A Precise Explanation of Ministry, Part 1

The word ministry is pervasive, especially in Christian circles.

Is it a verb, a noun, an adjective? Well, we often use the word ministry to describe a nonprofit organization or departments within a church. But these casual references don't represent the depth of this term. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll is teaching from Columbia University. in Colossians chapter 1. His goal is to help us understand the biblical definition of this word so that we have greater confidence in legitimate ministries and those who lead them.

Chuck titled his message, A Precise Explanation of Ministry. We can always count on this when we open his book, we will hear truth. Truth to learn and truth to live by. It's no exception as we turn to this little letter written to the Colossians. It too is truth to live by, truth to teach us, to be applied, to be claimed when we are alone or when we are with others.

It is reliable information to take us throughout time and to prepare us for the life beyond. If you have your Bible opened, we are going through this little letter together in 10 weeks. I've asked you to join with me in the project of reading it through once a week during each of the 10 weeks.

And I hope you're doing that. The more we absorb it, the better we will grasp what it says and what it means. I'm looking with you at verses 24 through 29. It's really a passage that begins at the end of verse 23, just above this 24th verse.

I'm reading from the New Living Translation, the end of verse 23. The good news has been preached all over the world and I Paul have been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it. I'm glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God's people. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles too.

And this is the secret. Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God perfect in their relationship to Christ. That's why I work and struggle so hard depending on Christ's mighty power that works within me. You're listening to Insight for Living.

To search the scriptures with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. And now the message from Chuck called A Precise Explanation of Ministry. Don't you sometimes wonder about ministry? And aren't you on occasion a little curious about ministers? I sometimes think about folks who drive by this building who've never, never been inside, but they're regularly in the traffic around us as they look over and must wonder what goes on in there. I wonder about the people who lead what goes on in there.

I wonder if they're real or if they're phony. It's interesting when we think about ministry, we're better at knowing what it's not than what it is. For example, we know it's not a commercial enterprise that is involved in goods and services that we sell. We know it is not an entertainment center that sells tickets and shows movies and offers plays and live theater. We know it's not a medical hospital where there are doctors and nurses on the staff that help people in their sickness and deal with the whole issue that may be related to dying. We also know that we're not a manufacturing plant that makes widgets, markets them and sells them.

And we're not an educational institution that offers degrees and diplomas for people who take courses. That's what we're not, nor should we be. But are we a healthy ministry?

Is this wholesome what we're doing? Is it true that those who lead this ministry are trustworthy? You often don't know. One wag put it like this, I don't see the preacher all week long.

I don't understand him on Sundays. A rather honest appraisal. Matter of fact, speaking of that, I came across the comments of a very fine minister who writes bluntly. By my mid-thirties, after a little more than a decade in the ministry, I'd seen it all as to duplicity and hypocrisy and immense evil that can exist in church leaders. I knew a man who was prominent in his denomination and community, a man who was married and with his family, who was discovered regularly consorted with several of his male employees while no one was watching.

In another instance, the church treasurer appeared in the church Northex on a Sunday morning dead drunk, glass in hand, wildly whispering as he was leaving that he was leaving his wife and family and departing that day on a private jet for the Middle East. I've known pious Bible-quoting, soul-winning murderers, he writes. And over the years, while speaking at pastors conferences, my wife and I have had pastors, trembling wives, seek us out and reveal abuse and perversion by their publicly straight-laced husbands.

Tales that sound as if they were scripted by Flannery O'Connor. He continues, I've said in times of despair that you've never been had until you've been had by a fellow believer who calls you brother. Church leadership can attract people with mixed and sometimes outrightly sinful motives. The seeming prestige attracts some. The lure of power draws others. The spiritual directing of others lives can be heady stuff. Some like the idea of having access to the supposed mysterious inner workings of the church.

All these motives are empty pursuits. You may have come from a toxic ministry like that. My heart goes out to you. Getting past that, getting through that takes a long time. That's why we don't badger people about quickly after visiting, they need to be involved in serving. Some of you need to be involved in healing and recovering. You've been misled or lied to, taken advantage of. You've gone through the horror of a scandal or the heartbreak of a split.

That's tough to live with. I wonder what goes on in that church. I wonder if I could trust the leadership. Good questions. They ought to be asked. Thinking people aren't afraid to question that. Because you see, those who lead ministries need to be qualified because we'll be judged by a higher standard, which at times haunts me.

I never want to get to the place where it's perfunctory, business as usual, nor do those on our staff. My colleagues in this ministry, we talk about that. You see, the Bible sets forth a very high standard for those who lead people in the ways of God. Our middle names need to be character, integrity, honesty. I suppose that's why when we get to a section like we're looking at today where Paul unveils the truth, first regarding the minister, and then ministry, that we have some guidelines to go by.

