The Pastor's Spiritual Development, Part 1

In this part of the sermon: He defines 'pastoral preaching' as preaching done week-in, week-out within the context of pastoral relationships, addressed to a diverse congregation, and flowing from a heart…

The analogy of preaching week in, week out to the same diverse people in a given setting illustrates the unique challenges and nature of pastoral preaching.

The subject matter of Unit 1 is pastoral preaching, with emphasis upon the word pastoral, assuming that the majority of you will ultimately be found in the false history of prayer. that the majority of you will ultimately be found in the false history of prayer. in the office of an under-shepherd, we are convinced that the kind of preaching that most of you will do will be preaching that can and must be described as pastoral preaching. That is, preaching that you will do week in, week out, month in, month out, hopefully year in, year out, in the context of pastoral relationships.

2:18 - 3:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Give up the ambition to be a great pulpiteer and instead aim to be an effective preacher so that people will bless God for your ministry in the final day.

Martin quotes Fox's description of God using 'five-ranked army of descending human weakness' to conquer the world, encouraging preachers not to seek worldly greatness but effectiveness in God's eyes.

is realized, it is effective preaching. And realizing that not many mighty, not many noble, not many wise are called, but God takes the weak, the foolish, the things that are not, the things that are despised, to bring to naught, things that are what Fox calls God's five-ranked army of descending human weakness with which he will conquer the world, then most of you who go through this place are not going to have your names go down in church history as great pulpiteers. And the sooner you give up that

15:38 - 16:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Give up the ambition to be a great pulpiteer and instead aim to be an effective preacher so that people will bless God for your ministry in the final day.

Martin shares his personal ambition in early ministry: to see a hundred people give marks of grace and hunger to obey God, forming a healthy church, illustrating humility and dependence on God's work rather than personal ambition.

ambition, the better. You can be effective preachers so that in the final day there will be people rise up and bless the eternal God that from your lips they were brought to the knowledge of themselves and of their Savior and were brought safely to heaven. And brethren, if you can bring a few people with you who can say that, then you've not lived nor labored in vain. Some people at times have asked me, well, as you see all this that God has brought to birth around you, did you ever think of this in your early days of the ministry? I said, of course not.

16:12 - 16:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Give up the ambition to be a great pulpiteer and instead aim to be an effective preacher so that people will bless God for your ministry in the final day.

A quote from McPherson's 'The Burden of the Lord' describes Christian preaching as the 'transmission of a person... through a person, to a company of persons,' emphasizing its supernatural and awe-begetting nature.

I wouldn't want to be in the place of an ambitious preacher when some of his ambitions begin to be realized. Then he has to ask, are these the fruit of God's working or my own cleverness? So effective preaching is just that. It is what McPherson in his wonderful little, book called The Burden of the Lord describes this way. And if you don't get the goosebumps

17:52 - 18:14 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin quotes McPherson on preaching as the 'burden of the Lord,' a supernatural act of transmitting Christ through a person. He then explains 'essential elements' as those…

The analogy of a head attached to shoulders as an 'essential element' of a living human being clarifies what Martin means by 'essential elements' in preaching – those without which it ceases to be what it's supposed to be.

masters who've looked over my shoulder and continue to look over my shoulder in seeking to wrestle with these matters, I've sought to strip the elements to their irreducible number, to set forth those aspects of preaching. Without which is done is either not preaching or not effect. Trying to address the essential, an essential element of any commodity is that without which the thing won't be what it's supposed to be. The essential element of a living human being is a head attached to the shoulders.

20:50 - 21:33 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But in terms of your life and my life, as the context out of which effective preaching is carried on, we are our message.

The anecdote of Mahatma Gandhi stating, 'I am my message,' illustrates the principle that a preacher's life and character are inextricably linked to the message he proclaims.

message proclaimed. Titus 2 verse 7, In all things showing thyself, an example of these things. Someone had accompanied Mahatma Gandhi into various parts of India for several weeks, listened to him speak, observed his life, and at the end of that time said to him, Mr. Gandhi, can you please articulate very simply and pointedly, what is your message?

26:21 - 26:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin brings in the testimonies of Spurgeon and Murphy, who both emphasized the indispensable quality of eminent piety and the diligent culture of the inner man as foundational…

A quote from Spurgeon's chapter on the minister's self-watch emphasizes that ministers are their own tools and must keep themselves in order, cultivating their intellectual, emotional, and spiritual faculties.

Spurgeon, who alas I fear at times, driven by such a heart of compassion for sinners, forgot some of his own exhortations. Not for the nurture of his inner life but I fear he killed himself in terms of the nurture of his tent of clay. In his chapter on the minister's self-watch, he says to the young men in his college, we are in a certain sense our own tools and therefore must keep ourselves in order. If I want to preach the gospel, I can use only my own voice.

43:11 - 43:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: A holy minister is an awesome weapon in the hand of God.

A quote from David Brainerd, comparing a cavalry officer keeping his saber clean to a minister cultivating his inner man, highlights the importance of purity and perfection in the instrument (the minister) for success.

