Missionary Commissioning Service for Steve Hofmaier

Introduction and Steve Hofmaier's Testimony: God's Leading to Missions

0:04 This tape contains parts of a special Sunday evening service held at the Trinity Baptist Church on October 14, 1984. It was a missionary commissioning service in conjunction with the setting apart of Mr. Steve Huffmeyer for missionary service in the Philippine Islands. The major elements contained in the tape are Mr. Huffmeyer's testimony and a charge to Mr.

0:32 Huffmeyer and the congregation by Pastor Albert N. Martin. This night puts me very much in remembrance of a night some three years ago when, along with my brethren, I was recognized for the finishing of three years of work in the academy. Upon that night, you may recall, we sang Hymn No. 379, which we sang also again this night. Very special time to me that was. I'd like to begin these words with the words of another hymn. Tonight, when all thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view, I'm lost in wonder, love and praise. When the elders asked me to come and give a bit of a history of God's dealings with me that bring me to this point, I thought at first it would be an easy task.

1:42 Just to review a bit of history.

1:46 But as I began to look back and consider and then to look forward to what lies ahead, to do that in 10 minutes seemed an impossibility. But I would like to attempt the impossible tonight.

2:02 Let me first say more than a few words about God's leading up to this point and then speak a few more words about what lies ahead. Of course, I must begin. us begin in speaking of what brings me to this point at the beginning, at the point of conversion. I'd like to speak of these dealings, by the way, and just thinking of that as a road which leads me to this spot. And the beginning of that road was when I first began to walk with the Lord. I was at a church youth camp when I was just 16 years old. And the issue there was that I had to lay down the rebellion of my heart in seeking to go my own way and surrender to Jesus as my Lord, as well as my Savior, because there is no distinction. And one thing was clear to me at that point, that to be a Christian at all, in every sense of the word, meant that I did not give the orders, but Christ gave the orders. And when he said, march, I must march.

3:12 March. March. My life was not my own. My life is not my own. But my life belongs to him who shed his blood and purchased me for the Father. There is no such thing as a uncommitted Christian, a Christian who lives for himself. That lesson was clear to me at that point. And the Lord in his grace and mercy brought me to bow the knee. But I must say at this point, all the more so, that there was no second experience along the way that brought me to that point of total submission, that point of saying, okay, Lord, I'll do what you want. No second experience, no total surrender. That total surrender came at the beginning, as it always must. But then there were milestones along the way. That was the beginning of the road.

4:07 And I'd like to outline to you just a few of those milestones. The first major milestone along the way was my college years. I went away to the University of Delaware and there came into contact with some people who followed the Lord in sincerity and truth and who held to those teachings that we know and call the doctrines of grace. He taught me these things. God brought my heart again to submission to the truth of his word. I learned much in that college fellowship and in the church that we attended there, which was a Reformed Presbyterian church. There was also a seed planted during those years of interest in missions, in the work of the gospel overseas. And that seed was planted, planted of interest in the work of the ministry. And those desires began to grow in my own heart. Well, those desires were

5:04 placed more or less on a back burner, but not placed out of the picture. As I left college and worked for two years in the field for which I was trained in chemical engineering, I was active in the church of which I was a member, leading Bible studies, seeking to grow in grace, with all that was available to me at the time. But the next major milestone came along this road when I came to Trinity Ministerial Academy. And I know that there are some who are here tonight who were there upon that night some six years ago when I stood in the pulpit over in the school building.

5:46 And introduced myself to you, why I got to the academy is a long story, and I'm not going to repeat the whole story at this point. But suffice it to say that I saw in the academy a place where the emphasis was not merely upon theological training, upon orthodox exposition of the scriptures, but upon the heart, upon gifts and graces as well as academic ability. And for my own heart's sake, I desired to come to this place where my own soul was watched over, where it was not just as some sterile atmosphere at some academic institution upon a mountaintop somewhere. And so I had a long way to go at that point. I had much to learn. I did not come from a Reformed Baptist church.

6:46 I did not come from a church which. Expounded the scriptures in the depths with which we are so familiar and perhaps too familiar.

6:58 And God taught me much during those three years, and I want at this point just to proclaim to you and to say to you and to express to you my great gratitude to you all as a church for Trinity Ministerial Academy. This is not the elders ministry. This is the ministry of Trinity Baptist Church, and I want to thank you all. For your prayers, your financial support, and for living out before all of the academy students, the things which we hear proclaimed in that place.

7:31 Thank you all for all that you've meant to me during those years. Those were very special years.

7:40 Again, years I look back on with many great remembrances and yet years which are not just a memory, but which were a preparation for the things to come. Well, time again fails me to speak in detail of a couple more milestones along the way. You may recall that when I finished in the academy, I spent some six months in Kenya working with the underhills there, and then I spent a year when I returned teaching in the academy. Now you can see that the marvels, the mystery of God's providence weaving all of these things into my past to prepare me for where I am going now.

8:25 Having a time in another culture to prepare me for the Philippines, having a time teaching here in the academy, being involved in theological instruction that I might be able to teach men in the Philippines to commit to others those things that have been committed to me. Another milestone at this point recently in the past year was God providing. God has given me a help me that I might not go just by myself to the mission field. And since I won't be here this Thanksgiving, you know, this church, for those of you who are visitors, our church has a Thanksgiving service, every Thanksgiving in which the members have an opportunity to thank God for his goodness to them. And of course, it seems to be almost a tradition that those who are recently married have an opportunity to thank God for their wives. Well, my wife was somewhat relieved that she would not have that opportunity to be embarrassed. So I'll take this opportunity to embarrass her and thank God for giving me Carol.

9:47 But a final milestone, actually, which came before that milestone or in the midst of that last milestone was the opportunity to go last summer, a year ago to the Philippines to spy out the land. An opportunity not merely to see what was going on, but to be involved in what was going on, to preach and to teach much as much of the same responsibilities that I'll have when I go, Lord willing, within the next couple of weeks. And it was a good land. There were many opportunities to preach the gospel, to speak to people who are hungry to hear the word of God, who would just soak it up, who live perhaps in a parched land in some ways where there was much.

