Gill on the Pastorate

In John Gill’s exposition of Matt. 13:52, he gives a good description of the work of the pastor:

“…of which indeed Christ is properly the householder and master, but Gospel ministers are deputies and stewards under him, and under him preside over the household, and have the government of it, provide food for it, and protect and defend it; all which require large gifts and abilities, great love and affection, both to Christ and his people; much wisdom, prudence, and knowledge; and great faithfulness and integrity, courage and firmness of mind.”

(John Gill’s Exposition of the Old and New Testaments: Volume 7, Matthew to John, [1809]. Reprint. The Baptist Commentary Series, Volume 1. Paris, AR: Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989, p. 157).

Philips Brooks on Knowing Your Congregation

“Philips Brooks presented three rules to students, introducing them with due solemnity:

‘I beg you to remember them and apply them with all the wisdom that God gives you. First. Have as few congregations as you can. Second. Know your congregation as thoroughly as you can. Third. Know your congregation so largely and deeply that in knowing it you shall know humanity.’ ”

(Geoff Thomas, “Find a Place to Settle,” 362, in Thomas Ascol, Dear Timothy: Letters on Pastoral Ministry; Thomas is quoting from Philip Brooks, Lectures on Preaching, 190)

Chrysostom as a Preacher

“[John Chrysostom’s] excellence we appreciate today from an exegetical point of view, from an ethical point of view, and from a literary point of view.

The preaching of this master centers in his series of exegetical sermons on individual books of the Bible. . . . . his great authority as a preacher rested in his faithfulness to Scripture. When he preached, there was never any question but that it was the Word of God which he preached.”
(Hughes Oliphant Old, Worship Reformed According to Scripture, p. 65)

Martin Bucer on the Lord’s Supper

These themes I found valuable:
- communion is a gift from God given because we need it
- frequency
- the tone of thankfulness and joyful triumph

“The Lord, therefore, out of his great and ineffable love, has ordained and appointed for us a sacred supper in which he gives us his body and blood, in order that we through him and in him may become a new and divine flesh-and-blood and ever more fully live in him and he in us, with a life truly divine. We should receive these great and precious gifts as frequently as possible with sincere devotion and utter thankfulness, and in the act of receiving commit ourselves ever more completely to him and proclaim triumphantly and declare to others by word and deed his death and our redemption.”

(Martin Bucer, “A Brief Statement or Instruction on How the Sick Should Be Visited by the Ministers of the Church and the Procedure to Be Followed in Their Homes, about 1549.” In Early Protestant Spirituality (The Classics of Western Spirituality). Edited and translated by Scott H. Hendrix.)

Older Saints are a Treasure

In our age which idolizes youth we often miss the biblical teaching which esteems age and, as a result, miss the treasure that our older saints are. They are a great blessing to the church too often overlooked.

Recently I had the opportunity to converse with an elderly lady from out of town. She has memories of life during World War II and primarily told me of her father, a faithful man of God of whom she is very proud. She related incident after incident where God intervened and provided for her father or for her in amazing and sometimes miraculous ways. These were not the outlandish fantasies of youth but the measured steady testimony of one who has walked with God for many decades. She often apologized for “going on” and said apologetically, “I could keep you here for a year with such stories.” I assured her that hearing these was good for my soul.

I started to leave, but some comment stirred another story. She related how her marriage had been difficult years ago when her husband, whom I had just met, was unconverted. There was a time when he was regularly drunk and abusive. Her children had even intervened at one point offering her the opportunity to move in with them or with another friend. She told me what she had said to them. “No. You do not understand. I chose to marry this man. I was only 17 at the time, but I promised ‘for better or for worse.’ Right now all you see is the worst. But a better day is coming.” A few years later he was converted and has now walked with the Lord for years. I had noticed earlier in the visit his Bible, pen and brief commentary situated neatly at a table where he obviously met with God regularly. He now serves as a deacon and was at that moment out making visits for the church.

