Marks of a True Ministry, Part 5

Context: God's Sovereignty and Man's Responsibility in Ministry

0:05 Let's turn again this morning to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2.

0:18 Now just briefly to put in its proper setting the text that we will consider in our consecutive study of the letter of Paul to the church at Thessalonica, let me remind you first of all of the larger context of the verse that we will be considering this morning, verse 10 of chapter 2, the larger context is the contrast of chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 1 is Paul's paragraph of praise in which he attributes all of the success of the ministry that he and his associates had at Thessalonica to the sovereign grace of God and to the mighty work of the Holy Spirit.

1:10 Back to God and in tracing it back to God he traces it back even to the eternal purposes of God when he says in verse 4, knowing brethren beloved your election of God and then the gospel came in power and the work of grace was wrought in the Thessalonians and so the great lesson we learn is that the gospel has success only so far as God is pleased to give it success and that shuts us up to him for all. Now chapter 2 we have the apostle vindicating the character of his ministry and his associates and we have some very practical matters set before us as to the kind of ministry by which God accomplishes his eternal purposes so that in chapter 2 you have the marks of a God-owned ministry and it's in that larger context that we must study each verse in chapter 2 for a minute you begin to wrench the truth of chapter 2 away from the truth of chapter 1, you will end up with a wrong concept of how the gospel succeeds and you will feel well if only I can be the kind of person I ought to be and if only we have the kind of ministry we ought to have then we will automatically have success.

2:33 No this is not so we must always remember that no matter how faithful or pure or zealous or devoted the servant. of God is all blessing must come from the living God so that when he works all the praise and the honor is brought back to him but if you simply hold chapter one without chapter two you'll be lopsided and without much concern as to whether or not your life and your ministry as a father a mother as a neighbor as a work companion as a student whatever your ministry is and the circle of that ministry is if you don't come to grips with chapter two you will be making the truth of chapter one a hammock in which to rest and to draw content from your lack of fruitfulness to draw a spirit of contentment where you're where there ought to be disturbance though chapter one is true chapter two is equally true now setting verse 10 in the more limited context of those marks of a God-owned ministry up until last week we considered what we might call the masculine marks of a God-owned ministry boldness no fear of man no flattery no drawing the ministry from any other source but truth

Genuine Holiness: The Mark of a True Ministry

3:54 no fear of the face of man and then last week we saw those very tender feminine characteristics mentioned in verses seven and eight where Paul says we were gentle among you as a nurse cherishing her children and then he says we were affectionately desirous of you willing to impart not only the gospel but our very own lives because you were dear unto us now this morning we come to verse 10 in which the apostle declares ye are witnesses and God also how wholly and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe those who lips infuse the bindings来 are not the we who love God do not like to meet drift aside what is the next mark of a true minister and a true ministry we could summarize verse 10 under this very simple general heading it is the mark of genuine holiness of life genuine holiness of life is the mark of a true minister and of a true ministry as we seek to understand now What is the next mark of a true minister and a true ministry? in a moment of prayer and ask God by the Holy Spirit to instruct us out of his word O Lord we confess to thee that left to ourselves

5:23 we neither understand what true holiness is nor will we ever be able to attain it but we believe by the grace of thy spirit we may not only understand what true holiness is but we may become holy men and women, fellows and girls to the praise of thy glory and to the commendation of the gospel that we seek to communicate to others Lord instruct us now as we open up thy word through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen now may I ask you a very simple question are you a true minister? are you a true minister? as a parent are you a true minister? are you ministering your parental duties in a biblical way? as a neighbor seeking to bear witness to your neighbors? are you a true minister?

6:26 you fellows and girls in school, are you a true minister to your classmates?

