Derrick, I am honored to be able to give you this charge tonight. And as I thought about what to share w/ you I found myself thinking not simply about tonight but what I would want to hear about Derrick Ronk 10, 15, 20 years down the road? Now there are a number of things I pray I will hear such as:
- You have remained true & dedicated to the Lord
- Your marriage has continued to be a biblical &
loving marriage
- You have kept yourself unspotted from the world
- And many others…
But the one I would like to address tonight is this: it is my prayer & earnest desire that whenever I hear the name of Derrick Ronk I would also hear of a man who has had & is having an effective ministry for the Lord. I’m sure that is something you desire as well.
But that does raise a question – which is - are there some principles we can adopt that serve as a foundation for having an effective ministry? I believe there are although let me state I am giving you principles tonight not specific programs because you must discern from the Lord what He desires for you to do in the particular ministry where He has placed you. We have become a copy cat society, even w/in the Church & ministry. If something works in some church, immediately a book is published, seminars are conducted, it is mass marketed across the country & we race home to copy it in our ministry. [Example of Jerry Cook setting on a stool to preach & how others copied it.] I urge you don’t be so consumed with what is successful in such & such Church or with the latest guaranteed program – rather ask the Lord what His will is for the church He has placed you in.
But I want to share with you tonight some principles for an effective ministry – principles that are important no matter where you serve, no matter the size of the ministry you’re serving in, no matter what culture you are serving in – principles that will work anywhere. They are found in 2 Corinthians 4
2 Corinthians 4:1-6…
1. Effective Ministry flows out of a Recognition that it is given to you by the Lord – 4:1
“Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry…” LB – “It is God himself who has given us this wonderful work.”
Derrick, while this Ordination Council is here to ordain you & while First Alliance Church has called you to be its youth pastor – we all are simply confirming that we believe God has called you into full-time ministry as a minister of & for Christ. But it is something, first of all, that is given to you by the Lord. He has called you as you have stated to us. And yes while you are accountable to this Church & the SAD you are foremost accountable to the One who has called you & given you this ministry. He is the one you must answer to ultimately. And that will be emphasized as you take your ordination vows shortly. And it seems to me to truly have an effective, God-blessed ministry; you must always bear in mind where your ministry comes from.
If you will, it will be a protection against ever thinking that this is your ministry or your church. That may not be a temptation now but the longer you serve in 1 place or the more successful & fruitful it becomes it is very easy to slide over & to begin thinking of it as YOUR ministry. I urge you to not ever lose sight that it is the Lord who has given you this ministry – which means He can also take it away.
2. Effective Ministry also Flows out of a Recognition that it is given to you out of the mercy of God – 4:1
NIV – “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry…”
Derrick, you have worked hard in meeting all the ordination requirements & in that sense you have earned this ordination, you have earned this ministry. From the human perspective, you deserve it. But from heaven’s perspective you fall short, just like the rest of us. Based on heaven’s standard no minister is deserving of a ministry. The only reason any of us have a ministry is because it has been given to us by the Lord out of His mercy. It is out of His mercy that He saved you; we affirmed that truth all the time. But do not ever forget, especially as you begin to see God’s blessing & fruit on your ministry that it is also out of His mercy that He chooses to use you. It is out of His mercy you have a ministry.
I don’t deserve to be a pastor or to serve the godly congregation that I do. It is a ministry that has been given to me out of the mercy of God.
- And no matter how successful you become in the years ahead,
- no matter how large of a church you pastor,
- no matter how well known you become,
- no matter how well you are respected – do not ever let yourself think you deserve it. For none of it would be possible apart from the mercy of God shown to you.
Now what is important about these 1st 2 principles in relationship to having an effective ministry is if you will embrace them they will produce humility.
Derrick, may I say something to you as a word of caution – ministers are not always the most humble people – especially when they get together w/ each other.
- They love to talk about what’s happening in their ministry.
