Morning Moments

I like the way the HCSB translates these verses:

1 Timothy 4:6-8 If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. But have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness, for, the training of the body has a limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

So we have learned to Refuse Babbling, which has in root in Babel anyway, but now we see that we will:

RECEIVE THE BUFFETING in 4:9-10 -
This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. In fact, we labor and strive for this, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of everyone, especially of those who believe.

Wait jut a minute, Phillips. Are you saying that buffeting for standing against these seductive deceivers is what we labor for? No, we labor for the prize, the gold metal. Let me illustrate it this way: Suppose you have worked extremely hard as an athlete so that you might enter the Olympics. Your desire is to bring home the gold. But suppose your friend says to you, "Man, take some of these steroids and they will help your speed. I know because they have helped mine." You not only refuse them, but you stand against him and what he is doing because you know it violates the rules of the game and will ultimately hurt you and not help you. If you take them, you not only have been deceived, but you will ultimately be disqualified. Get the picture?

It is easy for us to preach and teach the Gospel and ignore those who subvert it. But Paul did not ignore them; he exposed them, and in so doing brought their wrath upon him. I beg you to look at the context very carefully. How many professors or pastors STAND AGAINST those who pervert and subvert what we say we STAND FOR?

Some simple and immature church member might say we are negative, but the true shepherd not only feeds the flock of God, but he also protects it, even if it cost him his life. Remember the Good Shepherd gave His and He STOOD AGAINST false teaching.

Paul says that our abiding hope remains in God who is Sovereign and Savior, so even when we are reviled, we continue begin responsible disciples and will be rewarded for our faithfulness. Consider:

THE RIGOR -

Lazy folks don't last long in labor for the Lord. There is no place in ministry for a 40 hour work week minister. If that is what you want, DO NOT become a minister of the Gospel. The ministry requires discipline, dedication, and devotion to duty. I never pastored ANYONE who put more hours into their work than I did mine. The shepherd doesn't tell the flock to wait until his golf game is finished. He doesn't put a do not disturb sign on his door when people need him. He may have to rearrange his schedule, cancel his fishing trip, spend the night in study because the day was filled with tending, teaching, or training, but he does whatever it takes. Listen to me when I say that Jesus spent entire nights in prayer because He ministered to people all day.

I know of NO OTHER WORK that is as demanding as the ministry! We are "on call" twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year. I did not say we don't need R and R. We do. When allowed the "ministry" to become a "profession", we began a journey away for truth.

Let me give you a good example - Years ago my wife and I were at a Southern Baptist Convention. Charles Stanley was President of the convention. My mother in law was dying and my wife was on the phone with her as Dr. Stanley exited the convention hall. My mother in law never missed his "IN TOUCH" TV program, so I stopped him and asked if he would kindly speak to her. He did not hesitate. He prayed for her and talked with her for a few minutes and made her day. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY GOD HAS USED HIM SO? I don't give a rip about our importance, if we are too important or too busy to care for hurting people, we have failed in ministry.

I could tell you other stories about Stanley and a dozen other internationally known men of God who demonstrated to me personally their devotion to the Savior, the saint, and the sinner. "Oh", I have heard people say, "our pastor is a wonderful preacher, but he is not a people person." Then he should get right or get out of the ministry. There are far too many "Ivory Tower" preachers who think they are too important for people. WRONG, and don't you dare be one of them.

BLESSINGS!