Well, good morning, everyone. I trust you can understand the accent. You've had some practice, and I hope your ear has tuned in. It's a real privilege for me to be invited to speak at this induction service. I was told that it's not so common in America, and I would like to thank the elders for indulging me and the family and allowing us, inviting us to come and to participate in this service to mark the commencement of Andrew's ministry. It gave us a wonderful excuse to come and meet you, the church, to be reunited with Andrew and Sarah and our three beloved grandchildren, Ian, Issy, and Isla, and just to see the context in which Andrew will minister.
You know, Andrew, when he was five, we were visiting in Australia, and we were walking just at the Sydney Opera House, and he turned to me and to his mom, and he said, I think God's calling me to be a pastor. And sort of all kinds of thoughts goes through your mind, like a childish sort of ambition following in his father's footsteps. And I said, well, you know, you must be absolutely sure that God has called you to be a pastor. And then I thought for a moment, and I thought, well, that's true of every aspect of life. And I said, you know, whatever God calls you to do, Andrew, in life, you've got to be absolutely sure that he has called you to that. And that was fine, and about 15 minutes later, he turned to his mum and he said, "Mum, did God call you to do nothing?" He really hadn't reached that point and that place where he appreciated the high calling of motherhood. I think he's reached that point now, but he never deviated and he never moved from that conviction. In fact, during his teenage years, I spent most of my time trying to hold him back from stepping in prematurely into the Lord's work.
Because the Christian ministry is hard and it's difficult, and you have got to know that you are called to that work. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that the Christian ministry is the highest and greatest calling to which any man can ever be called. And that is true, but it is also a difficult calling. And at times you are left exasperated and exhausted and perhaps tempted to question the very reason or the authenticity of the call that you have received in the first place. And for that reason, I want to turn you to the words that Danny read to us in 2 Timothy chapter 2. And here Paul writes to Timothy and he says:
"Remember Jesus Christ."
What a strange thing to say to any Christian, but it's all the more remarkable when you remember that Timothy was a pastor engaged in ministry, “remember Jesus Christ.” How could he possibly forget Jesus Christ, the one who was the subject and substance of Timothy's ministry? It was Jesus Christ that Timothy expounded and explained week by week. It was Jesus Christ that he set forth in that vast metropolis of Ephesus as the only remedy for man's condition and the only way that men and women and boys and girls can be reconciled to a holy God. “Remember Jesus Christ.”
How superfluous, how ridiculous, how unnecessary. Paul, Timothy's a pastor, he's a preacher, he's an evangelist, he's a missionary, how could he ever forget the one who was the great raison d'etre for his ministry? But Paul is asking for more than a recollection of memory. He's asking for more than a focus for ministry. He is calling Timothy to remember Jesus Christ, who is the one that is the great inspiration and motivation for ministry.
“Remember Jesus Christ.” It's a rally call. It's a battle cry. It's a call to arms, a call that is intended to inspire and motivate Timothy in the work that God has called him to. Remember the Alamo. Remember Jesus Christ. He Himself is our motivation and inspiration for the work that He calls us to.
The apostle Paul himself had been arrested after a great persecution had broken out against the church. He is charged with treason. By the time he wrote 2 Timothy, Paul had stood trial. He had been found guilty and sentenced to death, and he was waiting for the execution to take place. He concludes his letter, which was his last letter that he ever wrote, with the words, “for I'm already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.”
Added to that, many of the professing Christians had turned away or turned back and tried to put some distance between themselves and the apostle Paul, indeed between themselves and the church of Jesus Christ. And so, Paul writes to his young protege, his fellow worker, who we know was somewhat timid and had a retiring disposition, who John Stott described as one more disposed to lean than to lead. And he seeks to motivate him and to encourage him to remain resolute in the face of this growing opposition. “Remember Jesus Christ,” he says. Now is not the time for hesitation. Now is not the time to pull back and to soft pedal. It's a time for courage, for perseverance and advance. “Remember Jesus Christ,” that He is the great motivation for ministry and the great motivation in ministry. “Remember Jesus Christ.”
Now, Paul encourages Timothy to remember Jesus Christ in three ways, and that these three things provide the motivation in Christian service. Remember His person, remember His purposes, and remember the principle. So first of all, remember His person. Remember, he says, who you serve. Look at verse 8:
“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and descended from David, the offspring of David.”
“Remember Jesus Christ,” remember that He is the Messiah, the one who was promised on the pages of the Old Testament, God's anointed prophet. But remember Him in two particular ways, he says. Remember that He is risen from the dead, and that He's descended from David. He's the offspring of David. That He is risen and that He is the offspring of David.
