Christian Ministry: What Are The Tasks? Part 1

Review of Previous Sessions: What is Ministry and Who Should Be In It?

0:01 and a special welcome to any of you men. I think I see one, two, I think, who are here this morning who were not with us yesterday morning. And especially for your sake, I'll take just about three minutes to review what we covered yesterday morning, and then we'll move on into the material that we plan to cover in our two sessions this morning. The broad subject of this conference is the Christian ministry, and yesterday we began by addressing two very basic questions. First one, what is the Christian ministry? And we looked at nine passages in the New Testament which clearly describe the Christian ministry in terms of the function of an elder, a bishop or overseer, a ruler among God's people, or a pastor and pastor. We must not think of the Christian ministry as though somehow it's an extension of the office of a prophet or the office of an apostle. Until we think of the Christian ministry in the categories in which it comes to us in the New Testament, we will never be able to think biblically about the task and the calling

1:19 to this tremendous privilege and awesome responsibility. So we started with that very basic question, what is the Christian ministry? And as I say, expounded nine pivotal texts in the New Testament. Then we took up the second question, who should be in the Christian ministry? And here we looked particularly at three very foundational texts, 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 1 Peter 5. And the answer to that question is that no one has a right to be in the Christian ministry who is not in the Christian ministry. And so we took up the second question, who should be in the Christian ministry? And here we looked particularly at three very foundational texts, who has not been furnished by Jesus Christ, the head of the church, with the necessary graces of life, with the necessary gifts, and with a proper calling by the church.

2:14 Anyone who is in the Christian ministry, who picks up 1 Timothy 3, where it says, if a man desires the office of an overseer, he desires a good work. The overseer, therefore, must be, and when he reads through that list and sees that there are glaring inconsistencies between what God says he must be and what he is, he's got no more business being in the Christian ministry than I have any business this morning walking down or driving over to the Phoenix airport, finding the first 727 that's about to go out, barging into the cockpit and telling the pilot, I'm going to fly it. I'll tell you one thing, if I'm flying that plane, you don't want to be in it. Because I don't have what it takes to fly one of those babies. Well, when God says the bishop must be, the overseer, the pastor must be, we have no business forcing ourselves into the office or letting anyone else put us into the office if we do not have the gifts and the graces required by the Lord Jesus, and if we are not properly called by his church, that is, the church assessing our gifts, our graces in the light of the word of God.

3:37 And I'm personally convinced, brethren, that if the ministry is to be thought of as the Bible sets it before us, Christ giving gifts to his church, to build up his church, to nurture his church, to feed his church, then the vast majority of men in the ministry are not Christ's gifts. They are the devil's substitutes. Because they are not being used to build up Christ's sheep. They're being used either to tear them down, to fleece them, confuse them, and to scatter them.

Introduction to the Tasks of Christian Ministry: Acts 20:28 as the Core Text

4:13 They are not Christ's gift for the building up of his people. Now then, we come this morning to the third question. What are the tasks? What are the tasks of the Christian ministry?

4:27 Having answered the question, what the Christian ministry is, it is the office of an elder, an overseer, a ruler, a pastor, a teacher. Who should be in it? Those whom the head of the church has given the gifts and the graces, and whom the church has called to the task. Now then, what are the tasks of the Christian ministry?

4:52 When we boil down all of the tasks of the Christian ministry according to the Scriptures, what are they? Now, once again, brethren, as we approach this question, we must be willing to set aside all the traditional expectations that people may have of us, the denominational expectations that may be made upon us, or even the congregational expectations, congregational expectations, that may be forced upon us and we must go to the scriptures and say Lord Jesus if you are the one who gives ministers and if you are the head of the church then you're the only one who has a right to tell me what my job is if I hire you and I'm your boss you don't go next door to some other company and ask for a job description if I hire you and I'm your boss you come to me for your job description because you're answerable to me well Christ is the head of the church he gives pastors and teachers and he's the only one that has the right to give the job description as to what the basic tasks of

The Context and Command of Acts 20:28

6:09 the Christian ministry are now what I want to do is to take you this morning to what I believe is the most helpful single text in all of scripture to give us in the distilled essence the boiled down essence of the task of the Christian ministry in a more simple and clear way I don't think there's any other text that can match Acts 20 and verse 28 so I want you to turn in your Bibles please and we're going to spend a few minutes just opening up the text all right Acts chapter 20. You remember the setting of the passage we looked at it briefly yesterday in verse 17 from Miletus he that is Paul sent to Ephesus and called the elders the pastors the shepherds of the church and he said unto them now the first thing he does is to review his own ministry among them he tells them how he served the Lord with lowliness of mind and with tears and with trial what he did in serving the Lord verse 20 he did not shrink from declaring anything that was profitable how he served the Lord teaching publicly and from house to house what was the