10:32 Frothiness to the religion there, where there is the darkness of idolatry and superstition in the Catholic Church there and the people ate it up. And it was just such a delight to to point to Christ and to have men and women see the beauty of Christ and delight to hear of him. It was a goodly land, a land which I desired in many ways to return to. But now, as we come to the end of those milestones, those things that bring me and Carol to this place, let me speak a little bit of what lies ahead. When I was there and saw that it was a goodly land, I must also report realistically that there are giants in the land. The land is not without giants. There is the great giant there of a devil, a devil who holds in his.

Steve Hofmaier's Testimony: Facing Giants in the Land

11:39 This way, the minds of many, the multitudes, when they bow to their idols, when they give their offerings to their idols, we know from the scriptures that that which is offered to idols is offered to demons. And Satan has a powerful grip upon the people there. And so we go to the very gates of hell when we go to the Philippines, but we have, again, the promise of Christ, I will build my church and the gates of hell. I will not prevail against it.

12:13 And we go with the promise of Christ against that giant. But there's another giant there, a giant which exists in this land as well, and that is the giant of our own remaining corruption. This giant, as it were, follows us about and never leaves us until we leave this life. But again, we have the promises of the Lord that he that began the good work in us will bring it to completion.

12:42 And our confidence is not in our flesh. But in our savior, we will persevere by his grace. We are committed to that. But again, our confidence is in his grace and not in our persevering.

12:58 There's a third giant there, giants of sinful, wicked men who would oppose themselves to the gospel. It is not all a land where you go and speak of Christ and people just fall down to hear of him, fall all over themselves. There are those who oppose the gospel. But we fear God rather than men.

13:21 And we know that there is nothing too difficult for him, that he is mightier than any enemy that can oppose us. He is mightier than man. And we do not fear man. There's a fourth giant there.

13:35 There's a giant, as it were, to our own beings of many new and different things that we must face to go. There's a new culture. There's a different language. There are places that we will be that we have not been.

13:49 This giant, perhaps, is a bigger giant to Carol, not having been there. But we both must face new things. And yet Christ is the same. Christ does not change when we go from here to there.

14:05 And Christ has pledged to be with us. And so we do not fear the new and different things. Lastly, there's the giant. There's the giant of missing you all, right?

14:37 Excuse me, friends and family. People that we have grown to love over the years. But again, we will not see the last of you, we pray, when we leave this place. We do not have here a lasting city.

15:02 We do not hope to build for ourselves here an empire. We are seeking the city which is to come. And we trust that we will see many of you there if we do not return to this place. Even if there are those who are taken.

15:22 Even if there are those who are taken before we return, or if the Lord takes us before we return. Let me just take this opportunity to say, will we see you? Will we see you if we do not return to this place? We see you in that city that is to come.

15:45 Oh, make sure of your position in the Lord Jesus Christ. Make sure of it. Lay hold on him. Press on after him.

15:55 Do not let him go. Be found in him and in his grace. Well again, as we go, we have the promise of Christ. You know, in that great commission, there is a great promise that goes along with it.

16:11 And let me close by reading this, or come close to closing, I guess I should say, Matthew chapter 28. And I'd like to read the last five verses of the chapter, verses 16 through 20. But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. And when they saw him, they worshipped him.

16:54 But some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, going therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

17:24 This is our commission. We do not go for a life of comfort and ease. We go to make disciples, to see them brought into the church, baptized, to see the church grow, to see men prepared for the ministry who might also teach the disciples, teach them to observe all that Christ has commanded them. But as we go, as we go to this goodly land, and yet a land with so many giants, we go, we go.

17:49 We go with the promised presence of Christ. And I can well understand the words of Moses to the Lord when he said, If you do not go up with us, do not lead us from this place. And yet as we go, we have the confidence that in fulfilling Christ's commission, we have Christ's presence. And in his presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

18:16 Well, as we go, we solicit your prayers. And we pledge to pray for you all for Trinity Baptist Church. We solicit your faithfulness to the Lord. Press on, my brethren, and may we rejoice in God's good work here and in the Philippines.

Commendation and Prayer by the Elders

18:37 Thank you again. Our brother said that he's going to miss us, and we're going to miss him too. And yet it falls to our lot to commend him to the Lord, to his grace, and we've determined that we would like the entire eldership. As representatives of the people of God, to be involved in commending our brother to the Lord.

19:13 But we've asked two of the elders, Pastor Clark and Pastor Dixon, if they would be the mouthpiece for the rest of us and lead us to the throne of grace, praying especially for Steve and his wife on the one hand and their personal needs, and then on the other, praying for the ministry. Amen. Amen. Amen.

19:35 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

19:35 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

19:35 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

19:37 Amen. So will the elders now please come and we'll commend our brother to the Lord.

19:59 Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, it is with mingled sadness and joy that we now lay hands upon our brother formally to commend him to the work of the Lord in that far off land, the Philippines.

20:21 Sadness, because we shall be separated from those. We have learned the Lord. to love through long association just as they have learned to love us get joy because we see the work of God going forward we have prayed the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest and now we see the Lord answering that prayer and sending this young man as a laborer in the harvest field and not only him alone but the good wife it has pleased me to give him and we're joyful in this we recognize that this is the Lord of the harvest that is sending him forth and we are joyful because we can say that it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to send this brother into the work of the Lord and and and and as Steve and Carol go off into that distant land we know that there is no youth there are no youthful notions of romance or adventure they are both

21:51 mature Christians we thank thee that both of them have had experience in foreign lands Steve with the six months in Kenya and the nine weeks last summer in Manila and Carol the year that she spent in West Africa all romantic ideas if they ever had any are gone they know what they are going into going into a different climate a climate where they will never see the treetops glisten or watch the children as they listen they hear sleigh bells tingle in the snow going to a land where it's hot and humid all year round going to a crowded city into a country with a very different culture than what we have here so that they will have to learn a lot of new customs and learn to get used to a lot of new ways and things not only that the people do but different ways in which the people think and act it's not going to be easy for them they know it isn't we know that thou wilt go with them and strengthen them and help them they are going to a land too Lord where we know that there is much political unrest