We're not left adrift or awash. We are able to pinpoint some things that make for a healthy and wholesome church and a reliable minister. So let's start here. Let's begin with the minister and let's look at the end of verse 23, and then we'll work our way 24 through 29 as we pick out some of the characteristics that mark a healthy church.

First, the minister. Look at Paul's words. End of verse 23. The good news has been preached all over the world. And now he gets specific. I, Paul, have been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it. That's noteworthy. When you read your Bible, pay attention to words.

They are the building block of thought, and true thoughts lead to an understanding of God's truth. So look at the word. I've been appointed. The New American Standard Bible says simply, I was made a minister. So it isn't the idea if you sit home one day and you think, let's see, I think I'll try out for ministry.

I think I'll throw in my resume and see if I can get hired on at a church. Whoa. You're appointed.

You're called. And there's mystery in that. I know. I understand. You don't read cloud formations. There isn't sky writing. There aren't messages in the middle of the night saying, go into ministry.

It isn't like that. But down inside there is this sense of call. In other words, you cannot do anything else. I was asked that when I was applying for a place as a student at Dallas Seminary. The registrar, Dr. Campbell, said to me, would you be happy doing anything else, Chuck?

I'd never been asked that before. I searched my heart. There I was in my mid 20s thinking about other things I might do, and I listened to what he said. And then I looked him in the eyes and I said, no, sir, I wouldn't be happy. I wouldn't be fulfilled doing anything else.

He said, that's good. Otherwise, we wouldn't accept you. We are appointed.

And please observe, it's not a matter of just hiring in. We are appointed as God's servant. God's servant.

Not a celebrity, not a big time cheerleader, not a motivational speaker. We're appointed as God's servant. And then we read of the most the single most significant task, servant, one who proclaims the message. Never doubt the paramount importance of proclaiming the message.

John R.W. Stott has written an outstanding book called Between Two Worlds, and he's describing the world that we live in between the place where we get the truth. That's the first century and the place where we declare it. That's the 21st century. Two worlds.

And we're between it. We who serve others and minister to others. And many of you are in the classification of a minister. You don't have to be ordained to be a minister. Though if you're serving a church, an ordination is often a requirement, an endorsement.

As part of your qualifications. But I notice from Stott's words, as he quotes Will Sankster, called to preach, commissioned of God to teach the word, a herald of the great king. And then he quotes Andrew Blackwood, preaching should rank as the noblest work on earth. But by the way, have you noticed in our generation? It's fading.

It's fading. In our post-Christian era, expositors are hard to find. Those who are willing to go to the word, keep their finger on the text, declare the message. Explain the message and then apply the message and then get out of the way.

And let the message do its work. And so Stott laments. And so we come to the 60s, 70s and 80s, the tide of preaching ebbed.

The ebb is still low today. At least in the Western world, the decline of preaching is a symptom of the decline of a church. An era of skepticism is not conducive to the recovery of confident proclamation.

He's so right. I say to everyone we ordain, I look them in the eye and I usually put my hand on his chest and I say, tell me, tell me you're going to be an expositor. Promise me that when you are engaged in ministry, you will make this book your text and you will faithfully study it. And you will at every opportunity declare it, teach it, proclaim it.

Let people know what God is saying in his word. Will you do that? Will you promise me that? When a young man who just graduated from seminary last Sunday morning, he was getting ready to begin churches in rural areas in another state.

And I looked him in the eye, never met him before. And I said to him, will you promise me that wherever you serve, you will be known as a preacher of the word of God? He said, I will. I said, will you promise me that?

And he kind of wilted and said, yes, sir, I promise you that. I said, well, you realize why I'm saying it like this? Because once you're engaged, there'll be every temptation in the world to pull you away from that. And you'll get involved in stuff that doesn't relate to that. And before you know it, you'll justify it.

And the people you're serving will go hungry. Like a chef that only fixes cotton candy for the meal. You're responsible to tell the story that God has revealed. Not a bunch of pea patch stories, as my mother used to say. She used to say, son, when you get in ministry, don't tell a lot of pea patch stories.

I think I know what she meant by that. Having told of you and having been around a lot of storytelling stuff. I am to proclaim the truth of God. That's my job.

That's my calling. And so it is the calling of every teacher who hears me right now, every minister right now, everyone who serves the body, wherever you have a chance to minister, make sure you have your Bible open and make sure you're saying something from the scriptures. That's what God says he will bless. Now, let's look at the ministry itself. I have marked in highlight five words in verses 24 to 29. Let me give you the words before we look at each one, working our way through them. The word suffering, verse 24, I'm participating in the sufferings of Christ.

So a wholesome, healthy ministry includes engaged in suffering. A little later, we read the church by proclaiming his entire message to you. So let's mark that word proclaiming.

