Desire for the Office, Spiritual Character

The point: Examine your heart: when in your highest spiritual state, does your desire for ministry increase or decrease?

The faithful saying in 1 Timothy 3:1 is likened to a 'sanctified verbal cliche' in the early church, implying that desire for oversight was a common and expected precursor to assuming the office.

Desire ordinarily precedes and attends recognition for the work of the ministry. This faithful saying would never have come into being as one of those sanctified verbal cliches in the early church had not most of those who ended up in the office of oversight found themselves possessed of a desire that paved the way into that office and attended their assumption of the office. And so as we seek to flesh out this matter of the necessity and legitimacy of the desire, we learn from this text that in the apostolic period and under the guidance of apostolic thought, thought, and influence desire ord...

4:59 - 6:21 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Expounding 1 Timothy 3:1, Martin establishes that desire for overseership is necessary and legitimate. He argues this desire must be strong, prevailing, and focused on the work…

Exercising oversight 'not of constraint but willingly' (1 Peter 5:2) is compared to a volunteer soldier versus one drafted into the army, emphasizing the joyful, free nature of the desire.

One of the specific characteristics of exercising oversight will be missing. And, of course, I'm referring to 1 Peter 5. And verse 2, where Peter charges the elders to shepherd the flock of God among them, exercising the oversight. And then we have those three negative and positive, not of constraint but willingly according to the will of God, nor yet for filthy lucre but of a ready mind.

12:50 - 13:21 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I will have a longing for the very end for which the ministry was instituted. And I've used the term a longing to be used in self-denying service to edify the people of God because there is no Christ-like biblical path t…

The work of the ministry is described as a 'perpetual diaconal service,' highlighting its Christ-like, servant-hearted nature.

The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many.

19:33 - 19:44 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I question anyone's call to the ministry that does not have woven into the very fabric of that desire for the ministry, a longing to be used by the Holy Spirit in the calling out of God's elect.

An extended quote from Spurgeon's essay on the call to ministry, challenging ministers who preach without conversions and comparing them to 'barren trees,' underscores the necessity of evangelistic passion.

to present the gospel to those who need it, and in the language of 2 Corinthians 5, to beg men in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God. And one of the most deadening kinds of ministry is a ministry that grows out of the defective understanding of this whole matter of the place of evangelistic passion and concern in the heart of one called to shepherd the sheep of Christ. He is also a sent one called to be an instrument in the hands of God to see God's elect. Brought out of darkness and into marvelous light. I'm sure you were struck with this, at least I hope you were in reading Spurgeon's es...

28:17 - 29:35 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I question anyone's call to the ministry that does not have woven into the very fabric of that desire for the ministry, a longing to be used by the Holy Spirit in the calling out of God's elect.

A reference to Horatius Bonar's 'Words to Winners of Souls' is used to argue that if a heart is truly set on conversions, the absence of fruit will inevitably cause deep and constant pain, illustrating the intensity of a genuine evangelistic desire.

And here I commend to you, that excellent little treatise by Horatius Bonar on words to winners of souls. I don't know if anybody has it in print now. Well, that's one we're going to have to talk to David about, because I know of no book that more powerfully convinces the judgment that if the heart is set upon the salvation of souls, even though we do not see a converting work going on under our ministry, the main thesis of Bonar is, whatever the heart is set upon, it cannot relinquish without pain. And if the heart is set upon conversions, and there are no conversions, there will be pain and ...

30:54 - 32:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Take time on the Lord's Day to honestly ask God if your desire is focused on self-denying service to edify God's people, calling out the elect, and discharging a divine stewardship.