23:19 we have heard of assassinations and of rioting and of lives that have been lost of bloodshed there in that land they are going into a midst of a place as a brother has said where there are giants to face but Lord we are commending them to thy Lord loving care and pray that thou wilt be with them at all times we thank thee for the good wife that thou hast given Steve that he is not going alone that we have known her here in this assembly from a child and have watched her become a mature Christian woman and show forth in her life womanly graces we are thankful for this now as they go together we ask that they be blessed Lord that they may be helped in every step they are going to have to get used to a different climate and different ways of the people and they are going to have some hard language study we thank thee Lord that they are going to be with Pastor Ellis and his wife and that Mrs. Ellis is a good teacher and will give them very good instruction in the Tagalog language and for this we give thee thanks and so Lord we thank thee for this

24:46 we commend them individually to thy grace and pray that thou would bless them and their life together as a husband and wife and as servants of God in that land we give thee thanks for them and we ask these blessings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Father that same Lord of the Harvest who asked us to pray that he would send forth laborers and so tonight we thank you for the labor of your life sending forth but we know also he's being sent forth into the harvest field and Father we pray for that field that you would mightily bless it with his labor as he works there for thee and so Father we thank you for the fact that you have promised to your son that you would surely give unto him the nations for his inheritance and so Father we do see the Philippines as one of those nations and we pray for our brother as he would go into this harvest field into this particular part of it and we pray again that you would bless that work and that labor we thank you for the one who has gone before him even for Brian Ellis thank you our Father for answering his prayers for surely for years he's prayed that one would come and be a helper along alongside of him and so we thank you tonight for answering his prayers we thank you for his faithfulness through the years, thank you for his zeal

26:15 and his desire to see a work established to your blood we thank you Father for the churches that have been brought to being under his ministry Father we thank you for now the opportunity given to our brother Steve to be able to minister to those folks we ask now Father as he would look to the task of teaching that you would help him in this that he might be clear and precise that he might speak according to the scriptures, that he might lay the truth out line upon line and precept upon precept and that those young men who will sit at his feet that they shall know indeed thus saith the Lord Father we pray they might be retentive and hold the truth they might hold it in sincerity that they may be the better for it and that they might go back to their own people and be able to open the word and instruct them concerning the things of our God and Father we pray also for those churches there where Steve will have opportunity to preach and may it be said of them as was said of the church at the festival that they turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God Father we pray that many shall hear the truth and believe that many shall be converted that many shall love the Lord Jesus Christ that they might serve him only Lord we realize the darkness that is in that land we realize that

27:42 men's souls are enslaved and so we pray that thou shalt drive back with the power of the gospel the power of the gospel the power of the gospel to those who are so enslaved that thou O Lord shalt grant repentance to the acknowledging of the truth that they may recover themselves from the snare of the devil who has taken them captive at his will Father we pray also for the various opportunities that shall be given to personally work with people and pray again that as counsel is given that it might be good counsel that it might be counsel according to your word we ask again to bless Steve and his ministry and bless that work and may the gospel again be demonstrated as the power of God and his salvation to everyone that believe it O Lord again we thank you for the privilege of committing him unto you and to your care and that work for Christ's sake Amen Now as those of you who are here on a regular basis know the giving of tithes and offerings is regarded as a regular and integral part of the worship of God in this place and as we are now about to receive

The Church's Financial Commitment to Missions

29:08 the tithes and the offerings tonight as part of our ongoing worship of God I want to say something that indicates the relationship that we sustain to our brother and the relationship that he has to our giving it is not our practice although our brother has been very zealous in going around to church after church and group after group to make known the work in the Philippines to stir people up to pray if God would lay the ministry upon their hearts it is not our practice to send a man around drumming up funds for himself and for his ministry when we lay hands upon our brother and send him forth we also stand behind him and we stand behind him and we also bear the responsibility for his support for his care and we are committed to him we do not despise whatever help God may lay upon the hearts of our brethren and other places to give indeed we have sent him around in order that he might let the work be known to the brethren so that if God does lay it upon their hearts they might join us in this endeavor yes but however

30:35 he was not going around doing deputation he was going presenting the work we stand behind our brother and as we give tonight though we're not taking a special collection for Steve this is a regular evening offering we want you to recognize that part of what goes into the plate every Sunday goes to the support of our brother and to his ministry in the Philippines so as we come now to worship God in our giving let us give with gratitude let us give with thankful hearts for what God has given to us we have corporately prayed in the language of the hymn let us seek to frame with words that same petition that God by the Spirit would come and give us light in his truth as we open his word together let us all pray our Father we do acknowledge that left to ourselves our Father our minds are a mass of spiritual darkness our hearts are a lump of spiritual deadness and our wills the very essence of paralysis

The Emotional Climate of Commissioning: Joy, Solemnity, and Grief

32:04 with respect to doing your will and we pray that you would send the light of your Spirit upon our minds and the mighty efficacious work of the Spirit upon our affections and our wills that we may know your condition and our wills and our wills and our wills that we may know your condition and our wills and our wills and our wills and our wills and our wills and our wills and our wills in this very solemn and blessed hour come Lord speak words to us that we shall never forget in our earthly pilgrimage and in a special way speak a word to Steve and Carol and to this congregation that will cement in spiritual dynamics this new relationship that we will sustain with God as they are sent forth from us by the Holy Ghost hear us for the sake of your Son we plead Amen Amen As I anticipated the format of this service and what I prayed and hoped and I trust reasonably expected would be the climate of the service I don't believe it was presumptuous to write as the opening sentence of the introduction to our meditation our gathering tonight

