Transcript

The following pastoral portrait was presented in Tabletalk magazine in an article written by Pete Alwinson. And as I read this portrait, see if you don't recognize yourself somewhere in the picture. He writes:

It was going to be relatively simple, this work of pastoring: Jesus had come, He had endured...and conquered with blinding glory the cross and tomb. In His own words, "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33b) and, "Say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you'" (Luke 10:9b).

Teach and preach the Word with accuracy, clarity, and practicality and they will come and they will mature and together we will win the world for King Jesus, with King Jesus at our side. Not an uncommon perspective for a seminarian with divinity degree freshly in hand. It was my earnest conviction and expectation....

Cracks quickly appeared in that sanguine theological position. Idealism and incomplete theology must after all eventually give way to reality. Worship attendance grows; babies die and have to be buried; a businessman becomes hungry for God and receives Christ; a convert slips back to the drug lifestyle and is on the streets again; marriage partners are reconciled; Christians bicker with their brothers in Christ....

The "already-not-yetness" of the kingdom of God is in the practical theology department for pastors. We live it and witness it every day....Blessing, power, and joy alternate daily and rapidly with loss, weakness, and grief. Church life is a carousel of defeat and victory.1

During this conference, world-class scholars have equipped us with gospel-centered, doctrinal discernment. We have been equipped to love the Savior more passionately so we might serve our churches more effectively. We have been equipped to contend for the truth of the gospel and, where necessary, humbly and courageously oppose error in the local churches that we love and serve. There is no true pastoral ministry apart from faithful gospel proclamation and doctrinal precision.

But pastoral ministry not only requires the faithful proclamation of the gospel, but also demands personal holiness; it demands not only doctrinal precision, but also godly affection; not only public proclamation, but also pleasing God in the privacy of our heart.

Pastoral ministry is not solely about our mind, but also about our soul. And the pastor's soul is all too often overlooked when leaders are addressed.

In this final session, I want to address your heart and care for your soul. This morning I want to have a personal word with you, to prepare you for the challenges that await you as you return to church life, to the "carousel of defeat and victory" where "blessing, power, and joy alternate daily and rapidly with loss, weakness, and grief."

CONFERENCE LIFE AND THE CAROUSEL

We have all been enjoying our time, but conferences like this are idyllic settings that bear little resemblance to a pastor's normal day. For the last three days, we have been listening to world-class teaching from world-class teachers. I have been experiencing the nearness of God in worship as I have joined with 5,500 other voices in singing praise to the Savior. I have experienced the gift of fellowship throughout the week. Every time I arrive in the auditorium I am greeted with a fresh stack of free books on my seat. Available is a massive, well-stocked bookstore where I have been buying additional books. We have been eating well throughout the entire time and staying in beautiful hotels. I am not experiencing real life at this conference.

Conferences and Our Wives

The only ones experiencing real life the past few days are our wives. Our wives have been serving and sacrificing while we have been here enjoying ourselves. Therefore I want to encourage each and every husband here to thank your wife upon returning home and to give your wife the following gift: Arrange for someone to care for the children, take her out to a nice restaurant or her favorite coffee shop, and for an unhurried few hours, spend time communicating all you have learned and experienced in the context of this conference, and communicate to her your gratefulness for making it possible for you to attend this conference. She has been humbly and heroically serving you and she wants to hear what happened. She wants to hear all about it.

Heart Transition

This conference has been an exhilarating experience, but no doubt a transition is already under way in your soul as you prepare to return home this afternoon. Even as I speak, the weight of your responsibilities for your family and for the church are being freshly introduced to your soul.

In this final conference message, I want to prepare you for your next day back in the office, for your next sermon, for the avalanche of emails that have accumulated in your absence, for the demands that await your arrival home, for the suffering that the members of your church have no doubt faced during this week, while we have been here enjoying ourselves at this conference. I want to prepare you for your arrival home.

Paul and the Carousel

And I think the most effective way I can prepare you is to briefly consider the apostle Paul, a man whose ministry responsibilities I am sure far exceeded those of anyone here at this conference. Paul proclaimed the gospel, planted churches, contended for the gospel, sacrificed and suffered for the gospel. And he writes, "Apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches" (2 Corinthians 11:28). He continues, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?" (v. 29).