In the first statement, Paul uses the perfect tense, a tense that implies a past action with a continual lasting significance. Paul is not simply saying, remember the actual historical event of the resurrection. He is saying that, but he's saying more than that. He is saying, remember Jesus Christ did rise and remains risen forever. He is not here; the angels told those early disciples. He is not here. He is risen, and He lives in a continual, perpetual state of resurrection. As the writer to the Hebrews says, He lives in the power of an endless life. Remember Jesus Christ. He's alive, Timothy. He is risen. He's not a dead Savior who has been left in a tomb outside Jerusalem, but He is alive, and He has ascended into heaven, and He lives in a continual state of resurrection. Remember that you serve a risen Savior. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.
And then the other phrase is the offspring of David. Not only remember His resurrection, says Paul, but remember that He is the offspring of David. Now, why does he put these two things in this order? If we were writing this, we probably would flip the order. The offspring of David, the inheritor of the promises that were given in the Old Testament to David about that he would have a son who would reign on his throne forever and ever, we would expect that first. In the incarnation, He came as David's greater son, and then His future resurrection. But that's not the order. Although the authorized version does change that order, but the order in the original is, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David. He is the inheritor of the promises made to David, that He would be the great King and would rule over all. Do you remember the words of the angel to Mary? He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord will give him the throne of His father David and He will reign over the house of Jacob and His kingdom will know no end. That He is raised, that He ascended into heaven, and He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, and He now reigns in the power of an endless life. Do you see the reason for Paul's order? Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David. He is risen and He reigns. He reigns over all. He's alive and He rules over all. That's the point that he's making.
Remember when I was a 12-year-old boy, I was walking home from school one day along the side of the railway station with the hoarding of the station on the side of this path, and people had used it for street art and graffiti, some, I suppose, wonderful and not so wonderful art, and I found half a can of spray paint. So, I decided to graffiti myself. And I graffitied these words, Steven Curry rules okay. Steven Curry rules okay. Now, can I give you a bit of advice? If you're going to graffiti, don't graffiti on a place where your older sister will pass when walking home from school, and don't put your name in it. Because I tell you, that night, the seat of authority didn't lie with me because I couldn't sit down when she informed my dad. Steven Curry rules, okay, how pathetic, how empty, how hollow a claim for a 12-year-old boy to make.
But Paul writes to Timothy and he says, Jesus Christ rules. And it's okay. He rules. He is risen from the dead. He's alive, says Paul. And He reigns over all. He is the offspring of David. So, to this discouraged pastor, Paul writes to him, and he says, remember His person. Remember who it is you serve. He is risen, and He reigns.
Secondly, he says, remember His purposes. Paul, in these verses that follow, unpacks the implications of what he has just said about Jesus Christ, that He is risen and that He reigns, that his purposes are being executed and fulfilled in the world. Look at what he says there in verse 10:
"As preached in my gospel for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory."
“Remember Jesus Christ,” remember His person, remember He is risen and reigning, and remember that as He reigns, He is working out His plans and purposes in the world, that His purpose is being executed, that His purposes are unstoppable and will be fulfilled in the world in which we live, that David's greater son is accomplishing the purposes of the Savior in the world, that God's Word cannot be hindered or stopped. Look at verse nine again:
“I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound.”
I may be in prison, says Paul. I may be restricted in my activity and hindered in my ministry, but the word of God is not bound. You can't thwart or obstruct or resist the effectiveness of the Word of God in the world, he says. Christ is risen and reigning.
Andrew Melville was one of the early reformers in Scotland. He trained under Calvin in Geneva, and he became Dean of St. Mary's at St. Andrew's in Scotland. And he was once brought before the King's representative who said, “there will never be quietness in this country until half a dozen of you be burned or banished from the land.” To which Andrew Melville replied, “Haud yer wheesht,” it's an old Scottish word, “haud yer wheesht, it does not lie in your power to hang or exile the truth. You can imprison a preacher, but you can never imprison the word that he preaches.”
At one time in the early church in Rome, the church literally became the underground church in catacombs. They dug 600 miles of catacombs under Rome over a period of 300 years. And again and again, this is the verse that was etched into the walls of those catechisms, the Word of God is not bound. Christ is risen, and He is reigning, and His purposes are being fulfilled in the world. Look at what He says there in verse 10:
“Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they also might obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”
Even when it came to salvation itself, Paul was absolutely convinced that Christ reigned and that God's purposes would be fulfilled and the elect would obtain the salvation that God had prepared for them. Paul is absolutely convinced that the purposes of God would be fulfilled and that God's Word would advance and the church of Jesus Christ would be built. But he's saying more than that. He is saying that even through his suffering and his imprisonment that God is at work. He says, “for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, the Word of God is not bound, therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect.” That even in his imprisonment, the work of God was advancing through that difficulty and through that hardship in order that the gospel might advance. It's a bit like what Paul says in Philippians, I want you to know that all that has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, and in all the trials and tribulations that come into the life of a church, that God is at work, that God is overruling in order to accomplish His purposes, that the work of God might go forward, that His purposes will be fulfilled, that He is risen and that he reigns.
