Mechanical / Leadership Gifts

The point: Do not assume the office of ministry until your ability to speak consistently and edifyingly has been proven to the satisfaction of the church.

A young baseball player aspiring to the major leagues is used to illustrate that while aspiration is legitimate, assuming the office of ministry requires proven ability, just as a player must prove himself before being called up.

First of all now, a proven ability to speak. Now let me remind you as I say this, I am not saying that until this ability has been demonstrated to one's own personal satisfaction and to the full satisfaction of the church, no one should aspire to the ministry. No one should take any formal steps of preparation to the ministry. What I am saying is this, no one has any grounds to assume the office of the ministry until this is proven. See the difference now? It's one thing for a kid who's able to knock the ball out of the park in the American Legion circles playing ball when he's 17 and 18 to as...

11:51 - 12:41 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It's torture, torture. It's a form of torture not to be endured in the house of God.

Listening to cacophonous hard rock music at high decibels is used to illustrate what 'torture to the ears' feels like, setting the stage for the need for distinct and audible speech in preaching.

Now, you know what it is to have your ears tortured? Just listen to some of that cacophony, cacophonous music called Hard Rock, run up to about 150 decibels, and you know what torture to the ears is. Well, I'm saying that if Christ is making a man a gift to his church to edify by teaching and in the exercise of oversight, there will be indication that he's endowed in with ability to be heard without torture to the ears. Now, I did not say he must speak so as to be as pleasant music to the ears. That can be a great snare. A man who has a sonorous voice with a lot of timber and all resonance, yo...

14:02 - 14:52 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It's torture, torture. It's a form of torture not to be endured in the house of God.

Martin shares his personal experience of sometimes coveting a sonorous, resonant voice, but being reminded that a naturally pleasant voice can be a snare, emphasizing that beauty of voice is not the requirement, but rather clarity.

Now, you know what it is to have your ears tortured? Just listen to some of that cacophony, cacophonous music called Hard Rock, run up to about 150 decibels, and you know what torture to the ears is. Well, I'm saying that if Christ is making a man a gift to his church to edify by teaching and in the exercise of oversight, there will be indication that he's endowed in with ability to be heard without torture to the ears. Now, I did not say he must speak so as to be as pleasant music to the ears. That can be a great snare. A man who has a sonorous voice with a lot of timber and all resonance, yo...

14:02 - 14:52 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It's torture, torture. It's a form of torture not to be endured in the house of God.

Spurgeon's comment that 'some men have the perpetual problem that their words play leapfrog with one another' is quoted to illustrate indistinct speech.

on the chairs, you know, and there's just a beautiful radio voice. And there are times when I visit where chafed against my nasality and my allergies and my deviated septum and the fact that I have no resonance chambers and I've had to labor at pronouncing my M's and my N's, and yet the Lord has reminded me that a voice that just naturally sounds like music on the ear can be a great snare to people. And so I'm not saying that there must be a beautiful voice anymore that I'm saying there must be great eloquence, but there must be an ability to be heard without torturing men's ears. And that wil...

14:52 - 15:42 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It's torture, torture. It's a form of torture not to be endured in the house of God.

Martin quotes Spurgeon at length on how physical infirmities, particularly those affecting speech and lung capacity, raise questions about a man's call to public preaching, emphasizing that God equips creatures for their intended purpose.

And yet I've actually had to sit beneath men who felt they were called to preach, who had absolutely no fluency of utterance. And to hear them speak was torture to one's ears. I say again that if the head of the church is equipping any man to speak in Christ's name, he will give him ability to be heard without this torture. He will give him ability, some of which may be natural, some of which may be cultivated in great pains to speak distinctly, to speak with sufficient volumes who has to be heard, and to speak with sufficient fluency. Let me read from the uncomfortable Spurgeon speaking on th...

16:41 - 17:27 Read in full sermon

Driving home: For one half hour, you've been struggling to get something out of your head instead of laboring to get something into mine.