Paul was very familiar with the carousel. But it wasn't just his ministry responsibilities that set him apart. Nor was it simply his suffering and sacrifice for the gospel. What set Paul apart was the way he carried all of his pressures and anxieties. He served, he sacrificed, he suffered—and he did it all with joy.

To study this man's life and his letters is to encounter this clear distinctive: Paul served the Lord with gladness.

And so I think it would be wise for us pastors to give attention to this compelling example of joy in Paul's life, and to ask ourselves: Is joy present in my life and ministry?

Faithful and Joyful

I have no doubt that the overwhelming majority of pastors present at this conference are serving the Savior and the church faithfully. And for that each of you has my deepest respect.

But I am not certain that the overwhelming majority of pastors present are serving the Savior and the church with gladness. And though faithfulness is both necessary and commendable, it is not sufficient. For a pastor to fully please and accurately represent God, he must also serve joyfully.

So how about you? Are you a happy pastor?

Now please don't misunderstand. I am not speaking here of superficial happiness or a cheerful personality. Nor am I denying the reality of sin and suffering, sorrow and tears. But underlying even those appropriate, godly emotions of sorrow and grief, does joy characterize you as a pastor? Can you say with Paul, "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2 Corinthians 6:10)? Do you serve, lead, work, pray, prepare sermons, counsel, and care with a joy obvious to all?

ARE YOU A HAPPY PASTOR?

At the outset, let's conduct a brief and humble evaluation.

Would your wife describe you as consistently glad, truly happy to be a pastor, and genuinely joyful in the execution of your pastoral responsibility?

What about your children? How would they describe your attitude and demeanor as they observe you each day (as they certainly are)? Would they say, "My dad is a joyful pastor"?

What about those serving alongside you on the pastoral team or your fellow elders? Would they describe you as joyful, or as normally burdened, moody, irritable, and easily discouraged?

How about your assistant, your secretary, those you serve within the church, those who serve in administrative roles in the church? What is it like to work with you on a daily basis outside of public view?

How about the members of your congregation? Would they characterize you as consistently happy and glad to be their pastor?

And, finally, what is your church like? Have you built, by your example, a church with a culture of joy? Or more tangibly, if I visited your church this Sunday as a guest, would it be obvious to me that joy characterizes your church?

May I appeal to you at this point? Please don't limit this evaluation of yourself to yourself. The usual result of self-evaluation is self-flattery. So humbly ask others for their observations. God gives grace to the humble, and it would be humble to ask your wife, "If you knew I wouldn't react in anger, how would you respond to the question: 'Am I consistently joyful?'"

Ask your children. Set aside time and say to them, "As you study your dad, what do you observe? Is Dad a happy pastor?"

Meet with your pastoral team and fellow elders and ask them this question: "In observing my life, my pastoral responsibilities in this church and serving with you, am I consistently (not flawlessly) joyful?"

And it's wise to extend that evaluation to your secretary: "What am I like to work with? Am I joyful, or do I appear to you to be busy, hurried, irritated, moody, and demanding? Do you daily observe joy in my life and ministry?"

Most importantly, what about God? Would he say, "By my grace you have served me with gladness"?

From my observation of pastors for more than 30 years, many, if not most, pastors serve the Lord faithfully but not gladly. Too many faithful ministers lack cheerfulness. Many appear burdened, weary, and discouraged. Perhaps you are one of those pastors.

Two years ago, at the inaugural Together for the Gospel conference, I met a deeply discouraged pastor. He arrived in Louisville with every intention of returning home and resigning from his church. But the conference had such a dramatic effect on his life that he did not resign. Instead, his life and ministry have been, by God's grace, transformed. That same pastor is not only present at this conference two years later, but he brought 15 members of his church with him as well. I was so grateful to hear his story.

At the same time, I wonder if others are seated here facing the same situation. You may be amazed by the conference preaching and affected by the worship, but in your heart, as you think about your daily life, you are weary, burdened, angry, and discouraged. You are considering resigning from your church, if not considering an alternative occupation altogether. If that is you, I want to talk to you.

What I am saying applies to all of us, but I particularly want to have a word with those who are weary and burdened. I want to leave you with hope rooted in the gospel. I think one of the most effective ways I can serve you is to draw your attention to the happiest pastor I know: Paul. The guy with the most responsibilities is also the happiest guy. What a surprise and what a compelling example.