Your Bible in another version may use another word, but you see the word, mark that. Suffering, proclaiming, drop down to verse 29. Warning everyone. Here's the next word, teaching everyone with all wisdom. By the way, you want to notice something, look at everyone. Warning everyone, teaching everyone that we may present everyone.

Each time he's repeating it for emphasis sake. So a church that's healthy and wholesome is a church that includes warning. That's the negative side of proclaiming and teaching.

That's the positive side. And finally, I work and struggle so hard depending on Christ's mighty power. Depending or whatever word your Bible version may have. Ministry is a life of dependence.

So let's pick the words apart and apply them and see what they mean. He says, I'm glad when I suffer for you. What an interesting comment. That's his attitude towards suffering. I'm glad when I suffer for you in my body. Why? See the little word for? It explains why. Because I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. What does that mean?

Almost sounds like a tongue twister. How do you participate in the sufferings of Christ? Well we know it does not mean what Christ suffered on the cross. That's redemptive suffering and that's complete. Jesus said it is finished. His work on the cross is the finished work. So it's not referring to adding to what Christ started when he died on the cross for sins. This is something else. This has to do with the body of Christ which is here, the church.

You see it? The sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. So what does it mean? A ministry that is healthy and wholesome enters into the suffering of other people. Outstanding book written by Eugene Peterson is titled Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work.

It's not bedside reading. It's pretty deep stuff. One of his chapters is on suffering. The pastoral work of pain sharing.

In that chapter I find these words. Among other things pastoral work is a decision to deal on the most personal and intimate terms with suffering. It does not try to find ways to minimize suffering or ways to avoid it.

It is not particularly interested in finding explanations for it. It is not a search after the cure for suffering. Pastoral work engages suffering. I have a friend called me and tells me that a tragic thing has happened in the family. They've lost one of their family members. My need then or later is not to try to make him feel better or to help her dodge the pain. I enter into the grief with them. I dignify the grief by telling them I feel the pain.

I too hurt as they hurt. That's what he's writing. You see, he continues, Scripture is not a lecture from God pointing the finger of unfortunate sufferers and saying, I told you so. Here and here and here is where you went wrong.

Now you were paying for it. Nor is it a program from God providing step by step for the gradual elimination of suffering in a series of five-year plans. When a pastor encounters a person in trouble, the first order of pastoral ministry is to enter into the pain and share the suffering. Later on, the task develops into clearing away the emotional rubble and exposing the historical foundations. All suffering is triggered by something.

Now listen closely. There is a dateable event behind an act of suffering, a remembered word of scorn which wounded, a describable injustice causing injury, a death with a date on it pinpointing the hour of loss, a divorce decree giving legal definition to a rejection. Suffering explodes in a life and pain is scattered like shrapnel. At the moment, the loss seems total, but gradually it is possible to recognize and touch many, many things, persons, areas that remain sound and stable to discover weakness, to admit guilt, to accept responsibility, even to be grateful for survival. But if we fail to maintain a foothold in local history, suffering like a helium-filled balloon lifts us off the ground and we drift directionless through the air at the mercy of emotional recurrence and the barometric pressures of hormonal secretions.

Sorrow that does not have historical ballast becomes anxiety and turns finally to mental illness or emotional bitterness. History is necessary not to explain but to anchor. Chuck Swindoll wants to dig deeper into this closing illustration by providing practical application, so please keep listening. He titled today's message, A Precise Explanation of Ministry. And to learn more about today's study or this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org. And then as we continue through Paul's letter to the Colossians, I'll point you to two important resources. You see, your learning begins by listening to these daily programs, but it doesn't need to end here. Insight for Living has developed an interactive study tool that Chuck calls Searching the Scriptures. And there's a sequence of study notes prepared for every sermon you'll hear in this Colossians series, including the one you heard today. It's interactive because you can actually take notes online or print out the PDF for safekeeping. We invite you to point your friends to this free resource as well.

Take a look and discover what's available to you by going to insight.org slash studies. Now, if it's a book you're looking for, then I'm pleased to remind you Chuck wrote a living insight commentary on Colossians. This book, which also includes his commentary on Philippians and Philemon, belongs in your library.

It's laid out in a format that's clear, easy to understand, and provides historical background so that you understand the context of Paul's letter. Plus, it's written in the engaging style that's become a hallmark of Chuck's teaching. To purchase a copy of the commentary on Colossians, go to insight.org slash offer. Or call us if you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888. We rely on your support to make these daily Bible studies with Chuck possible. And if it's been a while since you've responded to the need or maybe you've never stepped forward with a contribution, we invite you to give a donation today by calling us if you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888 or give a donation online at insight.org slash donate. I'm Dave Spiker inviting you to join us when Chuck Swindoll continues his brand new study in Paul's letter to the Colossians tomorrow on Insight for Living. The preceding message, a precise explanation of ministry, was copyrighted in 2014 and 2022, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2022 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.