A few years ago, a friend of mine was watching a rugby match on television between Ireland and England, and there's great rivalry in rugby, particularly between Ireland and England. And he was watching this match, but his confidence in Ireland never waned. So, when Ireland scored, he cheered. When England scored, he booed. But his confidence was never diminished in the final outcome of the match. Do you know why? Because it was prerecorded. He knew the final score. Well, we know the final score. I don't believe that prophecy is a continuing gift in the church today, but I'm going to make a prophecy this morning. Do you know what it is? The Lamb wins. That's the prophecy. That the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. That He will build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. That before His throne will be a people from every tribe and nation and people and language. The Lamb wins, the purposes of God are being executed and fulfilled in the world.
So, to this discouraged pastor, he says, remember His person. He has risen and He is reigning. Remember His purposes, that His purposes cannot be thwarted, that they're being accomplished in the world. God's Word is not bound, that the elect shall be saved, he says. And then thirdly, and lastly, remember the principle. After making this great statement about the person of Jesus Christ, remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead, the offspring of David, and then showing how that reign is being worked out in the world, he draws an example from his own life. He closes this section by highlighting the principle in Christ's resurrection and reign. And he does that by quoting either from an early Christian hymn or one of those sanctified clichés, nuggets of truth that circulated in the early church. You have it there in verse 11 and 12:
“The saying is trustworthy and true, for if we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful.”
This saying is true, he says. Paul makes four statements, two of which are positive and two of which are negative. I think verse 13 needs to be taken negatively because that's the context and the flow of the language, although often Christians misquote that. If we are faithless, he will remain faithful. It means faithful to His promises, faithful to His decrees, faithful to His determination to punish unfaithfulness. Now, those four statements correspond to what he has just said in verse 8. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David. He is risen and He reigns. Now, notice verse 11. If we have died, we will live with Him. Okay? Resurrection. If we endure, we will reign with Him. Reigning. Do you see the connection? Don't miss it. He is risen and reigning, and if we die, we will live, and if we endure, we will reign. Do you see the principle, do you see the paradigm established here by Paul? That Christ suffered and died, but now He lives, He endured and persevered, and now He reigns as the offspring of David. And here is the punchline, if we die, we will live if we endure, we will reign. That death gives way to resurrection and endurance gives way to reigning and glory. It's the universal Christian principle, no gains without pains and no crown without a cross.
“Remember Jesus Christ.” Remember that His death gave way to life and His endurance gave way to reign. That's the principle that Paul is highlighting, that we are called to sacrifice, to self-denial, to crucifixion, which will give way to resurrection, and we are called to perseverance and endurance, which will give way to reign. That self-denial will give way to resurrection and reign to life and glory.
Now, the word died there, if you just notice it, in verse 11, is the past tense. Some commentators think that Paul is speaking about his impending death, his martyrdom, but it is the aorist tense, it's the past tense. It's something that has happened in the past. The death in verse 11 refers not to the apostle Paul's future death, but his past death. Death to self, death to self-interest, self-promotion, self-preservation, self-centeredness, to self-importance, and to self-service. That we are called to sacrifice, to self-denial, and to crucifixion. Jesus said, if anyone comes after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. The Christian is called upon by our Lord to live a life of radical self-denial, to die to self.
When the early Methodist missionary James Calvert arrived in Fiji in the 19th century, the captain of the ship tried to prevent him from going ashore. And he said, you'll lose your life. Stay on board the ship and come to Australia with us. You're going to die, he says, to which Calvert replied, we died before we came here. In these verses, the apostle Paul describes the Christian life as a life of dying and enduring, of confessing rather than dying, of faith rather than faithlessness. But he says, and this is the principle, that dying and enduring will give way to life and to glory, to resurrection and reign. He is lifting the eyes of timorous Timothy, this pressurized pastor, this reluctant elder, this disheartened church member, and he's focusing them on the glory to come, “remember Jesus Christ,” that all His rejection and humiliation, His suffering and crucifixion, His death and sacrifice gave way to resurrection and reign from the dead the offspring of David.
And likewise, our dying to self, our sacrificial service, our ministerial commitment will one day give way to resurrection and reign. That's a crucially important lesson that we see in our Lord Jesus, but worked out in the life of the Apostle Paul. Christian work, church work, pastoral work, pastoral ministry is hard work, the Lord's service is difficult at times. And sometimes when people let us down and we find ourselves stretched and wondering where God is in it all, we need to remind ourselves of the glory that is yet to come, that our suffering gives way to resurrection and to reign.