The Twofold Verification of True Holiness: Horizontal and Vertical

6:32 well if you would ask that question of the Apostle Paul he might then ask another question and say what constitutes a true ministry? and if you understood his first letter to the church at Thessalonica you should be able to say well according to your own words Paul one of the marks of a true minister is genuine holiness of life, notice what he says, ye are witnesses and God also how holily and justly better translated righteously and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe, you say pastor why do you use the term genuine holiness? well because Paul hints in this verse that there is such a thing as a genuine holiness and by inference that there is such a thing as a spurious holiness that Paul's holiness of life was genuine is indicated by these first two phrases ye are witnesses and God also, how is true holiness to be identified? very simply Paul would tell us by this mark it can be verified both horizontally and vertically ye, you people amongst whom I walked and talked and lived for a period of time who saw me at my best and at my worst, who saw

8:00 me in all the different circumstances of life, you people with whom I was identified with this tender love of a nursing mother to her own child you people of whom I was affectionately desirous, for whom I labored and toiled in the cause of the gospel, you people will remember and will bear witness to the fact that my life was a holy life, but not only, he says, do you bear witness for you can only see my actions but the one who knows my motives, the one who knew my thought life, the one who knew what I did when I was out of your sight, that one even the living God, he is a witness that I walked amongst you as a holy man, so the essence then of genuine holiness is that conduct conformed to the will and law of God in the presence of men and in the sight of God you see there are many, as there were in Paul's day, so in our day, who claim to love God they claim to have inner heart devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul speaks about them in Titus when he says, they profess that they know God oh yes, they profess to have a heart acquaintance and a heart love for him, but he said, in their works they deny him, you see holiness does not consist in fits of feeling

9:28 and wisps of emotion and in inner attitudes and dispositions that never break out into the conduct of the life some regard godliness as a mere state of mind a fit of feeling and some wisp of emotion, whereas the scripture teaches that true holiness is a thing that can always be seen our Lord said in the 7th of Matthew by their fruits ye shall know them, well the only thing I can see as a human being is the conduct of my fellow men, I cannot read the heart, it's only God who can say, I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins the scripture says, man looketh on the outward appearance, and it's right that he should and so our Lord says looking on the outward appearance by their fruits, ye shall know them, he repeated that in the 12th of Matthew, and so Paul could say of his outwardness outward conduct and decorum amongst these people, you are witnesses to the fact that my godliness was not a mere mirage, it was not a mere thought that resided in my mind or a feeling in my heart, you watched me in all the circumstances of the intimate relationship that I had with you for that period of time and you people are witnesses of my holy life and of my holy conduct but he says, not only are you

10:57 witnesses, God also, indicating that true holiness has not only a horizontal relationship but a vertical relationship it touches not only what men can observe but that which only the living God can observe, and I mentioned earlier what those things are man could watch Paul's actions but God alone knew the main spring that produced those actions, namely the motive of the heart many times a righteous deed as we view it is an abomination in the sight of God because of the motivation which prompts it, that's why the scripture says that the plowing of the wicked is sin God's commanded a man to work and to plow his field, but because the thing that motivates him is not the glory of God but his own selfish ends, God says a right deed is an abomination because the motive is wrong that's the whole truth of the first 19 verses of Matthew 6, sure the Pharisees pray and they give and they fast, God commands all of that, but because their motivation is wrong to be seen of men, it makes an abomination out of their religious practices but the apostle Paul is able to say with an unblushing conscience, God also is witness that not only were my deeds holy

12:23 but my motives, my thoughts my actions in secret, my actions in all places, all to be able to say, fully conscious of the truth of the 139th psalm that one of the men made reference to in his prayer this morning thou knowest my down sitting, my uprising, thou understandest my thought to follow there is not one word in my tongue but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it all together, thou hast beset me behind and before laid thine hand upon me, if I ascend up into heaven thou art there, if I make my bed in hell, thou art there if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea even there shall thy hand hold me, thy right hand shall lead me, if I say surely the darkness shall cover me, the darkness and the light are both alike to be when a man has something of the sense of the omniscience and the omnipresence of God searching out all his thoughts and his actions in secret as well as in public and can say this God is witness how holily righteously and unblameably we behaved ourselves that's biblical holiness that has reference not only to man, but to the living God, now just as there are people who think well holiness consists in just a feeling in the heart, I say in my heart I believe in Christ and love him and serve him no matter how shoddy my life