And so the grace of God in the gospel, evidenced in Paul's life, should provide hope for us all, regardless of the state of your soul or the challenges that await your arrival home. The grace of God present in the gospel and grace of God evident in Paul's life should provide hope for each and every pastor here.

So let's answer several questions. How did Paul consistently serve the Lord with gladness? How was this man's soul sustained with joy in spite of hardship, opposition, suffering, persecution, and responsibility that none of us can relate to? In the shadow of the cross, what can I learn from his example? How can gladness and joy become discernable realities in my life, obvious to God, my wife, my children, my pastoral team, my secretary, my church members, and even non-Christians?

Paul to the Philippians

The answers to these questions will be found in the opening chapter of Paul's letter to the Philippian church.

Philippians is one of Paul's most personal letters, and the dominant emotion of this letter is joy. You simply cannot read this letter without feeling joy. As R. Kent Hughes has pointed out, the letter as a whole references joy 16 times, building to a "ringing crescendo" in the command, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice" (4:4).2

But it is all too easy to forget that Paul penned this letter with shackled hands in a Roman prison.

So what sustained joy in Paul's life? The opening verses of Philippians provide us with a window into Paul's soul. There we receive instruction on cultivating and maintaining joy in our soul amid ministry responsibilities.

This text reveals three dominant characteristics that marked Paul's soul and characterized his pastoral ministry. All three are simple, yet profound. But each is easy to assume or neglect. Giving attention to these characteristics makes all the difference in a pastor's soul.

1. GRATEFULNESS TO GOD (1:3–5)

Paul writes, "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now" (1:3–5).

In studying Paul's letters, I've become aware of the high priority he assigned to gratefulness. In private he gives thanks to God for people and churches, and then he expresses that gratefulness to them in public, written form. His private and public expressions of gratefulness to God and for the people of God are neither subtle nor occasional, but pronounced and frequent.

It's been written that "Paul mentions the subject of thanksgiving in his letters more often, line for line, than any other Hellenistic author, pagan or Christian."3 Apart from the Lord, I don't think there was a more grateful man than Paul. His gratitude was sincere, specific, and diverse. To encounter Paul was to experience a compelling example of gratefulness to God for the Savior and for the numerous evidences of grace he experienced and observed.

So what is it like to meet you? Is it immediately evident in your pastoral ministry that you assign a high priority to the practice of gratefulness? Is that evident? If not, perhaps you don't appreciate the high priority Paul assigned to gratefulness.

These expressions of gratefulness at the outset of this letter are not formalities or superficial expressions of ancient etiquette. Nor was Paul's gratitude some unique character trait of his pre-conversion personality. His gratefulness was theologically informed.

In his study of the gratitude expressed in Paul's letters, David Pao quotes Peter O'Brien's observations: "Paul's introductory thanksgivings were not meaningless devices. Instead, they were integral parts of their letters, setting the tone and themes of what was to follow."4 Paul's gratitude "is always a response to God's saving activity in creation and redemption."5

Pao continues:

The grounds [of thanksgiving] are usually acts of God within the lives of the believers and the faithful response of the audience. Thankfulness as a result of the experience of grace by others became a dominant category.6

Lord, I want this to be a dominant category in my life!

Paul's gratefulness reflected an awareness of God's grace, of God's activity, and of the effect and advance of the gospel. And when we discern these, we too will be grateful to God.

So let me again ask, is gratefulness a priority in your life? Are you modeling gratefulness for your family and church? Have you built a grateful church? Have you created a culture of gratefulness within your church that would be evident to all who came into casual contact with your church? And if not, why not?

Perhaps you haven't assigned the same priority to gratefulness as Paul. If so I would encourage you to study this topic for a season, apply this topic to your life, and experience the life-transforming relevance for your soul and your pastoral ministry. You will experience the transforming grace of God for the sake of your family, the church, and ultimately the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If gratefulness does not become a dominant category in your soul and pastoral ministry, you will be vulnerable to the subtle, serious, and predictable sin of complaining, and joy will be foreign to your soul.