33:32 is one of great joy awesome solemnity and genuine grief and this previous 55 minutes has indeed been a season of great joy joy as we have witnessed the unfolding of the plan of God for Steve and Carol and as they have earnestly prayed for years thy will be done in us as it is in heaven their hearts are full of the joy of knowing that a new and strategic dimension of that will has come to light in the kind providence of God according to the principles of the word of God and we cannot help but enter into their joy and share it with them we as a congregation feel a measure of great joy as God has given us God has heard our prayers that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into his harvest and few things give joy to a believer as does answered prayer few things make the heart of a true Christian sing within him and send impulses to his feet impelling him at least in private if he cannot in public to holy dancing than answers to earnest and fervent prayer and fervent prayer

35:00 we share the joy that Steve and Carol know tonight we have our own peculiar measure of joy but it is also been a season of awesome solemnity in the face of our new stewardship committed to guide and provide and above all to wrestle with God who alone can slay those giants aware of the precarious political situation into which they are sent not knowing how they will respond physiologically to the new surroundings and to the climate and some of us having a little more intimate knowledge of some of the body chemistry and ailments to which Steve and Carol are exposed wondering whether or not they will in their obedience to Christ bring upon themselves greater measures of physical duress and that's an awesome and a solemn thing and it's also a season of genuine grief some of us have sat and already wept as we felt the pain at seeing our brother and sister perhaps maybe one more Lord's Day but probably at the most one more Lord's Day in our assembly for a long distance call came through from the Philippines last night that tomorrow morning a visa will be placed in a packet and sent airmail from the Philippines

36:26 to 12 Cleveland Street or to New York on the way to the Philippines I'm not sure what the address is and I felt it so keenly that I had to put my arm around my brother in singing the last hymn as we sat knowing that perhaps for many times many months or years to come it would be the last time I would have that privilege of pressing his flesh with my flesh and there is grief and there's the grief of the parents and it's real grief I'll be losing a daughter to the service of Christ in her commitment to a servant of Christ losing her to Canada I already feel and anticipate that pain and grief and I believe I can enter into something of the pain that the Dixons and the Hoffmeyers who are with us tonight feel and yet in this diverse emotional climate of joy solemnity and grief I have the temerity to hope I can say something from God's word that'll stick and I have that temerity because I believe God the Holy Spirit can transcend all of those mingled emotions and enable us to think for a few moments together upon the word of God and that that word will not be void of power and as I prayerfully anticipated how best to use the stewardship of this time

Explanation: The Church as the God-Ordained Agency for Missions

37:55 I was constrained I trust in answer to prayer mine and the prayers of others to bring before you first of all a word of explanation and then a word of exhortation the word of explanation is directed particularly to the congregation and in a very special sense to those of you who are relatively new to our life and vision as a congregation of Christ and to any visitors who may be amongst us wondering precisely what are we doing and why are we doing it and then the word of exhortation directed especially first of all to Steve and to the people and then to you the Lord's people now the word of explanation has to do with this very simple issue what in the world are we as a church doing taking upon ourselves the task that is in evangelical circles normally assigned to mission boards and to the professionals in the work of missions what we have asserted tonight is that we Trinity Baptist Church are taking the posture of the sending governing providing agency for Steve's ministry in the Philippines we are not commending him

39:23 to the care of a mission board we are not commending him to the provision of some pool of funds into which people pour their money with no commitment to the man or men who are supported out of those funds we have committed ourselves to ascertaining this man's gifts his suitability for the work of missions in the Philippines we are committed to making judgments about those gifts we are committed to supporting him in that work and whatever demands that makes upon us those that we can anticipate those that we cannot anticipate and if you ask us if you ask the question why are we doing this the answer is very simple it is our fundamental perspective on the very work of the church as outlined in Holy Scripture and to put the teaching of scripture in a nutshell it is this all that Christ the head of the church calls upon the church to do he will furnish the church to accomplish everything in his strength and in the power of his spirit that's the bottom line and surely if Christ has called upon the church to do anything

40:51 he has called upon the church to propagate the gospel to the ends of the earth to make disciples and to bring them to maturity by solid teaching in other words if any task is given to the church the task of missions is given to the church so if there is any task for which Christ would give ample direction and for which he would give adequate provision it would be that central task to which he has commissioned his church and yet we are told in our day that the church can do everything as church except the work of missions it has such peculiar problems and exigencies and such peculiar demands that the church can never hope as church to do the primary work of the church strange arrangement when the head who is said in Ephesians chapter 5 to nourish and cherish his church with a view to perfecting his church would leave it either directionless or powerless with respect to one of its major tasks and my word of explanation to you is simply this that we believe that scripture teaches and we do not have time to go into all of the ramifications of it

42:19 that the church can do all that the head of the church requires it to do in his will and under his blessing a hundred and twenty years ago that very issue was debated very hotly in the Presbyterian church here in the United States and a man by the name of James Henley Thornwell took the position that I have articulated and he stood in loving but firm resistance to every effort to obscure that issue and I want to just quote several paragraphs from Thornwell in which he beautifully and very perceptively articulates the teaching of the word of God on this point he was debating primarily another leading theologian who was supporting the pragmatic establishment of other agencies other than the church to do the work of missions and to this fundamental premise Thornwell came again and again the duties of the church are duties which rest upon her by the authority of God he has given her the organization which she possesses for the purpose of discharging these duties you see his argument it is it is it is Christ who lays the duties upon the church it is Christ who has given the organization of the church

43:48 by which the duties can be discharged she can therefore no more throw them off upon others than a man can delegate to his neighbor the care of his own family while abandoning himself to idleness and ease if our form of church government is based upon the word of God it is adequate for all emergencies and then he goes on to say God has appointed the leadership he has in his church for this very purpose and gave them no authority to shift the responsibility the heat and the burden of the day upon creations of their own if the church can delegate one part of her work she can delegate another until the church relinquishes all of her distinct Christ given responsibilities again listen to Thornwell as he articulates clearly the teaching of the word of God as under the old dispensation nothing connected with the worship or discipline of the church of God was left to the wisdom or discretion of men but everything was accurately prescribed by the authority of God so under the new no voices to be heard in the household of faith but the voice of the Son of God the power of the church is purely

