Every Good Work

Introduction

Well, good morning!

I just wanna take a minute and thank Mr. McCurdy for inviting me this morning, to speak to you guys. But I also wanna thank each of you…you may not realize it, but you’re impacting the kingdom, you’re impacting the lives of people in ways you could never imagine. And my hope, this morning, its that I can just encourage you in some small way.

Teaching, especially in today’s world, where the family has all but abandoned the influence they have in the education of their children…teaching is exhausting. I believe there’s huge similarities in teaching and pastoring…Again, to pour yourself constantly into the lives of people, to get very little back in return (a lot of times), it can be exhausting…It can be discouraging when you feel like your students just aren’t getting it…or you see the gifting in them or their intellect, and it can be discouraging when you feel like they’re just wasting those things away, right?…And then, it makes you kind of sit back and think, “Is it my fault? Am I the reason they’re not applying themselves? Am I the reason for all the problems I deal with sometimes?” It can be discouraging…And trust me when I say this, I feel this too all time as a pastor.

To have a calling where you serve people, that’s naturally where our flesh and where our weaknesses take us. When we’re always around other people, especially when it comes to discipling or educating others, we as teachers or pastors, we experience the bad parts of humanity the most. When you put a group of people together, because of our sin nature…exhaustion, discouragement, pain sometimes, hurt…those things are the result. And we see that firsthand.

Listen, I wanna acknowledge that your job, it’s hard…and I get it, it can be discouraging…but my purpose today, it’s to show you that your service, it’s worth it…no matter how many bad days you might have…no matter how rebellious your students might seem or how many ugly parents you might deal with sometimes. Your service, its worth it, because ultimately, whether you realize it or not, it’s changing lives.

Listen, when I was a youth pastor…at the start of every cycle of kids that would come through, I always started by having the students write down who’s influenced them the most…like who’s had the greatest impact on their lives. And usually about 90 plus percent of the time, it was a teacher they had.

If you were to ask me, who had the greatest impact in my early years…it was my kindergarten teacher. Her name was Mrs. LaFont. Now, I haven’t seen her in over 30 years…I have no idea where she is today…I don’t even know if she’s still alive. But I don’t think I would be standing here, speaking to you guys if God hadn’t used her to influence my life. You see, when I was young…I had all kinds of learning disabilities…I had a pretty bad speech impediment…I stuttered. I was actually in special education until about the 4th grade. And listen, because of that…kids picked on me…adults, they never really challenged me…the way they acted, it was like I wouldn’t amount to anything.

But listen, Mrs. LaFont, I’ll never forget the day she pulled me aside. I was pretty emotional, the kids were picking on me…and she said, “Steven, you can be whatever you wanna be…you can accomplish whatever you wanna accomplish…your weaknesses don’t define you” And then she said that really impacted me, “I expect more out of you then anyone else.”

Last year, I walked across the stage, earning my doctorate degree. And not just any doctorate degree…but a doctorate in preaching. I don’t a have a speech impediment today…I don’t stutter…I still have learning disabilities, but you wouldn’t know it…You see, when she told me that…I became determined to let what she said be true. Nothing defined me except what I wanted to be defined as.

Mrs. LaFont, she has no idea the impact she had on my life. She just saw a student that was hurting…and she showed me compassion…she loved me…she cared for me…and it impacted me more than anything else.

And so, I’ll say this again…you don’t know everything you’re students are walking through…you have no idea what God has planned for their life…but He’s placed you right here, at this exact time, to impact and change lives forever.

And so listen, as an encouragement I wanna show just a short passage we see in 2 Timothy chapter 4. It’s one of my favorite passages…it’s actually one of the passages I wrote about in my dissertation. And it’s directed towards a young pastor…Timothy…And Timothy, he’s discouraged. His congregation has drifted off into false teaching…they’re not following his example…they’re difficult to work alongside of. And this is Paul’s exhortation or encouragement to Timothy.

2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1:

2 Timothy 4:1–5 (ESV)

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

And so let me just point out a few pieces of encouragement from Paul’s letter here.

I. Preach the Word

The first one Paul tells to Timothy, “Preach the Word…Preach the thing that actually has power to do something about your problem! Preach it because you believe it to be powerful!”

Listen, I have to assume that most of you…hopefully all of you, you’re here because its more than just teaching for you. I mean, you could certainly make more teaching somewhere else, right? Hopefully, it’s not just about the money, it’s about what you can do here that you can’t in other places…it’s about the people God’s giving you the opportunity to reach for His kingdom.

Guys, hear what Paul’s saying to Timothy here about his discouragement…about the problems he’s facing with the people he’s trying to teach in Ephesus…He’s telling Timothy to use the thing God gave us to address problems…He’s telling him to trust God to use His Word…He’s saying, “Be encouraged because the outcome really isn’t on your shoulders…its on the power of God and His Word.”…Preach it…model it…sit back and let it do the work you so often feel you have to do.

