Minister's Heartaches and Triumphs

Driving home: As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Here the Apostle indicates the reality and the constancy of heartache and triumph as the mark of a true minister.

Martin uses the analogy of preaching as preparation for preaching, sometimes good, sometimes bad, to describe the difficulty of shifting focus after being deeply impressed by a previous sermon.

Sometimes one of the best preparations for preaching is preaching. Sometimes it's one of the worst, because if God has enabled you to hold up your heart to the impress of his word, and that word has come and seized your mind and your affections, it's so difficult to shake loose that seizure and to try to move mind and heart and affections in the direction of the subject assigned. And I feel torn on the one hand between the material that I've sought, prayerfully, to prepare for this hour and the pressure of that word which has come to us in the power and grace of the Spirit through God's servan...

0:25 - 1:51 Read in full sermon

Driving home: There is no heartache to a true minister like the heartache of his own heart. He can find in the midst of his most holiest exercises of prayer and of preaching and of one-to-one ministry some of the most foul and ungodly…

Martin shares that he surveyed brethren about their major heartaches, and they independently identified the same four, suggesting these are common experiences for true ministers.

And I'd like to alter the statement and say that a true minister is known as much by that which causes him heartache as by that which elicits joy in his heart. And as I attempt to set forth some of these major causes of ministerial heartache, I have prayerfully sought to avoid merely projecting my particular causes. of heartache, and I've even done a little survey amongst my brethren in past days, and to my delight, without telling them what my four major causes of ministerial heartache were, or the ones I was proposing to deal with, in my survey, they've all come up with the same four major c...

9:16 - 10:38 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if your greatest heartache is your own heart and body, or if it's a desire for recognition and praise from others.

He uses the analogy of increasing spiritual current but thinning wires (the decaying body) to explain the mystery of growing older in ministry, where desire to serve grows but physical capacity diminishes.

And the same, and the same language is used in Romans chapter 8, when he speaks of the yet awaited manifestation of the sons of God in terms of the glorification of the body. He says, not only does the creation groan in travail, but even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of the body. You see, one of the mysteries of growing older is this, that as God increases your capacity to yearn, and hopefully if you're growing in grace, increases your capacity to understand and to feel, there is in this redeemed humanity with that greater capacity to feel...

17:12 - 18:39 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second heartache arises from the spiritual condition of many in the flock, characterized by arrested growth, moral lapses, doctrinal aberrations, dullness, inconsistency, and…

The minister's concern to see Christ formed in his people is likened to 'birth pangs' or 'spiritual travail,' emphasizing the agony involved in spiritual growth.

The greatest heartache of every true minister is his own heart. It was true of the Apostle Paul. When you read the biographies of men, the fragrance of whose lives remains with us to this day, Raynard, McShane, and a host of others, when we are taken into the inner sanctuary of the things that really caused them heartache, you find this common denominator, their greatest heartache was their own heart. But then in the second place, one of the major heartaches of a true minister is this, the heartache of the spiritual state of many in the flock of God. The heartache of the spiritual state of, of...

21:09 - 22:30 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second heartache arises from the spiritual condition of many in the flock, characterized by arrested growth, moral lapses, doctrinal aberrations, dullness, inconsistency, and…

Martin desires to see the 'fragrance of Christ like an aura' about his people, illustrating the visible, pervasive impact of Christ-likeness in their lives.

Now that's the longing we have for our people. We're not content that they're simply there at the stated times doing what good, proper, reformed Christians are supposed to do. We want to see Christ formed in them. We long to see the fragrance of Christ like an aura, as it were, about their very being when we go into their homes, and as we have occasion to rub shoulders with those with whom they are intimate in the world by virtue of work associations and neighborhood relationships, we long to get the feedback that they are shining as lights, blameless and harmless, in a real sense, the living ...

23:38 - 24:22 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second heartache arises from the spiritual condition of many in the flock, characterized by arrested growth, moral lapses, doctrinal aberrations, dullness, inconsistency, and…

Paul's description of the Corinthians' hearts having a 'little narrow door' is used to illustrate the pain of disaffection and limited reception of the minister's love.

So disaffected had they become. And he says of those people, he said, I'm determined to go on telling you the truth and being true to your souls, though the more I love you, the less I be loved. And in that moving passage in 2 Corinthians, he says, our heart is enlarged. It's open to you, but in your hearts, there is a little narrow door, just a little, a turnstile that barely lets my hand in, let alone my whole person.

25:38 - 26:12 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second heartache arises from the spiritual condition of many in the flock, characterized by arrested growth, moral lapses, doctrinal aberrations, dullness, inconsistency, and…

Martin quotes Calvin's commentary on Acts 20, stating that 'the mother of all heresy is unmortified ambition,' to explain the motivation behind perverse teachings.