7:37 heart of his message testifying to Jews and Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus then he tells them not only how he served them but what he sees unfolding in his own ministry and what he sees unfolding in his own ministry and what he sees unfolding in his own life as he's about to leave them and now I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing what's going to happen to me there say that the Holy Spirit testifies unto me in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide me but he said I do not hold my life as any account dear to myself that I may finish my course now then he's going to make a transition after saying this is how I served you this is what I anticipate from my future and as I leave you I leave you with a good conscience my hands are clean from the blood of all men verse 26 for I did not shrink from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God now up to this point Paul's been talking about himself he's been telling us how he served the Lord he's been telling us what he anticipates in his future and he says as I leave to go to Jerusalem I leave with a good conscience and I leave with a good conscience and I leave with a conscience my hands are not stained with anybody's blood because I was faithful to proclaim the whole

8:59 counsel of God now notice at verse 28 he stops talking about himself how he ministered what he ministered where he ministered where he's going how he's going with a good conscience and now he turns to these pastors he turns to the ministers in the church at Ephesus he turns to these elders and now he's going to lay on them their ministerial responsibility and notice how he does it he says take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers bishops as we saw yesterday that's what the word bishop means one who looks over to feed or better to shepherd the

10:23 church that was at Ephesus and how they were faithful in so many things and Paul had his guts in that church he could say that he had warned them day and night for three years with tears verse 31 watch remembering that by the space of three years I ceased not to admonish everyone day and night with tears that church was in his heart he wasn't a professional clergyman doing his thing and collecting his page check he was a man that was bound up with his people he shed tears over them he had sleepless nights for them he was willing as he says later on here even to earn his own living and not only work hard enough to earn his own living but to earn enough money to provide bread for those companions that were with him in his gospel labors now you think of how dear that church was to his heart that church was stained with his tears that church had been planted with his own sweat blood and tears and now he's going to leave them and all of the care of that church is going to be in the hands of these elders so if ever he was going to lay out the heart of ministerial responsibility it would be in this setting where he's handing over the care of that church to others you feel something of the pressure now of the setting of the passage

11:51 now when he hands over that reign of responsibility what does he say well he tells them in verse 28 and the word that he uses is this take heed or literally be concerned about care for pay attention to that's what that word means to take heed means to be concerned about to care for to pay attention to and he uses the form of the verb a present imperative which means be continually paying close attention to in other words the moment he spoke the ears of those elders knew whatever he's telling us is our long-term job restriction he's telling us be continually keeping at this task and what was the task look back at the text he said you are to be concerned about continually you are to constantly pay attention to two things notice unto yourselves and to all of the flock and

The First Task: Constant Care of Ourselves

13:13 there in a nutshell brethren is the heart of all of our ministerial responsibility we are to give constant care to the nurture of ourselves and constant care to the nurture of our flock so under a and b what are the tasks of the Christian ministry and of the Christian minister constant care of ourselves and constant care of the flock that's it that is a stripped down boiled down streamlined job description of the work of the ministry and I want to be bold enough to say that anything that you can't fit under this or that has no business as part of your life or mine as a Christian minister take heed unto yourselves take heed unto the flock of God now what we're going to do in the remainder of this first hour is we're going to take a What does it mean to give constant care to ourselves?

14:33 That's what we're going to take the first part of this and then the second hour we're going to take the last part of A. So all we're going to look at today is A and then tomorrow we're going to take up B and complete our series. Take care of yourselves. The care and the nurture of ourselves is our first and greatest ministerial responsibility.

14:59 Now that's not only the teaching of this passage. I would be very reluctant to build a case on this one text. Someone said he who builds his doctrine on one text only will soon find that he has no text. But over in 1 Timothy 4.16, Paul says almost exactly the same thing.

15:20 In 1 Timothy 4.16, he says to this younger minister, Timothy, after giving him a whole bunch of ministerial responsibilities, he says in verse 16 of chapter 4, take heed to yourself and to the teaching. So in both cases, constant care of ourselves is first in order, of responsibility. And what I want to press on the consciences of you men is this simple fact this morning, that your first and foundational responsibility as a Christian minister is the care and nurture of your own self.

