The title of this seminar is "Things that Seminary Cannot Teach You," subtitled "The Intangible Qualities or Intangible Prerequisites Necessary for Ministry Usefulness." And I had the opportunity to give a very similar message in a chapel service at the Master Seminary last semester. And so some of this, as you hear it, you'll recognize that it's aimed at men training for ministry, but I think the import of the principles also apply to men who are currently in ministry.

And so my hope and my prayer this afternoon is that this will be an encouragement to you to press on in faithfulness, even as I encouraged our seminary students last fall to press on in faithfulness as they prepare for a lifetime of doing what you men are already doing.

And I'm certainly grateful for your faithfulness, grateful for the encouragement that it is to have 5,000 pastors descend on this campus and to just see the zeal and vigor for serving the Lord in each of your faces. And so even in this breakout session, just such an encouragement to have you men here.

I'd like to open us in a word of prayer, and then we're going to jump right in. Heavenly Father, we give You thanks for Your many blessings, and even the rain that we're experiencing this afternoon, we recognize is a sign of Your provision and a reminder that all that we enjoy and all that we need, even the breath that we breathe, is a gift from You.

Father, I'm grateful for these men. I'm grateful for their faithfulness, for their endurance, for their eagerness to serve You and to represent You as they preach Your Word and shepherd Your people. And I pray that this entire week would be a great encouragement to each of them. I know that them being here is a great encouragement to us, and we just celebrate the fact that all of this is a gift of Your grace, that we would be counted worthy to be saved by You through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then counted as those who would be appointed to Your service in this way.

What a privilege. And we ask that You would renew in our hearts the joy of what it means to serve You faithfully. We pray this in the name of Christ, our Savior. Amen. All right, so given our topic this afternoon, I am going to spend quite a bit of time talking about seminary education, and I'm going to talk a little bit about what I will call the tangibles of seminary education and then the intangibles of seminary education.

Obviously, this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart as someone who's on the faculty here at the Master's Seminary. I have the privilege of serving as the Executive Vice President and Provost. And so stewarding seminary education is something that our faculty thinks about frequently. It's a constant thought on our minds, because we recognize that if James 3:1 is true, that let not many of you become teachers, knowing that as such you will receive a stricter judgment.

If that's true for the teachers, how much more so is it true for the teachers of the teachers? And so we take our calling, our stewardship, our responsibility before the Lord very, very seriously. And when we think about seminary education and specifically the tangible side of it, and I'll explain what I mean by that in a little bit, we focus on the content of what we give to men in the classroom.

We focus on things like sound doctrine and apologetics and evangelism. We focus on hermeneutics and homiletics, on preaching and delivery. All of these things, for lack of a better word, that can be communicated either through content that is given to them in a classroom setting or that which can be practiced in some sort of lab or ministry field experience.

But there's another category that we're looking for in the men who come through the master's seminary, and it's what I call the intangible qualities that we're going to talk about this afternoon. These are things that cannot be taught in a classroom, but they are essential to ministry effectiveness. And I'm going to highlight three of those as we go through this material this afternoon, and we'll get to those in just a moment.

When we think about seminary education, the history of seminary education, obviously we could go many, many centuries back into church history. Some examples that come to my mind would be John Calvin in Geneva who, in June of 1559, dedicated a building to the academy there in Geneva, known as the Geneva Academy.

And it was there that John Calvin, along with Theodore Beza and others who were part of that movement in Geneva, trained up not only university students but also future pastors. And men would come from all around Europe, from Roman Catholic-controlled nations. They would come to Geneva, they would be trained, and they would be sent back.

And that school even earned itself the reputation of being the school of death, known for that because, not because it was deadly difficult, though seminary sometimes is, but instead because after men were trained and sent back to those countries from which they had come, many experienced imprisonment, persecution, torture, and sometimes even martyrdom for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We could fast-forward in church history a little bit to the time of Charles Spurgeon in the mid-19th century. It was in 1855 that Spurgeon began meeting with a man in his congregation who wanted to learn systematic theology. And those meetings went so well that soon many others were meeting with Spurgeon, and just nine years later, in 1864, he had over a hundred students who were meeting in what was called Spurgeon's Pastors College.