What a blessing to see and hear faithfulness and God’s care lived out. Take time to hear the stories of those who have walked with God for years. Thank God for the gift of senior saints.

Not Stars but Servants

“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.” (Paul, 1 Cor 3:5-9)

“The Church does not need brilliant personalities but faithful servants of Jesus and the brethren. Not in the former but in the latter is the lack.” (D. Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 109)

“Preachers are not celebrities and Christians are not to act like groupies.” (Tom Ascol)

This is a key point for those of us who lead in God’s church. It is a wicked thing for the servant of the groom to seduce the affections of the bride.

These quotes came together in my mind as I reread today this excerpt from a previous post:

I just came across an essay by Geoff Thomas which addresses this. It is entitled, “Find a Place to Settle,” and is contained in Dear Timothy: Letters on Pastoral Ministry, ed. Tom Ascol (Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2004). In this quote below Thomas provides an extended quote from Dr. James Stalker on his experience watching a man who had had such an extended ministry.

“It was my happiness, when I was ordained, to be settled next… to an aged and saintly minister. He was a man of competent scholarship, and had the reputation of having been in early life a powerful and popular preacher. But it was not to these gifts that he owed his unique influence. He moved through the town, with his white hair and somewhat staid and dignified demeanour, as a hallowing presence. His very passing in the street was a kind of benediction, and the people, as they looked after him, spoke of him to each other with affectionate veneration, children were proud when he laid his hand on their heads, and they treasured the kindly words which he spoke to them. At funerals and other seasons of domestic solemnity his presence was sought by people of all denominations. We who labored along with him in the ministry felt that his mere existence in the community was an irresistible demonstration of Christianity and a tower of strength to every good cause. Yet he had not gained this position of influence by brilliant talents or great achievements or the pushing of ambition; for he was singularly modest, and would have been the last to credit himself with half the good he did. The whole mystery lay in this, that he had lived in the town for forty years a blameless life, and was known, by everybody to be a godly and prayerful man. He was good enough to honour me with his friendship; and his example wrote deeply upon my mind these two convictions—that it may sometimes be of immense advantage to spend a whole life time in a single pastorate, and that the prime qualification for the ministry is godliness.”

The man to whom he was referring was a certain James Black of Dunnikier and little more than that paragraph of Stalker’s is known of the man or even the place where he labored. Dunnikier is too small to appear in any British atlas. Black was one that army of holy men who have served the Lord in obscure communities modestly and humbly for no reward other than the immense privilege of having so great a Master as our Christ. (pp. 363-364)

May we see more of this sort of ministry.

John MacArthur on How to Serve Christians Who Are Needlessly Restrictive

Andy Naselli has posted audio and a written summary of John MacArthur’s response to the question:

How would you approach a congregation trapped in years of legalistic tradition?

MacArthur’s call for patient loving instruction is helpful, providing a good portrait of shepherding.

Bold Testimony

I appreciated Eric Smith’s recent post, “Meeting a True Bishop,” for the portrayal of proper pastoral boldness in the life of Basil the Great. It brought to mind a section I had just read in Baptist Piety: The Last Will and Testimony of Obadiah Holmes.

Edwin Gaustad, the author, is describing the setting into which Holmes was born. He recounts the martyrdom of John Bradford who had pastored in Stockport, the village nearest Holmes’ birthplace. Five months before he was burned at the stake, Bradford wrote his parishioners from prison with a powerful exhortation including these words:

Oh! forget not how the Lord hath showed himself true, and me his true preacher, by bringing to pass these plagues which at my mouth you oft heard me preach of before they came: specially when I treated of Noah’s flood and when I preached of the 23rd chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel on St. Stephen’s day, the last time that I was with you … you have been warned, and warned again, by me in preaching, by me in burning.” (p. 6; emphasis added)

This sort of pastoral exhortation and example is powerful. No trite truisms, or bland clichés here.