My spiritual faculties in my inner life are my battle acts and weapons of war. Make shame writing to a ministerial friend who was traveling with a view to perfecting himself in the German language used language identical with our own, quote, I know you will apply hard to German but do not forget the culture of the inner man. I mean of the heart. How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his saber clean and sharp. Every stain

44:59 - 45:27 Read in full sermon

Driving home: A holy minister is an awesome weapon in the hand of God.

Spurgeon's analogy of water flowing through lead pipes becoming injurious illustrates how the gospel can be debased and become harmful to hearers if it flows through a spiritually, physically, or emotionally unhealthy minister.

A holy minister is an awesome weapon in the hand of God. And then he goes on to amplify this matter and makes this statement. You all know the injurious effects frequently produced upon water through flowing along lead pipes. Even so the gospel itself in flowing through men who are spiritually unhealthy may be debased until it grows injurious to the hearers.

46:03 - 46:34 Read in full sermon

Driving home: A holy minister is an awesome weapon in the hand of God.

A lengthy quote from Murphy's pastoral theology emphasizes that eminent piety, a thorough infilling of the Holy Spirit, and complete conformity to Christ are indispensable and primary qualifications for ministry, surpassing all other preparations.

And may I say, brethren, if you are physically and emotionally unhealthy, the gospel can be debased as it flows through you. There must be concern for the nurture of the whole of your redeemed humanity. And then listen to Murphy as he speaks along the same lines in the opening section of his book on pastoral theology. It should be laid down as our first principle that eminent piety is the indispensable quality for the ministry of the gospel.

46:35 - 47:11 Read in full sermon

The point: At all cost, maintain a real acquaintance with God and His ways, in contrast to what is either feigned or merely formal and professional.

A quote from Stalker's 'The Preacher and His Models' identifies the lack of a deep, varied, and original spiritual experience as the most common cause of ministerial failure, stressing that power for work comes from secret communion with God.

and original acquaintance with God and his ways you must maintain real expanding varied and original acquaintance with God and his ways now as I seek to exegete that axiom let me quote from Stalker in his book The Preacher and His Models to which I made reference last week Stalker on pages 54 and 5 speaks as follows perhaps of all causes

58:14 - 58:58 Read in full sermon

The point: At all cost, maintain a real acquaintance with God and His ways, in contrast to what is either feigned or merely formal and professional.

The anecdote of the old Scottish woman requesting a pastor 'who knows God other than by hearsay' illustrates the need for a real, present, and personal acquaintance with God.

maintain a real acquaintance with God and his ways though there is a sense in which it was unique for the apostles to say yet in principle we must be able to say that which we have seen and heard in our hands and handled of the word of life that we proclaim unto you we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard out of the abundance of the heart the mouths and if the heart is devoid of real present acquaintance with God and his ways there will be to discerning people something lacking

61:53 - 62:37 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He introduces the axiom for spiritual development: maintaining a real, expanding, varied, and original acquaintance with God and His ways, quoting Stalker on the necessity of a…

The analogy of a long and healthy marriage with ongoing, expanding acquaintance illustrates the concept of an 'expanding acquaintance' with God, where finite beings continually discover more of the infinite God.

It's like a long and a healthy marriage. That's one of the most amazing things to me. Thirty years my wife and I have been married, and yet there is ongoing, real, fresh acquaintance with one another, and expanding acquaintance with each other. Now, if, if two finite creatures cannot fully know one another, even though they're married in a healthy marriage for seventy years, what a range is open to us when the finite is knowing the infinite.

64:59 - 65:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain a varied acquaintance with God, experiencing both joys and griefs, so that your ministry can address the diverse experiences of your sheep.

Tozer's statement, 'the most sickening sight I've ever seen is my own heart,' illustrates the deepening pain and self-knowledge that comes with a 'varied acquaintance' with God and further disclosures of one's own sinfulness.

I'll never forget when I heard Tozer say, the most sickening sight I've ever seen is my own heart.

66:29 - 66:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Be prepared for the loneliness of an ongoing, developing walk with God, not seeking to parrot others' experiences but allowing God to unfold Himself uniquely to you.

Tozer's exegesis of 'Thy way is in the sea, thy paths are not known,' comparing a ship's wake to the path of walking with God, illustrates the 'original' and often lonely nature of an ongoing, developing walk with God, where there's no pre-marked path.

We must not seek to echo the present dealings of God with another. But we must be prepared for what I know not what else to call, but the loneliness of an ongoing, developing walk with God. Again, I remember Tozer writing or speaking on that, that text in the Psalms, Thy way is in the sea, thy paths are not known. And he went on in a most beautiful way to show that in a footpath, after ten people have walked over it, you can see the path, it's marked out.

69:31 - 70:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Be prepared for the loneliness of an ongoing, developing walk with God, not seeking to parrot others' experiences but allowing God to unfold Himself uniquely to you.

Martin recounts foolishly praying for suffering like men in biographies, illustrating the unique and 'original blueprint' God has for each individual's spiritual development, and the danger of seeking to replicate others' experiences.

Now hopefully, whatever those ways have been, we can all say through tears or through joy, God is faithful, God is good, God is wise. But how His faithfulness, goodness, and wisdom work themselves out in one brother will be entirely different in its details as to how He works them out in another. And I foolishly can remember when I'd read in biography how men were made men of God through suffering. I'm so glad God didn't answer my prayer.

71:44 - 72:17 Read in full sermon