16:12 And that in three basic areas. So under A, we're going to have one, two, three. We'll get to one in the first. Two in the first hour, two and three in the second hour.

Area 1: Nurturing Inner Spiritual Life and Communion with God

16:24 First area is this. You are to take care, pay close attention to your own inner spiritual life and communion with God. Your first and greatest responsibility as a minister is not to preach sermons. It is not to make visits in the hospital.

16:48 It is not to go into homes and hold old ladies' hands. And make them feel good. Your first and great responsibility is to take heed to yourself, to pay attention to yourself, specifically your own inner spiritual life and communion with God. Let me give you three texts to buck this.

17:12 Proverbs 4 and verse 23.

17:15 Solomon says to his son, Guard your heart above all that you guard. For out of it are the issues of life. Of all the things you're going to guard, Solomon says to his son, Guard your heart above everything else. For out of it are the issues of life.

17:40 The state of your heart, brethren, the state of my heart is the most significant factor in the usefulness of my ministry. If indeed I belong, then I belong in the work of the ministry. And then Jesus said in Matthew 12, in that passage where he was dealing with the Pharisees, he articulates a very, very vital principle. He says in Matthew 12 and in verse 34, You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things?

18:22 Now here's the principle. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Now we preachers do a lot of talking. And if we think that a ministry is primarily determined by what happens at the mouth, we're mistaken.

18:43 The most significant thing about the ministry is what happens in your heart. For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And if our hearts are cold to Christ, and if our hearts are entertaining sin, and if our hearts are full of bitterness and full of envy and full of pride, no matter how much we may try to say the right words in the pulpit and the right words by the bedside and the right words in that hospital room, there will be lacking the ring of reality and the unction of the Holy Spirit because our hearts are out of tune. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And then listen to that greatest minister of all next to the Lord Jesus, the Apostle Paul who could say in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 16 these very, very interesting words. Wherefore we do not faint, though our outward man is decaying. He recognized he was getting old, he was wearing out, he was on his way down to the grave.

20:00 Yet notice what he says. Notice what he could say. Though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. You see he knew what it was to have the inner life renewed daily, and that's why he could serve God with such faithfulness and zeal and compassion and freshness right up to the moment.

20:29 When the guillotine came, he knew what it was. When the guillotine came, he knew what it was. When the guillotine came, he knew what it was. When the guillotine came down and his head dropped in a basket because the inward man was renewed day by day.

20:40 And brethren, I say to you that your first responsibility in the ministry and mine is the care and nurture of ourselves, specifically our own inner spiritual life and communion with God. I hope I've convinced you of that from the Scriptures. I hope I've convinced you of that from the Scriptures. Now you'll see.

21:00 Now you'll see. Now you'll see. Now you'll see. Now you'll see.

Ingredient 1: Systematic Prayerful Assimilation of God's Word

21:01 Now you'll see. How do I go about nurturing my own spiritual life and communion with God? Well, let me give you three indispensable ingredients that make up the nurture of our own inner life and communion with God. What are they?

21:18 Number one, by systematic prayerful assimilation. I'm not using that big word to show off, but I'll show you why I'm using it. By systematic prayerful assimilation of the Word of God to our own hearts and lives.

21:42 That's how we take heed to ourselves and nurture our own spiritual life and communion with God, not by occasionally lucky-dipping in the Bible. You know what I mean by lucky-dipping? It's kind of, well, Lord, I'm in a hurry, you know, Lord, and I need a little blessing. And reach down and pick out a verse.

22:04 Call that lucky-dipping.

22:07 No, there must be systematic, systematic contact with the Word of God. Why? Jesus said in Matthew 4, For man shall not live by bread alone, but by what? Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

22:26 I need every word that proceeds out of God's mouth. To make me whole and to nourish me in my own walk with God. Again, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, instruction in righteousness.

22:49 For what purpose? That the man of God, the minister, the servant of Christ, may be complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work. I need the whole of the...

23:01 inspired Word of God to make me a whole man and an adequate minister. And you see, unless the Word of God is first of all coming to my own heart, making me what I ought to be, it will never be used by me in ministry to others to do much good to them. Again, Psalm 1. How is the blessed man of Psalm 1 described?

23:32 Blessed is the man, negatively, that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but positively, his delight is in the law of God, and in his law does he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the water, whose leaves shall not wither, and whatsoever he does shall prosper. How am I to prosper? In the ministry, unless my roots are continually sunk down by the pure stream of the water of God's holy Word.