By the time Charles Spurgeon died, more than 900 men had been trained, and even though Spurgeon himself never left Europe, he never preached outside of Europe, the 900 men whom he trained took his doctrine, which is really just biblical doctrine, and his style of preaching, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, all around the globe.

We could look for other examples in church history. We could go back to some of the early catechetical schools, even among the church fathers, but I believe that there is a precedent for seminary education even in the New Testament itself, that the history of seminary training goes all the way back to the New Testament, and I'd like to show that to you as we get started this afternoon by looking at a passage from the book of Acts in Acts chapter 19.

So we're going to start in Acts chapter 19, and then we'll eventually make our way to the book of 2 Timothy, but I want to start in Acts chapter 19. This is Paul's third missionary journey, and in Acts chapter 19, Luke records Paul's time in Ephesus. He actually spends roughly three years in Ephesus, and for a significant portion of that time, Paul was engaged in pastoral training, and I think this is significant.

It almost seems parenthetical to Luke's thought in verses 8 through 10, but I find in this parenthetical section a precedent for seminary education. Verse 8 of Acts chapter 19, Paul entered the synagogue, and he continued speaking out boldly for three months, and he was reasoning, and he was persuading them about the kingdom of God.

And then verse 9, "But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the way before the people, he withdrew from them and took the disciples away with him, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks." Again, almost a parenthetical statement by Luke talking about Paul's time in Ephesus, and yet what do we see Paul doing here?

So he enters into the synagogue, as of course was his custom. He preaches messages from the Old Testament Scriptures that would have convinced the Jewish listeners in that congregation that Jesus is the Messiah, and of course that pointed to the reality of the gospel, that he was crucified, buried, and rose again the third day.

I think if we look at Acts 13 and other places in Acts, we can get a sense of exactly what Paul was teaching in the synagogue when he was declaring to them the kingdom of God. That took place, as Luke records here, for three months, and then after there was resistance, Paul decided that the hostility had reached a point at which it was no longer profitable for him to continue, and what did he do?

He withdrew with the disciples, those who had embraced the Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith, and he met with them in a lecture hall there in Ephesus daily, Luke says, for a period of two years. Now we don't know who Tyrannus was. Most commentators think that he was a local teacher of probably rhetoric, and we don't know exactly how Paul gained use of the lecture hall that Tyrannus normally occupied.

It's quite possible, and this is what most commentators think, that Tyrannus would have used the lecture hall in the early morning when it was cool, and in the evening when again the temperature was cool, but the lecture hall would have sat empty in the warm hours of the day.

And in fact, there is a 4th century manuscript, which I realize is not authoritative because it's quite removed, but in this 4th century manuscript, there's a scribal note, specifically the scribal notes, what's not authoritative, and that scribal note says that Paul met with the disciples in the school of Tyrannus from the 5th hour of the day to the 10th hour of the day.

The Roman day started at 6 a.m., so the 5th hour of the day would have been 11 a.m., and the 10th hour of the day, 4 p.m., which fits with the idea that Paul perhaps met with the disciples there in the school of Tyrannus in Ephesus in the noon and early afternoon hours when the lecture hall was not normally needed because the rest of the city was experiencing their sort of siesta time during the warm hours of the day.

If that is at all accurate, that means that Paul spent roughly 5 hours a day, probably six days a week for a period of two years instructing in all things related to the kingdom of God, theology, sound doctrine, all of those categories, he instructed the disciples for a period of two years.

If you just do the simple math on that, 52 weeks in a year, let's say 50 weeks in a year, six hours a day, excuse me, five hours a day, six days a week, that's 30 hours a week, 50 weeks, 1,500 hours a year, that's roughly 3,000 hours of instruction that potentially Paul invested in these students in Ephesus during his third missionary journey.

Now, again, the school of Tyrannus is not where the church met. The church met elsewhere in Ephesus, so you have really a precedent for seminary education where you have Paul meeting with students on a regular basis in a setting that's outside of but connected to the local church in which he is imparting to them sound doctrine over this period of time.