Hezekiah Harvey on Care of Souls

Here is another quote I used in my paper calling for a renewed emphasis on oversight of souls. This one is from the book on pastoral ministry by Hezekiah Harvey, prominent Baptist pastor and theologian in the 19th centruy Northeast US.

The care of souls is the radical idea of the pastor’s office. he is a shepherd to whom a flock has been committed to guide, to fee, to defend; and the divine command enjoins: ‘Take heed to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers’ (Acts 20:28). he is to be the personal religious guide, the confidential Christian friend, of his charge. Our Lord, in his description of the Good Shepherd, said, ‘The sheep hear his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before the, and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice’ (John 10: 3-4) Each member of his flock is a soul entrusted to his care by the Lord; and if true to his trust, he is one of those who ‘watch for souls as they must give account.’ Paul, when in Ephesus, taught not only publicly, but ‘from house to house;’ and in his farewell charge to the elders of that city he said, ‘Watch, and remember that, by the space of three years, I ceased not to warn every man night and day with tears’ (Acts 20:31).
- Hezekiah Harvey, The Pastor: His Qualifications and Duties (Philadelphia, PA: American Baptist Publication Society, 1879), 78.

Elegy for John Gill

I just recently discovered an elegy given for John Gill upon his death by Benjamin Francis. It is contained in Sprinkle Publications’ reprint of A Brief Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late Rev. John Gill, D. D., by John Rippon. I have included here two brief excerpts from this lengthy piece. Though we don’t speak in these forms today, we will have been faithful in our callings if our people can say these sorts of things about us one day. Seeing the result of ministries of the past helps us in aiming our efforts today. Let us give ourselves to our callings that we too might love our people, faithfully teaching and caring for them.

“To part with thee,- our ever watchful guide,-
To part with thee prompts our succeeding tears
Excites our sorrow, and our fear alarms.
No more we see thy venerable face
In sacred Zion, at her solemn feasts,
Exciting pleasure, reverence and love.
No more we hear they heart-reviving tongue,
Touch’d with a coal of bright celestial fire,
Unfold the wonders of redeeming grace!
No more new streams of truth divine we taste,
From thy unwearied and exhaustless quill!
Thy learned pen, incessantly employ’d,
For half an age, in they great Master’s cause,
Thy hand has chang’d for never-fading palms;
And thy vast labours in the gospel field,
For fifty-five revolving suns, receive
The bright reward of an immortal crown.
…
So glow’d thy bosom with the sacred fire
Of love supreme to thy redeeming God,
Divinely kindl’d in thy tender mind,
Nor ought abated with advancing age:
Hence thy loud praise for abounding grace,
Thy deep concern for never-dying souls,
And tender feelings for each brother’s woe:
Hence, for thy savior, thy unwearied zeal,
Thy various labors, and incessant toil:
And hence, thy relish and supreme esteem
For ev’ry stream of sacred truth, that flows
From revelation’s hallow’d spring, unmix’d
With muddy error, and insipid forms.

Ortlund Encouragement to Read the Bible

Ray Ortlund has recently posted three items that are powerful encouragements in reading the Scriptures- not just today but over the decades. These thoughts have lingered with me, some over several days, challenging me deeply and encouraging me just as deeply. They have made me want to be more diligent, more consistent, more believing and hopeful, and a better parent.
Here they are:
- Reading the Greek NT over 4 decades
- Wesley on reading (Bible and other good books)
- Note in Bible given to Ray by his Dad on his 17th birthday

Bunyan Poem on Valor and the Christian Life

John Bunyan is one of many historical examples of a pastor/poet. Pilgrim’s Progress contains a number of poems by Bunyan. Below is on e I have appreciated for some time. In the story it comes from Mr. Valiant-for-Truth. Louis Benson, prominent hymnologist, described this song as “dramatically virile” and stated, “to Bunyan bravery is the root virtue of Christian character and the only possible equipment for the pilgrim life.” Coming from a man who was imprisoned for over 12 years, this is all the more meaningful.