- How many people were saved.
- How many are in attendance.
- The latest successful program they implemented.
- Sometimes it can be very difficult to get a word in when you are w/ a group of ministers because they’re all talking
about their ministries.
- Many times a pastor can be very demanding of his staff and/or congregation because if things are not done the way he
wants them done it reflects on HIM. It might make him look less successful.
But if the only reason you have a ministry to begin w/ is because God has given it to you & He has given it to you out of His mercy, which means you do not deserve it, - if you keep those 2 truths before you then your ego will be kept in check. So these are 2 very important principles for an effective ministry. You might even want to think of them as foundational to the rest of the ones I will give you.
3. Effective Ministry Requires the Highest Level of Integrity – v.2
Paul highlights 3 areas where he practiced this integrity & you must as well:
-Integrity in your private life - “we have renounced secret & shameful ways.” - This refers to secret immoralities,
hypocrisies, & the sins hidden deep in the darkness of one’s life.
Ministers are not immune from secret sins & hypocrisy. We hear more & more of tragic stories in our day of pastors who have fallen into sin.
Paul declared he had renounced such things in his own life. He fought to maintain a life of integrity. And Derrick, in our day & time, it will require a fight, a daily fight. But 1 of the best ways to win that fight is by maintaining that daily communion w/ the Lord. Don’t let the business of ministry crowd out your time w/ the Lord because it is at that point you become vulnerable.
As someone rightfully said, “Ministry is a character profession.” In other words, don’t be a character, have character. We don’t need more characters out there, but we desperately need men of character.
-Integrity in your public life/ministry – “not walking in craftiness” NIV –“we do not use deception”
Every pastor wants to be able to reach people, wants to see growth in terms of numbers. But Paul declares he is not going to use craftiness to achieve it.
- Paul did not play tricks to get results.
- He did not use clever techniques to achieve the ends.
- He did not rely on gimmicks to draw the people in.
- He did not play of people’s emotions.
- He did not use high-powered, promotional campaigns to get the job done.
Paul was not into Christian showmanship, seeing who could put on the biggest spectacle to attract people. Hey, creativity fine; deception – no.
And you will face this, especially being in youth ministry. There are all kinds of wacky things people are doing under the umbrella of “presenting the gospel.” And if they aren’t wacky then they are a Christianized clone of the secular.
David Kupelian writes in his article “The Fall and Rise of American Christianity,” Far too much of today’s evangelical world has gotten swept up in the magnetic field of the corrupt popular culture. Thinking they’re “doing God’s work” behind the “enemy lines” of the secular, atheistic popular culture, they’ve gradually and inadvertently taken on many more characteristics of the “enemy” than they realize.
That’s why, when I drive in my car and turn on the radio, it sometimes takes several minutes before I can figure out whether I’m listening to a regular, secular rock song or a Christian rock song. They often sound uncannily the same – the Christian song being an exact clone of the secular.
In turn, the powerful popular culture ridicules evangelicals for their “lame imitation” of “the real thing.”
Yes, use creativity but don’t cheapen the gospel & the name of Christ by cloning what the secular world does. Have integrity in your public ministry.
-Integrity in the Proclamation of the Word of God – “or adulterating (distorting) the word of God”
The word “adulterating” or “distort” comes from a term referring to diluting wine by adding water, but then selling the wine as if it were undiluted.
Paul refused to dilute or tamper w/ the Word of God. You see the temptation is always to manipulate the gospel to make it more appealing intellectually or more acceptable morally. Dietrich Bonhoeffer described such tampering as ‘cheap grace.’ Paul would not tamper w/ the truth of the gospel to make it more acceptable or himself more popular. I urge you to follow his example.
He goes on to say “but by the manifestation of truth” or as the NIV reads “by setting forth the truth plainly” or “clearly & candidly” as the AMP states it.