I want to prepare you for this predictable temptation, because pastoral ministry daily provides countless opportunities to complain. And from my experience, many of us are unaware of the seriousness of this sin.

I know I was unaware.

My Battle with Complaining

A number of years ago, my friend Dr. David Powlison came to teach the Dynamics of Biblical Change course to Covenant Life Church. In the opening session, David, aware that eight or ten sessions were coming and not wanting us to be overwhelmed, suggested that we each choose one area of our lives to address. "Choose one area," he said, "because, by God's grace, when you change in that one area, it affects the entirety of your life."

David volunteered the area of complaining and began to illustrate from his life this area. And rather than thinking creatively, I adopted his area. "I'll take complaining," I thought.

Little did I know what was providentially under way in my life.

As I began to study this sin, I soon realized it was as subtle as it was pervasive. But I discovered something even more serious: I was complaining against God himself. And God wasn't indifferent to my daily complaints. I began to study passages like Numbers 11 and 1 Corinthians 10, and I discovered how God viewed complaining. Complaining is an expression of my arrogance before and against God. The root of my complaining is pride, and complaining reveals an absence of humility.

Later I came across these statements by Puritan Thomas Watson: "Murmuring...is a rising up against God."7 "For thou settest thyself above God...as if thou wert wiser than he."8

This discovery hit me with the blunt convicting truth that complaining is an expression of my arrogance against God. In his sermons on Job, John Calvin writes,

Why is it that men fret so when God sends them things entirely contrary to their desires except that they do not acknowledge that God does everything by reason and that He has just cause?....

As soon as God does not send what we have desired, we dispute against Him, we bring suit, not that we appear to do this, but our manner shows that this is nevertheless our intent....But from what spirit is this pronounced? From a poisoned heart; as if we said, "The thing should have been otherwise, I see no reason for this." Meanwhile God will be condemned among us. This is how men exasperate themselves. And in this what do they do? It is as if they accused God of being a tyrant or a hairbrain who asked only to put everything in confusion. Such horrible blasphemy blows out of the mouths of men.9

It doesn't just blow out of the mouths of unregenerate men. It was blowing out of my mouth daily. To this day, the pride in my heart says, "I see no reason for this."

Temptation greeted me upon arrival to this conference. I checked into my hotel and was informed I was staying on the sixteenth floor. I carted my luggage through the lobby, into the elevator, all the way up to the sixteenth floor, then all the way down a long hallway. I took out the key card, inserted it, pulled it out, and the red light blinked. I slipped the card back in and took it out. Blinking red light. A third time. Blinking red light.

And I protested. In effect, I said, "God in heaven, I'm sure you are aware of this, but I have a lot of work to do and a lot of meetings scheduled. And I'm serving you in all of this. I don't get it. This is a waste of time. I see no reason for this!"—as if it would be a significant time investment to go back to the lobby.

That's a small and silly illustration, but sadly my life is full of those illustrations. And God isn't indifferent to these sinful responses. God doesn't say, "C.J., you are weary, overworked, and burdened. I understand. You need every moment to prepare for this conference."

Because I am standing in front of the blinking red light thinking, "God, I am wiser than you are. Explain this to me. I see no reason for this." And in that moment of complaint I am, in my pride, contending with God for supremacy.

So how do you respond to tests of adversity, perplexing circumstances, trials, suffering, and criticism? You will be tempted to complain. It may be as soon as you get home and read your emails and letters. Perhaps you will be criticized this week. And you will be tempted to say, "I see no reason for this!" You could go through your entire day in this arrogance.

And if your friends are not sufficiently discerning (or sufficiently courageous), they may accommodate you because you are the pastor. You are busy. You are important. And others cannot imagine the responsibility that weighs upon your soul. Therefore your complaining is understandable.

That's not the heavenly view. God's view of my complaining is, "C.J., it is never understandable or acceptable when you complain. For you are arrogantly charging me for allowing something, or doing something, that you see no reason for."

It's the kindness of God that at some point God doesn't say, "You know what, I don't see any reason for you anymore, all right? I don't see any reason to keep listening to this nonsense." 

Cultivating Gratefulness

One primary way to weaken the sin of pride is to, by the grace of God, cultivate gratefulness for the many evidences of grace in your church. Paul's gratefulness for this church was informed by his awareness of God's activity in this church. He was more aware of evidences of grace than areas of deficiency.

