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A
FUNDAMENTALIST PASTOR’S MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES II TIMOTHY 4:1-10 The Apostle Paul’s second letter
to Timothy is his “last will and testament.” This epistle
constitutes Paul’s “swan” song,
his final “sign off” before his excruciating martyrdom
at the hands of the Roman government. In
the fourth chapter, which contains Paul’s last known words,
he forthrightly delineates the three major responsibilities
of a Biblical Fundamentalist pastor, responsibilities
which no genuine Bible preacher should diminish
or minimize. This chapter constitutes Paul’s final advice
and spiritual counsel to his co-laborer and pastor friend,
Timothy who was now serving as shepherd of the spiritual
flock at Ephesus—I Tim. 1:3. (I) BIBLICAL EXPOSITION “Preach the Word—II Timothy 4:2” THE IMPORTANCE OF BIBLICAL EXPOSITION The importance of this divine mandate
cannot be over-estimated. The God-called preacher is primarily
just that—a preacher! While God’s man wears many spiritual
hats in his multiple ministry as a (a) Scriptural administrator—I
Peter 5:2, a (b) spiritual counselor—Acts 20:20
and a (c) soul-consoler—II Cor. 1:5-6,
there is none more important that this one—the
faithful exposition of the Word of God! The
God called preacher must follow the example of
Christ, whose prime labor was that of a preacher of the
Word. In Mark 1:38-39, Christ “said unto them, Let us
go into the next towns, that I may preach there also,
for therefore came I forth.” In the next chapter,
Mark 2:2 records “straightway many were gathered together,
insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, no
not so much as about the door: and he preached the
word unto them.” The
exposition of the inerrant Word of God must be the responsibility
to which the God-called preacher gives his major attention
and time. Some studious Bible students limit the meaning
of “exposition” strictly to a verse-by-verse proclamation,
and while that definition may be its major thrust, this
writer does not believe that genuine Bible exposition
is strictly limited to this method.
TYPES OF BIBLICAL EXPOSITION Genuine Biblical exposition can be
(a) textual—the preaching of a specific Bible text, (b)
topical—the proclamation of a Biblical theme or strictly
speaking (c) expositional—the presentation of a sequential
set of verses or an entire book. While
a long range ministry generally best favors the third
format, genuine expositional preaching cannot be specifically
confined to only one specific human methodology. Chas.
Haddon Spurgeon was the “prince of preachers.” No preacher
in modern history better excelled at his divine trade
than the renowned CHS, but Spurgeon was primarily a textual/topical
preacher who was always a master of Bible exposition!
Regardless of the specific style, the substance for
the God-called preacher must always be the same—the plain
unadulterated powerful exposition of the infallible Word!
The
pure—Prov. 30:5, perfect—Ps. 19:7, and powerful—Heb. 4:12
Word of God is the divine instrument that the preacher
must exposit. This is the same Word, when effectively
utilized, that both saves the sinner—I Peter 1:23 and
sanctifies the saint—John 17:17.
It is this Word—the words of life—of which the
preacher must be a master in exposition. Before public exposition, however, the preacher
must diligently study the Scriptures—II Tim. 2:15—carefully
and privately exegeting the
Word. Proper exegesis is a necessary preparation for powerful
exposition! This involves arduous but rewarding mental
and spiritual labor. After careful exegesis, however,
the fresh divine power of the Spirit of God is an imperative
which no man of God can neglect. A SPIRITUAL WELL OF RESOURCE THAT MUST NOT BE IGNORED Before leaving this point, this writer
would like to emphasize that most of his own powerful
and productive sermons have not come while he was
in his study seeking sermons, but while he was sequestered
in secret seeking his Saviour—in
the Word! From long experience, this preacher unhesitatingly
states that the vast major of his sermons have originated
while he was investing time in his daily devotional reading
and meditation upon the Word of God and seeking to draw
nearer to His Saviour. Warmed
over “left-overs” may occasionally
be acceptable for an evening meal, but such type spiritual
meals do not provide adequate spiritual nourishment for
hungry saints in the pews. Dr. Len Broughton, a famed
pastor in (II) BIBLICAL EVANGELISM “Do the work of an evangelist”—II
Tim. 4:5 A
well-noted Fundamentalist Bible expositor once said that
when there are three points in a sermon, the second point
is always central. Now it should be noted that in this
passage, the pastor is not urged to replace the
work of an evangelist, but to do the work of an evangelist!
THE TWO-FOLD EVANGELISTIC THRUST Like the office of the pastor, the
office of the evangelist is a God-called gift which Ephesians
4:11-12 makes abundantly clearly is a two-fold ministry.
