Cutting Straight

Cutting Straight
Many believe 2Timothy was the last epistle Paul wrote. Abandoned by friends and suffering in a Roman prison he was conveying some final thoughts to his young protégé Timothy.  The apostle offered inspired guidance to this youthful presbyter concerning one’s personal conduct and public ministry.  A good soldier of Christ finds spiritual strength by the gospel of grace in Christ and seeks to disciple others to do the same (2Tim 2:1-2).  Temptations to deviate from the course abound, even imprisonment and martyrdom, but the good officer stays the course.   

What's a minister to do?
If as a worker (a minister or teacher) he strives to avoid shame and seeks the approval of God, he must do his best to rightly handle the word of truth (2Tim 2:15).  Literally the minister must be eager and do his utmost to cut straight in handling truth.  An approved, unashamed workman in God’s household does not deviate from inspired revelation.  Is this all he does?  Absolutely not.  He is not a mere intellectual or academic.  He may not cloister himself among his books and neglect the needs of his flock.  Indeed, he has many responsibilities.  Peter sums it up by saying he must shepherd the flock of God exercising oversight willingly, eagerly and exemplarily (1Pt 5:2-3).  Like all Christians an officer must strive in every area to be Christ-like, but uniquely he must do this as a public person.  Expressions of faith, displays of hope and demonstrations of love should characterize his personal and public testimony.  

Rightly Handling God’s Word
Paul certainly does not restrict the minister’s duty to preaching and teaching.  But he does identify this as the primary focus of his ministry.  He points out that rightly handling God’s word is that to which he must commit himself with untiring devotion.  An approved workman is one who skillfully cuts straight when handling truth.  Like a master butcher dexterously wielding his knife to gain the best cut, a minister must skillfully handle the sword of the Spirit so he may wisely and faithfully feed the sheep.  James says the wisdom from above is first pure and only then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere (Jas 3:17).  Hence, the minister must devote himself to rightly handling God’s word so that the wonderful blessings of unity, security and fellowship may be enjoyed by a well-fed congregation.  Paul’s point is a matter of emphasis, not exclusion.  The preaching of, teaching from and counseling by the Scriptures is the root from which so many good and pleasant fruits will grow.  We do not neglect the fruits by any means, but we will not enjoy them either without a healthy root.  Sadly, many modern ministers focus so intently on the fruits that they neglect the root.  As a result we find churches in which the Word is not central, preaching is not esteemed and orthodoxy is not safeguarded.  Their unenviable condition leaves them vulnerable to the gangrene of irreverent babble leading them to ruin and ungodliness (2Tim 2:14-17).  This occurs because they have become like those who swerved from the truth (2Tim 2:18).  May the Lord Jesus by His Spirit keep us from deviating from Scripture and enable us to cut straight in handling the word of truth!

Public Ministry

What is a minister to do?  The average pulpit committee sets forth an elaborate job description that even the most talented man finds difficult to fulfill.  Cultural influences help shape the expectations so that the list includes responsibilities for which Timothy himself would have been utterly ill-equipped.  Thankfully the apostle Paul established a job description of his own.  Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching (1Tim 4:13).  This is simple, straightforward and to the point.  It is ministry for which Timothy was gifted by the Spirit and to which he was ordained by the church (1Tim 4:14).  Such public ministry may not be imaginative or flashy, but neither are the ordinary meals consumed three times a day.  Yet just as the body is nourished by regular food consumption so the soul is nourished by consistent Word intake.  Neither process is complicated.  Prepare and serve the food!  The minister is to practice these things, indeed, to immerse himself in them (1Tim 4:15).  How many modern ministry profiles would establish that as the primary criteria for candidates?  The Lord Jesus taught that a minister must be a faithful and wise steward who gives them their food at the proper time (Matt 24:45).  To use modern jargon, the Spirit is advocating a “means of grace ministry.”  That is, a ministry devoted to the ordinary means of grace, or those divinely-appointed ordinances by means of which Christians grow in grace and sanctification, such as the reading, preaching and teaching of God’s word.  Perhaps most revealing is how Paul caps off this particular portion of instruction:  Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers (1Tim 4:16).  Notice, steady devotion to this kind of ministry will not necessarily delight or amuse or entertain one’s hearers.  It will SAVE them!  What?!  Did he really say SAVE them?  Many might feel a bit uncomfortable with that language, especially because we know salvation is from the Lord.  But God works through means and appoints His agents.  He will apply the great salvation accomplished by Christ to His people through the faithful, wise and ordinary reading, preaching and teaching of His word.  Only our glorious God could and would accomplish His purpose through cracked jars of clay.  May He raise up men who will feed His sheep at the proper time!