13:51 that's all that matters, so there are some who are very meticulous to make sure their lives are of reproach, you read the 23rd of Matthew, Jesus said of the Pharisees, ye indeed appear what beautiful unto men within what man cannot see, what only God could see, within he said you are full of dead men's bones and all unclean now we must understand dear people that true holiness the mark of a true ministry whether as a servant, a friend, a classmate no matter where we stand as believers we stand as ministers of Christ and of his truth there must be this inseparable relationship always found in true holiness where not only do men bear witness to our conduct, but the living God can bear witness to the purity of our motives and our thoughts, notice how the apostle Paul draws those two together in Acts 24 16 when he says herein do I exercise myself to have what? a conscience void of offense towards God and towards man, the two relationships he said I put myself under rigorous spiritual discipline to have at all times

15:18 a conscience void of offense vertically, horizontally and just as I shun any act or deed that will cause my brother to stumble or bring reproach to the name of Christ, so I am just as earnest to keep the temple of my mind free from the stain of any impurity of thought impurity of motive, I am just as zealous to have the temple of my mind and my thoughts and my motives unblameable before my God as I am that the walk of my feet and the conduct of my hands be blameless before the eye of my fellow men, he ties those two things together in 2 Corinthians 4, 1 where he says as we have received this ministry we faint not but we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty notice the hidden things of dishonesty, the things that are out of sight of men not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God see, he said you want to see whether my gospel is true or not, look at me see what it's done for me I commend my gospel to you as you people see the power of it in my life, that's what he could say, and he said I do that

Application: Examining Our Lives for Inconsistencies

16:47 in the sight of God, in other words I'm conscious not only that my deeds are such as bring glory to God but the motives that prompt them and the thoughts that attend them, has your conscience been at work as I've just sought to lay out the principle in those first two phrases ye are witnesses and God also I fear that some of us are not true ministers because we cannot say to those to whom we're ministers you are witnesses of my holy life how can you say that to your children parents when you profane the sabbath when you leave this place having lifted up your voice in praise to God and when someone is led in prayer thanking God for this holy day, you go back and in your home spend this day like any other day of the week with no serious attempt to sanctify the sabbath profaning this holy day when you know and your children know that you're continually cheating the Lord and failing to give him his due portion the tenth that is his by right when there is no jealous guarding of your TV you allow things to come over into the minds

18:13 and hearts of your children that are utterly canceling and nullifying everything that the Sunday school teacher has sought to place in that mind in the 45 minutes that they have them and in the brief time that I have them here and you are cooperating with the devil to just purge from the mind every thought of God and of holiness and of truth dear parent unless you can say to your children gather them around the table and say you children are witnesses of the genuineness of my holy life you're not a true minister as a parent you're not a true minister as a parent for that's the mark the indispensable mark of a true ministry a holy life when they hear the arguments and the dissension between you as a husband and wife when they hear the unbridled burst of temper to them that are never rectified by apology never rectified by gathering the family together and trying out to God for corporate cleansing and forgiveness one of the most searching passages in all of the pilgrim's progress is that one where he's in the house beautiful and he's questioned as to the state of his family and they ask him if he has children and a wife and he said yes and they say why have they not come on pilgrimage with you and he said well I pled with them