The Philippian church was impressive, but also in need of adjustment. Pride and selfish ambition were threatening to undermine the unity of the church. Two members in this church were in conflict with each other.

Yet Paul begins this letter by reviewing God's work for, within, and through this church. And he gives thanks to all of them, and he prays with joy for them all "because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now," which it appears he vividly remembered (v. 5).

So in this opening prayer, we overhear the content of Paul's prayer for this church. And this is what we hear: joyful gratitude to God for evidences of grace he observes in this church.

So if I were to overhear your prayers for your church, would I hear similar expressions of gratefulness with joy? Do you sincerely express specific gratefulness to God for your church?

You will find a direct correlation: Where joy is absent, complaining has replaced gratefulness. Where joy is absent, I am more aware of deficiencies in the church than of God's grace. But gospel-informed gratefulness makes all the difference in pastoral ministry.

Gratefulness will affect your preaching. It's easy to see the difference between a grateful pastor and a self-righteous or irritated pastor.

Gratefulness will affect your counseling. If, before you begin counseling, you remind yourself of God's grace in that person's life, you will be freshly grateful for him, and it will be obvious to him. You will transfer the hope of the gospel to him in your counseling.

Gratefulness will affect your relationship with the leaders in the church. You will view them as brothers and friends and co-laborers, gifts from God, not as professional colleagues.

Gratefulness will affect your wife, protecting her from bitterness, offense, and discouragement.

Gratefulness will affect how your children view the church. What do your children hear from you about the church? Carolyn and I sought to cultivate in our children an appreciation for the privilege their dad had to serve as a pastor. And we sought to protect their hearts from bitterness or offense by speaking specifically and continuously of evidences of grace we were aware of in the church, restraining ourselves from complaining in any way about the church. We wanted to transfer gratefulness to our children's hearts for this wonderful church and for this privileged position that their dad would temporarily occupy.

And gratefulness, as you model and teach it, will affect your church. Every Sunday, countless evidences of grace are visible in your church because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Teach them to see and celebrate these evidences of grace, and to glorify God for them. Model and teach this, and you will cultivate a culture of gratefulness.

Gratefulness was a dominant category for Paul. Make gratefulness a dominant category and you will be a joyful pastor, and most importantly, you will please and glorify God.

2. FAITH TOWARD GOD (1:6)

Faith informed Paul's labor for the Philippian church. "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (1:6, emphasis added).

Trust in God, in his promises and purpose, informed the man's service. He was confident that God would fulfill his purpose for this church, in and through the gospel of Jesus Christ. This faith should inform our service as well.

And we also see what strengthened Paul's confidence in their future. His confidence in their future was rooted in their past: "He who began." He was aware that this church began with the effectual call of God. The church was inaugurated through God, and Paul was sure of this: that which God inaugurates, he sustains and completes.

This is impressive confidence from a guy chained and imprisoned. I can at times be sitting in the comfortable confines of an elders' meeting and I am not "sure of this." I want this confidence.

"And I am sure of this."

Our confidence in the future of those entrusted to our care should be no different from Paul's. If the members of your church have turned from their sin and trusted in the Savior as a substitutionary sacrifice for their sin, then they are no different from the Philippians. So you can and should share Paul's certainty about the work of God in the hearts and lives of those you serve.

And this faith toward God for the future of your church will make all the difference in your soul, in your perspective of your church and your ministry, even in how you speak to the church. In fact, you cannot please God or effectively pastor without faith toward God. There is no substitute for faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6)—not difficult; impossible. By implication, without faith it is impossible to pastor effectively.

Paul's confidence in the future of this church was theologically informed, not some pre-conversion disposition. And that same theological information is available to you, pastor, so that you, too, can be confident in the future of those entrusted to your care.

Want of Faith

I would encourage you to set aside a season of time for a fresh study of the nature of faith and its importance to pastoral ministry. And let me recommend that you allow Charles Bridges (1794–1869) to assist you in this study. His book The Christian Ministryis outstanding. It is the second most influential book in my pastoral ministry.10 And especially one short chapter titled "Want of Faith," that I encourage you to read and memorize.