45:17 ministerial and declarative she is only to hold forth the doctrine enforce the laws and execute the government which Christ has given her she is to add nothing of her own to and to subtract nothing from what her Lord has established discretionary power she does not possess put in simple biblical language if ye love me ye will keep my commandments teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you one other quote again in which Thornwell brings the issue into clear perspective he said this is the issue in the debate between me and my opponent it is this is the church as a church as organized by Jesus Christ and his apostles competent to do all that her head has enjoined upon her or does she require additional agents to assist her this is the real question did Christ give all the church all the furniture she needed or did he partially supply her with a general direction to make up the deficiency on her own upon this question all the furniture all the furniture I fearlessly join issue so strong

46:46 are my convictions of the adequacy of the church as organized in the scripture to meet all the exigencies that if it can be clearly shown that she is incompetent to discharge any office assumed imperative upon her I should think it much more probable that the duty was not given than that the church was relatively impertinent to the church and that the church was not perfect what she clearly cannot do she is not commanded to do now dear people that's the heart of the issue do you see it and I give it as a word of explanation the fact that we have taken upon ourselves this awesome responsibility in the assessment of our brothers gifts and graces to do this work to commit ourselves to give direction and oversight and counsel and support to the church it's not that we have lofty notions of ourselves it's not that we have decided it would be a nice thing to have a missionary come out of our own ranks and be sent forth by the church it grows out of the conviction expressed so succinctly in 1st Timothy 3.15 the church is constituted the pillar and the ground of the truth and everything in conjunction with the propagation of the truth God has entrusted to us to his church

48:15 and it is I trust an expression not of arrogance not of pride and I trust not of presumption but out of love to Jesus Christ that we have determined according to the light he has given us to operate in our missionary endeavors with the conviction that surely this grand and one of the most supreme tasks of the church would not lack either our life or the Lord's direction as to how to do it or the supply of his grace in the accomplishment of the task now that word of explanation I hope it hasn't gone over your head and I hope it has lodgment in your heart now my word of exhortation first of all to you Steve and at this point I hope you never have to go through the agony I did in trying to say what can I say to Steve? I hope you're having your ears for three years in the academy and the whole course of pastoral theology being in a sense surrogate father on matters of your spiritual maturation and development I wanted to say everything and then I said if I try to say everything I'll say nothing and yet if I'm selective will it appear as though I'm arbitrary and frankly it was a most difficult thing but I trust that these few strands of biblical truth

Charge to Steve Hofmaier: Accountability, Priorities, and Disposition

49:44 upon which I focus Steve again have been brought to mind and selected under the help and direction of the spirit and I solemnly charge you Steve in the presence of God as you go forth to the service of your Lord remember remember above all else your accountability to God the judge of all the earth remember above all else your accountability to God the judge of all the earth and I turn your attention to second Timothy chapter four in which Paul is about to charge his spiritual son and fellow laborer in the gospel younger Timothy notice how he couches his charge in this context second Timothy chapter four and verse one I charge you in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus who shall judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom and then he descends to the particulars of his task preach the word be urgent etc but notice what he does he couches his charge with reference to the details of ministerial duty in the context of Timothy's ultimate accountability not to Paul not to the churches at Ephesus but to his Lord and to his Lord alone I charge you

51:13 in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing the apostle himself lived in that perspective I remind you of his words in first Corinthians chapter four the Corinthians were passing severe judgment upon the apostle imputing terrible motives imputing terrible motives to him questioning so many things about him as a man and an apostle and yet he says in first Corinthians chapter four in verse one let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God here moreover it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful but with me it's a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment yea I judge not my own self for I know nothing against myself yet am I not hereby justified but he that judges me is the Lord judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts of men and then shall each man have his praise from God Steve your mind and your spirit will be battered if not by a thousand certainly by dozens of differing pressures and amidst

52:43 all of them cry to God in the light of your accountability to the God who has made you and has graciously redeemed you in Jesus Christ and as you remember your ultimate accountability to God few things will keep you more determined to stick by this blessed book in every facet of your ministry few things will cause you to walk in greater and more intense integrity of conscience before God and men than the remembrance of your ultimate accountability to God himself and then in the second place Steve I solemnly charge you to remember the the priorities established by God not only to remember your ultimate accountability to God but the priorities established by God with reference to how you spend your time and your energies and I would suggest that those priorities for you Steve break down into those three very obvious categories those priorities that you have as a Christian man first Timothy 416 take heed to yourself your greatest task as you go to the Philippines is the nurture of your own walk with God

54:12 that is your greatest task that you guard for out of it are the issues of life yes you must give yourself to mastering Tagalog you must give yourself to entering into the soul of that culture until you think and feel as a Filipino you are to give yourself to many responsibilities but above all else above all else Steve I solemnly charge you never to forget this great priority of Tagalog the mastery of the culture will come to naught if your heart becomes a weed bed because you failed carefully to keep the garden of your own inner life and then remember your priority established by God not only as a man but as a husband God never gives you duties in his kingdom in order to cancel or suspend your duties in your home verse 7 husbands dwell with your wives according to knowledge even in the Philippines even learning a new language learning a new culture dwell with her according to knowledge nurture her cherish her you've taken her from the warm loving crucible and context of her own family of her church that's a pretty

55:40 cruel thing to do if it were not the will of God that is laid upon you but that means that there are added demands of your ministry to your dear wife and as you well know and this congregation knows it's one thing to be guilty of sinful partiality it's another thing to have more intimate multi-leveled relationships nurtured through the years and that's not partiality and in a very special way as we've witnessed Carol's growth from the little knobby kneed toddler when we first came into this area into the godly Christian woman and now gracious wife that he has made her for you Steve I solemnly charge you to remember your God-given priority not only as a man to keep your heart but as a husband to nurture and to cherish the wife that he has given to you and then as a minister of the word never forget your God-given priorities all kinds of demands will grow out of your commitment to minister in the word but never forget what the priorities are it is not fitting that we should leave the word of God to serve tables we shall give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word Acts 6-4 you're being set apart from your job as an engineer not to become a jack-of-all-trades