19:42 but they wouldn't come now notice what they said to him then but what could they say for themselves why they can't why they came not Christian why my wife was afraid of losing this world and my children were given to the foolish delights of youth so by one thing and by what another they left me to wander in this manner alone now notice the question she asks him charity asks this question get it but did you not with your vain life dampen all that you by words used by way of persuasion to bring them with you what a question she's saying Christian sure you pled with them sure you earnestly entreated them but could it be that your life cancelled the full effect of your words and now notice Christian's answer it's beautiful indeed I cannot commend my life for I'm conscious to myself of many failings therein I know also that a man by his life may soon overthrow what by argument or persuasion he doth labor to fasten upon others for their good and I know also that a man yet this I can say some of us will go the first part and will say oh yes I agree with that I've had lots of failures and I can't commend my life but he doesn't stop there notice what he says yet this I can say I was very wary of giving them occasion by any unseemly action to make them averse

21:10 to going on pilgrimage yea for this very thing they would tell me I was too precise and that I denied myself of things for the sake of my life for their sakes in which they saw no evil nay I think I may say that if what they saw in me did hinder them it was my great tenderness in sinning against God or of doing any wrong to my neighbor that's it that's it why were his family offended not because of inconsistency but because of the strictness of his life because of his self-denial they said we don't want that kind of a thing we don't want that kind of a life and there's all the difference in the world between my children saying I don't want daddy's God it makes him too precise it makes him too tender to sin it makes him too careful how he walks it makes him too meticulous to be honest in the shop with his neighbors in the home it makes him too sensitive to sin he's always asking mommy to forgive him when he's been irritable he's always asking us children I don't want that kind of life I want to be able to sin I don't want that kind of life if your loved ones and relatives are rejecting the way of salvation because of that then beloved take heart but if they are rejecting it because they see such inconsistency

22:38 claiming to keep it holy and you desecrate the Sabbath in their very presence Lord with thy substance and the first fruits of all thy and you don't week after week goes by you don't give the Lord his portion your children know your relatives know you're not honest enough right in your business to do that oh no say to love one another you're not quick to ask forgiveness when you've wronged neighbors loved ones children or if you have been wronged and they ask forgiveness of you you're not quick to grant forgiveness these are the flies that stink in the apothecary's ointment spoken of in Ecclesiastes 10 as a few flies in the ointment of the pharmacist maketh it to stink so a little folly among him that is reputed to be in wisdom beloved I preach these things and have to with my own family sitting before me week after week and woe be unto me that at least in some small measure

24:06 it isn't true you get the point that the apostle's driving ye are witnesses why are your relatives not too interested in your God is it because it makes you too strict too tender of conscience too careful to please God if so then hallelujah that's the reproach of Christ don't be discouraged with that rejoice but if it's for other reasons some of us ought to be found on our faces crying to God for mercy crying to God for mercy on the other side of the coin there are some who may be failing in the second area we're careful to keep everything in ship shape on the outside even before our closest associates but we can't call God to witness upon the genuineness of our hearts holiness for though we can call men to witness perhaps to our purity of life in external conduct we cannot call God to witness to our striving after purity of thought can you call God to witness this morning that you're just as careful to keep your thought life pure as you are to keep your external life free from scandalous sin can you call God to witness that you're just as careful to cry to him to root out the first striving sin as you are to screw the lid on any outward burst of temper

25:35 and ill will can you call God to witness that you're just as careful to cry to him to cultivate within you the grace of true humility as you are careful to take upon you the language of humility in the presence of others beloved some of us are weighed in the balances and found wanting and we are not because we lack either one or two or both but the apostle could declare to the glory of God ye are witnesses and godless well I hurry on now to answer the question what constitutes true holiness having asked and I trust sufficiently answered the question why use the word true holiness the answer being you've got both perspectives the horizontal the vertical now the next question is what constitutes true holiness and the apostle tells us notice how holily and righteously and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe now the word holily the best I can discern speaks primarily of piety with reference to the living God we might say it speaks of the discharge of the first table of the law as the little introduction to the shorter catechism says the first table of the law is the first table of the law and the first table of the law is the first table of the law what do the first four commandments teach

