Galen Call's Sermon Library
"Serving God Acceptably - Part 3" - August 10, 1986
It was at the home of Abinadab that the Ark of the Lord was returned after the Philistines had it. It was kept there for a number of years until the time that David felt that it was right to bring the Ark of the Lord to the city of Jerusalem. A great celebration was planned for that occasion. A new cart was made upon which to transport the Ark to the city, how be it that God had said in his word that there were certain men who were to carry it on their shoulders. Nonetheless, a new Ark, a new cart was made to carry the Ark to a new location. After the day came, the two sons of Abinadab, Uzzah, and Ahayo, no relation to the state, escorted the Ark toward its new location. As they arrived at the threshing floor of a man by the name of Obad Edom, the oxen seemed to stumble, the cart jilted, and it appeared as though the Ark of the Lord was going to fall to the ground. Uzzah, feeling some responsibility to get the Ark there safely because it had been kept in his father's house and undoubtedly out of a sincere desire to serve the Lord, reached up with his hands to hold the Ark onto the cart. And the word of God says, "And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence, and he died." Uzzah was sincere in what he did in serving God. He was afraid the Ark was going to be damaged. He wanted to prevent that. All he did was to reach out with his hand to prevent the Ark from falling, and God killed him just like that. That seems like a strange event, doesn't it? It seems as though that is a different God than the God of the New Testament. Perhaps that is because we don't have a very balanced view of God. It is possible to serve the Lord and even be sincere about it, and yet to serve him in such a way that he is not pleased. Understanding what it means to serve God in an acceptable way to him is vitally important for all of us. That is the theme of 2 Timothy chapters 1 and 2, serving acceptably. Verse 3 and 4 deal with serving expectantly. We will get to those chapters later. But today our text begins with the second chapter of 2 Timothy. In chapter 1 in our study, we observe that there are certain essentials, seven of them in number, suggested as preconditions for serving the Lord acceptably. They are a genuine faith, verse 5, a clear conscience, verse 3, a fervent zeal, verse 6, a bold spirit, verse 7, a willing identification with the gospel, and with those who suffer for it, verses 8 through 11, a confident expectation in Christ's power to eternally keep us, verse 12. And finally, a true loyalty, verses 13 through 18, a loyalty to the Word of God and to the servant of God, especially to the one who is under attack, in this case the Apostle Paul. That brings us to chapter 2. We must not be fooled into thinking that serving God is something that can be shoddily done or carelessly, half-heartedly attempted. Serving God calls for the very best that you have and that you are. It calls for hardship, discipline, single-mindedness, faithfulness. But for all of the cost, it's worth it. One has said that serving the Lord costs, but not serving the Lord costs even more, and He was right. For the one who serves the Lord in an acceptable way, there is eternal glory promised and reigning with Christ. You and I are not left, thank God, to serving the Lord in our own strength, for our own strength quickly fails the test. That is why the Apostle begins where he does in verse 1 in the second chapter. You therefore, my son, be strong in little grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. For hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, no soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who has enlisted him as a soldier. And also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. Consider why I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended of David according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to imprisonment as a criminal. But the word of God is not imprisoned. For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, and with it eternal glory. It is a trustworthy statement, for if we died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Our Heavenly Father, we would today consider what the apostle has written by the inspiration of the Spirit. We have the promise here in this text that you will give us understanding in everything. And so we claim that promise and we ask that you would teach our hearts and bring us to the place of complete obedience in our lives, so that we may indeed serve you acceptably. Amen. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The grace in Christ Jesus certainly includes the power and the gifts of the Holy Spirit who is imparted to us. We are not expected to serve the Lord in our own feeble strength. But we have available to us through the Holy Spirit, the very grace of Jesus Christ, so that we may buy that grace and by that strength serve God acceptably. Now in chapter 2, there are seven illustrations or pictures that show us what it means to serve God acceptably. These paint helpful images on the canvas of our minds, giving a clear understanding of what's involved in serving God in a way that he finds pleasing and acceptable. Be strong through the grace of Christ, says the word of God, because serving God acceptably means being a steward, a soldier, an athlete, a farmer, a laborer, a vessel, and a slave. That is an outline for our study today and next Lord's day, the Lord willing. Be strong in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ because serving Him means in the first place being a steward, verse 2. A steward was one in that day responsible for the affairs of another. Those who were wealthy employed such people as administrators of their estates. The most important qualification without a doubt of a steward was that a man befound what? Faithful. Right. Second Corinthians 4, 2. To be found faithful to Jesus Christ, He had to be trustworthy and reliable of a proven character. Their sight was entrusted to such people as this, such proven individuals who could be trusted. Abraham selected Eliezer as his steward. To this, the oldest of his servants, Abraham even committed the responsibility of finding his son Isaac, a wife. And that Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt but eventually became the steward of Potiphar because of his trustworthy character. You see a steward was a most responsible and honorable position. The fact that the Bible suggests that God is called us to be stewards means that God has called us to a responsible, trustworthy position. To the Apostle Paul in our text, God had entrusted the gospel of Christ. Paul then had given that truth of the gospel to Timothy. Back in chapter 1 verse 13, he says to this young man, "Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me." In the verse 14, he says, "Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you." So you see the process God had given to the Apostle Paul the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that treasure. Paul in turn had passed it on to Timothy and now Paul writes to Timothy and he suggests to him that he too is a steward and he says, "Now you pass that on to others who are competent, who are trustworthy, who are proven so that they in turn can pass it on to yet others who can do the same thing." This is a key verse in the New Testament on discipleship. It is what is called the ministry of multiplication. It is God's way of propagating the gospel of Christ to each new generation in the world. We must see ourselves as stewards of what God has given to us. To whom are you passing on the truth that has been committed to you? For wherever you are today in your spiritual walk and understanding, someone has entrusted to you spiritual truth, a pastor, a Sunday school teacher, a discipler, a friend, a co-worker. Spiritual truth has been entrusted to your care. Now the Word of God says to each of us, "Pass it on to others and encourage them to do the same to pass it on to yet others, who will do the same and pass it on to yet others." You see, that is the work of a steward. We are told, yes, to guard the gospel, chapter 1, verse 14, but our guarding the gospel is not to be like the bank guard, who is sure that the money is kept safe in the vault and stands there to protect it, to keep it from being taken. The guarding we are to do is more like the employee of the water department who is to guard the water system. That doesn't mean that he keeps it dammed up in the reservoir. It means that as that water passes through his care, he guards to make sure that the water has not been contaminated in some way, that is still pure and fit to drink. So you and I are to guard the gospel in the sense that as it passes through our lives to other people, we guard it from impurities. But the point is that it's passed on, you see, we're stewards of it. You and I are stewards of all that God has given us. We are stewards not only the gospel and spiritual truth, we are stewards of the spiritual gifts God has given us. We are stewards of our financial and other kinds of resources. We are stewards of our reputation. We are stewards of our families. Folks, if we are going to serve God acceptably, we have to see ourselves as stewards. Those that God has called as responsible and trustworthy. We are to oversee what God has given to us and pass it on to others and use it wisely. So the one day when we stand before our Lord and give account, he may say to us, "Well done, thou good and faithful steward." So we must see ourselves as stewards and serve God in the grace of Christ. But we must also see ourselves as soldiers versus three and four. A good soldier suffers hardship, it's not easy to be a soldier. He faces the hardship not only the elements, but the enemy of course, for his soldiers in a fight for his life. Our battlefield is in the spiritual realm. The Bible calls it the heavenlies. And I recognize that the battle overflows into the world around us into our circumstances. But look, never forget that the battle is not with flesh and blood. The heart of the battle is not with people, with tangible things. The heart of the battle, folks, is in the spiritual realm. Remember that. It's in the realm where Satan is, it's the invisible but very real realm of the Spirit. That is our battlefield. Satan