The Greek verb and noun for evangelism and evangelist
clearly define his work. The verb eugangelizo
means to “proclaim glad tidings”
“good news” while the noun euangelistes
refers to a messenger or a bearer of such good news,
specifically the good news of the gospel! The God-called
evangelist has a special gift, ability and responsibility
to proclaim the glad tidings and deliver the good news
of the gospel of Christ. However,
the Ephesians four passage also makes it plain that both
the pastor and evangelist were also given for the spiritual
advancement of corporate local church assemblies.
The evangelist, along with the pastor, is also
a “stimulator” for the [a] spiritual maturation (“for
the perfecting of the saints”), [b] service ministry of
saints (“for the work of the ministry”) and [c] building
up of the local church body (“for the edifying of the
body of Christ.”). The pastor and evangelist primarily
both fulfill these noble ministry goals via faithful fervent exposition of the
Scriptures. According
to Acts 20:28-31 and I Peter 5:1-3, pastors have a spiritual
flock over whom God has given them functional authority
and leadership, with the important task of feeding local
church flocks, responsibilities
that primarily involve the faithful exposition of the
Scriptures to the assembled saints. Such
faithful exposition, however, does not absolve
the pastor from also being a fervent preacher of the gospel!
In his last will and testament, the apostle Paul issues
a clear mandate that pastors should also “do the work
of an evangelist,” that is they should be ardent clear
heralders of the gospel message.
For any gospel preacher, whether it be
pastor or evangelist, the evangelistic proclamation of
the gospel must never take a back seat. EVANGELISM NOT A SECONDARY TASK FOR PASTORS Paul is not ordering Timothy
in this verse to abdicate his pastoral labors, but simply
to do that same good work that evangelists do--spread
the good news of the gospel just like evangelists do!
E. Edmund Hierbert, in his II
Timothy commentary (Moody Press, p. 108) says of this
admonition: “The term, used without an article, does not
here designate a distinct office, but rather characterizes
him (the pastor) as one whose chief activity is the bringing
of the good news of the Gospel of Christ. His ministry
must be evangelistic in nature.”
Pastors
must never underestimate the importance of the
Great Commission in Matt. 28:18-20. Christ’s last words
to his disciples were his most important words. They involved
the responsibility to carry out the Great Commission,
a commission that can be summarized in three words: (a)
evangelism—“go ye therefore and teach all nations” (b)
baptism, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost” and (c) catechism, “teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you.” It
doesn’t take too much spiritual sense to note that you
cannot Scripturally baptize and instruct converts until you have first
brought them to Christ. The pastor must first and
foremost be a seeker of souls! Soul-winning must
always be a major focus of both his personal life and
ministry. If the pastor does not place a central focus
on evangelistic endeavors, then his flock will not do
so either. The pastor must lead the way in fervent
gospel proclamation and personal soul-winning endeavors.
As one famed evangelistic pastor once stated, “no church
rises above its leadership.” Prov. 11:30 is still true
today: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;
and he that winneth souls is
wise.” Dr. Bob Jones Sr. was absolutely right when
he stated that “It takes evangelistic unction to make
orthodoxy function.” TRAINING SOUL-WINNERS BY PERSONAL EXAMPLE This writer cannot overemphasize
the following statement: “It’s either evangelize
or fossilize.” N. T. churches which take the focus off
the centrality of genuine Biblical evangelism will discover
that their numbers will eventually dwindle and that their
assemblies will die a slow death! In promoting an evangelistic
atmosphere and culture within the local church, Dr. Shelton
Smith, the editor of the Sword of the Lord notes
that pastors and evangelists should not merely train saints
to win souls, but to be soul-winners! Soul-winning
endeavors should not be confined to a once-a-week
responsibility, but should be a daily activity whenever
the opportunity arises. It
is possible to under-emphasize the imperative and needed
Biblical task of edification while engaged in fervent
evangelistic proclamation, but this writer does not believe
that you can ever over-emphasize evangelism. It was the
number one element in the Great Commission, and must always
be the number one priority for pastors and N. T. local
churches today! This
writer recognizes that he may be criticized by some preachers
for his fervent evangelistic thrust, but he refuses to
budge or back down from his appeal that all preachers/pastors
should always keep hot on the soul-winning trail! (III) BIBLICAL EXPOSE—II Timothy 4:10 “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved
this present world” This
third responsibility is the one where this writer believes
more pastors falter and fail than any other Biblical task.