Components of True Holiness: Holily, Righteously, Unblameably

27:04 the answer is our duty to God what do the last six commandments teach our duty to our fellow man and when Paul says how holily this word seems to refer primarily to the discharge of the first table of the law he said when I walked amongst you people you are witnesses and so is God that I walked as a man who was seeking to love the Lord my God with all my heart my soul and strength I walked as a man to whom God his claims his person his law his glory was the supreme passion of my life do your children see that you're holy not that you go around with your eyes in the sky all the time but do they see in all the press and pressure and responsibilities is it getting through to them beloved that to you only one thing matters that you are holy that you are holy the will of God the glory of God the honor of God how holily we behaved ourselves among you secondly how righteously that would seem to refer more to the second table of the law what is righteous living it's living conformed to the revealed will of God Paul said you not only saw me as a man seeking to love the Lord my God with my whole heart

28:32 but you observed me and my companions as men seeking to love you our neighbors as ourselves righteous living is living conformed to the revealed will of God in all its breadth and length but summarized so beautifully in the words of our Lord Jesus the second commandment is like unto it thou should love thy neighbor as thyself as Paul had already indicated he said when we stood amongst you you people knew we just weren't out to discharge some so-called duty and give you a little gospel and run on he said we were among you not only giving you gospel but giving our very life's blood we gave ourselves to you you were become dear to us we got involved with the involvement of love and he says you people saw it you knew it we walked amongst you righteously notice how these two things are joined as the very purpose for which God will save a people through the Lord Jesus in the prophecy of Luke chapter 1 these two words are brought together and joined here as they are in Thessalonians Luke chapter 1 Zacharias is speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and he says in Luke 1 74 and 75 that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear how?

30:01 in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life you claim to be a Christian saved by Christ this is what he saves his people for that they might live before him in holiness and in righteousness that we might be able to say to our wives our husbands our children our work associates our neighbors ye are witnesses God also how holy and how righteously we behaved ourselves among you and then what's the result of that? in the next word an honor unblameable when a man is walking in holiness and righteousness then he walks in an unblameable path the word unblameable means no just cause for censure no just cause for reproach sinless perfection is nowhere taught in the scripture and anyone who tries to find it there has got to put it there first but beloved this attitude that since we cannot be perfected we shall be content with a shoddy life is nowhere taught in scripture and you've got to put it there first before you ever find it for the scripture that teaches any man who says he's without sin is a liar says in Luke 1 6 of two holy people

31:29 living under the Old Testament they were blameless walking in all the ordinance and commandments of the Lord the apostle Paul says even in his unconverted state Philippians 3 6 as touching the righteousness of the law blameless he said my outward conduct was conformed to the law so you could find no point no place where you could point your finger now if you touch my heart and my motives he says in Romans 7 he had a lot to be blamed he said his heart was full of covetousness and he never knew it till the Holy Spirit shined into his heart but he says his life was blameless and in Philippians 2 15 the scripture calls every Christian to a blameless life that ye may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation unblameable doesn't mean sinless but it means that when it's obvious that I've not acted righteously I not only confess it to my God but to those who've seen my unrighteous conduct so that though I must stand amongst my children as a sinner confessing my sins of impatience I stand among the blameless if my confession has been genuine and honest to the Lord and to them see it's what it means that when I've been irritated with my boss and he knows my profession even though he's had 25 pounds of irritation to me day after day

32:59 and I've just shown a little ounce to him I go to him and I say Mr. Boss Man I sinned you know my profession as a Christian I won't ask you to forgive me I'm blameless I can open my mouth and witness to him and he can't point his finger that's what it means to be blameless in the shop in the home in the neighborhood that's the mark of a true ministry now notice this little phrase he puts in there I want to touch it before I leave and come to another area of truth in the verse he said among you that believe now why did he put that there he said earlier that he was among them as a gentle nurse cherishing her children and he was willing to impart not only the gospel but his very own soul you see verses 7 and 8 refer primarily to the event the initial contact that Paul had in communicating the gospel as he came in and his associates as the shock troops so to speak and the gospel was preached the dominant note of what we call initial contact of the gospel is the involvement of love but then when God saves some people and you begin to live close together and you get close enough to see each other's warts and molds and crooked ears and crooked noses then you see beloved the ministry will stand or fall on the basis of how real the truth you're communicating

