A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): You may think of evangelism as best left up to the Greg Lauries and Franklin Grahams of the world, but Pastor John Randall says every Christian is to be involved in the work of evangelism.

Sometimes we are like, "I'm not an evangelist." But the Bible says we are to do the work of an evangelist. So whether that means you're planting the seed of the word, or you're watering the seed that's been planted, or you get the opportunity to harvest what's been planted and watered, every single aspect of that is part of evangelism.

Did you know that? Sometimes we just see the sweeping, "Come forward!" and "Wow, evangelism!" Listen, none of that happens unless somebody's planting and watering. There's no harvest. And some of us, that's our job. We just plant, we water. Sometimes we get to see harvest, sometimes we don't. But we do the work of an evangelist.

Hello again and welcome to A Daily Walk, where you never have to walk alone. Today, Pastor John Randall pays a visit to 2nd Timothy chapter 4. Here we find a great model for those who are called to teach and present the word of God.

Now, it's important to know when and how to preach, but also why. And this charge from the Apostle Paul to young Timothy will prove to be very helpful in that regard. So, whether you're a pastor, a small group leader, or Sunday school teacher, consider this wonderful guide for ministry with Pastor John.

John Randall: Exhortation is extremely important, because if all you do is rebuke someone and you don't come alongside to help them, then really you're not helping them. If you're going to reprove someone, if you're going to seek to convince, but you're not going to walk down the road with exhortation, then you probably shouldn't say anything.

This is an investment that you're going to make here, and so you have to be willing to do that. And that is not everyone is teachable or responsive to it, but nonetheless, you're open to it if you're going to level out some kind of preaching that carries these elements to it.

But with the exhortation, with the reproof, with the rebuke, would you please note he also says there has to be longsuffering and teaching attached to it. Longsuffering. It's one thing to just reprove somebody, but not be patient with them as they're responding. It has to be carried out with patience with instruction.

Have you ever shared with somebody something that they just were not getting? And you've said it repeatedly, and they came back to you after a week you said it and they were right in the same spot where we just talked about this. "But, man, we highlighted the scriptures. We watched that DVD series together. We went through, we talked about this. And you said, 'Oh, I love this. I agree with this. I'm going to do this. This is awesome.'"

And then you left and now we're back and you're asking me the same question. I'm so frustrated! You're so frustrated. You just, ah! Aren't you glad God doesn't do that with you and me? I'm glad. "John, we just talked about this this morning in devotions. I showed you my word. Why are you here?" You know, he'd just be like, "I'm frustrated with you." He doesn't do that. He's longsuffering. He's patient. He's willing to teach.

This is a great model for all of those who present the word. Man, you do it in a way where there's convince, there's reproof, there's rebuke, there's exhortation, there's longsuffering, there's teaching. All of that has to be included. Hopefully every message has those elements attached to it.

But knowing when and how to preach the word, the next question I think is worth asking is why. Why is this so important? Why does Timothy have to be so intentional in preaching the word in this way? Paul tells us in verse 3, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables."

Paul says to Timothy, "There's coming a time." That time was right then. I mean, the first century church, this is what Timothy was experiencing right now, real time. That was happening to him. There were false teachers, we read it last time, who were deceiving and being deceived.

And when he uses the word they, "They will not endure sound doctrine," the they that he's talking about in the context of this letter, you go back to chapter 3 verse 5, it's the they who have a form of godliness but they deny the power. That's them.

They go through the motions but they don't have a godly life. They do the right things, but it's not even real, it's not authentic, it's not sincere. That's the they. And because they have a form of godliness and they deny the power, they don't want to hear the truth.

They don't want to hear rebuke, they don't want to hear convincing, they don't want to hear exhortation. They want to hear something that is more palatable to them and not as painful. They want to hear something that just, you know, tickles the ears. That's what he's describing here.

So they will leave the truth because "I don't want to hear the truth because I have a form of godliness, I deny the power. I'm going to find somebody who will preach to me to that end." And you can find people like that. You can find it all over the place. You can find people if you look for them who will tell you what you want to hear rather than what you need to hear.