This poem in a slightly modified form was set to music and included in some hymnals as “He Who Would Valiant Be.”

This though is Bunyan’s original:

Who would true valour see,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather
There’s no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.

Whoso beset him round
With dismal stories
Do but themselves confound;
His strength the more is.
No lion can him fright,
He’ll with a giant fight,
He will have a right
To be a pilgrim.

Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit,
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies fly away,
He’ll fear not what men say,
He’ll labor night and day
To be a pilgrim.

In our day, when we suffer less, may we still share this resoluteness and faith.
(Quotes from Louis F. Benson, "The Hymns of John Bunyan," Papers of the Hymn Society, 1930)

Interview with John Thornbury

Recently I had the privilege of talking for a while with John Thornbury who recently retired from his church, Winfield Baptist, after pastoring there for over 40 years. He has also written several books. I was struck by the amount of wisdom and experience he has to offer to the rest of us, particularly as a man who has faithfully labored in one place for more than four decades weathering the ups and downs and seeing God build His church.

He graciously agreed to answer a few questions for me to post here. I was particularly struck by his comment, “Growing in the Lord means growing in love for his sheep”. I hope this is an encouragement and help to you as well.

1. What advice would you give to a younger pastor beginning ministry at a new church? Any warnings or particular encouragements about how he begins?
Candidates for pastoral ministry need to be aware up front that "the churches are not into you." They perceive that the pastor is there to minister to them, to nurture, care for and bless them. This seems selfish and is I guess. I believe, however, that with time they will come to appreciate a true shepherd and will begin to seek to return the caring and loving relationship. Particular advice: respect has to be earned, it cannot be demanded immediately. Many people are suspicious of preachers, due in part to the bad reputation some have projected to the public.

2. I have heard you talk about key problems which can “torpedo” a man’s ministry. Can you list those and discuss them, explaining why they are key problems and how we can avoid them?
Problems that torpedo a pastoral position.
1. Greed. The pastor must beware of appearing to preach for money. A contract and understanding should be worked out with the church before he accepts the position so he does not have to rattle the cup after getting into the office. A friend of mine once said, "You can live on what God provides for you."
2. Lust. No need to expand on this.
3. Ambition. The pastor must be able to look himself in the mirror without embarrassment. Sure, the goodwill of the people is necessary, but he must lovingly, but firmly stick by his convictions. If God has called him He will see the pastor through his difficulties. Craving to be popular is deadly.
4. Intellectualism. Beware of thinking that the only task of the preacher is to get up into a high tower and "hand down" the word a couple of times a week. He must be involved in people's lives: hospital, funeral, counseling. Young pastors tend not to have natural compassion, so they should pray for it. Growing in the Lord means growing in love for his sheep.

3. While in many circles we have reclaimed the importance of preaching, there seems to be a lack of awareness among some preachers of the importance of actually shepherding the flock. Could you speak to the importance of the “out of the pulpit” side of ministry, including visiting the sick, counseling, and personal conversations?
Of all the spiritual roles one can have, the PASTOR is the most like Christ. He is a shepherd. What does a shepherd do?
1Feeds the flock. Teaching the whole counsel of God, expounding the word from the pulpit.
2. Cares for the flock. When sheep get in the ditch, he must be there. He must learn to pull them out. As I heard a preacher say yesterday, “Sheep are ignorant, defenseless and dirty.” Jesus will help the pastor to learn to be there for them.
3. Protects the flock. Protects them from false doctrine, false teachers, and wolves that abound today.

4. What basic advice would you give on establishing long term patterns for faithful sermon preparation?
One of the greatest examples of a balanced minister, from a Reformed standpoint (He would not like this term) is Spencer H. Cone, pastor of First Baptist of New York early in the 19th century. He believed that preparation for the pulpit is a 24/7 business. It is not just poring over book, but he is preparing all the time. Wherever he is: observing the world around him, at athletic events, at the beach. He believed a true preacher should be able to preach at the drop of the hat. The preacher should be aware of the world around him, every field is important. Drink in life and draw illustrations from real life experiences. Summary: the preacher should read but be thinking and preparing ALL THE TIME.