57:09 expending energy in a thousand and one noble but inconsequential tasks but to labor in the word and in doctrine 1 Timothy 5 and verse 17 and so I solemnly charge you Steve to remember the priorities established by God for you as a man as a husband and a minister of the word to continue to give yourself above all else to those disciplines essential to being a workman who needs not to be ashamed cutting a straight course in the word of truth that proclamation the flavor of Christ pulsing through it all saying with the apostle I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him as crucified and then I solemnly charge you Steve not only to remember your ultimate accountability to God the priorities established by God but thirdly and finally Steve I charge you constantly to cultivate the disposition mandated by God to cultivate the disposition mandated by God and that disposition must be characterized by Christ like servanthood Acts I'm sorry Matthew chapter 20 you'll remember the words of our Lord spoken in a context where the disciples are having a fuss

58:39 over who's going to be the chief honcho in the coming kingdom who's going to have the place of prominence and our Lord says to them in Matthew chapter 20 and verse 25 he called them unto him and said you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them but it shall not be so among you but whosoever would become great among you shall be your table servant and whosoever would be first among you shall be your bond slave even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto you but to serve to minister to do the work of a deacon and to give his life a ransom for many and in the midst of the many responsibilities of leadership that will be laid upon you Steve leadership that will demand the exercise of spiritual and ecclesiastical authority I solemnly charge you to cultivate the disposition mandated by God the disposition of a servant leader for Paul could say we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves your bond slaves for Jesus sake and then cultivate that disposition not only of Christ like servanthood but realistic dependence upon God

60:07 Jesus said without me you can do nothing Paul exclaimed when he looked at the nature of the Christian ministry who is sufficient for these things the impression of humility it was a realistic assessment of the state of man the native equipment that Paul brought to the awesome task of the ministry and as it were he threw his hands up and said who who is sufficient for these things and his answer was we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as from God and we bless God Steve that we do not send you forth disappointed because you have not had a quote baptism in the Holy Spirit as a second work of grace that you have not been able to lay claim to some exotic spiritual experience which will enable you to do the work of God but that as you have confessed in our presence in the face of those giants you go forth in the confidence that in Christ and as you go forth in dependence upon him you will not lack any needed grace of his own presence and power to accomplish the work he has called you to do constantly cultivate that disposition mandated

61:36 by God Christ like servanthood realistic dependence upon God and the absence of the fear of men Paul said in Galatians I should not be if I should yet please men I should not be the servant of God first Thessalonians 2 he said the gospel we preach we preach not as pleasing men but God who tries our hearts Steve God has made us all social beings and I think in a very heightened sense God has given you graces of social sensitivity and affability and vulnerability never gain a man's ear at the expense of your conscience or at the expense of truth be prepared to be wedded to truth that at times will be most offensive and men will not attack the truth but your person as the one who's brought that truth remember it's the reproach of Christ you bear it's entering into the fellowship of his sons fear no man's face of him in whose presence you will stand in the last day and I'm confident Steve is by the power of God you remember your ultimate accountability to him your priorities established by him

63:05 and the disposition mandated by him that the hand of God will rest upon you for blessing in the work to which he's called you and now to you God's people and it has but two very simple prompts the first is an indirect responsibility we have and as I thought upon this in one sense it filled me with a sense of joy and then the other a sense of horror and dread I solemnly charge you my brothers and sisters to feel the burden of maintaining a climate in this place that will not grieve the life that ties us to our brother and his wife in the bonds of spiritual dynamics you heard in his testimony the spiritual dynamics that were operative in your life as a people that became the very matrix out of which his consciousness of his own gifts and calling and identity as a servant of God grew and we've come to this hour because in spite of all of our sin and failure God has helped us to some degree to maintain by grace a climate in which the Holy Spirit has not been grieved away it's one of the points that Thornwell makes people argued

Charge to the Congregation: Maintaining a Spiritual Climate

64:34 and said well look the churches are so dead they don't give therefore we've got to have independent agencies to raise the money the churches are so dead that volunteers aren't forthcoming from the church we've got to recruit them outside the church rather than rather than accept the death and create our own agencies cry to the God of heaven to send life to the church and when he sends life to the church laborers will come and purse strings will be opened and God will send forth an army of men clothed with the spirit supported by churches bound to them in the dynamics of Holy Spirit rock church life and I share that conviction with you and as a member of my being and dear people of God we better understand it the next time you're tempted to indulge a personal sin that could lead you into the high road to scandalous sin or to apostasy and grieve the spirit of God and the people of God the ripples will break upon the shores of the Philippines don't forget it the ripples and theлас from the elders

66:03 that make their hearts glad and put spring into their own spirits and the nerve into their own inner being to press on they read a letter that someone at Trinity is turned aside and that a group in Trinity has grieved the spirit and instead of going forth to their work with zeal they go to their closets to mourn and to weep you. In a sense, we bearded the devil in the Philippines and challenged him, and he doesn't like it. You know where he'll try to get his servants in the Philippines? Oh yes, he'll go after Steve's heart and Carol's heart, and try to get the weeds of carnality to grow unchecked, try to get Steve to stand his priorities on their head, neglect his wife, leave her vulnerable to a sense of resentment, and grieve the spirit, but he'll also be at work all the time here, and I solemnly charge you as God's people never to forget our indirect commitment to the Philippines by the maintenance of our own life in the spirit as a congregation.

67:25 Then there will be no problem when Steve writes and says to his elders, here's a new door of opportunity, but brethren, if we're to launch into it, we need $5,000 above and beyond the ordinary commitments. Will you pray that God will make his mind known? I tell you, I'm not going to do that. I tell you, if we're living in the spirit and have a heart for the work of God, it will be no difficult thing to be able to write back and say, we judge that to be a worthy project. The money will be in the account post-haste. There won't have to be carnal begging. There won't have to be manipulations and thermometers on the wall and all the rest. No, all we'll need to say is, brethren, here is a need. Your elders judge it to be worthy of your support. Prayerfully consider what you ought to do.

