What does it mean to 'fulfill your ministry'?

Sure-footedness comes from being fully convinced

In 2 Timothy 4.5 Paul says to Timothy, ‘as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.’ And in Acts 14, Paul and Barnabus return to Antioch, ‘where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled.’ (v26). Our question is, how do you know when it’s fulfilled?

Whilst much of resilience is bound up with drawing upon resources in Jesus Christ in order to persevere joyfully and patiently, we also have to bear in mind the question of end points, completions, and fulfillment. Not all ministries should continue indefinitely. This much is clear from the New Testament. In fact, sometimes it is our loyalty to ideals and principles (rather than the ministry in front of us) which causes us ultimately to burn out.

In Acts 14 the situation is wonderfully clear; Paul and Barnabus had been sent out to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. The fact that church communities had been gathered, with elders appointed for each church, meant that this initial apostolic mission was ‘fulfilled’. In Timothy’s case, the first part of the verse gives the content for the conclusion; be sober minded always, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist – and this will mean you fulfill your ministry.

I’d often assumed that what Paul meant there was something like this: A pastor who can look back on a ministry of endurance of hardship, a legacy of sober-mindedness, and a track record of dogged evangelism can say that he’s fulfilled his ministry. However, one day I actually checked, since I realised that Paul was writing to Timothy as a younger pastor; so the sense of ‘looking back on a legacy’ just couldn’t have appled. I’m glad I did check; the word Paul uses in 2 Timothy 4 is not part of the word group used across the New Testament connected to fulfillment, completion, and accomplishment. Perhaps the most famous example of that ‘accomplished’ word group is Jesus’ word from the Cross in John’s gospel, ‘it is finished’.

Rather, the word group in 2 Timothy has to do with being ‘fully convinced’, of being vigorously sure-footed. Now this nuance really helps us to make sense of why an older pastor is advising a younger pastor to ‘fulfill his ministry’: he’s saying ‘make your ministry a fully convinced one’. This makes sense of his strong charge immediately beforehand (2 Timothy 4.1-2), that Timothy resolutely preaches the Word in season and out. So we might paraphrase: ‘Commit to long-term, unflinching, functional word ministry; be sober-minded and endure suffering, which will come along the way – and that’s a fully convinced ministry’. I say ‘functional’ word ministry in my paraphrase to distinguish from merely ‘formal’ word ministry. You can have two sermons on a Sunday, and another open Bible at the church prayer meeting. That might be word ministry, it might not be; I know it looks like it is, but it may not be what Paul’s talking about at all. Notice the words he uses; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with complete patience and teaching...do the work of an evangelist. These show that the word of God is being applied in different ways to the different heart postures of the people; some are rebuked, some are comforted, some are called to follow Jesus, and so on. This implies that there’s more than a mere structure in place. This is a physically opened Bible in the life of the church, yes. It’s also a constantly opened Bible in the mind and heart of the pastor and the people.

So there we are; two senses of ‘fulfilling’ a ministry. One involves a clear end point. The other is the sense of being fully convinced. Of what? Of the urgency and power of a functional (not just a formal) Word-centred ministry. For many of us, this capacity to be ‘fully convinced’, to be ‘sure-footed’, is going to help us very profoundly in long-term ministry. Amidst all the ambiguities and possibilities, the opportunities, pressures, expectations, and fads, if we can heed the charge to ‘preach the Word’, in season and out of season; if we can heed the charge actually to make this Word ministry functional, bringing God’s Scripture to bear upon the actual hearts of actual people; if we can heed the charge to endure suffering and always to be sober-minded; if we do these things, then…we’re doing what we should be doing. And to be sure of that, to be fully convinced that ‘I’m doing what Jesus has called me to do’, is to have the precious, precious peace in our soul which goes hand in hand with long-term resilience.

Photo by Brian Erickson on Unsplash