Needed: Faithful Men

Colossians 1:7

Paul could not have more highly commended Epaphras than he did when he called him, "a faithful minister of Christ". Blessed is the man, blessed is the church, blessed is the community to whom God is pleased to give "a faithful minister of Christ"! How I pray that their numbers may increase. We do not need more preachers. We have an abundance of lazy, half-hearted, self-seeking, self-serving, hard-hearted preachers. The last thing the Church of God needs is another man to volunteer for and thrust himself into the ministry. But we do desperately need some faithful men.

1. WE NEED MEN WHO ARE FAITHFUL TO THE GLORY OF GOD, men whose primary, life-governing concern is for the glory of God, men who are sold out to Christ, sold out to the gospel of his grace, sold out to the cause of his glory, men who will live by the gospel and for the gospel alone.

2. WE NEED MEN WHO ARE FAITHFUL TO THE GOSPEL. That man is faithful to the gospel who gives his life to it. You will find a faithful pastor in his study, seeking an understanding in Divine Truth, praying for God's elect, seeking a message from God. A faithful pastor gives himself ardently to the work of the ministry. He does not serve leftovers to God's children (warmed up, rehashed outlines!). He serves manna, bread from heaven, gathered fresh everyday! He comes to the pulpit fresh from the throne of God, with a message from God, for the people of God.

3. WE NEED MEN WHO ARE FAITHFUL TO THE SOULS OF MEN. Faithful men seek not the possessions of their hearers, but their souls. The only man who will deal honestly with your soul is the man who wants nothing from you.

4. WE NEED MEN WHO ARE FAITHFUL IN THEIR LIVES. Those who speak to men in the name of God must be blameless men of good report in their homes and communities. If those who know us best have no respect for us, it is because we deserve no respect. Pastors must be men of principle, honesty, and integrity.

A FAITHFUL MINISTRY II Corinthians 4:1-7

Faithfulness is the one thing God requires of his servants and the one thing God honors in his servants. The Apostle Paul was an example to us all in this matter of faithfulness. And the Holy Spirit uses him to show us what is involved in a faithful ministry.

1. EVERY FAITHFUL PASTOR LOOKS UPON HIS MINISTRY AS A GIFT OF GOD'S MERCY ENTRUSTED TO HIM (v. 1). He is a steward into whose hands God has trusted the affairs of his kingdom. What a privilege! What a responsibility!

2. FAITHFUL SERVANTS NEVER QUIT. "We faint not." The servant may be moved from one field of service to another by the will of God, but God's servants never quit their Master's service.

3. FAITHFUL GOSPEL PREACHERS ARE CANDID, UNPRETENTIOUS, HONEST MEN (v. 2). They are open and above board, both in the way they live and in the way they preach. Their lives commend their message to their hearers.

4. FAITHFUL PREACHERS KNOW THAT SALVATION IS ENTIRELY OF THE LORD (v. 3-4), that all men by nature are dead, spiritually blind, and ignorant, and that man's natural blindness is compounded by satan's delusions. We know that salvation comes only by the supernatural, life-giving revelation of God in Christ.

5. EVERY FAITHFUL GOSPEL PREACHER IN THE WORLD HAS THE SAME MESSAGE (v. 5). "We preach Jesus," our Savior, "Christ," God's Anointed One, "the Lord," our sovereign Monarch. And we are "your servants," not servants under your rule, but servants devoted to your souls, for Christ's sake.

6. FAITHFUL PREACHERS PREACH FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE (v. 6). They declare what they have seen, heard, felt, and know for themselves.

7. AND EVERY FAITHFUL GOSPEL PREACHER KNOWS HIS OWN PERSONAL INSUFFICIENCY FOR THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY (v. 7). Our sufficiency is of God. If we are useful, it is the Lord's doing!

Don Fortner