34:26 is demonstrated in your own life so he says we were this among you that believe the involvement of love the initial necessity for the initial thrust of the gospel and here the blameless holy life for the continued success of the ministry of the gospel what a testimony to have as Paul did hear that he had a three-fold witness to his holy life man his own conscience and his God what a witness what a witness now some of you are asking say well that standard's so high it's out there it's beyond us unattainable wait a minute Paul was not an angel he was a fallen son of Adam redeemed by grace oh but you say he was an apostle but all the way through notice he doesn't use the first person he doesn't say I he said we he had some associates and he was talking about them a man like Timothy naturally timid fearful needed some encouragement to have some courage and his conduct was too blameless but what's the source of true holiness and you'd never get it in the English rendition but in the Greek there's a little hint of what the source is if I were translating this literally I would translate it this way for ye are witnesses in God also how holily and righteously and blamably we were made

The Source of True Holiness: Union with Christ

35:55 among you there's a passive verb here not we became but we were made well made by whom Paul how were you made that way well he would tell us I am what I am by the what by the grace of God you see what Paul is talking about in verse 10 is the fruit which can only grow when there is the root of fruit but there are plants that give the fruit to God but he says you may give the flesh to him by the way I would also say how holy or holy are the fruits of the flesh but God where are the fruits of the soil in other words what are the fruits of the soil I need to know The only source of this kind of a holy life that is more than the pharisaical externalism that looks good but lacks purity of motive and thought and intent, a holiness that touches the intents and motivation of the heart and reaches out into the life, is the fruit of union with Jesus Christ.

37:18 As we read in Philippians 1, where Paul prays for the church at Philippi that they may be filled with the fruits of what? Of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. You see, most of us have a concept of Christianity that never makes us despair that the standard is just playing too high until God performs a miracle. You don't need a miracle.

37:51 To pack a few facts in your head about a man on a cross and about a few bad things you've done, and to say, well, I'm all fixed up, God has juggled up the record books, and I'll live a pretty nice... Listen, there are lots of unsaved people who live as good as many of us do. They don't cheat, they work, they're very honest, they don't curse, they don't swear, come to church.

38:11 They're not holy people. They can't call God to witness that their motives are the glory of God, that they're just as jealous to guard their thoughts as they are their deeds. You see, this is the kind of life that only a miracle man or woman can live, one who's been joined to Christ, and by virtue of union with him, his death is our death, his life is our life.

38:40 And these fruits grow only on the root of vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. As I seek to bring this to a practical conclusion this morning, may I set before you one or two very...

The Principle: Power of Truth Proportional to Purity of Vessel

38:56 Very searching, and they have been to me, I believe, valid principles that are here in the text. Will you listen carefully now?

39:08 As a general rule, the power of truth will be in direct proportion to the purity of the vessel communicating it.

39:20 Will you just let that sink down in? As a general rule, the power of the truth, the truth that you're ministering to your children, to your neighbors, that's being ministered in this church from this pulpit, the power of the truth will be in direct proportion to the purity of the vessel communicating it.

39:45 Some of you will perhaps remember when I was preaching in the first chapter, there was one phrase I didn't expound, I sneaked over it. I didn't understand it then, but I think I do now. Will you look back to chapter 1 and verse 5?

40:00 To me, Paul was shifting gears in the middle of the stream, just like the phone must have rung toward the end of the verse, and he lost his train of thought when he picked up his phone. His pen, he started off in right field somewhere. But now I think I understand what he's saying. Notice.

40:14 For our gospel, that's the message, came not unto you in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among you. See it? The gospel came in power. As you know what manner of men we were.

40:40 He changed.