The image of a cow with its tail on Venus and hoof in the Grand Canyon is used to vividly illustrate a speaker's inability to logically arrange thoughts, causing mental torture for the listener.

in the assembly. Why? Because this is how edification comes. Now, I only spend that time to establish the principle. If God is making a man a gift to his church unto edification, he will equip him to speak so as to be understood. Now, what will that involve? Well, again, three things. One gift of orderly arrangement. A man will know how to put one thought on top of another and have it land somewhere near the previous one. Now, he may not have it absolutely dead center. It may be a little off here, but he doesn't have it hanging out here on a sky book somewhere. And I, again, I don't mean to ca...

25:24 - 26:09 Read in full sermon

Driving home: For one half hour, you've been struggling to get something out of your head instead of laboring to get something into mine.

The story of Dr. Joseph Parker telling a young, struggling preacher, 'For one half hour, you've been struggling to get something out of your head instead of laboring to get something into mine,' is used to powerfully illustrate the lack of perspicuity in presentation.

Others may have the gift rather naturally. As I try to assess my own gifts and have other people help me to know my weaknesses and my strengths, it just seems that naturally this has never been a problem to me. The orderly arrangement of materials. There are other aspects of my teaching and preaching that I must expend great pains upon. And though this is one of my strengths, I still labor at it in order to try to cultivate it. But there must be some gift of orderly arrangement. Secondly, some gift of perspicuity in presentation. And perspicuity simply means clarity. Clarity. So that the truth...

26:53 - 27:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not allow any church to call you to be a pastor until there is some evidence that you have a measure of the gift of orderly arrangement, perspicuity, and simplicity in speech, lest you torture the people of God.

Martin recounts telling a sincere but confusing young man that he 'hopelessly confuse[d] the people of God,' illustrating the pain and frustration caused by a lack of clarity in preaching.

into such form as to lead the people of God into the mind of God in that passage of scripture. It's one thing for a man to be thrilled in his study as he comes to the heart of the message of God in a text. It's another thing to be the instrument of God to thrill the hearts of God's people in the assembly by leading them into it. You see? And I can think of a very clear example, a dear young man, and he's not present with us here today. So I'm not speaking about any of you.

29:09 - 29:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not allow any church to call you to be a pastor until there is some evidence that you have a measure of the gift of orderly arrangement, perspicuity, and simplicity in speech, lest you torture the people of God.

Martin quotes Spurgeon's article 'The Ministry Needed by the Churches' on the necessity of plain, Anglo-Saxon speech, not academic jargon, to effectively move the English heart and banish 'unknown tongues' from the pulpit.

And in an article called the ministry needed by the churches, this is what Spurgeon says, the next thing we need in the ministry now and in all time is men of plain speech. The preacher's language must be not of the classroom, but of all classes, not of the university, but of the universe. Men who've learned to speak from books are of small worth compared to those who learn from their mother's, their mother tongue. The language spoken by men around the fireside and in the workshop and in the parlor. I use market language, said Whitfield, and we know the result. I rejoice in the Latany and Germ...

32:15 - 33:01 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If you can't be a man amongst men in your normal contacts and speak with authority when you stand behind that sacred desk, you're an intruder into the office of the ministry. You're an intruder. You're fake. You're not t…

The concept of 'ministerial starch' and 'artificial aloofness' is used to describe and condemn a false, pompous way of establishing authority, contrasting it with Christ's true humanity and dynamic authority.

be warmed, and their minds informed in the things of God under you. And it's amazing, when that's so, then you don't need ministerial starch. You see, this idea that I'm the Reverend, I'm the Dominay, and you see, I must keep a proper sense of aloofness from the... That's a lot of baloney, brethren. There's not an ounce of truth in it. There's no indication that when our Lord was amongst men, he was anything other than a true man. He played with little kids, and he sat on his knees. And when he went into the banquets and enjoyed his wine and his food and wicked his lips, the people say, yeah, ...