In this chapter Bridges writes,

All our failures may be ultimately traced to a defect of faith....The life of faith, therefore, is the life of the Minister's work and the spring of his success....

The main difficulty, therefore, is not in our work, but in ourselves; in the conflict with our own unbelief....Difficulties heaped upon difficulties can never rise to the level of the promise of God....

It is faith that enlivens our work with perpetual cheerfulness. It commits every part of it to God, in the hope, that even mistakes shall be overruled for his glory; and thus relieves us from an oppressive anxiety, often attendant upon a deep sense of our responsibility. The shortest way to peace will be found in casting ourselves upon God for daily pardon of deficiencies and supplies of grace, without looking too eagerly for present fruit. Hence our course of effort is unvarying, but more tranquil....Unbelief looks at the difficulty. Faith regards the promise. Unbelief therefore makes our work a service of bondage. Faith realizes it as a "labour of love." Unbelief drags on in sullen despondency. Faith makes the patience, with which it is content to wait for success, "the patience of hope" [1 Thessalonians 1:3 KJV]. As every difficulty...is the fruit of unbelief; so will they all ultimately be overcome by the perseverance of faith.11

I was stunned when I read, "All our failures may be ultimately traced to a defect of faith." Then Bridges goes on to say, "Where is the main difficulty? It's within you!"

Since reading this insightful statement, I have sought to make the life of faith the life of my work, and I have grown to understand that my daily difficulty is never the work, but in my unbelief.

I have learned that when I lack joy and ministry is (or appears) difficult, that reveals unbelief in my soul. It is faith that enlivens our work with perpetual cheerfulness.

So ask yourself: Is your pastoral ministry marked by perpetual cheerfulness? If not, faith, so simple (and yet profound), makes all the difference.

Faith makes all the difference in preaching. Where is your confidence when you stand behind the sacred desk? Is it in the One who began a good work and will sustain and complete it, using the preaching of his Word as a means to do this? What are you trusting when you address your people? Are you trusting your eloquence, relevance, awareness of culture, or humor? Or is your confidence in the power of God to transform lives through the proclamation of the gospel?

At this conference, listening to these men preach, observing their exceptional gifts, and feeling the effect of their preaching upon our souls, it's easy to think, "I can't do that." Let me confirm your discernment: You're right. You can't. Only a few can. I cannot do what they do. But if that discourages you, then your confidence is misplaced. If your confidence is in your gifting, your education, your preparation, your eloquence, then your confidence isn't ultimately in the One who began this good work.

Raise your hand if you want to preach after John Piper. If you were asked to speak at this conference and you were asked to assemble the speaking order of this conference (and quite obviously I wasn't asked to participate), how many of you would say, "You know where I want to preach? You just slip me in right there after John Piper. That is where I want to preach."

No, you wouldn't want to do that because you don't want to spend your whole sermon wondering if people are comparing you unfavorably to John Piper. You don't want to spend your whole sermon wondering, "Why didn't they ask John to speak twice?"

But here is what I know as I stand before you. My confidence is not located in trying to imitate or emulate John Piper. I don't play in his league. I don't have his gifting. But I do have confidence in God, in his character and promises. I have confidence in the gospel. These are my only confidence when I stand to preach.

In comparing himself to other preachers, Charles Spurgeon once said, "Whitefield and Wesley might preach the gospel better than I do, but they could not preach a better gospel."12 Here is how I would paraphrase that: Ligon Duncan, Thabiti Anyabwile, John MacArthur, Mark Dever, Al Mohler, John Piper, R.C. Sproul—they all preach the gospel better than me. But the good news for me, and for all of us, is this: They could not preach a better gospel.

On another occasion, addressing his Pastors College students, Spurgeon quipped, "Your ministry is poor enough. Everybody knows that, and you ought to know it most of all."13 You have got to love that. My paraphrase: "You stink. Your ministry is pathetic. Everybody knows it. You don't know it? You ought to know it most of all."

And Spurgeon went on to inform his students that their preaching was effective only because God keeps his promise. "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" (Isaiah 55:11). Therefore, you can go into your pulpit this Sunday with that confidence in God and in his promise for your church.

And to add to your confidence, I would argue that there is nobody who can more effectively address your church this Sunday than you. You have been uniquely called by God to this task.