Biblical expose of apostasy and error is undoubtedly the
most difficult and thorny task that any pastor confronts
or faces. Unfortunately, for many fundamentalist flocks,
it is the one many pastors simply avoid, neglect or overlook.
THE TRAGEDY THAT RESULTS WHEN EXPOSE IS NEGLECTED The major reason why Fundamental
churches drift into New-Evangelicalism is because many
pastors ignore this important task. Wagon loads of formerly
ardent fundamentalist congregations today are drifting
into Pseudo-Fundamentalism and New-Evangelicalism because sound exegeters
of the Word refuse to also be staunch exposers
of the world! One
of the missing words in today’s Fundamentalist circles,
a word that constituted the separatist underpinnings of
the Fundamentalist movement in the 1920-1950 eras is the
word militancy. The Apostle Paul was (a) militant
in his language—I Tim. 1:18, (b) militant in his labors—Acts
20:20, 31 and he was (c) militant in his last will and
testament—II Tim. 4:6-8. THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PAUL’S LAST WORDS One might logically deduce that Paul
would have concluded his final treatise with a strictly positive summation of his life’s ministry,
but in his final summation, Paul reminded Timothy that
he had been a fighter for God’s divine truth all
his ministry—II Timothy 4:7, and he reaches his
conclusion with a stark warning about his former
close companion—Demas—II Timothy 4:10. Paul’s
great desire surely was not to conclude his final treatise
with such a strong and sad warning. Yet he believed this
admonition was a divine imperative, lest other believers
follow the same compromising pathway to which Demas had
turned. Remember,
that just less than two years earlier, in Colossions
chapter 4, (4:14), Paul had given Demas’ name as one of
his faithful companions and co-laborers in the faith.
Also, in his brief letter to Philemon (v. 24), he had
lauded Demas as one of his “fellowlaborers”
in Christian service. But Demas had now left the Biblicist
mainstream for worldly compromise, and Paul felt impelled
to warn other saints not to follow Demas’ compromising
course. In
studying Paul’s last written epistle—II Timothy—it is
interesting to note that in each of the epistle’s four
chapters, Paul delineates the nature and names
of both apostates (Christ deniers) and accommodaters
(compromisers): Phygellus
and Hermongebes (II Tim. 1:15),
Hymmeneus and Philetus
(II Tim. 2:17-18), Jannes and
Jambres (II Tim. 3:8) and Demas
(II Tim. 4:10. The apostates and the accommodators were
both cited in Paul’s final treatise, along with
their denials and departures from the faith. PAUL’S UNWAVERING DEFENSE OF THE FAITH In reviewing Paul’s colorful, illustrious
and powerful apostolic ministry, it is interesting to
note that he never backed off from any necessary controversy
during his entire Christian life. From his commencement
in the Christian life, recorded in Acts nine, to his impending
martyrdom in II Timothy 4, this great warrior never
wavered once in his staunch defense of the faith, even
when, on one occasion,
it involved one of the most highly regarded pillars
of the faith—the apostle Peter—Galatians 2:11-14. Like
Elijah in the O. T. in I Kings 18, Paul never courted
the enemies of the faith, he always challenged the enemies
of the gospel—Colossions 2:8.
In his final meeting with the Ephesian
pastors, recorded in Acts 20, Paul straight forwardly
warned about the opposition these good men would face,
both from satanic foes without, as well as supposed friends
from within—Acts 20:28-31. AN EXAMPLE EVERY PREACHER SHOULD EMULATE Some timid and naïve pastors allege
that their responsibility is simply to preach Christ and
to only positively exposit the Scriptures, but they ignore
Paul’s personal record and testimony in Colossions
1:27-28: “To whom God would make know what is the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory; Whom we preach, warning
every man and teaching every man in all wisdom…”
And why did Paul include such “warning” in this
preaching? He provides the clear answer in that same verse:
“that we may present every man perfect [complete-without
deficiency] in Christ.” In
speaking about the “law of the Lord,” the “statutes of
the Lord,” and the “judgments of the Lord,” in Psalms
19, David forthrightly declares that by these divine “statutes”
[written commandments], “is thy servant warned.”
Biblical exposition that does not include Biblical expose
constitutes s “half obedience.” and “half obedience is
disobedience!” May
God grant that Fundamentalists preachers today will become
modern Timothys’ and fulfill their God mandated responsibilities
of Biblical exposition, Biblical evangelism and Biblical
expose! All three are necessary and required for
God’s men to fulfill their divine Biblical mandates.
D. J. A biographical profile of Dr. Jasmin Also in this issue: |
| Editorial – AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2011
The Fundamentalist Digest; Permission granted for reprint, so long
as proper credit is given. |
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