Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. (2 Tim. 2:10).

Keeping up appearances: Professionalism without heart

My wife and I love the BBC comedy hit, "Keeping Up Appearances." It's the story of an upper middle income woman named Hyacinth Bucket (which she pronounces "Bouquet") who struggles to maintain he facade of high society in the presence of lesser mortals. At exactly the right moment in each show when she is trying to impress her neighbors with her good taste -- along comes her very low society relatives to blow her cover!

The Methodist clergyman and writer Charles Merrill Smith wrote a tongue-in-cheek book for preachers a few decades ago entitled, How to Become A Bishop Without Being Religious.1 It was a poignant satire about keeping up appearances while sacrificing your ministry. Smith essentially shows that, like Hyacinth, keeping up appearances in the ministry is a sham.

I want to borrow his approach to express the truth of God's Word to a potentially devastating and most often silent killer in the ministry: professionalism without a heart.

I do not mean to say that we are not to be professional. I do not mean to charge that those of us who seek to improve our ministries through education and associating with others in the ministry are wrong to do so. Certainly if we are improving, then it stands to reason that we will serve our people better.

What I mean when I say "professionalism without heart" is that condition of ministers -- and I believe that we are all subject throughout our lives to this insufferable propensity -- which prioritizes utility over passion.

To put it another way, professionalism without heart means to do ministry without getting dirty.

Paul must have known that Timothy faced this possibility. In our passage, the Apostle encourages the younger minister to be extravagant with his service to the saints at Ephesus. He calls for a "hands-in-the earth" approach to ministry.

We need to hear this today. You and I both know that we can lose our ministries and still excel in our professions as ministers and church leaders.

In keeping with the spirit of Smith's sarcastic title, I want to show you from God's Word how to lose your ministry and actually excel in your profession.

Follow me closely...

I. You can lose your ministry and excel in your profession if you do it the easy way. (v. 3)

Now, St. Paul says in verse three that we are to "Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 2:3).

Paul uses the metaphor of a soldier in warfare. When Paul writes, "endure hardship," I know what he means.

I remember my officer basic training as an Army Reserve chaplain. We had to crawl under live fire on a beach about 100 yards long. I remember the horror of the sound of incoming missiles. It was a struggle to crawl beneath fences and around exploding bunkers. I remember saying that if I got to the end of that beach without getting hurt, I would never want to "soldier" again! Of course, as soon as I got my breath again, we had to head out on a night patrol through a dense forest and endure the tension of possible booby traps and the ever present hazard of enemies hiding in the brush coming out to attack us. Now, it was all training and not real. But, I can tell you that I slept good that night. Soldiering is hard work!