Making Disciples for a Lifetime: The Convictions that Uphold an Enduring Ministry

Making Disciples for a Lifetime: The Convictions that Uphold an Enduring Ministry

John MacArthur, D.D., Litt.D.

When the Apostle Paul came to the end of his ministry, he said that “I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:6–7). It was a triumphant end to his ministry. He was standing on the summit of loyalty to Christ. He was bloody but unbowed— triumphant and victorious. But what is amazing about this moment of jubilation as Paul awaited his own execution is that there were no crowds hailing his achievements. In fact, earlier in 2 Timothy, he stated that all in Asia had deserted him. Many had deserted Paul in his ministry while faithful partners were elsewhere in the world ministering. Of all Paul’s decades-long group of ministry companions, only Luke was with him in these final days. Though expressing victory, there is a note of sadness to this. He finished strong, well, and victorious—but not because of faithful supportive friends, not because he had a strong accountability group, and not because of a mass of loyal followers who loved him deeply and infused courage into him. Paul stood alone, and what held him up were his convictions, certainties about his ministry that gave him endurance, joy, and hope. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul reveals his inner certainties that made him a faithful, enduring soldier of the cross.

The first certainty is the superiority of the New Covenant

Paul begins chapter 4 by referring back to chapter 3 as one of the reasons he does not lose heart in the ministry. Paul had written of the superior nature of the New Covenant as one who had never really lost his wonder over the glories of the New Covenant. He was a Pharisee, a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He had maintained all the expected traditions and was virtually blameless before the law as far as people can see. He cared for every Jewish expectation and was fastidious about all things of the law. But his heart had been empty, as he confessed in Philippians chapter 3. All of his credentials, traditions, and self-righteous standards ultimately became rubbish to him when he met Christ. He went instantly from being under the massive burden of the Old Covenant, which condemned without mercy and without providing grace, to something far better. Certainly, as God’s covenant with Israel, the Old Covenant was a glorious covenant, but one of condemnation nonetheless (2 Cor 3:9). While the Old Covenant was glorious, the New Covenant was much more glorious—and Paul rejoiced in this. Under the Old Covenant, he experienced defeat, fear, and We Train Men as if Lives Depended on It. 4 We Train Men as if Lives Depended on It. condemnation. Then he met Christ and entered into the grace and glory of the New Covenant, coming from death to life and from hell to heaven. So for Paul, the glory of the New Covenant ministry of the gospel was a privilege beyond privileges. The certainty of the superiority of the New Covenant gave Paul confidence to endure.

The second certainty is the mercy of ministry

Still in verse 1, Paul proclaims that he has received the ministry of the Gospel as a mercy from God. Paul never forgot that ministry is a gift from God. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, Paul wrote of His gratitude to Christ for the privilege of ministry: “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy” (1 Tim 1:12–13). Paul’s gratitude for the mercy of ministry overflows in a doxology later in the chapter as he proclaims, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Tim 1:17). Paul had not only received ministry as a mercy, but was a living example of the mercy of God (1 Tim 1:16), creating cause for even more confidence and joy. I often hear about ministers who suffer from “burnout.” This is really a self-inflicted condition based on having unrealistic expectations. If a pastor thinks he deserves too much, he will be disappointed. If, however, a pastor understands that he deserves nothing, then he is hard to disappoint. If he understands that he is nothing but a clay pot, replaceable, breakable, and temporary, then all his life will be lived in the joy of the privilege and mercy of ministry. He will be always unworthy and never self-promoting, never selfexalting, never defensive, never wounded—all because he is always in awe of the mercy of ministry.

The third certainty is the joy of a clean conscience

In verse two, Paul states that he has “renounced the things hidden because of shame.” He has renounced hidden vices, secret sin, and all private thoughts of iniquity. Paul fights the battle against sin on the inside. The book of James says that sin does its work on the inside where it is conceived, before turning to lust and bringing forth sin and death. Paul understood that sin must be dealt with internally or you lose the battle. Paul is proclaiming that he does not have a secret life. He does not have sin and shame that people do not know about. When Paul’s critics had arrived in Corinth, one of their attacks had been that Paul was a secretly wicked man, but in this chapter he is refuting that accusation strongly. In fact, Paul states that “our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience” (2 Cor 1:12a). While ministry will definitely bring its share of accusations and attacks from both enemies and friends, a pastor can endure by having the testimony of a clean conscience—that he is conducting himself “in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God” (2 Cor 1:12b). Paul understood the certainty of the need for a pure heart, a heart devoid of secret sin. So he fought the battle on the inside and by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit, he won that battle. Thus, he was able to have a lasting and enduring ministry.

The fourth certainty is the responsibility of preaching

Paul continues in 2 Corinthians 4:2 that he ministers “not in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth.” Paul was unwilling to do anything crafty or of human invention to achieve his goals in ministry. He did not “peddle the word of God” (2 Cor 2:17) by twisting the Scriptures for his own ends. As pastors, we are not to adulterate God’s word to gain whatever it is we want to gain. We do not use the Scripture to promote ourselves and our agendas. The man of God is completely committed to handling accurately the word of God, manifesting the truth of the Scriptures 5 We Train Men as if Lives Depended on It. through skilled study and exposition. The amazing result of this is that by being faithful to the truth, the expositor commends himself “to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Cor 4:2b). The disclosure of divine truth even recommends itself to the enemies of the truth. It strikes the conscience of the enemies of God who have in their heart the law of God. Paul understood that the truth of Scripture had such self-evidencing power that even where it was rejected and hated it commended itself to the conscience of the hearers as true. Paul never attempted to gain ground for himself—rather, he exalted Christ by exposing the truth of Scripture to his listeners, whether enemies or friends of the truth. And this was done with great reverence as being “in the sight of God.” Paul was anchored and faithful because of his certainty of the responsibility in preaching.

The fifth certainty is God’s initiation of salvation

Beginning in verse 3, Paul states that “if the gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.” By contrast in verse 6, Paul reminds us that it is God “who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” And right in between these two statements, Paul says—my favorite portion of Scripture in the New Testament—“for we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor 4:5). I can know two facts with assurance. First, if I am faithful to proclaim the gospel it will be veiled to those who are perishing. I can do nothing to change unregenerate people. In the language of the Lord’s parable of the sower, I can only sow the seed; I cannot determine the nature of the soil. Second, if I am faithful to proclaim the gospel, God will initiate in some the work of salvation. Proclamation is my work, but acceptance is God’s work. In John chapter 3, Nicodemas wanted to know about entering the kingdom, having eternal life. Jesus told him that he must be born from above, that the Spirit of God blows where He will at God’s divine initiation. Our understanding of this certainty as ministers of the gospel prevents us from deviating from the message and is the antidote to discouragement. It is simultaneously encouraging—that God is the one who does the work of salvation— and humbling, reminding me that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Cor 4:7).

At the conclusion of his address, Dr. MacArthur prayed for the 88 men about to go out into the world into the gospel ministry. “It would certainly be my prayer that years from now each of these men would stand at a summit, perhaps surrounded by faithful friends, perhaps in the fellowship of loyal loving Christian brothers and sisters, perhaps in communion with beloved children and maybe grandchildren who came to Christ through them. But it may be that they, like Paul, may one day stand alone and forsaken with few accolades and little praise. And it may be that is just the end of a rather obscure ministry. But may they stand at that day no matter whether they are alone or surrounded by a mass of people. May they stand triumphantly having fought the fight, run the race, and finished the course ready to accept the crown so that the history of their life might be an example of how all of us should live. This is a long-range prayer— I understand that Lord—but this is what I pray for them. In the name of our Savior, Amen.”