24:13 Systematically assimilating the Word of God, brethren. And then I said prayerfully assimilating the Word of God. And why did I say that? I mean not just coming to the Bible because I'm supposed to do it to keep a good conscience, but coming with the prayer, Oh God, may Your words come to me with freshness.

24:35 May they come to me with power. Lord, search out my sins. Lord, show me my Savior. Show me my duty.

24:44 Lord, furnish me with wisdom to be the man I ought to be, the husband I ought to be, the pastor I ought to be, the neighbor I ought to be. Lord, show me Your glory in the mighty works of redemption. Show me Your power. Lord, I want Your Word to be life, and I want You to be my life.

25:04 I want You to be my life. I want You to be my life. I want You to be my life. That is having a plan by which I read through at least once every couple of years, clean through from Genesis to Revelation, whatever that plan is.

25:17 And there are many plans available in print that help us to guide us taking portions out of the Old and New Testament daily, or the Old and New and portions out of the Psalms. But have a plan in which you come to the Bible and read to me. this bible not hurriedly saturday night having never opened it from monday to saturday and looking for something to preach to others shame on you shame on you shame on you but coming to this bible monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday sunday not primarily as the book with which i'm going to thump others but the book by which i'm going to let god beat up on me if necessary by which i'm prepared to have god thump my heart and have god show me his glory the glory of his works the glory of his son the glory of his ways there needs to be systematic prayerful and then i use the word assimilation why did i use that because i don't know a better word when something is assimilated what happens to it was happens to water when you put it on a dry sponge the sponge soaps it up and the sponge makes the water its own now when you assimilate the word of god you've taken the word of god into as it were the sponge of your soul and made it your own

26:46 remember what jeremiah said in jeremiah 15 16 he said your words were found and i did eat them i did eat them he didn't say your words were found and i analyzed them so i could preach them to others he said your words were found and i did eat them and i did eat them and i did eat them The words were found and I did eat them and your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. Jeremiah was a mighty prophet of God who spoke the word of God to others. But he was first of all a thoroughgoing man of God who drank in the word of God for himself. And brethren, if we are to do what God's called us to do, to take heed to ourselves, to pay close and constant attention to ourselves, then first of all our own inner spiritual life and communion with God needs to be nurtured by systematic prayerful assimilation of the word of God to our own hearts and to our own lives. Now brethren, you're not going to find time to do this. You've got to make time and guard time and protect time like you were protecting a treasure.

28:11 You're never going to find a piece of time floating by you throughout the day saying, Hey preacher, use me to read your Bible for your own soul. You're not going to find time. People say, well, I can't find time. You can look forward to your eyeballs hang out on your cheeks.

28:27 You're never going to find time. You're never going to find time. You've got to find it. You've got to make it.

28:32 And you've got to guard it. And sometimes you've got to kick yourself in the butt and get yourself out of bed. And you've got to pull yourself away from your newspaper and your TV and from the telephone and say, I must get alone with God.

28:51 If I don't, I'm not doing what God told me to do. He told me to pay close attention first of all to myself. And I need the word of God. I need the word of God first of all to minister to me.

29:04 I need to see my Savior for my own needs. 2 Corinthians 3.18 We all with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are transformed into that image from one stage of glory to another. I need to have God warn me about my own dangers and pitfalls.

29:25 Psalm 19.11 Moreover, by them is thy servant warned in the keeping of the law. Then there is great reward. I need to know the will of God for my own life as a man of God.

29:37 Psalm 119.105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

29:46 So brethren, you must make time and you must have a plan. And I'm telling you right now this morning, if you've not been making time, repent and stop it. And say, before I go to bed tonight, I'm going to sit down and do whatever I've got to do to make time to be alone with this book in order to feed my own soul. You've got to make time and you've got to have a plan.

Ingredient 2: Maintaining the Habit and Spirit of Secret Prayer

30:11 And if you've got no plan and you need help in finding a plan to read through the Word of God, we'll gladly make some available. But that's the way we take heed to ourselves. But then the second way we take heed to ourselves is this. Not only by systematic assimilation of the Word of God, but by maintaining the habit, and the spirit of secret prayer.

30:36 By maintaining the habit and the spirit of secret prayer.

