TREASURY OF SERMONS
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Be Thou a Preacher of the Word
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Preached at Life BPC Chinese Service, 14 May 2000)
Text: II Tim 4:2; 2:1-5
This command is given by Paul to Timothy on the importance of preaching (II Tim 4:2). In II Tim 2:2 he mentions further committing to other faithful men the messages Timothy had heard from Paul that they in turn might teach others also.
A preacher who makes plain the message of the Gospel to his hearers is like a salesman. Without the salesman going out to sell his company's goods, few people will buy. With a good salesman he can increase the outflow of his company's goods tenfold, yea, even a hundredfold.
Let me illustrate this precious fact from my recent experience. As you know I am the inventor of the JESUS SAVES clock. We made 100 clocks, but without the salesman it took us almost two years to sell them all.
Recently, we manufactured three versions of the JESUS SAVES clock—a wall clock, a bedside alarm clock, and a mini-alarm clock. We manufactured 2000 of these. Just displaying them in the Bookroom the sale, like before, would move at a snail's pace. But when I began to give sales talks to our customers and went out canvassing, giving a good discount to distributors, we sold eight hundred in two months. Why does the Gospel also crawl at a snail's pace? Because there are so few who preach it.
One hundred years after the Gospel came to China in 1807, the impact it made on China amounted to a candle trying to light up the Great Hall of Tiananmen. It was miserably dim like a dying flicker, to say the least. This aroused Pastor Ting Li Mei to give himself to evangelise all of China . He consecrated himself and began to preach to the common people not only on Sunday but every day of the week. Revival broke out so that one thousand souls were saved in a week's campaign. The Lord blessed him with more and more souls saved that be began to be called "The Moody of China, winning 1000 souls a month." He laboured ceaselessly for over ten years and covered all the 18 provinces of China . He challenged 1000 students to volunteer to be preachers and he exceeded this number. One of those who became a pastor was Rev Heng Teck Im, my former pastor at Prinsep Street Life Church . He served the Lord for sixty years.
What we need today are Preachers of the Word, including lay preachers. We have Elder Sng who, by his willing service with the Chinese congregation, has been used mightily by the Lord in mission stations in Malaysia and Indonesia. And he fulfils Paul's injunction to Timothy that he should be ready, instant in season and out of season. That is to say, whenever and wherever he is called. So we see him this week at Tanjung Uban, next week at Kelapa Sawit, then at Kemaman and in Kuantan. A good salesman will always look for new openings, and he goes on and on. As his increased sales bring greater profits, so by going out with the gospel we are sure to win more and more souls for Christ.
But, while we thank God for lay preachers, and we have three times more in the English congregation, the strength of our preaching lies in the call to full-time service, pastors and missionaries who have gone through years of training. And they are not only pastors but teachers as well, such as those who are the faculty of Far Eastern Bible College.
When the Lord called me to be a pastor, I yielded to four years of theological training, one year in China and three years in America . But like Timothy, I was also called to teach. When Dr Buswell, moderator of the Philadelphia Presbytery of the Bible Presbyterian Church who presided my ordination, asked me what was my calling, I answered, "I am called to be a pastor as well as a teacher." The Lord honoured my double-call. So I am both pastor of Life Church for 50 years and Founder-Principal of Far Eastern Bible College for 38 years. We have trained over 350 who are now serving the Lord worldwide. "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (II Tim 4:2). How about you, young people, this morning as you hear the call? One sister from our midst, Bee Choo, is now studying at FEBC. Who is next, brother or sister? "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest" (Lk 10:2).
Our Chinese Service supports three mission fields in three countries, viz. Tanjung Uban , Indonesia ; Kuching, Sarawak , East Malaysia ; and Cambodia . But there are calls all the time both near and far, and we cannot in our own strength supply these fields. We must pray the Lord of the harvest.
The life of a pastor, a preacher, is a hard one. Our life is a laborious life like the farmer's. Our life is a hardy one like that of a soldier's as stated in II Tim 2:1-5. People of ease, those who cannot do a proper job, sometimes think serving the Lord is a solution. This is a great mistake. There was an elder of a Malaysian Church who had four sons. The first three were clever children, so they studied, one to be a doctor, the second an architect, the third a teacher. The fourth one did not do well even in Secondary School. So he said he would send him to Bible College. It was a tragedy. Unless one is called and is prepared for a hard life, even fighting a battle like a soldier, one is doomed to failure.
Those who come to FEBC, when they ask me what prospects I have for them, get a stern, "No prospects!" from me. Jesus says, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matt 16:24 , 25).
Again let us hear Paul's injunction to Timothy, "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier" (II Tim 2:3,4).
So, for one to become a preacher of the Word, one must be like a soldier fully dedicated to his superior, to do the work whenever and wherever called, instant, in season and out of season. The effect of his work is like a good salesman bringing great profits for his Lord.
Now the job of preaching the Word is not relegated to the young. It is every member's responsibility. Oftentimes God's work is hampered by an uncaring congregation, especially the rich. Have you considered giving a portion to the cause of evangelism as what you can do to have His Word preached? To leave behind to your flesh and blood who love not the Lord and who will squander the money away when you depart will be your greatest regret. But to give to the Church for missions will give you Abel's honour. "He being dead yet speaketh." "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season." Amen.
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