And you'll notice the result of this, then, is verse 10, "As a result of Paul's instruction of these students in this training center, all of Asia," a reference to Asia Minor, so modern-day Turkey, "But all of Asia heard the gospel, the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks." And again, most commentators believe that as a result of Paul's training in Ephesus during his third missionary journey, this would have been 55, 56 AD, that the other churches of the seven churches of Revelation were planted as a result of this.

And even the church in Colossae, you remember Epaphras in the church of Colossae, that Paul had never been to Colossae, and yet Epaphras, he knew Epaphras, Epaphras was Paul's disciple, there was Epaphras trained, most commentators believe he was trained here at the school of Tyrannus under Paul's tutelage in Ephesus, and then he went and planted the church in Colossae.

And that's likely true of the churches that John will later write letters to in the book of Revelation, obviously Ephesus being one of those seven churches. So you see here in Acts 19, again, a prototype, a precedent for pastoral training where Paul is investing himself daily in these disciples, and the result of this is that they're going out throughout Asia Minor and they're planting churches throughout that part of the world, and the impact is incalculable in terms of the impact that these men trained by Paul had as they took the gospel throughout that part of the world.

Now with that kind of as just a starting point, we see Paul at the end of Acts 19, there's a riot in Ephesus, you're familiar with that story, and then Acts 20, Paul leaves after spending more than two years in Ephesus, almost three years in Ephesus, Paul leaves, he goes through Macedonia at the beginning of Acts 20, he makes his way to Greece, and we know that he spent some time in Corinth.

In fact, while he was in Ephesus on his third missionary journey, he wrote 1 Corinthians, then he wrote 2 Corinthians, then he actually goes to Corinth, and Luke just kind of goes over that quickly at the beginning of Acts chapter 20, while he was in Corinth he would have written the book of Romans.

And then as he's coming back, he comes back and he makes his way to Troas, and you can see in Acts chapter 20 verse 4 that he's accompanied by a number of ministry partners, likely all men who were with him in the school of Tyrannus during that time in Ephesus.

And among those men is Timothy, and I think that's a significant point that we're going to come back to later. Now if you keep reading in Acts chapter 20, you get to verses 8 to 10, which of course is the story of Eutychus, which I think is, well, it's really in the book of Acts because it's going to demonstrate for us that Paul is a genuine apostle who has the gift of an apostle and the ability to perform miraculous signs, including raising Eutychus from the dead.

I always think that perhaps Luke included it just to encourage pastors, and especially seminary professors, that even the apostle Paul went long, and as a result of going long, even the apostle Paul had people fall asleep on him, and of course the lesson of the story there is if you're going to fall asleep, don't fall asleep next to an open window.

But you know the story of Eutychus. But after Eutychus, after Troas, Paul then sails to Miletus, he's on his way to Jerusalem, and he calls the Ephesian elders to come and meet with him at Miletus. And Paul tells them that he's never going to go back to Ephesus, he won't see their faces again, but he gives them a pastoral charge in Acts 20 that I would argue really is, and I realize maybe I'm making some embellished connections here, but it really is the first seminary graduation address ever.

Because you had Paul for two years in Ephesus investing in these men, and now after, again, more than two years, really almost three years that he was there in Ephesus, he meets with them again, and he's giving them a final pastoral charge. So I want to direct your attention to Acts 20, Acts 20, verse 18, and here we have, again, the Apostle Paul expressing to men whom he had invested so much, he says there in verse 18, "You yourselves know from the first day that I set forth in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility, and with tears, and with trials, and with trials which came upon us through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink back from declaring to you what was profitable, and from teaching you publicly, and from house to house." And then if you go all the way down to verse 27, "For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole purpose of God." And then he says, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock which the Holy Spirit has made you, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each of you with tears.

And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified." And he goes on to talk about the fact that even as he ministered among them, he did not covet any of their material possessions, that he worked with his own hands, that he was an example for them.

In everything he says there, verse 35, "I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord, that it is better to give than to receive." And I love at the end of that really, again, first century graduation message that you have them responding with tears because these men are so grateful for what the Apostle Paul has invested in them.

And when we think about that as, again, sort of the first graduation service after the first seminary in Ephesus, Ephesus Theological Seminary we might call it, the School of Tyrannus, you have these men weeping because they know that they're not going to see Paul this side of heaven again.

