Sermon Tone Analysis

Pastors and church leaders have a gotten a bad reputation in recent years - and their bad reputation is largely deserved.

It’s common for these pastors and leaders to have bad character, bad motives, and bad theology.

It’s not unusual hear about a pastor being caught in an affair or some scandal - These pastors do not have good character.

It’s all too common to find pastors in the ministry who are driven by the dream of want popularity, power and the praise of men. - These pastors do not have good motives.

And it is far from unusual to go into a church, only to hear the pastor give a speech that is the furthest thing from a Christian sermon.

He might use Christian language terms, and he might use Scriptures in his sermon.

But Christ is not preached.

These pastors have do not have good theology.

Whether it’s due to poor theology, poor motives, or poor character… there are plenty of reasons to be sceptical about various ministers.

And it’s not just experience that informs our skepticism.

Even the Scriptures warn us to watch out for such people.

The Scriptures describe these ministers as being like wolves in sheep’s clothes.

They are said to have the appearance of godliness, but they actually deny its power, and they disguise themselves as apostles, when they are not..

Such ministers are like their master, who though being evil, comes as an angel of light.

Like many of this letters, Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians in order to warn them about the false teachers that have crept in among them.

But in addition to calling out false teachers, Paul also commends the the faithful teacher who taught the Colossians the gospel.

Listen to how Paul describes this minister named Epaphras.

Look at Colossians 1:7.

After talking about the Colossians reception of the gospel, he wrote

While we ought to watch out for false teachers and avoid them, we should also identify and adhere to faithful teachers who will teach us about Christ and build up the church.

While we might be sceptical about many ministers, we ought to not try to go on without them because they were given to us for our God.

Paul says that various types of ministers were given to us for this purpose;

A few years ago, I left my previous church because I believed my pastor was a very poor pastor.

He was driven largely by selfish ambition more than by a love for Christ and his church.

But it wasn’t enough for me to simply leave that church.

I needed to be a part of another church that had faithful ministers who were going to guard me and instruct me in the faith.

I say this, because there are some here who are sceptical about ministers… perhaps even leaders here at LWC.

Here is the thing… if the ministers here are not faithful, you ought to get far away from us.

But if we are faithful, the way Epaphras was faithful, then you ought ought to draw near to the ministers here.

What I’m saying is this; if you love the doctrine of this church, and you find that the leaders are faithful and trustworthy, you ought to consider not just attending LWC, but you should consider becoming members of this fellowship.

Today, we are going to look closely at Epaphras and consider what it was that made him a faithful minister.

And I see four distinct marks that make him a faithful minister.

But before we get into those marks, I want to point out three ways that we should apply this sermon.

Measure the elders and deacons to Epaphras - consider, are the ministers here at LWC faithful?

If the answer is no - you ought to start by going to your brother or sister correcting them in love so that they can repent and so remain faithful.

But you measure the ministers here and find them to be faithful, give praise to the Lord!

Draw near to us, and learn to imitate our ways.

Measure the elder and deacon candidates next to Epaphras - today the elders and deacons will begin interviewing the sixteen upcoming elder and deacon candidates that the congregation nominated at the last member meeting.

As we interview those candidates, we want to know if they are faithful ministers like Epaphras was.

And as we prepare to put those candidates in front of you, you ought to consider the same thing.

And finally, we all ought to measure ourselves next to Epaphras.

There are some who are really good at spotting the speck in our brother’s eye, while all the while there is a plank in our own eye.

And while you may not be an elder or deacon we should all strive to be like Epaphras, because we should all long to be servants of Christ our are found to be faithful when he returns.

So the three applications to consider is this: Are the current ministers faithful?

Are the upcoming minister candidates faithful?

And am I a faithful Servant?

With these applications in our mind, let’s consider the first mark of a faithful minister:

Colossians 1:7–8 (ESV)

7 He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

The first mark of a faithful minister that

1.

He is a servant of Christ

I chose the word servant, rather than minister here, because the word minister literally means servant.

Typically when we hear the word minister - we likely have in mind a pastor, or the preacher in a church.

But that’s not what this word means in Greek.

The word minister is the same word that is translated as a deacon (like in 1 tim 3) and it most often translated as servant.

So in our application - this applies to pastors, deacons, as well as all who desire to be faithful servants

Let’s consider for a moment what it means to be servant of Christ - by contrasting this to three things that it is not

For starters, The faithful minister is not a servant of any deity, be it the god of any other religion, or a distortion of the one true God that takes on the form human imagination.

Rather, the faithful minister is a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is not the acknowledgment that there is a god that is the mark of a faithful minister (as if what man needs is any mere religion).

Rather the faithful servant declares plainly that there is only one god who is able to save us from sin and death, and that is the only god who is worthy of all worship.

Like Epaphras, every faithful minister is not a servant of any god.

Rather is a servant of the one God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And as his servant, the minister makes Jesus Christ known.

Furthermore, faithful minister is a servant of Christ, rather than a servant of man.

Paul put it this way; Gal 1:10

The faithful minister’s devotion is entirely given to Christ.

He doesn’t change the gospel in order to appease the appetites of sinful men.

Rather, he calls all men to repentance without apology.

He preaches the Word in season and out of season.

And when the Word is offensive to the world that is perishing, he continues to make the gospel known all the more, because that is the work that his master has called him to do.

Jesus said it plainly;

The faithful minister does not seek the approval of men, for they are not his master.

Rather the faithful minister is a servant of Christ.

And finally, the faithful minister does not serve his flesh, but instead he serves Christ.

So it is, the faithful minister is a servant of Christ and not the flesh.

He crucifies the desires of the flesh, and he sows to the Spirit.

His flesh may long for revenge, but his Lord has called him to forgive his enemies.

His flesh may have the appetite to lust, but his Lord has called him to purity.

His flesh may desire riches, comfort, and leisure.

But his Lord has called him to pick up his cross and follow him.

Look for this mark of faithfulness among the ministers at LWC… and look for this mark in your own life.

The faithful minister isn’t a servant of any religion, nor of man, nor of his flesh.

The faithful minister is a servant or Christ.

This brings us to the second mark of the faithful minister.

As Christ’s servant, the faithful minister will strive for Christ.

2. He strives for Christ

To strive, means that we work hard towards something…

Kids, if you want to learn a new instrument, or pick up a new sport… you will need to work hard, or strive in order to make progress in your new interest.

This is what it means to strive - you are going to work hard.

So we see implicit throughout these verses that Epaphras strived to make the gospel known.

Colossians 1:7–8 (ESV)

7 He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

If someone is faithful it is owing to the fact that they are responsible and reliable.

A faithful employee is one that you can depend on because they work hard.

The person who serves in the church regularly and is reliable is said to be faithful.

If you don’t recognize the striving of Epaphras in this description, maybe the parable of the talents will help you see it.

The servants who worked hard to multiply what his master gave him commended by his master:

But the servant who did not strive was not called faithful but instead the his master answered him;

Here in these verses, we see the opposite of the good and faithful servants is the wicked and slothful servant.