And why is that? It says because they won't endure sound doctrine. The NIV says they won't put up with it. Another translation: they won't listen to right teaching. Another translation: they will not tolerate wholesome instruction. "I don't want to hear that. I don't like that. I don't agree with that. So I'm done. I don't want to listen to you."

Because they have itching ears. Because they have itching ears, they will gather around them this indiscriminate amount of teachers. When it says they have itching ears, kind of an interesting phrase, isn't it? Itching ears. You're like, "Man, suddenly my ear is itchy right now when you said that." Has that ever happened to you? Somebody said, "Don't scratch your ear," and you're like, "My ear is scratchy." Is scratchy even a word? It's itchy.

Listen, what does it mean when they itch their ears? It means they want something to make them feel comfortable, not uncomfortable. Don't say anything that's going to rock my boat. It's Christmas. Talk to me about baby Jesus right now. I don't want to talk about sin and repentance. By the way, that's why Jesus came so that we could.

They want something that maybe pacifies and appeals to felt needs rather than challenges them to walk farther with God spiritually. "I want fables. I want idle stories. Do you have any stories you can tell? Any eloquent discourse that you could present that I could be dazzled by?" "No, I don't have that. You know, I don't have that."

Kenneth Wuest, that Greek scholar, said the person that has itching ears has a desire to hear for mere gratification. They're like the Greeks in Athens. You remember when Paul went to Athens in the Book of Acts there in Acts chapter 17, and it says that they spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear something new.

"I don't want to talk about that." And sometimes people are like, "The Old Testament? It has the word 'old' in front of it. Why are we talking about this? That's the Old Testament. The New Testament? I mean, it's not that new. It's kind of old also. So is there anything else you can present to us?" people might ask.

Today we are seeing growing numbers within the church to where the pulpit becomes like a sounding board, someone said. It's merely saying back what people want to hear. And as long as they keep hearing what they want to hear, well, then they'll stay. But if something is said that's convicting or doesn't tickle my ear, rather it bends it a little bit, sadly, they may leave or choose to not listen.

And Paul says here they turn to other things that are available to them. Warren Wiersbe wrote, he said, "The religious entertainment, people want religious entertainment from Christian performers who will tickle their ears, but the man who simply opens his Bible is rejected while the religious entertainer is a celebrity." These people were heaping up, bringing in as many teachers as they could to tickle their ears. They were concerned with the latest novelty and they grow bored of that and then they turn to something else. "Well, I've heard that before, that's nothing."

When I was living in a place pastoring years ago in the Southeast, there was a place down the street, they would do crazy things. I mean, one week I heard they had two cars on the stage, a massive stage. One was a beater and the other one was like some crazy sports car. And they had them on the stage and the pastor was up there, "Which one do you want to be?" Like, "What kind of life do you want to have? Do you want to be a wreck? Or do you want to be like this?" And I'm like, uh... I was just, and then the next week there was something else and then the next week. We didn't have a stage big enough to get a scooter on the thing. I don't know how I'm going to do this. I just didn't have that.

The first church that I was pastoring, I mean, it was, I could barely stand on it. It was just so tiny. But just all of these things that try to stir the senses. I was thinking about this. You remember 1st Kings chapter 22 where King Ahab and Jehoshaphat decided to unify and to go into battle, to Ramoth-gilead.

He said, "Hey, Jehoshaphat, come on up here." And he was married into the family, so he felt an obligation. His wife said, "Hey, come on." So he went and met with his father-in-law and they sat there and they're getting ready to go to battle together.

And so what happens? Jehoshaphat, being a godly guy although he's compromising at this point hooking up with Ahab, says, "Hey, um, before we go to battle, by the way, this is all, I'm just paraphrasing, you could read it yourself, but he says, 'Hey, can we get some prophets in here to prophesy before we go into battle? That would be probably a good idea, you know, just to make sure we're good.'"

So they bring all these prophets in. They're false prophets. They come in and they're saying, "Go into battle! You're going to win! King Ahab, Ahab, he's our man!" They come in and they do all this stuff. They get super dramatic. One guy puts these horns on his head and he's like, "With these horns you will gore your enemies!" And, "Wow, where do I get some of those horns?" I mean, everybody was just impressed with all the theatrics and everything.

