Full Title:
Universalism and The Reality of Eternal Punishment: Finding the Pace to Finish the Race
Desiring God 1990 Conference for Pastors
- Attributes surviving and thriving in the ministry to God's grace
- The bedrock of my life is the sovereign, wise, personal love of God
- He is powerful, his sovereignty rules over all and does so in his love
Romans 8:28–29
[28] And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [29] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (ESV)
- God has an unthwartable purpose that his kingdom will be preached to all nations and then the end will come
- Even if there's a lot of failure in my piece of that, I'm on the winning side and God will work it all toward that goal of having worshipers in every tongue
1. Make a case for hard work, the ministry is hard work
2. Issues of marriage and family, and personal well being, what to do when commands seem to collide
3. Finding the pace to finish the race
4. A way of viewing people and the work that helps with difficult people and circumstances
5. Share my life verse
| 1. Make a case for hard work, the ministry is hard work
- Work hard like Paul did
1 Corinthians 11:1
[1] Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. (ESV)
Acts 20:35
[35] In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (ESV)
- Hard work will be seen in a very healthy context if we believe it's better to give than to receive
1 Corinthians 15:10
[10] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (ESV)
- Grace labors, grace drives work
- Grace and hard work go hand in hand
- Grace empowers hard work
2 Corinthians 11:23–29
[23] Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. [24] Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. [25] Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; [26] on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; [27] in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. [28] And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. [29] Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? (ESV)
- Hard work is long hours and lots of emotional and physical energy
1 Thessalonians 2:8–9
[8] So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
[9] For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. (ESV)
1 Timothy 5:17
[17] Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. (ESV)
- Paul viewed the ministry of preaching and teaching as something you work hard at.
1 Corinthians 15:58
[58] Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (ESV)
- The reason we can work hard is that we know our toil is not in vain according to this text, not from the results we get
- All that you invest in missions, it is not in vain even though it seems to be a lot of times
- ALL the flock
Acts 20:28
[28] 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. (ESV)
1 Thessalonians 5:14
[14] And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (ESV)
- Always will be more idle, fainthearted, weak, and people who require patience than you can ever have time for
2 Timothy 4:2
[2] preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. (ESV)
- We were both pouring out lives into ministry and then we had a child and my wife's ministry kept growing until she realized she couldn't be a good mom and be that involved so she stopped working at the church and then we were on two separate tracks me in ministry and her as a mom.
- God used her onset of depression to stop us in our tracks and see that we were failing at fulfilling some commitments while trying to fulfill others well.
- My wife felt like she couldn't chime in and share how hard it was because the thing I was so involved with was my ministry but it kept me away from the home too much [severely paraphrased this note]
- She thought who was she to get in the way of the ministry and who was she to make demands on me so it was hard for her to talk about what she needed and I was so busy it was hard for me to see what she needed therefore there were problems and her depression happened
- 3 Things I learned
1. Our schedule had to be slashed
- I became the primary child care provider for our family for several months
- I was forced to look at how I contributed to her depression though it was a complex thing with lots of reasons
- When a crises happens we need to make sure we're there and my wife never begrudged that, but day in day out I would fill my schedule with good things and not hive my wife and family the place that they needed at that time and I had to look at that and realize I needed to be careful and that I didn't need to be at everything I thought I needed to be at.
2. When I did come home I was so exhausted all I wanted to do was sit and rest but my family was happy to see me and ready for me
- Pace yourself to reserve energy for your family
- Good energy, not just left over energy
- When I come home exhausted I become passive and then don't lead our family well in making decisions and dreaming of our future
3. You need to view your life in chapters
- We found it hard to transition between chapters
-When children come it is a new chapter
- Learn from others who have been through these chapters
- We had to learn to be ministered to
- As a family of a pastor it's easy to get used to always giving and serving
4. We learned to wait on God
- We never felt abandoned
- When it seemed like we were we read the Psalms and the sovereignty of God helped us
- You're not choosing between ministry and family, it's all ministy
- You can't cultivate your sexual relationship well if you're never home and always gone doing ministry
- Are we provoking our children to anger by not being there for them or when we are physically there our minds are on a million other things and we're tired?
