Portrait of a Minister (1 Timothy 4:6-16)...Continued from page 3

Love led Jesus to come to us. Love of Christ leads us to love others. And love leads us to minister.

And whether you are old or young, eloquent or plain, people will not despise those who come to them in love. We must produce pastors who love. But you also must love Christ and love others in order for them to receive your message.

Here is a fourth and final feature I would draw your attention to in Paul’s portrait.

A minister approved by Christ Jesus is a devoted minister (vv. 13-16).

In the last three verses of this passage, Paul calls Timothy to  “devote yourself,” to “not neglect the gift you have,” to “practice these things, devote yourself to them,” to “keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching,” and finally to “persist in this,” for in doing so you will save yourself and your hearers.

To be called to the ministry is to be called to a life of devotion. Indeed, to be called to be a Christian is to be called to a life of devotion.

We must all be devoted to the Word of God. For the minister, he is to devote himself, as we see here, to the public ministry of the Word, to reading it as well as preaching it. I believe that the minister of the gospel is to be so involved with the public ministry of the Word in worship that nothing in the service goes outside of his purview.

I was the 12th pastor since 1838 when I served at First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. One of my predecessors was Dr. James Fowle. And I have heard, by those who sat under his ministry during the late ’40s all the way through 1968, that he apparently spent as much time working on the pastoral prayer as he did the sermon. Some said he spent as much time on practicing the reading of the Scriptures as he did in preaching them!

But this is an example of what the Bible is saying. We aim to produce ministers who hear this message. In an age where so many want to be entertained, we believe that pastors ought to spend time in the Word and lead worship according to the Word of God. And for all of us, as the people of God, where is our focus in worship? Where is our focus in discipleship? It must be in the Bible. Some bizarre things have come into the church because preachers have given in to the strange, television-influenced cravings of our people. Oh, that God would raise up a generation of Christians who demand the Word of God in worship! Then would our pastors become all the more encouraged in doing what God has called them to d to be devoted to the public reading of the Word of God.