministry even though he is in prison, and Demas didn’t like it being in prison every day. Finally he just leaves and goes home.
Paul was clearly hurt by this, yet, such hurt is part of working with people in the ministry. We must be willing to face such disappointment if we are going to work in the ministry.
Timothy Peck said this:
“People are afraid of being hurt by other people, so they build up walls of protection around them. Let’s face it: The closer you get to people, the deeper those people can hurt you. We build up walls because we’re afraid of being betrayed or laughed at, being judged or abandoned. So we avoid real community with other Christians, places where we really let down our guard get involved in the lives of other Christians. We may go to church, but we make sure to make a quick escape after the service, talking to no one along the way. People are held back from authentic community by fear.
And the truth is that if we engage in authentic community, we will get hurt. The risk is a real one. Yet without authentic community, we won’t grow deep in our life with God, at least according to the Bible.
(http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/dealing-with-painful-relationships-timothy-peck-sermon-on-church-small-groups-43671.asp?page=0)
And we see in Paul’s ministry, that he was deeply involved with a large group of ministers and many of them ended up hurting him.
PAIN FROM ABANDONMENT
Paul says in verse 16:
“16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.”
Paul had to go to the highest court of the land with no one to stand beside him. This is difficult to imagine that there was no family to support you or a lawyer, and standing there before the judge, knowing that the decision that will be made concerning you will be life or death standing is not an easy one.
He was utterly alone as far as human relationship was concerned. So after investing in so many thousands of people’s lives, when Paul faced his most difficult trial literally, he stood alone. Yet he took comfort in the fact he was fulfilling the call God had placed on his life.
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, Acts 18:9-10 . . .
11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” Acts 23:11
At his conversion Jesus gave him the promise.
“‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ Acts 26:15-18
As far as Paul was concerned, his testimony before Nero was a fulfillment of a promise God had made to him more than twenty years before. Though he stood alone, he knew he was never alone.
Even in the time of greatest abandonment, when people will abandon you, and it WILL happen, even if you are standing alone, you are not really alone, because God is always there with you. He said, “Going…baptizing…teaching…make disciples of all nations, and” how does Jesus finish the Great Commission? “Look I am with You always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus is always with us. We feel like He is distanced and we go through things that we do not understand. Yet the truth is, even when we feel most abandoned by people, God is there with us, because His love is everlasting.
So pains in ministry are just part of being a pastor. And Paul experienced this profusely. But there is also pleasure.
The Pleasure
THE PLEASURE OF PARTNERSHIP
Paul mentions Crescens, Carpus, Titus, Tychicus, and also the beloved physician, Luke. The fellowship Paul shared with his companions is legendary. He mentions more than 60 people by name in his various letters-people who were partners in the ministry. He knew how to work with a team. Paul was excellent at building other people up and releasing them for ministry. That is a mark of great leadership. Paul understood the importance of friendship.
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17
Paul looked forward to having time with Timothy, knowing his time on this earth was soon to end. His request are both pathetic (full of emotions) and also revealing. He asks for a cloak-the prison he was kept in was most likely cold and uncomfortable. He did not have the resources to go down to Commercials and buy himself a new cloak.
And Timothy has to go hundreds of miles to get to Paul. So it is going to take him weeks. Even knowing the time it is going to take, he asks Timothy to bring him his cloak.
He also asks for his scrolls. They were probably secular literature, maybe some of the Greek authors and poets that he quotes in some places. And then he also asks for Parchments. They were probably the OT Scriptures.
And Paul to the end of his life was the consummate student. Knowing he was soon to die, he wanted to READ! He never stopped studying and learning. The scrolls were likely literature of various kinds. The parchments were likely Paul’s personal copies of the Scriptures. You can see where his priorities were.
The fellowship that Paul had with his friends were legendary, and I think that sets a standard for all of us.
Also, there is nothing more pleasurable for a minister of the Gospel, than to invest in a young minister and see him grow into a leader and teacher of the people.
For me as a voice teacher, there is nothing more fulfilling than hearing one of my students give a performance that is moving and inspiring a crowd. Last night at Sam’s recital, the atmosphere was charged with joy and gratefulness to God. The way the students pulled together to make the space beautiful, arrange flowers, set up sound, and then support Sam as he performed was wondrous.
Paul experienced that kind of pleasure throughout his ministry.
THE PLEASURE OF RESTORATION
Paul said, “Bring Mark who is beneficial to me in the ministry.” And this is the same John Mark that we read in Acts.
Acts 13:13 says that Mark was going with them on their ministry tour. But they were going to get off from the ship, travelling in a section of a land, which according to historians was very treacherous. It looks like he was very afraid. He didn’t want to go with him into that section of the world. And so he left them and went back to Jerusalem. Later on, Barnabas wants to take Mark with him. So in 15:38, Barnabas says, “Let us take Mark. He is useful in the ministry. And Paul says, “No. I’m not taking him, because he deserted us. He abandoned us. He was not faithful and was afraid. We cannot take someone like that.” And the tension between Paul and Barnabas was so intense, that Barnabas actually left Paul, and went off with Mark to do ministry some other place.
Now 20 or 30 years later, Paul writes and says, “Bring Mark to me. He is useful to me in the ministry. Somewhere between chapter 15 of Acts and this chapter in 2 Timothy, there is a restoration, a healing of that relationship. And Paul sees that Mark has proven himself in the ministry, and desires to work together.
So there is restoration of relationship that has taken place that we see. One of the great things of serving God is that we do not have to hold things against each other. We do not have to live in resentment or unforgiveness or anger. God is able to restore broken relationships. One of the most beautiful things in ministry is to see God work, to bring together that which was broken in relationships, to heal those who have been damaged by the relationship by others.
I do not know for certain, but some people think that this is the same Mark who also wrote the Gospel. If it is, he would have written soon after his communion with Paul, because this is around the year AD 65, which was when Paul was beheaded. And that was about the time that the Gospel was published. So Mark, inspired by his relationship with Paul, probably, ended up writing a Gospel that we still read today. And Paul’s investment in him, and Mark’s communion with him still continues to have an impact on us today.
THE PLEASURE OF PROMISE
One of the great benefits of being in ministry is the knowledge of what we experience in this world is not the end. In fact, the rewards that we see, seeing God work, experiencing His comfort, having deep and profound fellowship with other believers, the work that he calls us to do, the pleasure of seeing other people grow – all of these benefits are there but they pale in comparison to the glories we will enjoy with Jesus Christ when we stand in His Presence. And the pleasure of hearing those words, “Well done, My good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest.” And Paul was looking forward to that. He knew that he was being poured out as a drink offering; that his life was coming to an end. But he knew that the end of the physical life was not the end of his life. In fact it was only the beginning.
He says in verse 18:
“And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”
The rescue is his life comes to an end. That is the ultimate rescue from this life, when God takes us home. We have something to look forward to.
Paul knew where he was going and he had no doubt in his mind. Let me ask you: “Do you know where you are going?” Yes! I know where I am going, and that confidence is something that makes us so that death has no sting for us. It is not something that I want to avoid at all. The eternal dawn that will never end in darkness, the sunrise that never sets, I look forward to that day, and that is what I am working towards that final pleasure of the ministry, when God calls each of us home. May His Name be praised forever.
