When you go out into the ministry, you will surely meet problems, but do not forget one thing. You must respect the traditions of the Church. What is the tradition of the Church? In English, tradition is different from heritage. In Chinese when we say thôan thong we actually mean heritage. One type of tradition can lead to death; this is called Dead Tradition. The other type makes us live. Many times we feel that Church tradition is dead, but this is not necessarily so. Because the tradition that has been transmitted from generation to generation, this tradition that we have inherited from our forefathers, if we treasure and develop them by God’s grace and love, we will be able to stand firm and pass on to the next generation. Today I will share from Paul’s exhortation to the elders of the Ephesian church as he reached the end of his journey. He gave them five traditions that all of us who want to serve the Lord must hold onto dearly.

If you want to serve the Lord, you must be ready to shed tears. The love of God must be in your heart. When God saw that Adam sinned, the Bible says that there was a cool wind as if God’s heart was heavy with sorrow and He was looking for His prodigal son. Ever since that time, God has sent His Son and His servants and when they preached, they preached with tears. If you do not have the love for lost souls, have not wept for them, you will not know how to do God’s ministry. Jesus wept for Jerusalem. To be the servant of God you must have His heart for the people. Paul said to the elders that for three years, he wept for them day and night (v. 31). May you have this heart of compassion like Paul and Jesus. God’s sufficient grace will wipe away your tears and turn them into His power; the Holy Spirit will be with you so that you can do His work. The first tradition then, is to weep, not for yourself, but for the Lord and for lost souls. Throughout Christian history, there has been no exception. If you want to see the church revived, souls repent, believers loving God, it is not by your own strength but by the tears you shed.

The second tradition is the preaching ministry of the apostles. When we preach, we must remember that we are preaching God’s word. We must study the word of God faithfully. Do not think that after you graduate you can stop reading God’s word. I can say proudly that I have read the Bible sixty times. Once I met someone who said he read the Bible 1,000 times! How about you? I require my students to read the Bible four times before they graduate, but I cannot do that here for I am not the president of this seminary. There are many other seminaries that don’t even teach their students to read the Bible. How can the Church be revived? Whatever ministry we are doing, we must preach the word of God. May you be like Amos who could not help but proclaim the word of God, although he was not a prophet but only a herdsman and grower of sycamore figs. May you be like Jeremiah who said that the word of God was in His heart burning like fire. If I do not proclaim it, it will burn me up. It doesn’t matter how much knowledge you have, if you do not preach God’s word, you will not serve Him well. The people need God’s word. May you be able to say: “I praise God! I do not have anything but I have the word of God!”

We must give ourselves fully to the Lord. When I was young, a song really touched my heart. It said: The way of the cross is a way of suffering. Whether gain or loss, it is not important; we must heed God’s will in our hearts. God has called you, Jesus has saved you. You must live for Him. But whether you live or die is not important. What is important is you must finish the course of your life. Paul was a man of commitment, although bonds and afflictions awaited him. I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God (v. 24). Down through the ages, such has been the attitude of God’s faithful servants. May this tradition not stop with our generation. Recently I have been editing the biography of Yang Yi Dong, a pastor in Beijing. When he died his son testified that the whole family suffered terribly with him because he wanted to serve God. Yet despite these great sufferings, he said that his father left them with a clean slate and self-respect. May this be true of us all. We must not sell out God’s grace. We must be faithful until death.

Paul exhorted the elders of Ephesus to be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. (v. 28) Paul warned them that the wolves would come, even from among themselves, deceiving the believers to follow them. When you become a pastor, may you not have a selfish heart, whatever you do, you must take good care of the flock. Don’t whip them, don’t kill and eat them, but rather, teach them God’s word, love them, guide them. It is very easy to do what you desire and build your own little kingdom. But remember that God said I am the ever-living God; I will not give my glory to those who want to rob Me of My glory. If you grab the glory of God He will not let you off the hook that easily.

When we do God’s work, we must not be complicated but be very simple in our lifestyle. As Paul testified, I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. (vv. 33, 34) As a servant of God, we must remember that we are public servants. We must not try to gain anything from our ministry. When I was ordained as a young pastor, I started out with a lot of authority. Under me, there were 30 churches, 60 pastors and ministers; I was overseeing all of them. But remember always that if there are people below you, you are also below someone. I praise God that He taught me how to be submissive and humble. There was a treasurer in my Synod at the time. He deliberately did not give me my salary, in order to test whether I was “spiritual” or not. I was very young at that time, and I experienced five days when I had nothing to eat, not because I was fasting, but because this treasurer would not give out my salary, just waiting to see if I would make the first move. But I praise God, I was able to endure and not die of hunger or anger! All because of God’s grace. Don’t think of what you NEED to live, but think of what you DON’T NEED to live. From that time on, I began to learn what I do not really need. I discovered I only needed God’s grace. We must all learn this. Your lifestyle must be as simple as possible. Do not say if I do not have a house, a car, servants, then I will not go to this church. It doesn’t matter what you GET, but it does matter what you GIVE. What can you share with people? May you follow this tradition of simplicity, be submissive, humble and live a simple lifestyle.

(This Commencement Address, based on Acts 20:17-35, was given on March 24, 2002 at the BSOP Auditorium. The summary is written by Prof. Jean Uayan)