5. Is there any other particular advice you would like to give?
1. Pick the right wife. A pastor's wife can make or break him. She should share the burden of ministry.
2. Put Christ in ever message. Take a text and sometime head with it to the cross. People need to hear about JESUS. "Sirs, we would see Jesus."
3. Avoid the Moses syndrome. I have come to the conclusion that Moses was rebuked by God and did not enter the promised land because he became angry and impatient with the people. I believe God was saying to him, "If I can put up with these people, you can." His smiting the rock instead of speaking to it showed his disgust.

Charles Williams on Pastoral Ministry

I am currently preparing for the Founders’ Day Address at Union this Friday where my topic will be Charles Bray Williams who taught at Union from 1926 to 1939. He had previously served as founding professor of Biblical Greek at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1905-1919), President of Howard College (now Samford; 1919-1921) and Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Mercer University (1921-25). He is best known for his translation of the New Testament, The New Testament Translation in the Language of the People (1937).

I have enjoyed deeply learning more about this fascinating man and all his labors. He was a good example of the combination of scholar and pastor. For now, I simply want to point out one comment from his daughter’s biography of him. She states that he,

believed strongly in a pastor’s knowing personally every member in his church, and he had a very active plan of visitation of every family in their home every few weeks.

People often say no one has ever followed Baxter in systematic visitation of his members. This is simply not true (as a variety of historical examples show). And here is one example from the 1940’s in Southern Baptist life even!

Charles Brown posts

This past Spring I read Charles Brown’s The Ministry and found it a wonderful little book packed with much wisdom for pastoral ministry. Since that time I have been meaning to comment on various portions of the book. I have been delayed for numerous reasons but Eric Smith over at Shepherd of the Sheep has provided a number of good posts from the book. He has also posted several thoughtful and helpful meditations from Titus. I commend them to you.

Ella Broadus Robertson

Since I commented on Broadus yesterday it is appropriate today to link to a recent Kairos Journal article on his daughter, Ella Broadus Robertson. Her husband was A. T. Robertson, prominent Greek scholar at Southern Seminary in the early 20th century.

This Kairos Journal article summarizes Mrs. Robertson’s work in speaking to women and encouraging a biblical world view with books like The Fine Art of Motherhood.

Broadus Book

John A. Broadus: A Living Legacy
Ed., David Dockery & Roger Duke
(B&H Academic, 2008), pb., 272 pp.

It continues to be so encouraging to see the quality of material coming from B&H Academic these days. I recently received a copy of this book on John Broadus, and it looks great. Broadus was a giant in the land, and it is good to recover awareness of key leaders in or past. Charles Spurgeon said Broadus was the “greatest of living preachers,” and comparatively few people are truly aware of him today. This book contains essays on various facets of Broadus’s work and legacy by accomplished scholars including David Dockery, Jim Patterson, Timothy George, Tom Nettles, Rick Melick and Mark Overstreet.

I believe this book is also the first in a new series, Studies in Baptist Life and Thought, edited by Michael Haykin. This series looks promising as well.

Wesley Dramatization

As part of the “starting back” activities at Union we had the opportunity to see “The Man from Aldersgate” performed by B J Johnston. Johnston gave a wonderful presentation of Wesley with humor and good theological application. Sure, I have my differences with Wesley, but this presentation hits they key areas of evangelical agreement- and there is no doubting Wesley was a dear brother greatly used of God. I found this presentation stirring and engaging and would commend it to you if you have a chance to see it.