30:44 Now what do I mean by maintaining the habit of secret prayer? Well, let's look at a couple of verses from the words of Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is correcting the Pharisees as well as instructing his own disciples, he says in Matthew 6.6, You, when you pray, Matthew 6.6, enter into your inner chamber, and having shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret. Now notice, he doesn't say, but you, if you pray. He says, but thou, when thou prayest. He's assuming all of his people pray.

31:27 He's not talking to ministers here. He's just talking to all the sons and daughters of the kingdom. And he assumes that they're going to pray. And my friend, if every true Christian prays in secret, how much more the man of God who is set apart to the work of the ministry.

31:45 For what does the scripture say? He is set apart, Acts 6.4, in order to devote himself to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Prayer and the ministry of the Word.

32:00 And we need to maintain, maintain the habit of secret prayer. Luke 18.1, Jesus spoke a parable. And what was the purpose of the parable?

32:11 We're told, He spoke a parable unto them to the end, that they ought always to pray and not to faint. In other words, to maintain the habit of prayer is a duty. Even when I feel faint, and I have no desire to pray, and I've lost all my heart to pray, I ought, to pray. And I'm to fulfill my duty no matter what I feel like.

32:38 There are times when you've got to kick your feeling in the teeth. You've got to walk over the belly of your feelings. You've got to stomp on your feelings. You may go to the place of prayer and your heart is as cold as an iceberg.

32:51 But God says men ought always to pray. Cold heart, warm heart. Times you feel like you ain't got no heart. Still men ought always to pray.

32:59 We must maintain the habit of prayer. But, oh brethren, we must not only maintain the habit of prayer, but we must constantly seek to maintain the spirit of prayer. Zechariah says that God will pour out upon his spiritual Israel the spirit of grace and of supplication. And you remember what Paul said in Romans 8?

33:25 There are times when you say, I just don't know how to pray as I ought. There's so many needs and so many concerns, and, and I don't know the mind of God. Well, take comfort. You're in good company.

33:38 Paul had that experience. Listen to him as he says in Romans 8 and verse 26. In like manner, the spirit helps our infirmity for we know not how to pray as we ought, but the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. The Holy Spirit is given to be to us the spirit of grace, and of supplication, and we must not be content simply to maintain the habit of prayer.

34:10 Otherwise, we can just be going through the motions to salve our conscience, but we must seek to maintain the spirit of prayer. That is, we must cry to God, Luke 11, 13. We must cry to the Father to give us the Holy Spirit in fresh measures, that we may know how to pray as we ought, that he will warm our hearts, enlarge our hearts, draw out our hearts, and enable us to pray as we ought. You see, brethren, it's so vital to maintain the habit and spirit of secret prayer as a minister, because it's in the secret place that everything is kept in its proper focus. Out there in the ministry, things so many times don't seem to be right. The most godly are having the roughest time, the sinners and those hypocrites. And one man said, I got some devils in my congregation.

35:10 They seem to be blessed and no trouble. It doesn't seem right. Well, that's what happened to the psalmist in Psalm 73. He looked out on the world and he said, it's all screwed up.

35:22 It's all backwards. Doesn't seem right. He says, the wicked prosper. Psalm 73, 3.

35:29 No pangs in their death. Their strength is firm. They're not in trouble. They're not plagued.

35:34 They go around proud as a peacock. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than their heart could wish. And he says, God's people, look at them.

35:45 They are in the midst of suffering. They're being chastened. Verse 14. And he was at the place where he said, it didn't make sense.

35:54 But you know where it all got sorted out? Look at verse 16. When I thought how I might know this, it was too painful for me until, until, until I went into the sanctuary of God and considered their latter end. Then he began to get things into proper perspective.

36:15 And when he did, look at verse 21. My soul was grieved. I was pricked in my heart. So brutish was I and ignorant.

36:23 I was as a beast before you. And now he says, ah, I see everything as I ought now. I am continually with you. You have held my right hand.

36:33 You'll guide me with your counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? There is none that I desire on earth beside you. My heart and my flesh fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

36:48 I tell you, he's on shouting ground before he's done. He was there with a face as long as yours. No joy. It doesn't make sense.

37:02 But when he got aside in the sanctuary and began to meditate, and began to think, all right, look at those sinners out there. Eyeballs standing out with fatness. They got their chains around their neck. They got their stocks, their bonds, their Cadillacs, their townhouses.

37:18 They got all that. But do they know what it is to draw near to God and have communion with him? They don't know that. Whom have I in heaven but you, Lord?