I love that story about the retired missionary couple that were coming home from a lifetime of service in Africa on board the ship at the beginning of the 20th century, and Teddy Roosevelt was on that same ship, and he had been out on a big game hunt in Africa. And when the ship docked in New York, there was a band playing, there were flags waving, the crowd was cheering to welcome home the president, but there was nobody there to welcome the returning missionaries. The church had forgot the day that they were to return, and so they had to get a taxi uptown in order to locate a hotel and try and ring the church or make contact with the church. And the wife looked over at her husband, and she saw tears coming down his cheeks. And she said, what's the matter? And he says, it just doesn't seem right. Here we have been serving the Lord for 40 years in Africa, self-sacrificing our goals and our ambitions for the cause of the kingdom, and Teddy Roosevelt comes back after shooting elephants in Africa after six weeks. It just doesn't seem right that we have arrived home and there's nobody to welcome us home. She reached over and she touched his leg and she looked at him directly and she said, we're not home yet. We're not home yet, there's resurrection, and there's reigning. And I think sometimes in our difficulties, in the pressures, in the hardship of serving the Lord, whether that's a church member, an elder, or a pastor, when we're tempted to give in, we've got to think of the glory that's yet to come. Will the Lord Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, how did He endure the cross? He was looking beyond the cross to the glorious fruit of the cross, the blessedness that would come from the cross of sitting down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
Samuel Rutherford thought he was dying, and he took longer to die than he actually thought, and he started to compose this poetry that went into hundreds of verses because he didn't die when he thought he was going to die.
“The bride eyes not her garment,
but her dear bridegroom's face.
I will not gaze at glory,
but on my King of grace.
Not at the crown he giveth,
but on his pierced hand.
The lamb is all the glory
in Emmanuel's land."
Isn't that beautiful? Here we are through many dangers, toils, and snares, and we finally arrive safely into heaven, and He reaches out the crown with those words, well done, good and faithful servant, but our eyes aren't on the crown. In fact, we take that crown, and we don't put it on our heads, we throw it at His feet, because all glory is due to His great name, but our eyes are in the hand, on the near pierced hand, and perhaps for the first time we'll appreciate the magnitude of his love for us.
He ministered in a place called Anwoth in Scotland, Samuel Rutherford, by the Solway River, and one of those verses, which we never sing, and rightly so, is:
“Fair Anwoth by the Solway,
thou art dear to me,
in from the verge of Jordan
I dropped for thee a tear.
Oh, if one soul from Antwerth
would meet me at God's right hand,
my heaven would be two heavens
in Emmanuel's land.”
“Oh, if one soul from Trinity,
would meet me at God's right hand.
My heaven would be two heavens
in Emmanuel's land.
Oh, if one soul from Dallas,
from the Sunday school,
from the children's work,
would meet me at God's right hand,
my heaven would be two heavens
in Emmanuel's land.”
Sir Montague Dyke was the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland during Prime Minister Disraeli's government. His son was involved in an accident when he was four or five that left him blind. And when he grew up, he met a girl, he fell in love, proposed, and she agreed to marry him. And about six months before the marriage, a surgeon came to Montague Dyke and said, “you know, there's a new operation that's just been pioneered, and I think I could, through this operation, restore your son's sight.” So, the operation happened, and on the wedding, he was still wearing the bandages from the operation. And so, his bride came up the aisle and stood beside him. And just before they were making their vows, the surgeon came forward and clipped the bandages and removed them from his eyes. And he looked at his bride and he said, she's even more beautiful than I imagined. Well, we're going to see Jesus, and He's even more beautiful than you can imagine, even more beautiful.
Martin Luther said, “I would not give up one minute in heaven for all the pleasures and excitement of this life, even if those pleasures lasted a thousand years.” When you're discouraged, when you feel like throwing in the towel, when you feel like giving up, “remember Jesus Christ,” risen from the dead, the offspring of David. He's alive, and He reigns. His purposes are being executed in the world and one day our crucifixion, our suffering will give way likewise to resurrection and reign. We're going to see Jesus. We're going to see our King. What an incentive. You fed up? You feel like throwing in the towel? You feel like abandoning your faith? Remember His person, risen from the dead, the offspring of David. He is raised and He reigns. Remember His purposes. His purposes will be fulfilled in the world in spite of what happens, in spite of the setbacks. His church goes marching on. Brown's body may be molding in the grave, but his truth goes marching on. And remember the principle that if we die, we will be raised, and if we endure, we will reign. May God bless His Word to all our hearts. Amen.
Let's pray.
[Prayer] Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word, we thank You for the encouragement of it, and we do pray that You would help us to remember Jesus Christ and all that He has accomplished for us, and that He is risen and that He reigns and will reign forevermore. Amen. [End]
