The Disposition of Biblical Oversight, Part 2

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces tender compassion as the third essential disposition for oversight, illustrating it through Jesus' responses to the distressed multitudes, the leper, and the…

The imagery of distressed and scattered sheep without a shepherd is used to convey the condition of the multitudes and the tender yearning of Jesus' compassion.

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them. And notice the imagery, because, as we saw Sunday night, this was their true condition. They were distressed and scattered. They were in a tumult, confusion, the word used of the distress of nations in conjunction with the destruction of Jerusalem.

1:36 - 2:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that true compassion is a costly response of the whole inner being, involving pain and remorse.

The Greek word for compassion, pointing to the viscera, is used to illustrate the deep, inner stirring Jesus felt in the face of human need, contrasting it with a detached desire for self-vindication.

And you know, if you've done any study of that Greek word, that it points to the whole matter of the bowels, the viscera, the inners, being moved and stirred in the face of human need. So our Lord did not heal this man, reasoning within himself, I am Messiah, I must produce my credentials, I have been anointed with the Spirit, here is one who will be a marvelous testimony and attestation of my power, moved with a desire to vindicate his identity. No, moved with compassion.

3:10 - 3:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that true compassion is a costly response of the whole inner being, involving pain and remorse.

The instinctive reflex to pull back from danger (oncoming car, hot stove) is used to illustrate the reflexive desire to draw back from the pain and cost of true compassion.

Remember, in another instant, Jesus felt that virtue had gone out from him, and the woman touched the hem of his garment. And with our sense, the legitimate sense of self-preservation that keeps us from getting out, that tries to take us out here in the metropolitan area, that makes us instinctively and reflexively jump back from the oncoming car to pull our hand away from the stove we inadvertently touched and had forgotten. So when we begin to look at people and situations that start the first motions of this stirring of the bowels,

5:45 - 6:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid being like a computer in ministry, delivering accurate analysis without genuine, tender compassion and felt pastoral concern.

The unfeeling accuracy of a computer diagnosing terminal cancer is contrasted with the need for genuine, tender compassion in pastoral ministry, arguing that a clinical approach is ineffective.

You are in our hearts and nothing will extricate you from that place in the center. The multitudes of our affection and brethren as we're called upon to deal with battered, bruised men and women, twisted, warped, stunted emotionally, psychologically, spiritually. There is no place for an unfeeling, clinical, cold, stele-like objectivity. Where we simply, as it were, push the computer buttons of the mind

11:26 - 12:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Be aware of the temptation to become calloused in self-defense over the long haul of ministry, and resist building callouses on the soul.

The physical mechanism of skin building callouses in self-defense against blisters is used as a metaphor for ministers being tempted to build callouses on their souls to avoid the pain of ministry.

but as one who saw to live and labor in one place for 26 years. You will be tempted with the passing of the years to become calloused in self-defense. A callous is the self-defense mechanism of your skin. You keep rubbing on the area and it has a self-defense mechanism.

13:15 - 13:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Be aware of the temptation to become calloused in self-defense over the long haul of ministry, and resist building callouses on the soul.

A lengthy quote from John Owen emphasizes that compassionate suffering with church members is a special duty of pastors, making them like Christ and essential for their office.

Listen to Owen, Volume 16, page 87.

13:57 - 14:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces self-giving love as the fourth disposition, exemplified by Jesus, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life, and by Paul, who imparted his very soul to the…

The contrast between the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep and the hireling who flees from the wolf illustrates the essence of self-giving love versus self-preservation.

In contrast with the hireling, he's willing to carry a crook and have all the marks of a shepherd till there's a wolf that might turn on him. And he's gone. He splits. The hireling whose own the sheep are not, he flees.

17:04 - 17:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Be willing to wear people down by love, even when experiencing unrequited love in ministerial duty, trusting in the power of incessant, principled pastoral love.

The Marxist belief that time is on their side to conquer is inverted to illustrate how persistent, self-giving love can wear down and erode the barriers of closed-off individuals, like water smoothing a rock.

They believe time is on their side and they'll wear you down till they conquer. It's a wonderful, wonderful challenge to see people come in closed, get the sense that no one's ever invaded their inner life and they're determined no one ever will. And you just love them down. Just keep on loving them.

21:28 - 21:48 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The fifth disposition, principled zeal for God's honor and glory, is introduced and illustrated by Jesus' first cleansing of the temple, where his vigorous actions were driven by…

A detailed quote from Hendrickson's commentary graphically describes the stench, filth, exploitation, and abuse Jesus found in the temple, providing context for his zealous actions.

and to them that sold the doves he said take these things hence make not my father's house a house of merchandise his disciples remembered that it was written zeal for your house shall eat me. Now in his commentary on the Gospel of John Hendrickson gives a very graphic picture of what our Lord found when he came to his father's house on the occasion of that first cleansing of the temple. On page 122 of his commentary on John

34:20 - 35:03 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The fifth disposition, principled zeal for God's honor and glory, is introduced and illustrated by Jesus' first cleansing of the temple, where his vigorous actions were driven by…

This historical reference is footnoted by Hendrickson to support the exorbitant prices charged by money changers, adding credibility to the description of temple abuses.

And there he footnotes Alfred Eddersheim's The Light and Times of Jesus the Messiah page 370. And then there were the money changers sitting cross-legged behind their little coin-covered tables. They gave the worshipper lawful Jewish coin in exchange for foreign currency. It must be borne in mind that only Jewish coins were allowed to be offered in the temple and every worshipper women, slaves and minors accepted had to pay the annual temple tribute of half a shekel.

36:17 - 36:53 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin further illustrates Christ's principled zeal through his prayer in John 12:27-28, where his desire for God's name to be glorified overcame his holy aversion to the cross…

Professor Murray is cited to underscore that Jesus' aversion to divine wrath was a 'holy aversion,' not cowardly or sinful, demonstrating the profound nature of his sacrifice.

and the death of the cross and I use my words carefully he finds a holy aversion in his holy soul to those events now is my soul troubled and what shall I say and here's the aversion Father save me from this hour there is a part of my holy soul which has a holy wish that I should not be inundated by my father's wrath and that was not a cowardly nor a sinful aversion it was a holy aversion I believe it's Professor Murray

42:57 - 43:42 Read in full sermon

The point: Conquer the sin of being ruled by feelings; otherwise, do not allow yourself to be installed as an elder, as it will lead to a neglected flock.

The field of the sluggard, with its broken walls and weeds, is used as a metaphor for a church whose leaders are slaves to their feelings, only doing duty when they 'feel like it'.

what you felt like walk over the belly of your disinformation spit on it and tromp on it and do your duty without one twinge of felt delight in the course of it now I don't mean to be unkind brethren but I do mean to be forceful in saying what I've said if you don't conquer that prevailing sin of this generation in the name of God don't ever let anyone install you as an elder in the name of God in a flock of Christ because that flock will then have all the marks of the field of the sluggard because you see

74:12 - 74:56 Read in full sermon