Preaching that Prepares People to Suffer

Preaching that Prepares People to Suffer-  It’s been eight years since my wife and I were told devastating news. Without any warning signs, Julie had stage-3 colon cancer. We both felt like we had been hit by a train—our four children all young, the imminent medical treatments all harsh, and the toll on our spirits weighty. We were pressed downward like never before and humbled far more than I could have imagined.

So, we did the only thing we could do, we clung to the promises of our gracious God. “Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right” (1 Pet 4:19). Then, day after day, and now these many years later, this truth is still the anchor of our treasure.

Pastor, you may never know suffering on such a personal level, but many of your sheep will. Your weekly ministry of the Word, in all its forms, is building into your flock the abiding realities of God’s faithfulness. I did not fully appreciate it at the time, but our church’s commitment to biblical exposition had prepared us to walk through a season of intense suffering. I had been preaching every week, not fully realizing how God was storing up His truth in hearts and lives to be used when the time would come. Suffering is like an audit that reveals what has been stored or treasured in the soul of the believer.

Chasing relevance in preaching will not cultivate a mature people ready to stand under the weight of suffering. So much preaching today is designed to cater to the lowest common denominator of fleshly affections. Some claim such preaching is “relevant” to where the people supposedly are, but the reality is such preaching is basely carnal in nature. I think most pastors have no desire to lead their people down such paths, yet that is what they’re doing when they walk such roads without the lamp of God’s Word. To offer God’s people meatless sermons week after week is to offer a plate of sand to the hungry.

Having been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, pastor Paul Wolfe has walked the valley of cancer too. In his book, My God is True: Lessons Learned Along Cancer’s Dark Road, Wolfe details how careful preaching prepares the people of God to suffer with grace.

With the blessing of the Lord, such preaching prepares Christians for the future as well as arming them for the present. It is sometimes said that the minister must seek in his sermon to meet the people where they are. That is a noble aspiration, of course, but the minister’s job is also to get the people ready for where they will be. No, he cannot know precisely where their roads will take them, but he does know that the truths of Scripture are crucial to prepare them for every circumstance. So let him serve up a steady diet of those truths.

We see this principle drawn out in a little New Testament letter aimed at suffering Christians. Our fellow elder, Peter, carefully measures each word so that the sheep will be ready for whenever a cloudy providence crosses their path:

Lessons Learned from a Long Line of Godly Men- Embrace Suffering!

As you make your way through my series of articles on church revitalization articles please consider the Scripture passages and other ministry resources that I have linked in every journal entry.  Suffice it to say, the trials that God took us through during my first four years of ministry in Freeport are really not that unique.   Which Christian parishioner or faithful pastor ever lived a care free life?  Job himself noted that "Man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward."

As you listen to the following leadership interviews you will hear some faithful Christian leaders share a collection of honest reflections about some of the trials and tribulations of gospel ministry.  The snippet of John MacArthur (1 minute-8 1/2 minutes) and Paige Patterson (46 minutes-52 minutes) are the clips most applicable to this series of articles on reformation ministry.  I continue to learn so much from the testimony and example of godly men such as those interviewed in this audio recording (see below). 

http://www.9marks.org/audio/9marks-leadership-interview-sampler

http://media.9marks.org/audio/interview-leadership-sampler.mp3

Here is one very powerful quote from the 9 Marks interview sampler.  "I have learned to embrace the suffering and to embrace the criticism and the failure and the pain as probably the most productive work of God in my life.... Their is a sense in which the best things that have ever happened to me are the mutinies that have occurred in my church, the disappointments, the criticisms, and the misrepresentations."

..."for the sake of your stomach and infirmities"

In 1 Timothy 5:23 the apostle Paul instructs his ministry protégé Timothy to not drink water exclusively but to use a little wine for the sake of his stomach and his frequent illnesses.  It is impossible to say with absolute certainty what specific physical ailments were plaguing this faithful pastor.  Timothy's gastrointestinal tract appears to have been seriously out of whack.  It's also clear that his aches and pains were somewhat constant.

We also know from the biblical text that Timothy was a young pastor.  At times Timothy struggled with being timid in the face of push back, potential persecution, and real pain.  Like all Word-dominated leaders Timothy's ministry in Ephesus experienced highs and lows.   He needed a lot of encouragement, counsel, and care as he served Christ's cause in Asia minor (see 1 and 2 Timothy).   As a loving shepherd and spiritual father Paul instructs his son in the faith in 1 Timothy 5:23 to take a little wine for the sake of his aching gut.   

When I came to Freeport in 2008 God had blessed me with twenty-eight years of very good health.  In the summer of 2009 however I began to experience many painful gastrointestinal symptoms.  When the fires of "revitalization ministry" blazed most (for example note this, this, or this) my stomach often "flared up" as well.   My "Timothy ailments" included internal burning, regurgitation, constant gnawing stomach pain, and massive abdominal bloating all of which resulted in weight loss (thirty pounds over four years) and at times radical restrictions in diet (hence the weight loss) to help manage the chronic pain.  After a particularly painful season where I experienced my own "Black Tuesday" I was only able to stomach Ensure and a few other liquid food items.  During these painful seasons I sometimes found it quite laborious just to make it through the day.  By the grace of God I never missed a day of work and pressed in gospel service.

Pastoral Ministry: A Sure Way to Be Dishonored. (By Ed Welch)

The following article by Dr. Ed Welch summarizes the trials and tribulations of revitalization work and of pastoral ministry in general.  It is a very good article and is well worth your time.   This article captures the pathos of 2 Corinthians and the wounded heart of a loving pastor. This follow up article highlights some of the unique challenges a pastor's wife faces in ministry.

2013 was a very difficult year for the leadership team at First Baptist Church. In some ways it was more painful than any previous year of ministry in it's own unique way.   Welch's article summarizes the deep pain many shepherds have to work through as the strive to build up the body of Christ.  Brother Welch reminds us to "look to Jesus all you undershepherds of Christ!"

ARTICLE: "Here is one reason you must be called to pastoral ministry: the people you love will not love you back—at least some of them will not love you back. They will say utterly horrible things about you, so you better be sure you want to do this. It is one thing to be dissed by the world around you; it is something else again to be demeaned by your own church family while you are pouring your heart out for them.

Personal Attacks
This is the worst feature of pastoral ministry. Every pastor, unless he is surrounded by others who shield him from criticism, has dozens of heart-breaking stories. Take the example of the pastor who receives anonymous weekly letters from a congregant who claims to be speaking for many others when she writes, “I pray every day that you would leave the church.” The letters are all cut out from magazines so they have that creepy look of a murder threat.