He’s saying, “Remember your mission, it’s simply to make disciples by teaching them the Word…all that Jesus commanded,” right? Don’t place unnecessary work on your shoulders…don’t place unnecessary burdens on yourself. Be faithful to the Great Commission by using this unique opportunity to “preach the word.”

And listen, I understand you’re teaching math and english, social studies…I know you have great responsibilities…but if Paul were addressing you this morning, he’ll tell you the same thing, “Find ways in those things to preach the word…to point your students to Christ.” You do that, you make that the focus…I promise you, it’ll lesser the burdens you experience. If at the end of the day, you can sit back and say, “I’ve at least been faithful to the Word.” Then the rest, it’s up to God, right? Because that’s where real power lies.

That’s Paul’s point here.

Guys, what separates this school from almost every other school in our area? It’s the Word of God, right? If that’s the case, then again, my encouragement to you…preach it! Do it in season…do it out of season. Do it when its convenient…do it when its not. Be ready!

II. Allow it to Shape

And be ready to preach it because its the only authority we have to actually shape these kids in a way that honors God, right?

That’s the next thing we see Paul tell Timothy. “Preach the word because it’ll reprove, and it’ll rebuke, it’ll exhort.” He doesn’t say, “Timothy, just give ‘em your opinions…tell what’s really on your heart! Those things’ll change ‘em!” No, he tells him to preach the Word because only the Word has the power to do those things.

He’s saying the Word, it has the power to challenge one’s intellect…with knowledge that comes from Scripture. He’s saying it has the power to challenge one’s conscience by telling them what’s actually right and wrong, right? He’s saying it has the only power to actually change a person’s will.

So preach it! Allow that to impact the lives of people around you.

III. Model It

Listen, there’s a lot more here…but the last thing I want you to see, it’s how Paul tells Timothy to ‘preach the Word.’ He says, “Timothy, don’t be like these other people, don’t give into your flesh…preach the word, trust it to change the lives of people around you, and do that with great patience and teaching.”

One of the hardest things for me as a pastor, its to understand certain truths about the Bible and to see how many of my people still struggle with core doctrines. It’s so easy to get angry, defensive, rough around the edges. It’s easy to become combative, in a way. But look at what Paul says here…, “Do it with patience and teaching.”

He’s reminding Timothy, there’s no need to get angry or combative…God’s Word is the thing with power, not you. And so, be patient…trust God to do the work that only He can do…trust God’s Word for what it is…and just teach it.

How? I love how Moses puts it in Deuteronomy chapter 6:

Deuteronomy 6:5–9 (ESV)

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

And so how do you teach the Word of God with patience? You live it out! Let every moment of your life give testimony of the Lord.

And listen, when you experience discouragement, because you will…trust the Word to do what only the Word can do!

Listen, to close, would you turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 55. Look at verse 10 with me. It says, “10 “For as the rain and the snow.” Look at that again…it says…rain and snow. Ultimately those two things do the same thing to the earth, right? They water the earth. Now they don’t do it the same way. When it rains, the earth’s immediately wet…when it snows sometimes the water, the moisture, it stays as snow… sometimes for days, or weeks, or in some places like here…for months, right? All before the sun melts it and it waters the earth. But look at what it says, “For the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.” Ultimately the rain and the snow do that right? But look what he says…11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Listen guys, I so believe that…it’s what gives me confidence when I stand up every Sunday and open the Word of God. I believe that promise. But here’s what I’m telling you….some Sunday’s….IT FEELS LIKE RAIN!!!! We all leave wet! Man, we felt the Word of God…we felt it come alive in our hearts and we leave changed and impacted. I mean we’re walking out of there with our rain boots on. And listen guys, when that happens in the service, let me tell you…I feel it…I don’t wanna stop preaching…

But then there’s other Sunday’s, it ain’t rain…and I feel that toooo. I keep looking at my watch thinking, “Oh Lord, I want this to be over.” It’s cold in here. It’s frozen…And listen, when I first started in my preaching ministry…my emotions were effected by that.

But guys, now that I understand the Word…here’s what I know…sometimes what’s happening on Sunday is God snowing in my people’s life…and it’s gonna be Wednesday at work, in the middle of a crisis…when the Spirit of God, He begins to melt that snow and the Word of God begins to rain in their heart…Here’s my point…it doesn’t matter if it rains or snows on Sunday when I preach, the Word of God is always gonna do what He promised it’d do…it’ll always do what He sent His Word to do and it’ll never come back empty.

Preach the word! And guys, believe in the power of the Word to impact the lives of your students. You’re a vessel…and remember God is faithful and good.

Your work, it’s worth it. You might not always feel like it…but you may never know the impact you might have in some young person’s life. In fact, that person might be standing up in twenty years from now talking to a group of teachers telling them the exact same thing.

Don’t lose hope…trust God…preach the Word! Do it with your words...do it with your actions!

Let’s pray!