And Jehoshaphat's sitting there listening to all these guys with one unified message, "You're going to win!" And he says, "Um, do you have any other prophets? Is there anybody else? Something's up." He knew something was up. Something's not right.

And the king said, "Well, there's this one guy, but I hate him. Because he never prophesies good concerning me. I hate this guy. His name is Micaiah." And Jehoshaphat says, "Oh, king, don't let the king say such a thing. Bring in Micaiah."

So Micaiah comes in. And one of the soldiers who attended to the king said, "Hey, listen, when you go in there, you know, just play the part, stay with the program, say what everybody else is saying, okay?" And Micaiah responds and he says, "I will only say that which the Lord God tells me to say." 1st Kings chapter 22.

And so he goes in and he says to the king, "Go and prosper, for the Lord will deliver you into the hand of the king." I mean, he says what everybody else says. I personally think he said it sarcastically. The reason why I say that is because right after he says it, the king said, "Swear to me that you're not lying. Because this is so different. Normally you say bad stuff to me. Now you're saying what everybody else is saying. Something's not right here."

So Ahab keys in. I don't know if he said, "Go, yeah, go king, you're going to get them! Do it!" Maybe he was making fun, I don't know. I would have done that. Something happened.

And Micaiah says, "All right, you want the truth? Here's the truth. I saw the Lord and he sent out a lying spirit to every single one of these prophets and they have prophesied to you falsely. A lying spirit from the Lord, the Lord allowed to go out and in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you."

Ahab said, "I told you! Get that guy, lock him up, give him the bread of affliction until I come back in peace," said Ahab. And Micaiah said, "If you ever come back in peace, the Lord hasn't spoken through me." I mean, the guy just walked out and, you know, it's like, "That's it." He said what nobody else was saying. That's a lonely road.

Think of the contrast, if you would, when Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost when the church was born. He began to proclaim the gospel. He was empowered by the spirit and it says that when he was done, that everybody who was there was cut to the heart. And they said, "Tell us what we can do to be saved."

The word of God was living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. It discerned the thoughts and the intents of the heart and they were cut to the heart. They were convicted, they were rebuked, they were reproved and they said, "We want to change. Tell us what we need to do." And Peter said, "Repent and be baptized and times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord." That was the follow-up exhortation there.

But when these guys came tickling the ears, there's no change. What do you want? Do you want to be cut to the heart or do you want your ears tickled? People make that choice all the time.

The sad result of turning from sound doctrine is that they will, it says, turn their ears away from truth and be turned aside to fables. Paul is saying not only do they turn their ears away from the truth, but in addition to that, they make it a point to keep their ears away from contact with the truth. "I don't want to hear and I will not listen."

You remember when Stephen preached his one and only sermon that's recorded before he died? I mean, one message, end of story. Acts chapter 7. It says as he was preaching, it says that the Jewish listeners stopped their ears and they ran at him and they stoned him to death. They shut their ears, physically shut their ears and then ran at him to remove having to listen to him anymore.

And what happens? They turn aside from the truth to fables. It was J.C. Ryle that wrote, "Ignorance of Scripture is the root of all error." In view of this tragic condition, in view of what was happening, Paul again exhorts Timothy not only to preach the word because he would stand before God and the Lord was present even then, but he says in verse 5, "But you be watchful in all things, endure affliction, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

What is he supposed to do? How are you supposed to handle this? How are you supposed to deal with this? He tells him, "This is what you're to do. You need to watch. You need to have your eyes open. You do not go to sleep on this. Don't fall asleep. Don't take your eyes off of what you're supposed to be doing."

It means to be alert, it means to be circumspect, it means to be sober-minded, it means to have your eyes open, at the same time being calm and collected within your spirit. Not overreacting, not responding hastily, but you're watching.

You're like a watchman on the wall and God's going to hold you accountable, is in essence what he's telling Timothy. "You need to watch. This is happening, so keep your eyes open." You can, "I don't want to see it, I don't want to talk about it, I'm going to overlook it." That's an easy thing for a pastor to do. Can I just tell you that? It's easy to say, "Ah, I don't want to deal with that. That's going to, there's enough going on, I don't want to create anymore than I have to. I don't want to watch that." Well, Jesus is present and you're going to give account to him. So, watch. Watch.

