Servants for Jesus’ Sake

How can we measure true success in ministry? Today, Sinclair Ferguson opens the Bible passage that was preached at his ordination, verses that have shaped his thinking about what it means to serve Christ and His church.

All this week on Things Unseen, we’ve been thinking about what I’ve called verses that have shaped me. I hope this doesn’t seem egotistical and self-centered, because these verses do contain wonderful biblical truths. But I’m talking about them in this way to encourage you to think of God’s Word working in your life, too, in the past and in the present. So, my third text today is 2 Corinthians 4:1–6, let me read them:

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Now, there’s far too much there to talk about today, but there’s a reason I mentioned this passage. I was privileged to have the late Eric Alexander preach at my ordination. He was, without doubt, one of the very finest and most eloquent preachers of his generation, and he chose the opening verses of 2 Corinthians 4 as his text. And perhaps even more than he could have imagined that night, but I’m sure not more than he hoped, this passage has helped shape my thinking about what it means to serve the Lord Jesus. You can guess why it would make an impact on a young man who was called to preach, but I think these words also help us all to understand, and care for, and pray for our own pastors, and they also include general encouragements for all of us never to lose heart.

First, Paul stresses how he resisted the temptations that there are in the ministry to be successful. He knew that there were men who became successful in people’s eyes by asking the question, What works? And as long as it works, let’s do it. But he saw that not as a recommendation but as a temptation—and it still is.

We love success, and we can actually be jealous of the success of others and seek it for ourselves. That can be so twisted into us that I sometimes have the impression there are people who produce videos and podcasts whose main—if not sole—aim is to pull other ministers down. It’s all done under the guise of guarding the flock. But here’s the giveaway: they never seem to build up the flock. They only pull down. And alas, you can get a following that way, and some of these people are now a success.

So you see, there are various success models, and success models for ministry are certainly alive and well in the twenty-first century. And sadly, destroying other people’s success can sometimes prove almost as successful. What a mess our sinful hearts can create—yes, also when we are in the ministry. I remember a friend telling me that his seminary president used to say to them, “There are two chief sins in the ministry: laziness and pride.” And you can tell from 2 Corinthians 4:1–6 that Paul resisted both—and pastors and preachers need help to do that today too.

But second, Paul described his preaching as “the open statement of the truth.” He uses the word phanerōsis, which means a manifestation, a revelation, a disclosure. It’s a great word to describe what we’re seeking to do when we preach: to unfold, to manifest what’s actually there in the text of Scripture. I love what the Scottish Old Testament professor, John “Rabbi” Duncan said about Jonathan Edwards preaching. He said, “His doctrine is all application and his application is all doctrine.” And he meant that in Edwards’ preaching, there was a kind of double phanerosis: God’s Word was exposed and made plain, and as a result, people’s hearts were exposed and God dealt with them. And that’s certainly what we need in the preaching of the Word.

But third, Paul says that he doesn’t preach himself, but then he adds, “But we preach Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” Doesn’t that strike you as odd? Surely when you’ve said, “We preach Christ, not ourselves,” you don’t then finish the sentence by adding yourself. But I think you’ll see what Paul is after here. He’s saying that when he preaches Jesus Christ as Lord, he does that as a bondslave. Yes, as a bondslave of the Lord Jesus, but also as a bondslave of his hearers—in this case, the Corinthians. He’s on his knees, as it were, before them. He’s serving them, not lording it over them. As he wrote to the Thessalonians, Paul not only presents the gospel, but he offers himself to them as their servant as he preaches the gospel.

You know, I suspect that’s a good reason to keep using the word minister and not only the word pastor, because minister is Latin for servant. Doulos, the Greek word that’s used by Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:5 also means bondservant. And I think you can tell, can’t you, when God’s Word is being preached in that kind of spirit? So you can see some of the reasons why these verses in 2 Corinthians 4:1–6 have power to shape any minister. They’ve certainly shaped me. And please pray that they’ll shape more and more young ministers in our own time because that’s so vital for the health of the church.