40:44 Indicating that the measure of power was commensurate with the holiness of the life that brought it.

40:53 Some of you are praying for your unsaved children. Why are they still unsaved from the human standpoint? Don't you run and hide behind the sovereignty of God.

41:05 Could it be that the gospel that they hear has not come in power because you and I cannot say to them, as you know what manner of man, woman, we were among you?

41:23 You see what that does to me as a preacher?

41:27 If it weren't for the sense of the call of God, I'd quit.

41:31 Because I see that some of you have been able to withstand what I believe is a pure gospel. Week in and week out, year in and year out. You can't say the preacher talks over our head. The preacher talks off to the corner of the building.

41:47 I look you in the eye. I seek to pour my heart from eyes in my mouth. And yet, I can't say that the gospels come to you in power. It's just been tons of verbiage.

42:06 Oh, you say, don't browbeat yourself. Beloved, I got to. When I face a text like this, I've got to do something.

42:12 And I've got to ask God to show me where the inconsistencies may lie that keep the word from coming with power. That's the general rule, dear ones. So you want power? We're all praying for power.

42:26 We want to see God manifest his power. He's going to do it through holy lives and holy living. And holy living means, in those circles of everyday experience, being able to say, I walked holily, justly, and unblameably, before those who saw me. We read this morning in 2 Timothy chapter 2, that in a certain house, there are vessels of honor and dishonor.

Illustrations and Call to Blamelessness for All Believers

42:54 And then Paul says to Timothy in verse 21, If a man therefore purge himself from these, the vessels of dishonor, he shall be a vessel unto honor. Identified, and what's the next phrase? Meet, fit, equipped, prepared for the master's use. When the master comes into the house, and he wants to pour out his choicest wine to a guest, what kind of vessel does he use?

43:20 Does he go to the kitchen cabinet and find that old plastic glass that the kids chewed on, like some of the ones we have? Beth just loves to chew on the glasses, the plastic ones, that is. And it's all sort of scalloped along the edge. And beat out, and cracks in it.

43:36 Is that what he goes to pour out his choicest wine to his friend? Oh, no. He says to his wife, dear, we've got special company today. I want you to reach back in that china closet.

43:45 She pulls back the nice glass, and she takes out one of those fine pieces of crystalware. And she takes a nice soft linen cloth, and she polishes it until it sparkles. And then she draws forth the choicest beverage to set before the guest in the choicest vessel. Now that's what Paul said.

44:04 He says to Timothy, you want God to take the wine, the gospel of life, and set it before men. You've got to be a vessel neat, fit for the master's use. He's not going to take that besmirched vessel. He's going to take the pure vessel.

44:23 To quote some of the most famous words of Robert Murray McShane, some of you perhaps have heard them before. They're quoted in many places. And the reason they are is they're worth quoting. And so I make no apology for quoting them this morning.

44:36 Listen as I read. Quote, How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his saber clean and sharp. Every stain he rubs off with the greatest care. Remember, you are God's sword, his instrument.

44:51 I trust the chosen vessel unto him to bear his name in great measure. According to the purity and perfectness of the instrument will be the success. It is not great talents, God blesses. So much as likeness to Jesus.

45:13 That's it, you know, likeness to Jesus.

45:18 That's why the first requirement for a teaching elder is what? The bishop must be, what's the first word? Blameless. Blameless.

45:29 With all my heart I seek to walk before you people. Blameless. Not faultless. Not sinless.

45:38 But blameless. And I know some of you think I'm too strict. I don't mind. In that sense.

45:44 I know some of you feel I'm a bit old fashioned. I don't mind that. And I know some of you think I'm a bit too unbending and inflexible on certain principles. And I don't mind that.

45:56 But beloved, if there is conduct in my life that is not befitting the word of God, you have an obligation to come to me and speak to me. And I want you to come.

46:09 Because I want this message to be a powerful message. I want the gospel I preach to be a powerful gospel. And it cannot be. Unless the light through which it comes is blameless.