- We need accountability partners to point stuff in our life out to us, so we can see our own needs that aren't being met
- Paul didn't see people as a continual problem, but on a fellow believer and one who has a bright future you can see ahead down the road to keep pressing on with
- Satan is the true enemy, not people
- God will use us despite the earthen vessels we are, broken and imperfect
- A root beer float tastes better after a hard days work than a lazy day
- Leisure is pleasurable when it comes after hard work and as a thing to replenish you for more hard work
Universalism and The Reality of Eternal Punishment: Finding the Pace to Finish the Race
Desiring God 1990 Conference for Pastors
- Attributes surviving and thriving in the ministry to God's grace
- The bedrock of my life is the sovereign, wise, personal love of God
- He is powerful, his sovereignty rules over all and does so in his love
Romans 8:28–29
[28] And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [29] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (ESV)
- God has an unthwartable purpose that his kingdom will be preached to all nations and then the end will come
- Even if there's a lot of failure in my piece of that, I'm on the winning side and God will work it all toward that goal of having worshipers in every tongue
1. Make a case for hard work, the ministry is hard work
2. Issues of marriage and family, and personal well being, what to do when commands seem to collide
3. Finding the pace to finish the race
4. A way of viewing people and the work that helps with difficult people and circumstances
5. Share my life verse
| 1. Make a case for hard work, the ministry is hard work
- Work hard like Paul did
1 Corinthians 11:1
[1] Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. (ESV)
Acts 20:35
[35] In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (ESV)
- Hard work will be seen in a very healthy context if we believe it's better to give than to receive
1 Corinthians 15:10
[10] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (ESV)
- Grace labors, grace drives work
- Grace and hard work go hand in hand
- Grace empowers hard work
2 Corinthians 11:23–29
[23] Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. [24] Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. [25] Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; [26] on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; [27] in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. [28] And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. [29] Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? (ESV)
- Hard work is long hours and lots of emotional and physical energy
1 Thessalonians 2:8–9
[8] So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
[9] For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. (ESV)
1 Timothy 5:17
[17] Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. (ESV)
- Paul viewed the ministry of preaching and teaching as something you work hard at.
1 Corinthians 15:58
[58] Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (ESV)
- The reason we can work hard is that we know our toil is not in vain according to this text, not from the results we get
- All that you invest in missions, it is not in vain even though it seems to be a lot of times
- ALL the flock
Acts 20:28
[28] 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. (ESV)
1 Thessalonians 5:14
[14] And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (ESV)
- Always will be more idle, fainthearted, weak, and people who require patience than you can ever have time for
2 Timothy 4:2
[2] preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. (ESV)
- We were both pouring out lives into ministry and then we had a child and my wife's ministry kept growing until she realized she couldn't be a good mom and be that involved so she stopped working at the church and then we were on two separate tracks me in ministry and her as a mom.
- God used her onset of depression to stop us in our tracks and see that we were failing at fulfilling some commitments while trying to fulfill others well.
- My wife felt like she couldn't chime in and share how hard it was because the thing I was so involved with was my ministry but it kept me away from the home too much [severely paraphrased this note]
- She thought who was she to get in the way of the ministry and who was she to make demands on me so it was hard for her to talk about what she needed and I was so busy it was hard for me to see what she needed therefore there were problems and her depression happened
- 3 Things I learned
1. Our schedule had to be slashed
- I became the primary child care provider for our family for several months
- I was forced to look at how I contributed to her depression though it was a complex thing with lots of reasons
- When a crises happens we need to make sure we're there and my wife never begrudged that, but day in day out I would fill my schedule with good things and not hive my wife and family the place that they needed at that time and I had to look at that and realize I needed to be careful and that I didn't need to be at everything I thought I needed to be at.
2. When I did come home I was so exhausted all I wanted to do was sit and rest but my family was happy to see me and ready for me
- Pace yourself to reserve energy for your family
- Good energy, not just left over energy
- When I come home exhausted I become passive and then don't lead our family well in making decisions and dreaming of our future
3. You need to view your life in chapters
- We found it hard to transition between chapters
-When children come it is a new chapter
- Learn from others who have been through these chapters
- We had to learn to be ministered to
- As a family of a pastor it's easy to get used to always giving and serving
4. We learned to wait on God
- We never felt abandoned
- When it seemed like we were we read the Psalms and the sovereignty of God helped us
- You're not choosing between ministry and family, it's all ministy
- You can't cultivate your sexual relationship well if you're never home and always gone doing ministry
- Are we provoking our children to anger by not being there for them or when we are physically there our minds are on a million other things and we're tired?
- We need accountability partners to point stuff in our life out to us, so we can see our own needs that aren't being met
- Paul didn't see people as a continual problem, but on a fellow believer and one who has a bright future you can see ahead down the road to keep pressing on with
- Satan is the true enemy, not people
- God will use us despite the earthen vessels we are, broken and imperfect
- A root beer float tastes better after a hard days work than a lazy day
- Leisure is pleasurable when it comes after hard work and as a thing to replenish you for more hard work
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