51a) Disposition of Biblical Oversight, #1

Driving home: They are not natural dispositional aspects, but they are supernatural, they are gracious, they are elements of the disposition of the overseer that are inwrought by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The common understanding of a 'happy' or 'serious' disposition is used to explain that 'disposition' refers to a dominant, prevailing aspect of one's nature.

up in those four categories of words that we studied last week, but the disposition. And what do I mean by the term disposition? Well, one of the formal definitions of disposition in our English dictionaries is the normal or the prevailing aspect of a man's nature, an essential quality of his nature. We speak of someone who has a happy disposition.

1:52 - 2:23 Read in full sermon

The point: If we do not see in ourselves and if the church does not see in us some reflection of the pattern of Christ himself as the chief shepherd, the good shepherd, the shepherd and bishop of our souls, then we have no grounds …

John Owen's 'True Nature of a Gospel Church' is quoted to support the idea that Christ is the great example and pattern for the qualifications and endowments of pastors.

then with respect to this task we should constantly keep before us the Lord Jesus as the perfect pattern of what he is. It is to be a God-honoring shepherd. And very interestingly in Owen's treatment in volume 16 on the true nature of a gospel church when he's addressing the subject of the task of pastors and I don't know if it is here that John Brown got his clue or they just were reading the same Bible and came to these convictions independently but on page 48 where he speaks of pastoral feeding being comprised of two fundamental activities teaching or instruction secondly, rule or disciplin...

7:20 - 8:05 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You will and you will direct and you will guide and you will govern from the disposition of a table waiter and of a bond slave

Martin briefly clarifies the distinction between the 'cup' of suffering at the hands of men (Matthew 20) and the 'cup' of suffering at the hands of the Father (Gethsemane), to address a potential listener question.

at the hands of men not the cup presented to him in the garden the suffering at the hands of his father so just a little aside I didn't have time to go into it this past Lord's Day but some of you it might be fresh in your mind and say wait a minute how's that fit well that's how it squares alright now in that setting the Lord then goes on to say after the ten hear this and they're upset because they didn't upstage the others Jesus called them unto him verse 25 and said you know he appeals to something that was common knowledge among them you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over t...

27:18 - 28:02 Read in full sermon

The point: If there is anything, anything that we need to pray that God will work in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is this disposition of assertive servitude.

Martin shares a personal story of patiently enduring verbal abuse from an immature young man, illustrating the concrete application of assertive servanthood and the need to 'put the towel on and wash his feet' to win his conscience.

on matters that do not involve compromise of truth but involve willingness to become a bond slave to others for the sake of Christ bowing to scruples that don't affect the truth of the gospel willingness to bend to yield to take the place of the towel about our waist doing the servant's task sitting as I had to sit this last week with an immature mixed up emotionally unstable young man young enough almost not just almost young enough to be just about my grandson to have him get in my face and be my instructor

50:04 - 50:48 Read in full sermon

The point: We need to cry to God that these dispositions, this disposition of meekness with its attendance of lowliness and gentleness be continually inwrought in us by the enablement of the spirit of God.

Moses, described as meek above all men, is used as an example of how even a great leader can fail in meekness, highlighting the constant need for God's grace in this area.

amongst God's people the flack that we will receive from those that we seek to minister to how essential are these qualities think of Moses meek above all men upon the face of the earth every time the people of God get into trouble they blame Moses blame him for everything and remember it was in this very area that Moses fell toward the end of his life and I never understood that until I got to be an old man or a much older man I said why why wouldn't you expect all of his graces to be their rightest in his old age but in the very area of meekness he failed ok you rebels

64:50 - 65:35 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It's a disposition that is determined that one's affection toward those for whom we have God given responsibility will not be regulated by the present way in which they relate to us that's the crux of the issue we mainta…

The natural human tendency to close one's heart and build protective walls against those who repeatedly cause pain is contrasted with Paul's 'enlarged heart' for the Corinthians, to explain vulnerable compassion.

but an echo and a revelation of the condition of our hearts our heart is enlarged now what do we normally do with people that hurt us again and again and again what's our natural tendency to close our hearts to them and say no way you're going to get in there and stab me again we want to put up a protective wall around the heart put some plate glass put some iron let our hearts be shriveled but no Paul under God was able to say to these Corinthians as much as you grieve me and pain me my heart is not only maintaining its present and previous measure of love to you it's enlarged it's been

72:58 - 73:43 Read in full sermon

The point: See that you feel a tender love to your people in your breasts let them perceive it in your speeches and see it in your conduct let them see that you spend and are spent for their sake and all that you do is for them and…

John Owen is quoted on the necessity of compassionate suffering with church members, arguing it makes pastors more like Christ and is essential for evangelical shepherding.

this task now I want to give you a couple of quotes from some of the masters of the past with which to close our lecture this morning when we think of the matter of vulnerable compassion listen to Owen's statement again volume 16 page 87 he's listing the things that ought to mark a true shepherd of God's people and number seven is this a compassionate suffering with all the members of the church in all their trials and troubles whether internal or external belongs unto them in the discharge of their office nor is there anything that renders them more like unto Jesus Christ whom to represent

88:31 - 89:15 Read in full sermon

The point: See that you feel a tender love to your people in your breasts let them perceive it in your speeches and see it in your conduct let them see that you spend and are spent for their sake and all that you do is for them and…

Richard Baxter's 'Reformed Pastor' is quoted extensively on the importance of tender, fatherly, and motherly love in ministry, emphasizing that people will hear and bear anything from a pastor they know truly loves them.

as he addresses the matter of this disposition of self giving love he writes on page 117 in the reform pastor the whole of our ministry must be carried on in tender love to our people we must let them see that nothing pleases us but what profits them and what does them good does us good and nothing troubles us more than their hurt we must feel to our people as a father toward his children yea the tenderest love of a mother must not surpass ours we must even travel in birth till Christ be formed in them they should see that we care for no outward thing neither wealth nor liberty

90:45 - 91:29 Read in full sermon