Listen to some of the statements of the apostle who felt this pain of the arrested growth, the moral lapses, the doctrinal aberrations, the dullness and inconsistency, the deflections and disaffections of the people of God as he anticipated those realities in the church at Ephesus. You'll remember the language he used with the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, knowing that after his departure some of these very things would occur. Verse 29, I know that after my departing, grievous wolves shall enter in among you. From among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw aw...

26:13 - 27:12 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You see to love, truly to love is to be perpetually vulnerable and the heartache of a true minister grows out of the vulnerability of true love.

He suggests that the parchment sent to Philippi might have had 'tear stains on it,' vividly illustrating Paul's deep sorrow over antinomianism.

Philippians 3 and verse 18, with respect to those who were some of the first antinomians in the apostolic church, when Paul writes about these who profess to be the recipients of grace, but who've turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, he says, verse 18, for many walk of whom I told you often and tell you now even weeping. Now either we accuse the apostle of excessive rhetoric and hyperbole, or we have reason to believe that the parchment that went to Philippians, hit by, had tear stains on it. He said, I tell you now adverb of time, even weeping.

28:00 - 28:50 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You see to love, truly to love is to be perpetually vulnerable and the heartache of a true minister grows out of the vulnerability of true love.

Martin quotes Philip Hughes' commentary on 2 Corinthians 11:29, explaining that Paul's anxiety for the churches stems from compassion, not lack of faith, and his deep identification with his spiritual children.

And then back to chapter 11 in verse 29, a similar emphasis as he speaks of the things that marked his ministry. Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble and I burn not? Philip Hughes in his excellent commentary on 2 Corinthians comments on this text the anxiety which the apostle experiences for the churches is engendered not by lack of faith but by compassion.

30:18 - 30:52 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You see to love, truly to love is to be perpetually vulnerable and the heartache of a true minister grows out of the vulnerability of true love.

He uses the analogy that 'to love, truly to love is to be perpetually vulnerable' to explain why a minister experiences such deep heartache over his flock's struggles.

Their weakness is felt as his weakness their frailty so easily suffering offense is his frailty also. The stumbling of one of them causes him to burn with shame as though it were his own stumbling and to burn with indignation against the seducer who has made one of Christ's little ones to stumble. And so should it be with every faithful pastor of Christ's flock he should lovingly identify himself with those who've been committed to his care showing himself deeply anxious for their spiritual well-being compassionate with them in their frailties and temptations and resisting and resenting everyo...

32:13 - 33:29 Read in full sermon

The point: When encountering Christ's wailing over Jerusalem, do not immediately try to pigeonhole it into a consistent bracket with the five points of Calvinism, but feel the pathos.

Martin quotes Warfield's essay on 'The Emotional Life of Our Lord,' explaining that Christ's weeping over Jerusalem was a 'profuse unrestrained wail,' not merely restrained tears, to emphasize the depth of his heartache.

Jeremiah 13, 17 and following you'll remember his words oh that my head were waters in mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep night and day for the slain of the daughter of my people but of course the supreme example is our Lord himself in Luke 19, 41 we read that when our Lord Jesus making his way to Jerusalem came to the brow where he could look over and see the city it is said that beholding it he wept and as Warfield points out in his masterful essay The Emotional Life of Our Lord this was not the restrained weeping in which our Lord is found engaged at the graveside of Lazarus th...

37:38 - 39:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not become calloused to abounding wickedness, nor sit back on a false pillow of misused divine sovereignty.

He warns against sitting back on a 'false pillow made of a misuse of the doctrine of divine sovereignty,' illustrating the danger of becoming calloused to abominations.

and prayed to see Christ coming forth riding to conquer and to conquer not in judgment but in mercy and in grace we've been able to turn to Psalm 44 and pray it through as though it were our own psalm oh Lord our fathers have told us our ears have heard what work you did in their days you did this and that and the other but now Lord you don't go forth with our armies everyone who comes by plucks us we're an occasion of mockery and derision and there's no way and there's no way there has been born in our hearts a longing that God would give to his son the glory of great triumphs of his grace in...

41:40 - 43:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Be comforted that God isn't finished with you yet; you will ultimately be totally conformed to Christ.

Martin mentions a friend's plaque, 'Be patient, God isn't finished with me yet,' and suggests another, 'Be comforted, God isn't finished with me yet,' to illustrate the confidence in God's ongoing work of sanctification.

upon the face of Jesus God purges from that disembodied spirit every last remaining trace of sin that spirit makes its way into the immediate presence of Christ which is far better and we as the servants of God in the midst of our groans need to remember as a dear friend of mine has a plaque in his study be patient God isn't finished with me yet we ought to have another one be comforted God isn't finished with me yet one plaque speaks to others to exercise grace toward us the other affirms the confidence that God is yet to work more in us God isn't finished with me yet when he's done with me I...