37:28 And if I have God, I really have everything I need. And he said, oh God, I've been like a beast. I've been thinking like an animal. Oh God, thank you for getting me all sorted out again.

37:41 And where did it happen? In the place of secret prayer, brethren. In place of secret prayer. You let yourself get all uptight about that sister, that brother in the church.

37:52 In the judgment of charity, you call them sister or brother. You really wonder whether they are sister or brother. But in the judgment of charity, you call them that. And it begins to get under your skin.

38:04 And you begin to say, there must be an easier way to make a living in this. Lord, how long have I got to put up with this? And you begin to get so grouchy. Your wife, if she didn't know better, she'd think you were going through to change her life the way you're acting.

38:18 That's right. The way you're acting. Getting all uptight and irritable. And what do you need, brethren?

38:26 Get in the secret place. Get in the secret place. And there in the secret place, everything comes back into focus. But not only that, I want you to turn to Psalm 90.

Secret Prayer Exposes Secret Sins

38:37 Something else happens in the place of secret prayer. Something else happens in the place of secret prayer. This is that wonderful prayer of Moses, the man of God. This is the prayer that he prayed as an old man.

38:55 One thing he learned about going into the secret place. Verse 8. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance. Brethren, listen to me.

39:13 You and I can indulge in secret sins, and our consciences can be dull and hardened, and we don't feel grieved about those sins. We may indulge that second look and allow that little fire of lust to burn toward that woman that's not our wife. We may indulge that little bit of envy at a ministerial brother. We may indulge some pride.

39:41 God helped us to deliver the goods, and we cried that he would do it. We felt so helpless. We said, Lord, if any good comes out of this sermon, surely you'll get all the glory. And God came and helped you.

39:52 And what did you do? You sucked a little bit of the glory into your own heart. And yet you've not been humbled for as long as you're going around in the midst of your busyness. But what happens when you get in the secret place and you lift up your face to the light of God's countenance, and you realize that he's the God of burning?

40:14 The cherubim veil their face and their feet, and they cry, holy, holy, holy. And the word of God says, our God is a consuming fire. God is light, and in him is no darkness of all. He is a purer eyes than to look upon iniquity.

40:33 And what happens in that secret place? Those secret sins begin to be seen in all their ugliness. And you say, oh God, how can I fellowship with you? With this mind and heart that entertain that look of lust?

40:50 How can I commune with you, Lord, when I've been entertaining that envy to my ministerial brother? Lord, how can I commune with you when I've stolen your glory by wicked pride? Oh God, wash me afresh in the blood of your son. Oh God, cleanse me afresh in that fountain open for sin and uncleanness.

41:11 Lord, I plead your promise. If we confess our sins, you're faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Lord, wash my mind from the polluting influence of lust. Wash my heart from the staining influence of envy.

41:29 Wash my spirit, oh Lord, from the foul influence of pride. And there in the secret place of prayer, holding commune with the holy God, our secret sins are seen in the light of his countenance. And brethren, we could go on speaking of the benefits of the secret place, but these two or three are enough to underscore. Do you see why Paul said to those elders, your first responsibility is to take care of yourself?

42:06 Because unless the word of God is nourishing our own souls and making them fat, with the knowledge of God and communion with God and experience of the ways of God, our ministries will be flat and empty. We'll say the words, but there'll be no ring of reality unless we are maintaining the habit and the spirit of secret prayer. How can we dive into the consciences of our people to deal with their sins? If we're not in the place where God is diving into our consciences, dealing with our sins, in the secret place, how can we speak of the glories of heaven in the horrors of hell?

Ingredient 3: Keeping a Tender, Blood-Washed Conscience

42:50 If we're not spending time alone, meditating upon those great realities and putting everything into perspective. And then the third way that we nurture our own inner spiritual life, brethren, is this, not only by systematic assimilation of the word of God, maintaining the habit and the spirit of secret prayer, but hear me now, we nurture our own spiritual life by keeping a tender, blood-washed conscience. By keeping a tender, blood-washed conscience. And what do I mean by those words?

43:34 Turn to Acts 24, 16, and I'll try to explain what I mean. Acts 24 and verse 16. Paul here, is giving his, defense, before Felix. And in the midst of it he says this, Acts 24 and verse 16.

43:56 Herein I also, now look at that next word, exercise myself. The Greek word is the one from which we get the word, he's an ascetic. He's someone who puts himself under strict and rigorous disciplines. He said, herein do I exercise myself.