And we might ask ourselves, "What was the content of even Paul's instruction?" I think it's clear in this section that as Paul reflects back on what was happening in Acts 19, he says that, "I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole purpose of God." He taught them everything that he could about the Scriptures, about sound doctrine, about pastoral ministry, about all of the categories that a good seminary education should include.

And what was Paul's concern? His concern was that there would be, even among his own graduates, the men who had been with him for those two years in Ephesus, that there would be those who would, in their own arrogance, deviate from the truth and begin to mislead the disciples and misrepresent the truth of Jesus Christ.

And then at the end, of course, you see his pastor's heart coming out, his own example of integrity, and the fact that he was praying with them, weeping with them, and just signs of Christian affection, even as he gets ready to board a ship and sail for Jerusalem. This all takes place, again, in Paul's third missionary journey, A.D.

55, A.D. 56, right in that time period, the middle of the sixth decade of the first century. I want you then to turn to the book of 2 Timothy, the book of 2 Timothy. And the reason I am rehearsing this is because roughly 10 to 12 years have passed since Paul's third missionary journey.

Paul is, when he writes 2 Timothy, under imperial arrest, likely in the Mamertine dungeon in Rome. This is after the great fire of Rome in A.D. 64, when Nero begins to persecute Christians. And sometime between A.D. 64 and Nero's death in 68, both Peter and Paul were arrested and executed.

So likely around A.D. 66 or 67, Paul finds himself in a dungeon writing a final inspired letter to Timothy, his son in the faith. And where is Timothy? Timothy is pastoring, and he's pastoring the church in Ephesus. And so when Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.2, which if there was a theme verse for at least the Master's Seminary, and probably for many seminaries, it would be 2 Timothy 2.2, when Paul says, "The things that you heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these things to faithful men who will be able to teach others also," I believe that both Paul and Timothy are thinking back, not just in a general sense, to Paul's ministry over many decades, but specifically to the time in Ephesus on Paul's third missionary journey when Paul, along with Timothy, entrusted these things to the men that were gathered there at the school of Tyrannus.

And now Timothy in Ephesus is being charged by Paul to continue this same kind of training. And of course, you have four generations mentioned here, you have Paul the Apostle, Timothy, faithful men, others also. And that becomes a great paradigm for discipleship ministry, even in a pastoral training context, as we think about entrusting the truth to the next generation.

And when we look at the book of 2 Timothy as a whole, 2 Timothy highlights many of the very things that we seek to communicate to our students when they attend classes at the master's seminary. So chapter one, you have an emphasis on not being ashamed of the gospel, on retaining the doctrine of sound words, retain the standard of sound words, and on guarding that which has been entrusted to you.

And then you come into chapter two, not only verse two, which we just talked about, but in the verses that follow, verses three through seven, Paul uses metaphors of an athlete, a farmer, and a soldier. And he says you're to be dedicated like an athlete who plays by the rules, and you're to be disciplined like a soldier, you're to be diligent like a farmer.

And it's that kind of dedication and discipline and diligence that even a good seminary curriculum is intended to help teach. And seminary is hard because pastoral ministry is hard, and if you're going to be effective in pastoral ministry, you have to have that kind of dedication and discipline and diligence.

And then verse eight of chapter two, remember Jesus Christ, that at the heart of all of it is the person and work of the Lord Jesus, and then Paul goes on in the subsequent verses to actually articulate the gospel. And then in chapter three of 2 Timothy, it's an emphasis on standing firm in the face of false doctrine, and a good seminary education teaches its students to stand firm in the face of error.

And how do we do that? Well, if you look in verses 14 and 15 of 2 Timothy chapter three, it's by looking to the scriptures, which as Paul reminds Timothy in those particular verses, Timothy had known the scriptures from a young age, and it was the scriptures that were able to give him the truth that leads to salvation through faith in Christ.

And then it's about the authority and the inspiration and the inerrancy and the sufficiency of scripture in verses 16 and 17, that all scripture is inspired of God, and therefore it is all that is needed so that the man of God may be complete, that he may be sufficient for every good work.

And so you go from the word of God in as the power that leads to salvation to then the focus on the word of God being the power through the Holy Spirit that produces sanctification, the sufficiency of scripture, and then in chapter four, the emphasis on preaching. Preach the word in season and out of season.

Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Through the preaching of the word, you're going to lead your people into sound doctrine. And then verses six through eight, Paul kind of concludes by saying, "Look, my time has come to an end. I'm like a drink offering about to be poured out.

I've run the race, I've fought the fight, I've finished the course, and I'm looking forward to the crown of righteousness that awaits me in heaven." And when you think about those themes, those themes really do summarize what a faithful seminary education ought to impart in its students, an understanding of the gospel, an understanding of sound doctrine, convictions that run deep such that students are willing to fight for, contend for, defend, and even die for those truths.

The diligence and dedication and discipline of an athlete, a farmer, and a soldier, a love for the Lord Jesus Christ, an understanding of his gospel, an understanding of false doctrine and a willingness to contend against it, and a reliance on the authority and sufficiency and the proclamation of the word of God, and even an anticipation of one day entering into the glory of heaven and receiving the reward that God graciously gives to those who love him and love his appearing.

All of that is in the book of 2 Timothy. And again, coming back to our theme, I would argue that those represent the tangibles of what a seminary education can provide because those are things that can be emphasized in a curriculum. They are realities and truths that can be communicated in a classroom.

Now granted, the development of convictions is something that happens in the heart, but informing those convictions is what a good seminary education is all about. And I would argue that it was these very things that Paul was doing with his students at the school of Tyrannus 12 years earlier, which he's now calling Timothy to do, while Timothy is also pastoring in Ephesus, to continue that same work.

Now that was all kind of my introduction. So this is not a homiletics model. That raises the question, though, about the intangibles of ministry effectiveness because I think Paul identifies a number of intangible qualities that are prerequisites, meaning they're required for ministry usefulness. And what I told our seminary students, and what I would say to anyone who is either aspiring to be a pastor or is currently serving in that role, is that these essentials are necessary for you to have a ministry that is honoring to the Lord and effective in His service.

At the Master's Seminary, we talk a lot about wanting to train up men who will be known as master's men. And there's a sense in which when we say that, master's men, we are specifically referring to the fact that they are graduates of the Master's Seminary. I get that.

But I want to use that idea and that concept not to talk about alumni of TMS. This is not that. What this is, is I want us to think about being those who are fit for the master's service. And in that sense, I want to call all of you, no matter where you went to seminary, or even if you haven't gone to seminary, to be a master's man.

I think we find these intangible qualities at the end of 2 Timothy 2, in verses 14, all the way to the end of the chapter. And what's interesting is what you'll notice in verse 19, is Paul says, "The Lord knows those who are His." And then in verse 21, he emphasizes the fact that Timothy is to be one who is fit for the master's service.

And then in verse 24, he says, "The Lord's bond servant is not quarrelsome." So there is an emphasis in this section on being one who is a servant or a slave of the master, the Lord Jesus Christ, and what it looks like to be faithful in service to Him.

And what's interesting about the qualities that Paul emphasizes in this section is that they're not tangible things, they're intangible things. In other words, they're not the kinds of things that we can just put in a curriculum and download in a lecture. They are instead the work of the Spirit in a heart that's been regenerated as that heart and that life is conformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

When I was growing up, I played some sports. I realized that I'm definitely in the nerd category of life, and that's okay, I embrace that. But I did actually play some sports growing up. I played 10 years of baseball. And then when I got into high school, I actually switched over and played four years of tennis at my local high school.

And even in junior high, I played a little bit of flag football, I was even a center at one point, if you can believe that. And I played a little bit of basketball. And I had very good coaches who taught us the tangibles of each of those games, right?

Because there are things that you can learn, there are skills, knowing how to hold the ball if you're gonna shoot a free throw correctly, understanding how to swing the bat, learning how to keep your eye on the ball for, that was a problem that I had sometimes, it just kept taking my eye off the ball.

And those are the tangible things, they're the things, even the rules of the game, they're all things that can be taught and that can be practiced. But the thing that separates the mediocre athletes, and I was definitely in that category, in case there was any confusion, the thing that distinguishes the mediocre athletes from the elite athletes is that elite athletes not only understand the tangibles and they work hard at getting better at those things, they also understand the intangibles.