46:28 In a few short weeks we'll be considering who we're going to set over us as God appointed church officers. The requirement for every elder is that he be blameless. Blameless. No just cause of censure.

46:43 Of every deacon that he be blameless. God put that requirement there. I did.

46:49 Why? Well you see why. Because these are the ones through whom the truth is in a peculiar way mediated to us. And that truth will not come in power unless it comes through a pure vessel.

47:02 But the requirement though intensified for elders and deacons is not exclusively for them. For God says to every believer that ye may be blameless and harmless. You students, you just let the other kids know that you've got the same standards they've got for your social life. You just let them know that you'll snicker at the same jokes they snicker at.

47:25 You might as well shut your mouth about ever talking to them about. They don't want to hear it. They expect something different from you.

47:34 At work, with our neighbors, the truth will have no power unless it comes through the holy life. We mentioned Elmer last week, the instrument in Ernie's life. Remember when Ernie spoke on the faithful witness taking the principles from Elmer's life. Remember what was at the top of the list when he went up to the mountain that day and tried to find out what did Elmer have that I need.

47:55 Remember what the first one was. The power of what? Of a holy life. This man Elmer.

48:02 There on that construction crew with the fellas cursing and telling their dirty jokes and taunting him day in and day out. And the thing that frustrated them. They could find no chink in his armor. They could find no crack in the vessel.

48:14 It shone brilliantly.

48:19 Holy, just, unblameable. And it convinced all of those men. Not that they wanted to be Christians. But that the Christian life was a powerful, transforming experience.

48:31 And if they ever had what Elmer had, they'd sure be a world. A world different from what they were. That's the conviction that my children ought to have and yours. My neighbors.

48:42 If I ever become what he is, I'll be radically transformed. It's the testimony I've borne to my own dear mother for years. I knew if I ever got the real thing, it sure would make a powerful difference in me. And it'd make me something like my mother.

49:02 Your kids say that about you? Can they pray, oh God. May daddy's God. God be my God.

49:10 May I know God the way daddy does. Not may I learn to talk about him the way daddy does. Or talk about him the way mommy does. But God, may I know you.

49:22 So that I'll live like daddy lives. That I'll pray like daddy prays. That I'll be careful to live a holy life like daddy does. That's the mark of a true ministry, beloved.

49:35 If we don't have that, it's a packed up shop. No, no reason for the Trinity Church to even pray that God will bless us. The passion of God's heart. Is to have a holy people.

49:48 And I trust that this day shall find us crying to him. That he will make us that. Ye are witnesses. And God also, how holily, justly, and unblamefully we behaved ourselves among you.

50:06 That's the mark of a true minister. And of a true minister. May God grant that we should be stamped with that mark. Let us pray.

Prayer for Genuine Holiness

50:23 Lord, we confess that the world is too much with us. We have imbibed its insensitivity. We have imbibed its insensitivity. We have imbibed its insensitivity.

50:30 We have imbibed its insensitivity. We have imbibed its insensitivity of conscience. Its carelessness regarding thy holy law. And we pray that thy word will so be attended with the power of the Holy Ghost.

50:44 We'd be given no rest by thy spirit until we too can say by the grace of God. Ye are witnesses and God also of the genuineness of the holy life. Hear us, Lord, lest all our preaching and teaching be nullified by our shoddy living. Hear us, Lord, lest all our preaching and teaching be nullified by our shoddy living.

51:05 Hear us in our cry. Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us. Where thy word has smitten, there is true acknowledgement of sin and need. May that same word encourage by fixing the eye of the smitten soul upon Christ and Christ alone.

51:27 Hear us in our prayer and dismiss us with your blessing and bring us back together tonight to feast upon thee and to gather about thy Son, Hear us in our prayer and dismiss us with your blessing and bring us back together tonight to feast upon thee and to gather about thy Son, may draw afresh grace and strength to live to thy praise and to his glory.

51:48 Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.