And he adds to that, endure affliction. Paul was in the midst of an affliction. Many had turned away because they didn't want to experience affliction. And here Timothy is told, "Timothy, you've got to be willing to endure affliction."

Not only in the physical sense of being persecuted, but the road of a shepherd is not one that is always paved with comfort. You can see this by looking at the Great Shepherd. Look at what Jesus endured. Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And when he died, everyone left as he was crucified. The Great Shepherd.

And for Timothy to have to measure out rebuke, that's not necessarily something people are going to get excited about. That can be lonely. I read something that I found encouraging. "I would rather walk a lonely road with Jesus than be without his fellowship in the crowd. I would rather live in a cottage and eat simple food and have him as the head of my house and the unseen guest at every meal than to live in royal style in a mansion without Jesus."

Timothy had to endure. Some of you, maybe you're having to endure affliction right now. Endure. Allow the Lord to enable you to endure. Let the Spirit of God strengthen you to endure. There is endurance available. It's available as we cry out to the Lord.

Timothy had to watch, he had to endure, but he also had to do the work of an evangelist. "Do the work of an evangelist," he says. Timothy's ministry was to be evangelistic in nature. Now, granted, some people are having a more stronger gift, a stronger gift in evangelism than others. Sometimes we want to use that as an excuse not to evangelize. "Well, that's not my gift."

Oh, but it is your calling. Jesus said, "Go into all the world." That wasn't option, that was commission. This was, he's saying do it. What part of go do you not understand? is kind of how it goes.

Sometimes we are like, "I'm not an evangelist." But the Bible says we are to do the work of an evangelist. So whether that means you're planting the seed of the word, or you're watering the seed that's been planted, or you get the opportunity to harvest what's been planted and watered, every single aspect of that is part of evangelism.

Did you know that? Sometimes we just see the sweeping, "Come forward!" and "Wow, evangelism!" Listen, none of that happens unless somebody's planting and watering. There's no harvest. And some of us, that's our job. We just plant, we water. Sometimes we get to see harvest, sometimes we don't. But we do the work of an evangelist.

We preach the gospel, we live the gospel. You know, some people you might hear that phrase that was said, and it was very popular, maybe it still is, I don't know, "Preach the gospel always and if necessary use words." Oh, that's powerful. I get what it means, but it's necessary to use words. I mean, you can live the gospel, but you also need to preach the gospel and that means I need to speak. Open my mouth. Do the work of an evangelist.

Timothy had to have a burden for the lost. Do we care? Are we concerned? Does it bother us that people are going to hell? Does it matter to us that our neighbors are perishing? Does it matter?

Lord, stir us up to do the work of evangelist. Not by some program that we get involved in, but by the life we live. We are, Paul said, "You are our epistles known and read by all men." Living epistles. He said when you speak, it's as if Christ is, as if the Lord himself were pleading through you for men to be reconciled to God. If God is going to plead through us for men to be reconciled, then we have to be willing to allow him to plead, which means we open our mouth and do the work of an evangelist.

And then he says, "Fulfill your ministry." It means to complete it. Sometimes people, "I just want to retire from ministry. I'm ready to get out. Get maybe a gold Bible after so many years and just get out of it. Let the other people..." Listen, we don't retire. We don't retire until we go home to be with the Lord. There's a great retirement plan, as I've shared with you before. It's eternal, not taxed, reserved, incorruptible, undefiled.

And so we fulfill. We fulfill what God's put in front of us. Timothy had to preach the word. He had to do the work of an evangelist. He had to fulfill his ministry because Jesus was present and he would stand before Jesus and present the ministry to him and be held accountable for it.

Guest (Male): That's a wrap for today's A Daily Walk with John Randall. As we leave you, we'd like to say how much it means to us each and every time we hear how God is at work in our listeners' lives. It would be so encouraging to hear from you. So please write today while it's fresh on your mind. Our email address is adailywalk@gmail.com. You can call us toll-free at 877-242-0828. You can also visit our website to listen to podcasts of this program or previous messages and see what else we have for you. That's adailywalk.com. May you always be conscious of God's presence as you walk with him today. We hope you'll join us again next time for A Daily Walk with John Randall.