There's like an X factor, they understand the game in a way that's different than the way that most people understand the game. They have qualities that if you were to ask their coach, their coach would say, "Those are things you can't teach." And here in 2 Timothy 2 at the end of the chapter, I think Paul identifies three of these intangible qualities that mark a master's man, or better said, they mark a man who is fit for the master's service.

And these are the qualities that, quite honestly, we are looking for in our students, not because we think we can teach them these things in the classroom, but because we understand that these are essential to their future ministry success. And I mean success not in terms of numbers, I mean success in terms of faithfulness.

And I would even be so bold as to suggest that if you do not cultivate these three intangible qualities in your own heart and life through the grace of God and through the work of His Spirit as He sanctifies you and conforms you into the image of the Master, that your ministry will end in failure if these things are not true about your life.

So what are these intangibles? Maybe even before I start talking about these three intangibles, just one more comment as I'm thinking about 2 Timothy. And I think this really brings this whole thing home, at least it does for me, is you have back in Acts 20, Paul expressing to the Ephesian elders a warning, "Be on your guard.

Be on your guard for yourself and for your flock because what's going to happen is there are going to be people, even from among you, who are going to rise up, they're going to speak perverse things, and they're going to seek to lead astray the disciples." That was the warning.

If that was 10 to 12 years before Paul wrote this, then I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that the five men that Paul names in 2 Timothy, those who had defected from the faith, could quite possibly have been among his students in Ephesus at the school of Tyrannus, the very ones that he was warning the Ephesian elders about.

So you have phagellus and homogenies at the end of chapter 1. In this section in chapter 2, you have hymenaeus and phyletus. And then most infamous of all in chapter 4, you have demas. And here against the backdrop of that kind of defection, you have Paul urging Timothy to continue the very work that Paul started in Ephesus of training men and sending them out, training men and sending them out.

But he reminds Timothy, both for Timothy and for those who would train under him, that there are these intangible requirements if you're going to be found faithful and be useful to the Master. The first one is in verses 14 to 19, and I would say it this way, it's a posture of humility that reveres the Word of God.

A posture of humility that reveres the Word of God. So verse 14, Paul says, "Remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God, not to wrangle about words which is useful and leads to the ruin of the hearers. But verse 15, be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth, but avoid worldly and empty chatter for it will lead to further ungodliness.

And their talk will spread like gangrene among whom are hymenaeus and phyletus, men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place and they upset the faith of many. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands having this seal, the Lord knows who are his and everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness." Well here Paul is charging Timothy to pursue a posture of humility, especially in relationship to the Word of God.

And so he begins by charging him to charge others in the presence of God himself. He invokes the very presence of God to humble Timothy and his hearers. And what does that humility look like? It looks like a submission to and a careful study of the scriptures. In fact, I'm reminded of one of my favorite verses in terms of defining true humility, Isaiah 66 verse 2, where God himself says, "To this one I will look, to the one who is humble, contrite of spirit, and who trembles at my word." What is humility?

Well we could define humility in a number of different ways and there would be many passages that would come to mind. But I would argue that one of the primary expressions of humility is that humility trembles before and submits itself to the Word of God, such that those who raise themselves up against the Word of God demonstrate themselves to be and to possess the height of arrogance.

And that certainly was true here with Hymenaeus and Philetus. And even if you were to go back and look at Acts chapter 20 and what Paul said in that first graduation message, he said to them, "I have conducted myself, I have served the Lord with all humility." And here he is warning Timothy to avoid the kind of arrogance that is sloppy or discards its treatment of scripture and instead loves to hear itself talk.

And honestly when I read these verses, I know this isn't in the original context, but it's hard not to think of social media when you read all of this about the arrogance of wrangling about words and saying all sorts of nonsense, when we as those who are spokesmen for God are called and commissioned to be diligent and precise in our handling of the text.

I don't know if you men have thought of it this way, but when you study hard for your next sermon, that is an expression of true humility. And when you phone it in, well, I don't know your heart. But isn't it interesting that in this context against the arrogance of the false teachers, what Paul urges Timothy to do is to be diligent, to be found as an approved workman who rightly handles the word of truth so that when he stands before his congregation and one day when he stands before his master, he need not be ashamed.