44:17 This is something I do consciously, I do deliberately, I do with exertion of my mind and spirit, I exercise myself, to have a conscience void of offense towards God and men always. You see what he was saying? He's saying in the light of that coming day of judgment, verse 15, having hope toward God, which these hope, that there shall be a resurrection, both of the just and the unjust. Herein, or on this account, I exercise myself, realizing that when I stand before God, I will not stand there, for anyone to speak for me, who's been helped by my ministry, I'm going to stand there. Every one of us shall give account of himself to God. And in the light of that day, he said, I constantly work and labor at keeping a conscience, void of offense to God and to man. Now what is conscience?

45:23 Conscience is basically that little moral monitor within, who has a very limited vocabulary. He knows only two words, right and wrong. And every time you and I contemplate a given action or word, or reflect upon it and say, was it right? Was it wrong?

45:44 Conscience only knows two words, right, wrong. Conscience either pats us on the back when we do right, or conscience stabs us in the ribs when we do wrong. And you know what we do? We tell him his vocabulary is too limited.

46:00 And we say, Mr. Conscience, you got to learn a third word, neither. And so you look at conscience and now, conscience, it's time you grew up. You only say two words, right?

46:11 Wrong. You got to learn a third word. Now conscience say, neither. And conscience looks up and says, right?

46:17 No, no, no, no. I want you to say, neither. Conscience says, wrong. Conscience, you're getting stubborn now.

46:23 I'm going to knock you in the head if you don't shape up. Now conscience, I want you to say, neither. He says, right? Conscience, I'm losing my temper with you.

46:32 I want you to learn a third word, wrong, right, wrong, right, wrong, right, wrong. Conscience has got only two words in his vocabulary and he won't learn a third one. Now, as conscience is enlightened by the word of God, conscience becomes God's monitor within our breast to make certain that we are walking in the light of God's law, day and night, walking with integrity. Now, this is what Paul says.

47:04 I exercise myself at all times to be able at any moment to look up into the face of God and say, God, I have no, no controversy with you. Anything in which conscience has smitten me, and said wrong, I've confessed it. I've fled to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness, and I've asked to be washed in the blood of Jesus. But now notice, he said he wanted a conscience void of offense always toward his fellow men.

47:36 He wanted to be able to look at any of his companions and the people he ministered to, and if he had wronged them, he had been willing to humble himself and not only confess his sin to God, but go to his companion and say, Silas, you remember yesterday afternoon when we were in that tight situation, and I spoke sharply to you, Titus, when I went to have my devotions this morning, my conscience smote me that I sinned against you, Titus, or Silas, will you forgive me? Why, of course, brother Paul, I gladly forgive you. Thank you, brother. Now I can go pray with a conscience void of offense to God and to man.

48:18 That's what it means. You've come to me, you've come in with your almighty ministry so burdened, and your poor wife asks a very innocent thing, and you're sharp with her and quick with her, and then you try to go to pray and the Lord smites your conscience. Look, she didn't do anything to deserve that kind of treatment from here, you old beast. Get out there and tell her you're sorry.

48:39 Well, at that point, you got to do one of two things. Either got to rationalize and try to get conscience to say, well, that was neither right nor wrong. That was just human. Come off it.

48:48 You know it was wrong. It was not being gentle to her and sensitive as Christ is to the church. So you need to go out and put your arms around her and say, honey, I'm sorry. The way I spoke sharply to you yesterday.

49:02 That was sin. I make no excuses. I asked the Lord's forgiveness. Will you forgive me?

49:09 And that would Jesus said, if you come to bring your gift to the altar and there, remember your brother has ought against you leave your gift before your altar. Go be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer your gift. You know what God says?

49:23 I don't want your stinking worship unless you're right with your fellow man. That's what God says. Now, can you imagine if people took that seriously? Some dude comes into the temple and he got him a nice old lamb.

49:37 I mean, it's spotless. One-year-old meets all the requirements and he's coming up there strutting up. He's going to give it to the priest. And then he remembers he'd blown his cork at his kids that morning.

49:50 And suddenly he says, the priest, will you watch after this lamb? I got some business to attend to him. He says, I thought you're coming here to worship. He said, yes, yes, I want to come and offer my lamb, but, but I blew my cork at my kids this morning.

50:03 I got to go back and make it right because I heard the Lord Jesus say, when I was listening to the great teacher out of Nazareth, that if you come to bring your gift to the altar and remember that anyone is ought against you, go be reconciled. Then come and offer your gift. Brethren, if you're determined to be a man of God, you'll be determined to keep a tender, blood-washed conscience at all times. And that way, you never need to worry that you're going to end up between the legs of a woman other than your wife.