The pain of a terminated romantic relationship is used to illustrate the deep, lasting anguish a truly loving person experiences when the object of their love (souls) is ungained, reinforcing the intensity of evangelistic desire.

the relative lack of fruit among his own fellow Jews. You see it illustrated in any human relationship. Let a man really love and let the object of his love be ungained. And he doesn't say, oh, well, you'll win some and lose some and get over it in three days. Whenever I find a guy that supposedly was in love, I say, oh, well, you'll win some and lose some and get over it in three days. And he can get over the end of the relationship in three days or three weeks. I tell him, you've never loved. A man that's truly loved or a woman that's truly loved and has the relationship for one reason or an...

32:04 - 32:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Take time on the Lord's Day to honestly ask God if your desire is focused on self-denying service to edify God's people, calling out the elect, and discharging a divine stewardship.

Pastor Martin shares his personal experience of disliking travel and preaching outside his local church, but doing so out of a sense of 'stewardship,' illustrating how the longing to discharge a God-given stewardship drives ministry even when personal delight is absent.

of the ministry which at times will be done with delight. Other times will be done with everything in your own psyche, dragging its feet. And the one thing that will drive you to do it is I have a stewardship. I often have people ask me, you enjoy traveling? I say, no. Don't you enjoy preaching to groups of preachers? I said, no. I said, if I could be my own man and make my own choices, apart from taking a holiday once in a while, I'd never leave the precincts of the ministries directly connected with Trinity Baptist Church. I believe, as best I know my heart, I could be perfectly content to d...

34:46 - 35:31 Read in full sermon

The point: If counseling someone about ministry, ask about their church situation and, if necessary, counsel them to get into a viable, healthy, biblically functioning church.

Christian biography is contrasted with the reality of ministry, noting that biographies often focus on 'mighty, noble, and great ones' and can create a distorted, romanticized view, rather than showing the struggles of 'the rest of us nobody.'

And this is why some of you sitting here, when you first made known your desires for the work of the ministry, the counsel you received, and it was wise counsel, was first of all get yourself into a viable, biblically functioning church. Not only that you might have your life and your gifts assessed, but that you might have a realistic perspective of what this noble task is all about. Not a romantic one drawn from Christian biography. Because in its very nature, Christian biography generally records the ministries of those few mighty, noble, and great ones whom God calls and sets apart. One or...

39:26 - 40:40 Read in full sermon

The point: If counseling someone about ministry, ask about their church situation and, if necessary, counsel them to get into a viable, healthy, biblically functioning church.

The need to see 'real worn-out elders with circles under their eyes' and their occasional exhaustion is presented as a counterpoint to the idealized portrayals in Christian biography, emphasizing the importance of a realistic view of ministry.

And furthermore, it would simply generally not be unto edification to give a fully realistic view and fill up pages with such things as what happens when a great man of God who preaches to thousands and you'd think people were converted every time he preached, does no good to fill up pages with weeks when his own soul was barren, his ministry was barren, when perhaps he was unusually sick and all he did was spend his time in bed and running to the john with dysentery and the rest. That'll all be passed over in a paragraph.

41:06 - 41:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Guide your people not to 'shoot off at the mouth' about their desire for ministry, but to make it known to God, then to overseers, ensuring all things are done decently and in order.

Martin recounts a recent experience of a church member pouring out his heart about a growing desire for overseership, illustrating the proper channel of making such desires known to overseers after a period of personal testing and prayer.

Wise and godly men and women. Bear our hearts. Tell them what's going on. I had the joy just a few weeks ago. One of the men in the church came and for about an hour and a half just poured out his heart and told me how God, he believes, has been dealing with him, and I just let him talk and I listened. And he said, now that I've told you, I said, I leave it there. He said, the ball is in your court, and if it doesn't get knocked back for a month, two months, I'll leave it there. And he said, if it doesn't get knocked back for a month, two months, two years, or a decade, I'm content to leave it...