This is a different topic for a different day, but I do think sometimes we've turned the pursuit of humility and even the idea of humility into something that is almost undefinable and equally unattainable. Sort of the idea that if I think I'm humble, then I'm not the moment I think I am.

But when we look biblically at how Scripture defines humility, Scripture defines humility in very objective ways. Put on the mind of Christ, prefer one another above yourselves, seek the good of others, love your neighbor, and here in this passage in Isaiah 66 to be diligent to submit your life and your doctrine to the word of God.

It's an expression of humility. And if you want to be useful in the master service, you must put on that kind of humble posture. And verse 19 really accentuates that point. It reminds us that everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness and even the statement before that, the Lord knows who are his.

So in the presence of God himself, it's interesting to me that looking at verse 15, it's interesting to me, or 14 and 15, it's interesting to me that Paul will again invoke the very presence of God in this very letter, 2 Timothy chapter 4, and he'll invoke the presence of God before charging Timothy to preach.

So the invoking of the presence of God ought to result in an utter awareness of our own unworthiness and a complete sense of humble desperation. And in light of and in view of the very presence of our sovereign God, Paul uses that picture to charge Timothy to do two things.

One is to study well, and the other is to preach courageously. Both are expressions of humility. Well, there's a second intangible, it's in verses 20 to 23, and it is what I would call a pattern of holiness that reflects the character of God. So we have a posture of humility that reveres the word of God, and then secondly, a pattern of holiness that reflects the character of God.

And so verse 20, "Now in a large house, there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified," and here it is, "useful to the master, prepared for every good work," verse 22.

"Now flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart, but refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels." For our seminary students as men preparing for pastoral ministry, for you men as men who are already out in the trenches on the front lines, this is a sobering but helpful reminder that if you are going to be useful in the master's service, your life must be characterized by a pattern of personal holiness.

And obviously it doesn't take much in our day and age to think of illustrations of those who have failed in this area and as a result lost their ministry influence. That's what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 9, "I buffet my body, I run in such a way so that having preached to others, I will not myself be disqualified." And in the same way that I can think of examples of men who through a lack of humility have lost ministry influence, certainly I can think of examples of men who through a lack of personal purity have lost ministry influence.

And the reality is that you cannot live in the pursuit of your own lusts and at the same time be useful in ministry for the Lord. I think of Robert Murray McShane who famously said that, "My people's greatest need is my own personal holiness." When I was growing up, had an extended family member who was in ministry and had an extramarital affair and was disqualified.

When I was in my high school youth group, my high school pastor had to resign because he had done some things he wasn't supposed to do and he was disqualified. I remember coming to seminary and serving with men, studying with men, and then graduating with them and seeing them go off, and then you hear every once in a while the report of a guy who lost his ministry because he couldn't control his lust.

And as someone who's training the next generation of men to go out, my plea to them and my plea to you men is if you are going to be fit for the Master's use, you must put to death the lust of the flesh, because one who is a Master's man cannot pursue his own lust and at the same time pursue the Lord.

And I know you men know this, but it is one of the intangible essentials for ministry effectiveness and that is your own personal purity. Because if you are not a holy instrument, then you are not useful in the Master's service. And Paul's urging to Timothy is, "Timothy, keep yourself pure for the sake of ministry influence so that you might be one who is useful to the Lord." So a posture of humility that reveres the Word of God, a pattern of holiness that reflects the character of God, and the third thing would be what I call a pastor's heart, a pastor's heart that resembles the loving kindness of the Lord.

A pastor's heart that resembles the loving kindness of the Lord. Verse 24 to the end of the chapter, "The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but he must be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth.

And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." Verse 24 is such a great reminder, isn't it, that the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, and patient when wronged, and engage even in disagreement with gentleness.

Verse 25, I know I mentioned social media already in my first point, but I feel like it's hard to escape the implications of this verse for the way that even professing Christians engage with one another on social media. Imagine if we actually applied this verse to our ex-accounts, formerly known as Twitter.