47:34 - 49:02 Read in full sermon

Driving home: the great concern of the apostle was that God as it were as he sniffed the preaching of Paul would smell the fragrance of Jesus and smile my son has done all that I commissioned him to do my servant is telling the world …

He briefly references the imagery of a Roman triumphal entry as a possible backdrop for Paul's statement about being 'always led in triumph in Christ,' though he doesn't fully endorse this interpretation.

centered and breathes of the fragrance of Christ and crucified this is what that preaching is to God regardless of its effect in men verse 14 of second Corinthians two but thanks be unto God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and makes manifest through us the savor of his knowledge in every place for we are a sweet savor of Christ unto God in them that are saved and in them that are perishing to the one a saver from death unto death to the other a saver from life unto life and I know that many believe that they see in this passage at least the backdrop of the imagery of a triumphal entry...

54:59 - 56:29 Read in full sermon

Driving home: the great concern of the apostle was that God as it were as he sniffed the preaching of Paul would smell the fragrance of Jesus and smile my son has done all that I commissioned him to do my servant is telling the world …

Martin uses the analogy of God 'sniffing the preaching of Paul' and smelling the 'fragrance of Jesus' to illustrate God's pleasure in Christ-centered gospel proclamation.

should stack arms and abandon their refuge of lies and cast off their self-righteousness and throw themselves upon the mercy of God in Christ we're dead in earnest and if everyone did it we would not say oh wait a minute that isn't what I was hoping for no that's what we yearn for but in the full realization that God's purpose is to call to himself a people Paul says we are always triumphant always triumphant and the great concern of the apostle was that God as it were as he sniffed the preaching of Paul would smell the fragrance of Jesus and smile my son has done all that I commissioned him t...

56:29 - 57:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Rejoice in the confidence that God is pleased when you go right on preaching his son, even if people remain in their sins.

Martin quotes B.B. Warfield's sermon 'The Cause of God,' which warns against identifying our cause, methods, and hopes with God's, and encourages that God's cause is never in danger, to address the heartache of unfulfilled longings.

wiser than God in that excellent collection of sermons by B.B. Warfield and if you're not familiar with this may I urge you to obtain it it has some of the most helpful materials for the man of God struggling on in the work of God the opening sermon is entitled the cause of God and it's on God's dealings with the prophet Elijah in his dejection and Warfield closes the sermon with this exhortation we close then with a word of warning and one of encouragement the word of warning we must not identify our cause with God's cause our methods with God's methods and our hopes with God's purposes that ...

60:56 - 62:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not increase legitimate heartaches by pouting because God doesn't do his work your way before your eyes.

He describes a 'spiritual yet carnal petulance' in some servants of God, where a spiritual desire for Christ's glory turns into pouting when God doesn't work in the expected way.

longing to see Christ's name praised we do sigh and cry when we see abominations on every hand we long to see something of Christ's scepter touching the general fabric of morals and ethics and labor perspectives and political perspectives and in international politics we long to see biblical principles at least respected and honored and that's a spiritual desire but when God is not pleased to grant us that desire there's a carnal petulance that almost says God you've cheated us you created the desire and yet you haven't done what might I prayers have demanded that you do and that was the probl...

62:26 - 63:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Whatever your eschatological views, do not be deluded into thinking there will be a time when believers are in the majority and anything other than pilgrims.

Martin uses the metaphor of a 'juniper tree beginning to grow up on my back' to refer to the onset of dejection and despair, echoing Elijah's experience.

manifestation of his glory remember God's purpose in our generation is being fulfilled and remember that ultimately even if God should pour out of his spirit and do ten thousand fold more than we've ever seen I see nothing in my Bible that says things will ever be such that our great longing will be anything other than for the new heavens and the new earth Peter says we looking for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteous and whatever our eschatological views may be may they never delude us into thinking that there's going to be a time when we're in the majority and are anything ...

63:55 - 65:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Whatever your eschatological views, do not be deluded into thinking there will be a time when believers are in the majority and anything other than pilgrims.

He describes looking at the ground and affirming that 'every square inch' will experience purging fires and dwell in righteousness, to instill fresh nerve and hope in the minister.

manifestation of his glory remember God's purpose in our generation is being fulfilled and remember that ultimately even if God should pour out of his spirit and do ten thousand fold more than we've ever seen I see nothing in my Bible that says things will ever be such that our great longing will be anything other than for the new heavens and the new earth Peter says we looking for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteous and whatever our eschatological views may be may they never delude us into thinking that there's going to be a time when we're in the majority and are anything ...

63:55 - 65:24 Read in full sermon

The point: As ministers, never be dominated by levity; while cheerful, avoid jocularity dominating interactions or being imported into the pulpit.

Martin criticizes ministers who act like 'stand-up comics' in the pulpit, using humor to dominate conferences, arguing that true joy in ministry is never unmixed with sorrow.

jocularity in their casual interaction and it's worse yet when that's imported into the pulpit when men become stand-up comics and they say something funny and get a good response they ride the crest of it say something a little more funny until they and the men are utterly carried away and I've been at preachers conferences where I had all I could do to keep in my seat

66:53 - 67:18 Read in full sermon