48:22 - 49:47 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Yet we may note in the case of the congregation, faults may be born with which cannot be tolerated in ministers, for they are to be examples of the flock. A man who aspires to the ministry must be of proven character, en…

The Greek word 'epimelēsetai' (take care of) used for ruling one's house is compared to the innkeeper taking care of the battered traveler, highlighting the comprehensive and competent care required in domestic piety as a prerequisite for church leadership.

having his children in subjection with all gravity or with proper respect, but if a man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he epimonize? Same word used of the man in the inn, take care of him. When the poor, battered, mugged traveler was deposited at the inn, the innkeeper was told by the compassionate Samaritan, take care of him, see what his needs are, take appropriate measures to meet them. How shall a man take care of the church of God if he is incompetent?

59:23 - 60:07 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He says, if you're opting out of the ministry by saying, I'm not holy enough. He says, you may not be holy enough, but if you're not, he says, you may not be holy enough to be saved.

The anecdote of someone claiming to 'love humanity' but being unable to 'get along with people' illustrates the hypocrisy of a minister who loves truth but lacks love for individuals, emphasizing the need for a 'sanctified people person'.

I love humanity. The problem is, I just can't get along with people.

61:21 - 61:25 Read in full sermon

Driving home: How much indifference is spawned in the pew by shoddiness in the lives of those who are in the pulpit.

A minister's ability to 'dive into people's consciences' and 'take the lion of a stubborn conscience and tear it to pieces' is likened to Samson's strength, which is cut off by a lack of personal holiness, illustrating how shoddy piety undermines ministerial power.

Not only does it create an incipient cynicism among the people, it takes the edge off a man's ability to dive into people's consciences. It takes away the ability, it cuts the locks of any Samson-like ability to take the lion of a stubborn conscience and tear it to pieces. People know. People know, for the most part, people know whether or not you are living out the standard you are setting for them.

67:54 - 68:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate faithfulness to one another in this context, gently taking one another aside in a Galatians 6:1 manner if conversations drift or patterns of unedifying behavior emerge.

Martin shares an anecdote from an elders' meeting where one elder confessed a carnal remark made in the car, and another instructor sought feedback on a remark, illustrating the practical outworking of mutual faithfulness and accountability within a healthy eldership.

May God help us to be faithful to one another in these things. It's one of the things for which I bless God that is operative in our own eldership in this place. Just last night, and I don't even know what the issue was, but apparently two of the brethren who traveled to the elders' meeting, we no sooner finished our time of prayer than one of them said, excuse me, Mr. Chairman, and spoke to the other brethren and said, brother, and made reference to something the rest of us didn't even know what he was talking about, but apparently something was said in the car on the way to an elders' meetin...

70:53 - 71:26 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Far better to have ten men biblically qualified than the thousand who are not qualified.

An extended quote from Bridges on 'The Christian Ministry' emphasizes the deep experimental and devotional character, self-denial, and love for Christ and souls required for ministry, underscoring the necessity of eminence in godliness.

We're writing on this matter of the spiritual character required for the office of a pastor. On page 27, it is evident, however, that this ministerial standard presupposes a deep tone of experimental and devotional character habitually exercised in self-denial, prominently marked by love to the Savior and to the souls of sinners, and practically exhibited in a blameless, inconspicuous manner in the midst of the world. The apostle justly pronounces a novice to be disqualified for this holy work. The bare existence of true religion provides but slender materials for this important function. A ba...

72:57 - 74:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Continually nurture and cherish a sanctified desire for ministry and pursue personal, mature godliness, likeness to Christ, and all means essential to their development.

Jesus' statement about building sepulchers for dead prophets while killing living ones is used to illustrate the tendency to honor past reformers while rejecting their challenging messages in the present, particularly regarding the standard for young ministers.

And it's very, very interesting. We build tombs to tombstones to these men, but let someone begin to say what they were saying in their day and our day and then they end up getting put in their graves, just like Jesus said. You build sepulchers to the dead prophets, but you kill the living ones. Well, we're in good company when we take this posture that generally, speaking, the standard of 1 Timothy 3 is not seen or validated in a 22-year-old kid, generally speaking.

76:08 - 76:40 Read in full sermon