I feel like you always have to say that. How that would change our online interactions if we, as those who are the Lord's bondservants, were characterized not by being harsh, or by having zingers, or by embarrassing the opposition, but instead we're characterized by kindness, and patience, and gentleness, and trust in the Lord that if they are going to have a change of mind, it must be God who grants repentance.

And I realize I'm preaching to the choir here, but I think it's a good reminder for all of us when we feel that inner indignation that someone on the internet is wrong that we remember that we are to be the Lord's bondservant, and this is how the Lord's bondservants respond.

So these were the things that Paul instructs to Timothy with regard to how to be useful in ministry, both for Timothy and for the men who Timothy was to train, going back up to verse 2 of chapter 2. And I call them the intangibles, again, because these are character-related issues that get to the heart of a person's walk with the Lord.

They're not things that can be learned in a classroom. Yes, in our classes we talk about humility, and we talk about holiness, and we talk about the kind of care and compassion that ought to characterize a pastor's heart, but the reality is these are things that can't just be learned in a book.

They have to be cultivated through the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of Scripture as the Spirit takes His Word and uses it to grow us in grace and appoint us to Christ. But I have known many graduates, not only of the Master's Seminary, but of other seminaries.

I've known men who have excelled in all of the tangibles. They get great grades. They know all the answers. They have their systematic theology down. They can argue like no one else when it comes to apologetics. They could have a YouTube ministry or a Twitter ministry, and they could blow away the opponents.

But men, if they're lacking a humble posture before the Word of God, if they're lacking a pattern of holiness that reflects the character of God, if they're lacking a pastor's heart that resembles the compassion of our Savior, they will not be successful in ministry, not in the way that actually matters.

They will instead be like Hermogenes and Phagellus, Hymenaeus and Philetus and Demas, men who were arrogant, who were slaves to their own lusts, and who didn't care about the sheep at all. Well, I mentioned that Acts chapter 20 is, from my view, the first graduation service, but the reality is Timothy's graduation service didn't really happen until the end of his life.

According to church tradition, Timothy pastored the church in Ephesus for roughly three decades, all the way into probably the late '80s, maybe even the early '90s. He was eventually killed when there was a Roman pagan festival taking place in Ephesus, and he went out to urge the people to stop worshiping idols, and he was mobbed and beaten so badly that he died several days later from his wounds.

Timothy died as a martyr to the Lord Jesus Christ. Martyr is from a Greek word martus, which means witness. He was a witness to Christ even to the end. And Timothy's graduation service, just like the graduation service for any and all of us, the real graduation service took place when he left this life and entered into the presence of his Savior.

And what is it that all of us long to hear our Savior and our Master say to us when we stand before Him on that day? "Amen." You cannot succeed in ministry in the way that really matters. In other words, in the way that meets with His approval so that He would say to us, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." You cannot minister in the way that is truly successful unless you cultivate these kinds of attitudes so that they are the character qualities that characterize your ministry, so that your people see you as a model of humble submission to the Word of God.

And they know that that's true because every week you are preaching to them with precision and accuracy and faithfulness to the text. And they see you as a model of personal holiness. And they know that that's true because your life is above reproach and the things that you pursue are the opposite of those things that characterize worldliness.

And they see in you a pattern of pastoral care, a heart of compassion and kindness that reflects the gentleness of the Savior Himself. Those are the ingredients that ensure His favor. And without them, you cannot succeed. So seminary can teach you a lot. And if you've never been to seminary, I'd love to talk to you about coming to TMS.

But that's not really the point of this message. There are things that you cannot learn in a classroom, but they are essential to ministry, faithfulness, and effectiveness. If you are going to be useful to the Master, pursue humility, pursue holiness, and pursue a heart that reflects His kindness. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the opportunity to work through this text. So grateful for the truth of your Word and for your Holy Spirit who imparts that truth to our hearts and strengthens us where we are weak and uses us in spite of our failings. We know that if we are to be faithful, it is only by your grace.

And so we ask that by your grace and for your glory, we might be found faithful, not for our sake, but for yours, and for the sake of our people, so that they might be built up as the body of Christ and that one day we might all appear before our Savior and join that great assembly that will sing His praise for all of eternity.

It is for His glory that we pray these things. Thank you for these men, but we pray these things in the name of Christ, amen.