50:40 Preachers don't get there overnight. They get there when they allow that first look to be tucked away in their mind. And then there's a second look. And then they indulge a thought and then a little fantasy, never thinking they're going to end up committing adultery.

50:57 When men fall into adultery, it doesn't happen in three minutes. They stopped keeping a tender, blood-washed conscience. When we go to God, grieved and broken as much over a lustful thought as though we'd actually committed the act. We'll never commit the act.

The Danger of Casting Off a Good Conscience

51:19 It's when you indulge the thoughts that the act will sooner or later follow. And when there's bitterness, and when there's that lack of forgiveness, and when all these other ministerial sins that grieve the Holy Spirit so that God's hand is taken off the ministry of a man, it all starts when men cast off a good conscience. And you read that frightening passage in, well, let's look at it. And we'll close on this passage this morning.

51:51 Because brethren, this is absolutely vital. If we're to be what God commands us to be. Notice 1 Timothy 1, in verse 18. This charge I commit unto you, Timothy, my child, according to the prophecies which led the way to you, that by them you may war the good warfare.

52:12 Now notice what he says. Holding faith and a good conscience. And notice the next pronoun, which? Well, that which in number and gender agrees with conscience.

52:29 It doesn't refer to both faith and a good conscience. But it refers specifically to a good conscience. Holding faith and a good conscience, which some having thrust from them, made shipwreck concerning thee faith. And then he names two men, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered unto Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme.

52:56 Here were men who were professing the Christian faith. Now they are blaspheming it. And where did it all start? When they gave up a good conscience.

53:07 When they gave up a good conscience. When they gave up a good conscience. Oh, my brethren, take heed unto yourself. That's your first great responsibility as a minister.

Conclusion: The Necessity of Personal Holiness for Ministry

53:19 The care and nurture of yourself, and the first great area under that, is your own inner spiritual life and communion with God. Robert Murray McShane said it this way, What my people need more than anything else is my own personal holiness. A holy man is an awful instrument in the hands of God. There was a story told, and it's supposed to be true, that up in the highlands of Scotland, there was a Presbyterian church without a minister.

53:57 And when it came time for the denominational representative to come and try to help the church find a minister, a dear old woman came up and said, Sir, would you please send us a man who knows God other than by hearsay? You see what she was saying? Send us a man who knows God other than by hearsay. What is hearsay?

54:25 That's just general talk that everybody picks up. Says, we don't want a minister who's just picked up the language of the ministry, and the language of preaching, and the language of God and Christ, and sin, and heaven, and hell, and faith, and patience, and grace, and peace. We want a man who lives in those realities. We want a man who speaks out of the living experience of his own walk with God.

54:56 And brethren, if we're to speak with freshness and power about holy things week in and week out, month in and month out, year in and year out, there is no other path. There is no other path to such a ministry but taking heed to ourselves. Taking heed, first of all, to our own inner spiritual life and communion with God. Determine that we're going to assimilate the scriptures, first of all, for our own nourishment, not to prepare food for others.

55:35 That we're going to be in the secret place to pray. That more praying is being done, in the closet than in the pulpit. I know men who've admitted that they actually spent more time forming prayers in the pulpit than they did in secret. Shame on them.

55:51 No wonder their prayers in the pulpit were so predictable. You could listen to them and almost tell you what the next phrase was going to be. There was no freshness, no power, no life. Why?

56:04 Because it was stale old words they'd been mouthing for years. Nothing fresh in the secret. They'd been a long time since, alone with God, they had a sight of His glory in the scripture that brought them to the place of brokenness. A sight of their sin that humbled them.

56:22 A sight of the great spiritual realities on which we feed. Oh, my brethren, I plead with you in the name of Christ, if you're not determined, if you're not determined to pay the price, to take heed to yourself, to nurture your own spiritual life, to take heed to yourself, to nurture your own spiritual life, to take heed to yourself, to nurture your own spiritual life, and communion with God by feeding on the Word, maintaining the habit and secret, the habit and spirit of secret prayer, and by keeping a tender, blood-washed conscience, then in the name of God, get out of the ministry. Get out of the ministry! Don't go and answer to God for the horrible, horrible, tragic fruits of a barren ministry because you had a barren and a shriveled soul. Just a professional clergyman.