Chaucer's Pastor

This is long but well worth reading to note what was considered to be a good pastor in Chaucer’s day. Note that this man is not merely a speaker but a shepherd visiting all of his flock. Note also the point about not always travelling elsewhere to “get enrolled” in a “brotherhood.” Rather, “He stayed at home and watched over his fold.” There is much to challenge and edify here as we listen to a pastoral description from days past.

A holy-minded man of good renown
There was, and poor, the Parson to a town,
Yet he was rich in holy thought and work.
He also was a learned man, a clerk,
Who truly knew Christ's gospel and would preach it
Devoutly to parishioners, and teach it.
Benign and wonderfully diligent,
And patient when adversity was sent
(For so he proved in great adversity)
He much disliked extorting tithe or fee
Nay rather he preferred beyond a doubt
Giving to poor parishioners round about
From his own goods and Easter offerings.
He found sufficiency in little things.
Wide was his parish, with houses far asunder,
Yet he neglected not in rain or thunder,
In sickness or in grief, to pay a call
On the remotest whether great or small
Upon his feet, and in his hand a stave.
This noble example to his sheep he gave,
First following the word before he taught it,
And it was from the gospel he had caught it.
This little proverb he would add thereto
That if gold rust, what then will iron do?
For if a priest be foul in whom we trust,
No wonder that a common man should rust;
And shame it is to see -- let priests take stock –
A soiled shepherd and a snowy flock.
The true example that a priest should give
Is one of cleanliness, how the sheep should live.
He did not set his benefice to hire
And leave his sheep encumbered in the mire
Or run to London to earn easy bread
By singing masses for the wealthy dead ,
Or find some brotherhood and get enrolled.
He stayed at home and watched over his fold
So that no wolf should make the sheep miscarry.
He was a shepherd and no mercenary.
Holy and virtuous he was, but then
Never contemptuous of sinful men,
Never disdainful, never too proud for fine,
But was discreet in teaching and benign.
His business was to show a fair behavior
And to draw men thus to Heaven and their Savior,
Unless indeed a man were obstinate;
And such, whether of high or low estate,
He put to sharp rebuke to say the least.
I think there never was a better priest.
He sought no pomp or glory in his dealings,
No scrupulosity had spiced his feelings.
Christ and His Twelve Apostles and their lore
He taught, but followed it himself before.

- Canterbury Tales, The Prologue

Scougal, on the Gravity of Pastoral Ministry

One of the items I have required in my pastoral ministry class from the beginning is a sermon by Henry Scougal entitled “On the Importance and Difficulty of the Ministerial Function” (found in The Works of Rev. H. Scougal, ed. By Don Kistler). This time around I required the sermon again but failed to supply a copy!

Some industrious students however discovered that the entire book, including this sermon, is available on Google book search! I recommend the book to you. It includes Scougal’s Life of God in the Soul of Man which has had significant impact over the years in the lives of men such as Wesley, Whitefield and more recently John Piper (see the preface to The Pleasures of God).

This sermon is based on 2 Cor 2:16 where in discussing the weightiness of preaching the gospel Paul asks “Who is sufficient for such things?” Here are some quotes to allure you to read the whole thing.

“it [the gospel] proves a vital savor to those who receive and obey it, but a most deadly poison to all who reject and despise it.” p. 228

“And shall we undervalue the price of His blood, or think it a small matter to have the charge of those for whom it was shed? It is the Church of God we must oversee and feed; that Church for which the world is upheld, which is sanctified by the Holy Ghost, on which the angels themselves attend. What a weighty charge is this we have undertaken! And ‘who is sufficient for these things?’” p. 234

“But certainly the greatest and most difficult work of a minister is in applying himself particularly to the various persons under his charge; to acquaint himself with their behavior and the temper of their souls; to redress what is amiss and prevent their future miscarriages. Without this private work, his other endeavors will do little good.” p.241

“Now this supposes a great deal of care, to acquaint ourselves with the humors and conversation of our people; and the name of ‘watchmen’ that is given to us implies no less.” p.252