Word and Spirit

Paul refers to the Apostasy and the Man of Lawlessness who is the Son of Destruction (2Thess 2:3).  The definite articles give a unique specificity to his expectation.  These are not vague, undefined expressions of wickedness.  One might say they are summations of it.  All the strands of earthly evil can be gathered up and bound together in what seems to be an ultimate expression of sin.  Something or someone restrains it for now (2Thess 2:6), but when that restraint is removed, all the forces of hell will break loose (2Thess 2:7-8).  Yet Jesus reigns supreme.  He will simply slay this devil with the breath of His mouth.  Sadly, those who are perishing will be deceived by the accompanying false signs and wonders primarily because they refused to love the truth and had pleasure in unrighteousness (2Thess 2:10, 12).  How different were the believing Thessalonians!  Paul identifies them as the godly antithesis since they were being saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth (2Thess 2:13).  Those perishing hate the truth while believers love it.  Those perishing delight in unrighteousness while believers turn away from it.  Those glorious means by which the salvation accomplished by Christ was applied to believers were God’s word and Spirit.  Nothing less could rescue weak lambs from the mighty jaws of wickedness and corruption, or the mystery of lawlessness.  Why mysterious?  Partly because of its insidious and deceitful nature.  We are no match for it.  But thanks be to God!  His Word shall accomplish His purpose and succeed in the thing for which He sends it (Isa 55:11) and His Spirit can and will sanctify with invincible power.  While our enemies are formidable, our temptations strong and our flesh weak, we have no reason to fear.  The Lord Jesus cannot be denied His offspring (Isa 53:10) whom He will certainly deliver from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever.  Amen  (Gal 1:4-5).

God's Final and Perfect Word to His Children

Wonderful sermon delivered by visiting speaker Rev. Ed Morris on 30 December 2012.

Take up your cross

It seems the biblical idea of cross-bearing has been misunderstood.  Typically we think of the crosses we must bear as the various trials, temptations and hardships we inevitably undergo in this life.  Each of us endures difficulties in which we as Christians are called to exercise patience and through which we may trust in the wise fatherly care of our God.  Many today view these hardships as “crosses” to bear.  But this misses the mark of what Jesus means when He says, “Take up your cross.”  First, unsaved people endure the same hardships.  They suffer afflictions, experience hardships, lose loved ones and eventually die.  Yet we would not say they are “bearing crosses.”  Second, the command to take up the cross indicates that the disciple is active not passive in this duty.  While most of life’s difficulties are “laid upon” us, the Christian is to “take up” his cross.  Third, the instrument itself, the cross, is an instrument of torture and death.  It suggests a hostile activity, not a patient passivity.  We are to use this instrument of death to kill something, namely, our sin.  Fourth and finally, Luke’s rendition of our Lord’s command includes the word “daily”:  Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me (Lk 9:23).  Cross-bearing is something disciples must do every day through the scope of their entire lives.  While ordinary hardships are often temporary and of limited duration, cross-bearing is to be daily, every day, on all days, from now until we draw our last breath.  A man does not carry his own cross for two blocks and pass it off to another.  He bears it all the way to his death!  For these reasons, cross-bearing must not refer to the personal disappointments, physical handicaps or difficult hardships we experience with the rest of mankind.  Afflictions will be as diverse as the number of afflicted.  But the cross will be the same.  Regardless of what we suffer, we are all to take up our cross.  So what is the duty of cross-bearing that is incumbent upon every disciple of Christ?

It begins with a sincere faith in the Lord Jesus and a humble reliance upon the Holy Spirit.  Whatever cross-bearing is, one cannot perform it without trusting in Christ and being empowered by His Spirit.  It also involves at the very least the daily and diligent use of God’s appointed means for killing sin.  To deny oneself is the negative aspect of the disciple’s duty.  One must abstain from indulging his sin and starve it to death.  To bear one’s cross is the positive aspect of the disciple’s duty.  One actively crucifies his sin with God-given means of grace, especially the word, sacraments and prayer.  The word is a sword with which the disciple identifies sin, lacerates lust and cuts out selfish ambition, evil desires, sinful sloth, ungodly materialism, etc.  It is a powerful instrument for putting to death self-interest, self-esteem, self-centeredness and self-importance.  Indeed, it is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb 4:12).  The sacraments are potent means of strengthening and equipping the disciple to fight this spiritual battle.  Luther often defended himself against the devil by saying, “I am baptized!”  The same can be said with regard to one’s own flesh.  “Flesh, would you indulge your sinful lusts?  I am baptized!  I am a communicant!  You will not prevail”  Interestingly, the disciple’s initial duties of self-denial and cross-bearing are matched by the disciple’s initial privilege of baptism (Mt 28:19).  The link between these discipleship firsts is noteworthy.  Specifically, without baptism (and the Lord’s Supper) these initial duties would be far more difficult to fulfill.  Prayer is indispensable in this battle with sin.  One cannot prevail without it.  Cross-bearing requires prayer.  No wonder the early church devoted itself to this discipline (Acts 2:42).  In fact, the whole panoply of spiritual armor enumerated by Paul concludes with an exhortation to be praying at all times in the Spirit (Eph 6:18).  This is how the disciple acknowledges his utter dependence on Christ to receive help in time of need.  We need His power and grace to mortify our sins.  Prayer seeks from the Lord that which only He can supply through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  To those who seem to lack power in overcoming sin and who find themselves flailing and floundering in their struggle with lust, perhaps it needs to be said, You do not have, because you do not ask (Jas 4:2).  Jesus assures us that the heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Lk 11:13).

There is far more to it than this.  Owen’s classic treatise on the mortification of sin is a masterful treatment of this topic.  But a sincere, Spirit-filled believer’s use of the means of grace is certainly a large part of this duty.  While we share in this life’s miseries with all of Adam’s children, as Christians we must be diligent in actively crucifying those sins that threaten our spiritual fruitfulness and well-being.  As Owen wisely advises, Be killing sin, or it will be killing you!  So attend the word.  Participate in the sacraments.  Engage in prayer.  Mortify sin.  Glorify and enjoy Christ.