Charge to the Congregation: Intercession and Temporal Care

68:13 And that will be forthcoming to the work of God. We have said it again and again and again. And oh, I charge you, dear congregation at Trinity, don't grieve and quench the spirit, for it will have a direct impact upon the work of the gospel in the Philippines. But then in a more direct way, I solemnly charge you as God's people. And I've got three simple charges for you, for me, for us. Number one, we must maintain determination to be faithful. In our intercession for Steve and Carol. It's a truism, but oh, how it needs to be repeated. Luke 18.1. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. And when you read Paul's

68:58 epistles, what's the one thing he asked for above all else when he wrote to the churches? What was it? Brethren, pray for us. Brethren, pray for us. Pray that I may be given utterance.

69:11 Colossians 4. Ephesians 6. Oh, yes, he said to the church. Rome in a very, very tactful way. He said, I hope to be brought on my way by you to Spain.

69:20 He talked a little bit about missionary support, but that was incidental. His main burden was pray. Why? Because he believed it was the weapon of all prayer in which we more directly engage the powers of darkness. He said we wrestle and in prayer we secure those blessings which God is prepared to dispense that are stored up in his son. And mediated in the person and ministry of the spirit to the actual life situation of ministry. And we must maintain our determination to be faithful in our intercession. That means our commitment to prayer meeting must be a commitment of principle, not convenience, not whim, not feelings. For if you're absent on the night when the latest letter is read,

70:10 you'll miss that concern of urgency. And in turn, you won't be able to carry it to your home and to your home. And so we must maintain our determination to be faithful in our intercession. Dear children, and what happens? We've lost something of the cohesive commitment and involvement of the entire church. Dear people, the stakes are high. This is serious business. And I solemnly charge you to maintain that determination to be faithful in intercession.

70:33 Secondly, I charge you to maintain your commitment to care for their temporal needs. First Corinthians chapter 9, where Paul speaks of foregoing certain rights, he establishes that there are rights. What we would call gospel rights. And one of them is this, not only to lead about a wife, which right Steve is exercising, but he says, have we not a right to forbear working?

71:01 Verse 6 of 1 Corinthians 9. Then he asks some questions. What soldier ever served at his own charges? Does our government expect a soldier to go out and earn the money for his own uniform, buy his own rifle, buy his own ammunition? Of course not.

71:16 It is the commitment of the army to outfit the soldier. And he goes on to say, well, this is precisely my point. God has ordained that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel. And he says, though I forego that right, verse 14, it is a right, a gospel right, an apostolically established right. And dear people, we must maintain our commitment to care for their needs. And what does that mean? It means that our giving must not be whimsical. It must be principled giving. We must lay by us in store as we have done in the past, but must continue to do. Our

72:02 giving must be principled. We ought to have the vision that with this new responsibility, Lord, is there some more that I can do so that this will, in a sense, not make a dent in cash flow, but the response to the new ministry, brings a new response of sacrificial giving. Now we're ready if God raises up another Steve to say, brother, we're prepared to send you forth. Well, you see, it's like a revolving fund that when we give, the scripture says it shall be given unto us, not in equal measure, but what good measure, pressed down and running over. Do you see the vision of that? You've heard the little tourism. You can't out give God. That's true of a congregation's life. Our finances have been like that woman's barrel of oil. We've been like that woman's barrel of oil. We've been like

72:48 that woman's barrel of oil. The more we take out, it seems, the more God puts in. And the deacons can say amen to that, and your elders who are aware of some of the inner mechanics, and we stand amazed. I had a wonderful chance to witness to a tiler working in the basement of the building this past week. He said, this is a beautiful building. He said, where are you getting the money for this?

73:12 That's what he asked me. He says, where are you getting the money for this? I said, we don't belong to any denomination. We don't have any. I said, it comes out of the hearts of our people, committed to the ministries that go on in this place. Oh, that's almost ended the conversation. I've never heard anything like that. Oh, dear people, don't rob me of the ground of my boasting if I may borrow apostolic language. Don't rob me of the ground of my boasting. I charge you to maintain the commitment to care for their temporal needs. Let me give you one more little tidbit out of Thornwell. You can tell the man is a man of kindred spirit, or I should say, I feel a kindred spirit with him. He was a great giant in the land. This is what he says in summing up his case about the whole matter of support for missions

74:03 and that the church should be the agency of support. He says, when we pleaded that systematic giving is to be viewed as a part of religion, our brethren still viewed it as a scheme, a piece of machinery, and they called it your plan, Mr. Thornwell. So now, this doctrine that the church in her organized capacity must do her own work and not delegate to vicars or substitutes is called by these brethren my plan. I contend that it is of God. We then contended that systematic giving is a part of our religion, part of our worship, and a part which cannot be performed by proxy any more than prayer or praise. So in reference to the church's work of evangelization, she's responsible for herself in her organized capacity and may not undertake to do that work by a substitute any more than she may pray by a substitute. And the great need of the church is a sense of her obligation to give and her obligation to work for her Lord. Isn't that precious? I say amen to the dear

75:13 southern preacher who now looks upon the face of Jesus, and those who oppose him now know he's right. And then finally,

Charge to the Congregation: Frequent, Full-Orbed Communication

75:27 finally, I charge you as a congregation, and some of you already know what I'm going to say. I'm glad I'm predictable. That's what my wife always says to me. And she does something I expect. She said, well, isn't it lovely? I'm predictable. Then when she does some harebrained thing I couldn't expect, she laughs and said, isn't it lovely? Living with a wife that makes life interesting.

75:47 So she has it going and coming. Well, I don't know if I have it going and coming that way, but I'm sure some of you already anticipated my third strand of charge. It's this. I charge you as God's servant. I charge you as God's servant. I charge you as God's servant. I charge you as God's servant. So this is also a title. It's the second one. I ask you as God's servant. I charge you as God's Paschal servant. It's this third one. If he punishes you, God's looked down and a lot of the reasonable justice in that carefully, all that changes. And we're going to do all this to maintain frequent, full-orbed communication with Stephan climbed. I'm gonna make a statement. They may sound extreme. And I wrote it down, I looked at it and I said, Lord, can I say that in faith? And I said, I believe I can letters with the very lifeline of spiritual communication in the apostolic Church. They didn't have jet aircrafts that could take Paul from one place to another in two hours. He was weeks and months getting from one place to another in his purse.