is our adversary. He uses all of his weapons against us. Those would include direct demonic attack. They would also include the deceitfulness of our own indwelling sin, which he uses to blind us and deceive us. His weapons include the various lusts of the world system, which John describes in the second chapter of his first epistle. Every day that you wake up, you are on a battlefield. You are a soldier. You must see yourself that way. A good soldier, above all, must be disciplined. He must be alert to danger while he is on duty. Now of a soldier in our national army, we can say that there are times he is not on duty. There are times even when he's on leave. But that is not true of the Christian soldier. We are always on duty. There is not a moment of our hours when we are not on duty and responsible to fight as soldiers of Jesus Christ, and we must be on the alert. Now the specific warning in the text is found in verse 4, where he warns us about entangling ourselves in the affairs of everyday life. That last phrase is a very interesting one, and it comes from a Greek word that says in the English, "pragmatics." That's the greatest danger to the Christian soldier, is the pragmatics of everyday living, the routines that we go through. You see we get so caught up in our busy schedules, our social calendars, our financial pressures, our personal problems, our people conflicts, goal pursuits, demands of circumstances, et cetera, et cetera. We get so caught up in these pragmatics of everyday life that we forget that we are primarily soldiers of Jesus Christ, and we have an enemy to fight on the battlefield. We get entangled in these things, and we lose our priorities. The soldier must seek to please his commander. The soldier does not have to please the public. He does not have to please his other soldiers with whom he works. The one he has to please is his commander, and so it is with us. Jesus Christ is the one who has enlisted us into his army. We are to focus upon what he says to us and beware of the entanglements of everyday life. Now we have to face them, we have to live through them. That's part of living. We have all these pressures and circumstances, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam. I mean, we all do. But the point is, folks, don't get entangled in these things so that you focus on them and lose sight of what God has called you to be, a soldier for Jesus Christ. If you and I are going to serve God acceptably, we have to see ourselves in that role. We have been enlisted by Christ to fight for his cause in the world, and we must serve him with the singleness of mind and of purpose that is a soldier's. If we would serve Jesus Christ acceptably, we must see ourselves as stewards and as soldiers. Thirdly, as athletes in verse five. Now there are some of us who would like to think of ourselves as athletes. There are others of us that shy away from the word. The point is not whether you're an athlete in this world in a physical sense. The point is this. You are an athlete as far as God is concerned. God calls you an athlete as word. And the real heart of this verse, verse five, is that there is a prize to be won at the end of the race. I have never met an athlete who's in it just for the pain. An athlete is in there to win the game, to receive the trophy or the ribbon, or to have his name listed 640th in the results on the marathon. At least his name is there you see. An athlete is not in it just for the pain, he's in there for what he's going to receive from it, albeit even small. God has given us an incentive as athletes. He says there is a reward at the finish line. Now don't you think for a moment that it's unspiritual to think that way? God himself tells us about it. It is right for us to think about rewards and about serving God and having that incentive to receive the reward from the Lord. The reward here is a crown. Word is Stephanos which refers to the wreath, usually a green that was given to those Greek Roman athletes, sometimes there was a wreath of gold leaf. The point is that it's that kind of a crown, a Stephanos, a wreath. God is going to give to us. God has a reward system of some kind, and some days going to give rewards to his athletes. Now to win, an athlete has to keep the rules, that's what the verse says. He doesn't get the prize unless he competes according to the rules. I was watching my nephew play in Little League a couple of weeks ago. There was one of his team members on third base who decided to try to steal home, a noble venture, however unsuccessful. As he got between third base and home, someone threw the ball to the catcher and the catcher was standing right there in the base line to get him. And this little guy had it figured out, he ran about 15 yards around the catcher and got over to home base. He got there, all right, but it didn't count because you see the rule is you have to stay in the base lines. There are not rewards unless we obey the rules of the game. What are the rules of the game as far as we're concerned? Let me suggest to you, just for them, unless we obey these rules, folks, we will not be rewarded as God's athletes, there will be no crown. The first rule is