Acts 20:19-35 records Paul’s farewell to the Elders of the church in Ephesus. Paul had ministered in this church for three years, so they had grown close. In Paul’s farewell address he looks back over his faithful ministry there. His evaluation of his ministry there can help us evaluate our current faithfulness in our place of ministry. Prayerfully read the passage, noting the following fourteen ministry keys. Ask God to help you evaluate your current ministry faithfulness in these areas. Place a mark where you think you lie on each continuum (here is a .pdf of the entire document: Shepherds Ministry Inventory).
Pride vs. Humility (v.19a)
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Complacency vs. Passion(v.19b)
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Self-protection vs. Vulnerability (v.19c)
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Caution vs. Boldness(v.20a)
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Selfishness vs. Other-focused(v.20a)
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One-dimensional vs. Adaptability(v.20a)
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Vague witness vs. Pointed witness (v.21)
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Sight vs. Faith (v.22-24)
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Possessiveness vs. Godly Separation(v.25)
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Irresponsible steward vs. Faithful completion (v.26)
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Pet topics vs. Systematic teaching (v.27)
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Convenience Ministry vs. Sacrificial Ministry (v.31)
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Covetousness vs. Contentment (v.33)
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Other-dependent vs. Self-reliant (v.34-35)
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Now spend an extended time in prayer, responding to God about the things He has shown you. Express whatever needs to be done: confession, repentance, thankfulness, praise, requests, consecration of self to Him, commitment to obedience, etc.
Recent days have given us too many sad images of suffering under the hand of ruthless dictators and under the weight of natural disasters. Predictably we are left with many questions. The question that makes it to the surface most often is, “Where was God when all this went down?” or “Why would a loving God allow this to take place?”
Jesus actually spoke to suffering brought about by ruthless dictators and natural disasters. Luke writes about a time when, “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices” (Luke 13:1).
Clearly he is speaking of needless and unjust suffering (murder!) brought about by a despicable ruler.
Jesus’ answer? “And he answered them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (vv.2-3).
Huh!?!
But don’t get hung up there, just yet. Jesus went on to raise the matter of suffering in what might have been a natural disaster: “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them …” (v.4a)
We have no word about just why the tower fell. Was it from an earthquake or tremor? Was it from faulty building materials? Was it from human error in the construction process? Was it something else? Was it simply what insurance companies would today call “an act of God”? We don’t know the cause. We do know the outcome—18 people died.
In the face of it, Jesus went on to ask, “… do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (vv.4b-5).
Again, the “Huh!?!” rises to the surface pretty quickly.
There is much to ponder here. But perhaps it tells us this much: The great wonder is not that bad things happen to “good people,” but that anything good happens to all us rebellious people.
Jesus teaches us that our natural starting point and orientation to life is inverted. We simply don’t naturally think about the events of life in a way that accords with reality. Naturally, we take as our starting point our own lives (or those of people we deem to be very much like us). We are oriented toward life from a human perspective. We’ve written God out of the script, except as a supporting actor—existing only for the advancement and blessing of us who are cast in the starring role. God is teaching us that the starting point for thinking in line with reality is Himself. God is the Star standing in at center stage upon whom the spotlight is to be fixed. We are cast in the supporting role, living and moving and having our being to honor Him and facilitate His Story as it unfolds in history. But, the Bible teaches us, we all (by inherited sinful nature and by chosen sinful acts/thoughts/words/attitudes/motives) have rebelled and demanded to the star of the show!
Jesus’ response is not uncaring. In fact He does not weigh in about the plight of the sufferers at all. He simply turns to the living and insists that we draw no conclusions about the wickedness of the dead, but rather to ask questions about the undeserved mercy we as the living have received … and to question how long that can continue if we persist in demanding God perform up to our expectations.
Ah, but you see, this exposes the very point Jesus’ is making, doesn’t it? We don’t see ourselves (or almost anyone else) as sinful and in rebellion against God. So we frame our questions incorrectly from the start: “Why do good people have to suffer like this?”
The real question, Jesus demands, is not: Why do some good people suffer? It is rather:
Why did this temporal disaster not befall me?
Why do some sinful people (like me) continue to find mercy?
And how long will this last?
And will they (I) avoid the final judgment coming upon all who persist in their rebellion and sin by turning in repentance to God through Jesus Christ?
We come now to the sixth and final installment in this series of posts in which we consider what integrity would look like in the pulpit of our churches … or, more to the point, what integrity would like like in the men who stand in those pulpits and dare to speak for God.
Integrity with recognition — questions about ambition
Questions & Queries:
What makes the difference between “holy ambition” and being “wholly ambitious”?
How does ambition relate to ego and pride?
How can we genuinely desire God’s greatest and broadest use of us without falling into the trap of unholy ambition and ego?
“. . . the usefulness of our preaching will not be known to us until each fruit on all the branches on all the trees that have sprung up from all the seeds we’ve sown has fully ripened in the sunshine of eternity.”[ii]
“. . . you can mark it down that if you are a preacher God will hide from you much of the fruit he causes in your ministry. You will see enough to be assured of his blessing, but not so much as to think you could live without it.”[iii]
What, then, may we say in conclusion to these inquiries into integrity? Perhaps in conclusion the best we say is that we might aim for what was said of the popular 19th century preacher William Arnot: “His preaching is good. His writing is better. His living is best of all.”[iv]
May we each become so entirely God’s, both in the pulpit and outside of it, that the same might be said of us!
(If you would like all six posts in one paper, you will find it here: Integrity in the Pulpit)
Integrity with materials — questions about acknowledgment
Questions & Queries:
When is it “research” and when it is plagiarism?
When does integrity require verbal footnoting?
What are acceptable ways of verbally footnoting a source?
Notable & Quotable:
“. . . it is a good rule never to make use of another’s contribution in a way that would be embarrassing to confess in public if the author were present.”[i]
“’Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,’ declares the Lord, ‘who steal My words from each other.’”[ii]
“I remember when Charles Allen came to preach in the little South Carolina town where I was the pastor of the Baptist church. I had read all of Allen’s books of sermons—and preached most of them. Some of our folks went down to Main Street Methodist to hear Dr. Allen. One of them came back and told me, ‘You’ll never believe it, but that lanky old Methodist is preaching your sermons.’”[iii]
[i] Broadus, John, On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, 3rd ed. (New York: Harper and Row, 1944), 87.
Continuing in our series of thoughts on just what integrity would look like when it comes to preaching.
Integrity with the congregation — questions about actuality
Questions & Queries:
How much of our personal emotional health should be seen in the pulpit?
How might the expression of emotions in the pulpit jeopardize our integrity?
How might the failure to express our emotions in the pulpit jeopardize our integrity?
Notable & Quotable:
“To be persuasive, we must be believable. To be believable, we must be credible. To be credible, we must be truthful.”[i]
“When you are emotionally upset, you may find, while preaching, the tendency to weep.”[ii]
[i] Murrow, Edward R., quoted in Edythe Draper, Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1992), 342.
[ii] Robinson, Haddon, “Bringing Yourself in to the Pulpit,” Bill Hybels, Stuart Briscoe and Haddon Robinson, Mastering Contemporary Preaching (Portland: Multnomah Press, 1989), 133.