76:30 But his letters went all over the Roman Empire. And the letters among the churches, the references to them, they were the very lifeline of sustaining the communion of the saints.

76:44 And I solemnly charge you as the congregation, that's not talking about the peculiar responsibilities upon any of us as elders and the deacons in diaconal matters, but for you, the people of God, to maintain frequent, full-orbed communication. What do I mean by that? You sit down some day when you feel in a nice, rambly mood, some of you mothers with a batch of kids, and you just stream of consciousness. You just write whatever comes to your mind.

77:12 You don't know how that will minister to their hearts and their feelings. To have a letter in which you tell them that your little one just lost her two front teeth, and then they'll try to imagine what she looks like with the little hole in the head right in the front. That's what I always say to the kids. I say, uh-oh, got a hole in your head when they lose those two front teeth.

77:28 And they'll picture your little one that was first toothless, and then had the little baby teeth, and they'll be able to follow the progress of your child so that when in the providence of God they come back, they don't feel out of touch. Full-orbed communication. Don't think you've got to sit down and write something that looks like 1st or 2nd Corinthians.

77:47 I get letters from some people. They start out like an apostle. Grace, mercy, and peace to you, my esteemed and my beloved brother. And they go on and on and on.

77:56 And it's so phony.

78:00 It's phony. It really is. Now, then they mean well. Sometimes I don't think they mean well because I always jump down to the last paragraph and they're asking for something.

78:09 So they really, they're trying to soften you up. Pastor Clark will say amen to this. He gets lots of letters like that. He knows.

78:17 But seriously now, by full-orbed communication, I mean the sharing of your whole life in Christ. Telling them about family matters. Telling them how the Lord has undertaken in this crisis. Share your disappointments.

78:30 They want to pray for you. And get into the real stuff. Of your concerns. They want to be able to come before the throne of grace.

78:39 And hopefully they'll have the new directories sent on to them as they come out. And as they pray systematically for brothers and sisters whom God brings into the church. Whom they may have never seen. What a lovely thing for you then to write a letter.

78:52 Say, look in the directory you see such and such a name. I'm that person. Maybe send a little picture of yourself. Just give a little biographical sketch of who you are.

79:00 And what your family is. And what your basic concerns are. And assure yourself. Assure them of their prayers.

79:04 Oh dear people, you will never know. Take it upon the word of someone who's just felt it for a matter of weeks. Being severed from you, God's people. How much it is meant when I've arrived at a place and found three or four letters waiting me when I got there.

79:20 When I've been on one of these junkets around the world. And I've opened it up and there's just been that full-orbed communication. Somebody describing the services of the last Lord's day. Someone else telling me who had a baby.

79:33 Someone else telling me who's... Getting married.

79:35 Who's got a ring on the finger. Someone else. All these little tidbits. You know what the scripture says?

79:41 As water to a thirsty man, so is good news from a far country. Oh, renew your commitment. How much time does it take? And if the postage is the problem, we'll have a petty cash for postage for the Hoffmeyers.

79:56 Stuck in a box right at the back of the building in phase two. That's a problem. No. We need to catch the vision of the fact.

80:03 You say, well, who am I? I'm just a member here. Yes, that's right. You're a member of the body.

80:07 And when one member suffers, all suffer with it. When one rejoices, all rejoice. Don't rob them of that spiritual privilege while they're away from us. But I charge you, inundate them with letters.

80:19 Now, don't expect they're going to answer everyone personally. Don't expect that. Don't expect that. Occasionally, they may be able to.

80:27 And don't you bind your conscience to do it. Or you'll get your priorities mixed up. That's our main responsibility. You better write enough that we know what's going on or you're in trouble.

80:36 Don't feel conscience-bound to answer every letter. Don't expect an answer to every letter. And don't have a nose bent when they don't. They've got more important things to do.

80:45 That's your ministry.

80:47 In a sense, you see, we are the parents. And the Scripture says the parents ought to lay up for the children, not the children for the parents. And as we, the parent church, in that sense, send them forth, we want to lay up for them this treasure house of constant, full-orbed communication. Well, that's what I wanted to say.

Conclusion and Benediction

81:06 And I trust the Spirit of God will write it upon our hearts on this blessed, joyous, solemn, and also grief-filled occasion. May the Lord help us that by His grace, we shall have occasion in years to come if the Lord spares us to look back upon this night as a great and significant occasion in the life of Trinity Church. I pray, God, nights like this will be repeated many times in the evening. Years to come.

81:39 Remember, Phase 2 isn't our resting place. It's our launching pad. And from that place, may God thrust out many to the ends of the earth. In a few moments, after we've prayed, Steve and Carol are going to go to the rear of the church so that as you go by, you can greet them.

81:57 Now, please, don't be selfish with their time. Everyone would want an opportunity, I'm sure, to greet them. And be mindful of that as you pass by them. And others, perhaps, would find themselves reluctant to say it in so many words.

82:11 But I know, I have reason to believe, I cannot say I know, but I have reason to believe, Steve and Carol, that we can say that we love you with unfeigned love and thank God upon every remembrance of you and pledge that love, and by God's grace, our faithfulness to the duties incumbent upon us as we send you forth in Christ's name. Let's pray.

82:40 O our Father, we do. Thank you for this blessed evening together, for all that we have heard, for all that we have learned, for all that we have felt of the realities of Christian experience. We thank you. We praise you.

82:58 We worship you. And now, our God, we ask that this night will long be remembered not for the things that will pass, some of the intensity of the emotions of joy and grief, those will pass. Some of them will come back with even greater intensity. But we thank you that the great truths which have formed the framework of our meeting abide and never change.

83:26 Help us then to live, to think, to act, to pray, to give, to write in the light of those biblical duties and in the light of the sufficiency of the grace of Him who said, Lo, I am with you always. Hear us. Receive our praise and go with us in your grace we plead through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.