a clean lifestyle, separated from worldliness and impurity. I understand as much as you do the pressures in the ungodly and filthy society around us. We all face the same temptations in our world and our culture, but I want you to know something. Jesus Christ has called us to be athletes. We have to see ourselves as athletes. And unless we obey this rule in the game, there's no prize at the end of the race. This rule is that we separate ourselves from ungodliness, that we keep our lifestyles clean and pure and godly. God has called us to holiness, and I recognize that we all sin. And God has given us a wonderful remedy for that, it's called confession. Confession in the claiming of His forgiveness for our sins. It's called self-judgment in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, where we judge ourselves and confess our sins to God. Then we go on in the race. So the point here I'm trying to make is not that we must be sinless, but it's that the bent of our lives must be toward purity, toward being clean people in our lifestyle. And then dealing with our sins, as God tells us to. Secondly, another rule, we must have a heart of agape love. A heart that constrains us, even to sacrificial acts of kindness toward others. I want to tell you, unless we obey that rule, there is no prize at the end of the race. Unless we are constrained by the love of Christ to serve others at our own expense and cost, we have become disqualified, a third rule, humility of heart. God will not reward the arrogant, those who work for themselves and both of themselves. We must be those who obey the rule of humility. We must be those who are willing to be a servant, and who will say, "Whatever needs to be done, I will do it. I don't care if I get applause for it, I don't care if I'm recognized, I just want to serve the Lord." Boy, when we keep in the baselines of that rule, God moves us right on to the finish, and we receive the reward. And then a fourth rule I'd like to suggest is that we must keep proclaiming the truth of the gospel. We are not called to proclaim man-created doctrines or our own personal ideas or opinions about things in the world, social issues, et cetera, et cetera. One of the rules that we must realize as a part of our race is that we keep in the truth of God's Word, that becomes the focus of our proclamation, our sharing with other people. Those are the rules. Many of us are devoted to athletics. I want to ask you a question. Is your devotion to serving Jesus Christ as great as your devotion to athletics? Are you as faithful in serving the Lord Jesus Christ and being in worship with His people as you are, being at the ballgame or in the bowling team that you're a part of? Are you as concerned about serving the Lord as you are seeing that ballgame this afternoon on television? If we are more devoted as earthly athletes and spectators of athletics than we are devoted as Christian athletes who are disciplined in the rules of our race, then we will never receive the reward of the crown at the finish line. May God give us the same kind of devotion and discipline in our race as Christian athletes as we would have in our earthly athletics, see yourself today as an athlete with God-given rules to be kept in a disciplined lifestyle. And finally, I would urge you this morning to see yourself as a farmer, verse 6. If we would serve Jesus Christ acceptably, we must see ourselves as farmers. The emphasis in verse 6 grammatically is on hard working. The contrast is to the lazy farmer. He says, "The hard working farmer," that's the kind of a farmer were to be. I'll tell you a farmer's work hard. There's no one that works harder than a farmer who toils in the soil. Let us never think that our service for Jesus Christ is going to be any easier than farming. Serving Jesus Christ is hard work. I mean, that's the bottom line, folks. There are no easy roles in serving Christ. We are all farmers, whether we're teaching a Sunday school class or witnessing to a co-worker cleaning up after a social, welcoming newcomers into the church, working with teenagers, counseling, troubled people, serving as a flocks leader, discipling a new convert, passing out a tract, whatever we do, whatever we do in serving the Lord, it's going to be hard work. We have to realize that. It's not going to be easy. God didn't say it would be easy. He just said that if we work hard, it'll be worth it. Because as in a couple of the other pictures, the farmer who works hard eventually sees the produce of his efforts, if you would serve Jesus Christ acceptably, you must see yourself as a farmer who is called to work hard, work hard in your service for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul concludes or continues rather with two examples and two encouragements in verses 7 through 13. When it comes to serving the Lord, there is no greater example than the servant, capital S of the Lord Jesus Christ, so he says remember Jesus Christ. You want to talk about one who is disciplined? You want to talk about one who is devoted? You want to talk about one who is determined and faithful? You want to talk about one who gave himself even to death for our sins? Remember