Daily I read another Spurgeon quote, posted just under my computer monitor: "Moreover, labour is light to a man of cheerful spirit; and success waits on cheerfulness. The man who toils, rejoicing in his God, believing with all his heart, has success guaranteed."14

Pleasing God in Private

Here is why laboring in joy is so important. Most of my labor is done in private, not in public. We want to please God in private (and I would argue that the public is the easier part). So two weeks prior to this conference, as I prepared, I wanted to please God by being cheerful in the preparation process. "Lord," I prayed, "I want to show trust in you, express my gratefulness to you, showing confidence in you and in your promise. I want joy to be a distinctive in my life, so that if somebody didn't know about this conference and my responsibilities at this conference, when he saw me he would be unaware of the responsibilities I carry. And those who do know, may they be affected by the joy in my life."

I want to please God in private, not simply to please him in public display. I want to please him during the week. I want to please him in private by trusting him in private. I know you do, too. And labor is easy to those of a cheerful spirit. So for the sake of your soul and your pastoral ministry, make faith a priority, and you will be a joyful pastor and you will please and glorify God.

3. AFFECTION FOR OTHERS (1:7–8)

We see Paul's affection clearly and compellingly in verses 7 and 8. He says that he yearns for the Philippians "with the affection of Christ Jesus" (v. 8).

Do you yearn for your church? Do you yearn for all those in your church?

This kind of affection permeates Paul's ministry and letters. I don't have any doubt that this affection would intensify because of the way that this church in particular cared for him and supported him.

Each church Paul planted and served was the object of his affection because each church was the object of Christ Jesus's affection. And we, by the grace of God, are to reflect the very affection Christ has for them.

Please don't misunderstand. It is not that Paul is naturally a relational guy. What explanation is there, then, for this feeling? It's simple: Paul's affection was theologically informed by the gospel. This affection was rooted in grace: "for you are all partakers with me of grace" (v. 7). Cultivating affection for those we serve is a priority for pastors, and those we serve must encounter it through our conversations, prayer, encouragement, counseling, and preaching.

So how do you feel about those you will soon return to serve? Could you say this to them? If not, why not?

When I don't feel this affection for somebody, I find that a simple practice renews my affection for him: I contemplate the love of Christ for him, as seen in the death of Christ on the cross for him.

Paul's affection was informed by the gospel.

If Paul were here, I think he would say to us, "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood" (Acts 20:28). There is an inseparable relationship between your care for the church and your contemplation of Calvary. When you stand before them this Sunday and look out upon them, you should be thinking, "I address those whom he obtained through his own blood. These are those for whom the Savior died. The Savior cried out, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' for those I am about to address" (Matthew 27:46). Never attempt to care to for the church apart from an awareness that Christ died for them.

As you are aware of Christ's death for them, you will find within your soul fresh affection for them. It will not be superficial, or merely an expression of your personality. By the grace of God it will be the very affection of Jesus Christ. And you will need this gospel-centered affection, because at some point you will grow tired of caring for them.

Do you find yourself tired and weary? I would commend to you an extended season of surveying the wondrous cross and contemplating the Savior's love for those in your church. And as you do so by the grace of God, your heart will be filled with affection for them. And it will make a difference.

As this affection grows in your soul, seize every occasion to express it to them! When you preach and when you counsel, let them know of your gratefulness to God and your faith toward God for them. Never correct your church, or an individual member, when your heart lacks gratefulness and faith toward God, and affection for those you are talking with. This will make all the difference as you serve your church, a place Spurgeon called "the dearest place on earth."

This is one of the few ways I can relate to Paul. I know his Savior, and I am familiar with this affection for those for whom the Savior died.

CONCLUSION

So brothers, in a matter of hours we will all be home. The time has come to get back on the carousel. Reentry will pose its challenge, but the challenge isn't reentry; the biggest challenge is maintaining joy over the long haul.

What sustained Paul will sustain us. Like Paul, we have every reason to be grateful to God. We have every reason to trust God, every reason to love those for whom the Savior died.

What a privilege it is to be a pastor.

We have every reason to be joyful pastors.

© Copyright 2008 Sovereign Grace Ministries

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By C.J. Mahaney. Copyright 2008 Sovereign Grace Ministries. www.sovereigngraceministries.org