38:25 - 39:13 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If you can't be a man amongst men in your normal contacts and speak with authority when you stand behind that sacred desk, you're an intruder into the office of the ministry. You're an intruder. You're fake. You're not t…

Martin quotes John Owen from Volume 4 on the gift of utterance, clarifying that it is not mere volubility or rhetorical flourish, but consists of boldness, gravity, and authority, which accompanies the delivery of the word.

Why? Because he's a gift of Christ to his church, and I'm part of his church, and he's Christ's gift to me, and I must receive him as such. Age experience has nothing to do with it. Am I talking double-dutch? I can't read to them. Do you know what I'm talking about? Have you experienced that yourself? Brethren, without that, there is no indication of a true call to the ministry. Now, may I read from my good friend John Owen, who again has been such a help to me. By the way, if you have Daphne, you must read the first article in Volume 2 on the call to the ministry. He has some very perceptive ...

40:50 - 41:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate a spirit of service, being willing to serve Christ's people rather than seeking to be served by their admiration.

The vivid image of 'eating crow, feathers and all' is used to illustrate the difficult humility and self-sacrifice required of a servant-leader in ministry, especially when facing criticism or ingratitude.

to lose your life, for Christ's sake, in the Gospels, expecting no return. And unless you get that perspective, you will not be willing to back down, eat crow, feathers and all, my brethren. That's what I find the hardest. I don't mind eating crow, but when I choke on feathers going down, that's when it bothers. But you've got to do it for Christ's sake and the Gospels. Pour yourself out and have somebody completely miss everything, and then pick you up on a little technicality of a word you used wrong at the door in the morning. Well, if you aren't serving Christ, you're going to get red up t...

47:03 - 47:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Find ways to serve God's people now, demonstrating a servant's heart without waiting for a 'big opening' or formal position.

The analogy of 'two-bit actors floating around New York waiting for their big break' while living on welfare is used to criticize young men in ministry who wait for a 'big opening' instead of demonstrating a servant's heart by serving where they are now.

You're finding ways to serve His people now. You're finding ways to wash their feet now. You're not waiting for some big opening, you know, like all those two-bit actors floating around New York waiting for their big break, you see, living on welfare and unemployment. A bunch of no-goods, clean them off the streets, ship them out and give them a shovel somewhere and put them to work. But that's the mentality, you see. The world out there owes me my big break, and so let the hard-working people continue to put bread on my table and booze in my belly and grass in my cigarettes until my big break...

49:06 - 49:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Find ways to serve God's people now, demonstrating a servant's heart without waiting for a 'big opening' or formal position.

Martin humorously refers to the 'big delicatessen' of 'hunks of baloney' to dismiss the misconception that a leader must always be outgoing and gregarious, emphasizing that true leadership can come from low-key individuals.

Though it's a serving rule, it is nonetheless a rule in which the shepherd must shepherd. He must lead and tend the flock of God. And there must be indication that the Lord has constituted you a leader amongst his people, that they do not find it torturous to follow the directives you give, both in your precepts and in your example. And again, you can't categorize this. The idea that a leader is always the guy that comes on strong, you know, how's everybody doing, outgoing gregarious, that's a lot of, that's baloney too. We got a real big delicatessen here this afternoon.

50:17 - 50:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider going on a trial basis for your first pastorate (6 months to a year) to allow the people to assess your life, doctrine, authority, and God-given abilities before issuing a formal call.

The analogy of a woman marrying because she 'has to' rather than because she 'wants to' is used to illustrate the undesirability of a church calling a pastor out of obligation rather than genuine spiritual magnetism and proven ability.

biblical perspectives into sharper focus. You see, there's a sense in which if people call a man, knowing so little about him, and he's not proven himself in a previous ministry, and they say, well, we've called him, and now we've got to live with him, come what may. So there is not the yielding of respect, and honor, and the following born out of the magnetism of spiritual authority. You follow me? And I wouldn't want that. That'd be almost like a woman saying, well, I'm marrying you because I have to. I don't want to marry because she has to. I want to marry because she wants to. And we foun...

52:59 - 53:44 Read in full sermon