Jesus Christ. You want to remember that it's worth it to serve the Lord God? Remember Jesus Christ, who has now exalted to his Father's right hand and seated on a throne of eternal glory. You want an example of working hard, of serving Christ, being devoted and disciplined, suffering? Think of the Apostle Paul, the second example. Who suffered hardship, even as one who had committed a crime, though he was innocent. Paul wasn't down in the mouth about it, he wasn't depressed and discouraged, even his friends had left him. Paul was rejoicing because, as he says in the last part of verse 9, the word of God is not imprisoned and that brings us to the first of the two encouragements. The first encouragement I see in this text is this, that opposition and suffering do not hinder the purposes of God or the word of God. I don't care how much opposition you face and you're serving Jesus Christ or how much suffering you may have to go through. Someday some of you may lay down your lives and pour out your blood on a mission field somewhere as a martyr. Whatever the cost is in serving Jesus Christ, whatever your personal opposition is, whatever suffering you face, remember the word of God is not limited by that. And though you may pay the supreme price even as Paul was about to, the word of God will go right on and God's purposes will be accomplished, the salvation of his people. Now, the second encouragement I see is this, and I've already alluded to it. It is that glory and reward await those who serve Christ faithfully. He mentions the eternal glory that comes with our salvation in verse 10, verses 11, 12, and 13 record what was probably an early hymn of the church. But the point is this, that if we serve the Lord faithfully, we will reign with Him. We will be rewarded with eternal glory with Christ if we serve Him acceptably. I don't want you to go away from here this morning confusing two very different issues. One is the reward that I've talked about for service, and the other is the gift of salvation. The gift of salvation, my friend, is available to you today, to all of us. For the Lord Jesus Christ offered up His life, shed His precious blood for sins. He was raised from the dead gloriously, and He is alive today and able to save everyone who will come to Him. That is a gift. It has nothing to do with our works, for by grace you've been saved, not of works. If you have never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, I call upon you today to trust Him, to receive Him into your heart, to believe that He died for your sins. Make Him the Lord of your life. But there's a second issue that I've been speaking to primarily, and that is our service, that there is a reward for those who serve the Lord, not just sincerely. Just that, Azah was sincere, but he was careless, and in a moment lost his life because he was careless. God had said, "Don't touch these holy things," but he touched it and he died. To serve Christ acceptably means being a disciple and discipling others, passing on what God's given us. It means being wholeheartedly devoted to Jesus Christ, just like a soldier. It means being disciplined, like an athlete, to avoid disqualification in the race, in a moment of carelessness and thoughtlessness. It means being diligent and working hard like a farmer. When we serve Jesus Christ acceptably, God counts us as a successful person, a child who's going to receive a reward at His hands. And there's nothing that God delights to do more than to reward His faithful servants. That is the greatest joy of God's heart, and God wants every one of us to be successful in our serving Christ. That's how we do it. That's why we're talking about this. I believe that's why, in part at least, 2 Timothy chapter 2 was written. Let's see ourselves as God sees us and serve Him acceptably. Let's bow together. Would you sing with me? I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. Do you mean that my friend, do you mean it even if no one else will do it? No one else in your family, no one else in your office, no one else in your small church. Even if you're the only one, will you serve the Lord the way we've talked about this morning? Oh, no one join me, still I will follow. Oh, no one join me, still I will follow. No, no one join me, still I will follow, no turning back, no turning back. I can guarantee you that if you mean that, if you're serious about serving the Lord in the way that pleases Him, Satan is going to fight, and all of his weapons are going to be focused on you, but my friend be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and though all the world be against you, recognize that it's behind you, the cross of Christ is before you, and don't turn back. The world behind me, the cross before me, the world behind me, the cross before me, the world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back, no turning back. Lord I pray that we may serve you acceptably as faithful stewards, as devoted soldiers, disciplined athletes, hard-working and diligent farmers, so the one day we may hear your words to us at the judgment seat, well done, good and faithful steward, amen. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]