Again, no gimmicks just plainly declaring the truth. Paul knew something which we forget many times – the truth is the most exciting & attractive thing in the world. The truth has a fascinating power to attract people.
Furthermore, Paul spoke this truth to the conscience not just to the mind. Now don’t misunderstand – truth is addressed to the mind. God never sets aside the mind but behind the mind is the conscience & a man’s conscience can sometimes reach him when his mind is rejecting truth.
Depend on the fact that there is a voice inside them which God put there that even when their minds reject what you say, it will keep saying to them, “Ah, yes, but he is right, isn’t he?”
C.S. Lewis said that when he became a Christian he did so as an intellectual agnostic. He said when he came to Christ he came as though he were dragged, kicking & screaming, darting his eyes around in every direction, trying to escape. His mind was fighting it all the way, but his conscience had succumbed to the Word of God. He said the night he came to Christ, he was the most reluctant convert in all of England – but he came for his conscience had been reached.
Paul says that is what I count on. I don’t have to depend on me & my personality & my ability to persuade people. I go w/ the simple declaration of truth & the conviction that the Holy Spirit is able to reach the conscience.
Last Sunday we had a Gideon speaker. The main reason I invite them to share each year is to simply remind my people of the power of God’s Word, the power of God’s truth. They come & share story after story how people came to Christ because somehow they came across a Gideon Bible, read it & the plain truth reached them.
Derrick, have integrity in your handling & proclamation of the Word of God.
Although you might bear in mind what 1 preacher said. He was preaching on the relationship between fact & faith. He said, "That you are sitting before me in this church--is fact. That I am standing here, speaking from this pulpit--is fact. That I believe anyone is listening to me--is faith!" But if you preach the truth – there will be people who will listen. There are people who want to know truth.
4. Effective ministry’s focus is on Jesus & not on one’s self – 4:5a
“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord.”
Calvin – “He that would preach Christ alone must of necessity forget himself.”
As A.B. Simpson wrote:
Jesus only is our message,
Jesus all our theme shall be;
We will lift up Jesus ever,
Jesus only will we see.
Lance Armstrong, 7 times winner of the Tour de France, wrote a biography which had the title “It is not about the bike.” The focus of his biography was naturally himself. But Paul would agree more w/ the title of 1 of Max Lucado’s books called “It is not about me.”
And yet how tragic that as Christians & as ministers we have drifted from a focus on Christ to a focus on ourselves & our churches that Lucado felt compelled to write a book w/ such a title?
It’s not about you or your ministry it’s about Christ.
One other thing – don’t miss the significance of 2 little words – He preached Christ Jesus as Lord! There are a lot of preachers who preach about Jesus but I challenge you to make sure you preach Him as Lord – Lord of all – the all supreme One & Lord of every aspect of our lives.
5. Effective ministry requires being a bondservant – 4:5b
“and ourselves as your bondservants…”
Derrick, you are called to be a minister & you have been given a ministry by the Lord but He has also called you to be a bondservant to those in your ministry.
Paul said in Ephesians 5:1 “be imitators of God” & this is 1 way we imitate him for Jesus said, “I’ve come not to be serve but to serve…”
You could raise the objection, “But Chuck, that can be hard work, thankless work. Some people are difficult to love or will take advantage of me.”
That’s true but as Howard Hendricks said, “If you can’t stand the smell of sheep, you shouldn’t be a shepherd.”
But notice that Paul provides the motivation to do this in the last 3 words of the verse – “for Jesus’ sake.”
A visitor to a missionary hospital on seeing a missionary nurse tending to the sores of a leprosy patient, said, "I’d never do that for a million dollars!" To which the nurse replied, "Neither would I. But I do it for Jesus for nothing."
Derrick, be a bondservant to those God has placed in your care & be a bondservant to them for Jesus’ sake.
So there you have it brother – 5 keys to an effective ministry. I pray you will embrace them by God’s grace so that as the years roll by you will be known as one who has an effective ministry for the Lord.
