Spritual and Mental Gifts

The point: Do not be discouraged if all your gifts are not clearly discerned at this period in your preparation.

Martin shares that he consulted a fellow elder for help in sorting out his thinking on the topic, illustrating his own tentativeness and the value of peer counsel in theological preparation.

so the thinking that will be embodied in the lecture this morning is not my final word on the matter in desperation i even consulted with one of my fellow elders this morning seeking to have his help in sorting out my thinking to be a quality control or check or even to blast it as being irrelevant or off base and so i do want to make it plain that in addressing the matter in the way in which i'm addressing it this does not represent as in many other areas what i would regard to be not my final word on the subject but at least my more mature thinking having gone through the other areas of the ...

4:10 - 5:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be discouraged if all your gifts are not clearly discerned at this period in your preparation.

He uses the analogy of discerning the sun on a cloudless day to explain that not all gifts will be perfectly clear at the early stages of preparation, preventing discouragement among students.

work of the ministry. I am not asserting that all of these gifts will be as clearly discerned at this period in your preparation as one can discern the sun on a cloudless day at high noon,

6:26 - 6:46 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin presents the clear demand for requisite gifts from four key texts: 1 Timothy 3:2b ('apt to teach'), 1 Timothy 3:4-5 (ruling one's house well), Titus 1:9 (ability to exhort…

Martin uses the ludicrous image of a church receiving a pastor-teacher who can't teach or shepherd to highlight the absurdity of neglecting the gift of teaching.

The discretion of the people of God thinking biblically. That's why we will come eventually to the fourth element of a valid call, and that is the recognition of the people of God that we are a gift of Christ. And how can they receive as a gift of Christ a pastor-teacher who can't teach and who can't shepherd?

11:02 - 11:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second line of evidence for the necessity of gifts comes from the inferred demands of the pastoral office's revealed tasks, such as shepherding, feeding, guarding, and guiding…

He uses the analogy of a 400-pound bench press requirement for academy entrance to illustrate that certain physical or mental demands cannot be met without the requisite gifts, emphasizing the need for specific abilities in ministry.

Trinity Ministerial Academy was that you had to bench press 400 pounds, then none of us would be here. If the demand of the pastoral office is to fulfill the function of a shepherd to God's people, which means to feed them and to guard them, then the man who does not have a combination of gifts that enable him to penetrate the mind of God in Scripture, to lay it out with sufficient clarity so that others can perceive his insights into the word of God and he can carry their judgment, if he does not have the gifts of utterance and divine unction so that the listeners are conscious that he is not...

24:07 - 25:35 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Gifts make no man a minister, but all the world cannot make a minister of Christ without gifts.

Martin quotes John Owen's powerful statement, 'Gifts make no man a minister, but all the world cannot make a minister of Christ without gifts,' to underscore the indispensable role of divine enablement.

On page 432, Owen writes, Owen preached, The second thing he doth, based on the text, when he ascended up on high, he gave gifts unto men. The second thing he doth is, the giving of spiritual gifts unto men, whereby they may be enabled unto the discharge of the office of the ministry, as to the edification of the church in all the ends of it. And then this is in italics, so he must have either thundered or spoken very slowly or repeated these words. Gifts make no man a minister, but all the world cannot make a minister of Christ without gifts. And it's a beautiful turned phrase that catches th...

28:50 - 30:05 Read in full sermon

Driving home: There is no power in any church to choose anyone whom Christ hath not chosen before. That is, no church can make a man formally a minister that Christ hath not made so materially.

He quotes Owen: 'There is no power in any church to choose anyone whom Christ hath not chosen before,' emphasizing that Christ must first furnish a man with gifts before a church can legitimately call him.

And it is the very way the ministry ceases, it ceases in apostatizing churches. Christ no more giving out unto them of the gifts of his Spirit, and all their outward forms and order which they can continue are of no signification in his sight. He said an apostate church is one in which men go on getting the name reverend and filling pulpits with titles and names, but Christ endows no gifts to edify and to save, and virtually then nullifies the very essence of the ministry. He goes on to say on page 433, and I have written in the margin, classic statement, there is no power in any church to cho...

30:33 - 31:58 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces John Owen's compelling logic: Christ, who gives men to fill the pastoral office, must also furnish them with the necessary gifts. Owen argues that gifts are…

Martin uses the metaphor of 'sick and scattered and oft-times tick-infested' sheep to describe the sad spiritual state of churches where men without requisite gifts are in the pulpit, illustrating the consequences of neglecting gifts.

They make good Lord's Day reading and will warm your heart. But you see, Owen has grasped what I call the inescapable logic or the logical connection between office and the intention of Christ who gives men to fill it. If he gives men to the church as gifts to shepherd and to teach, to guard, to protect, to guide, to warn, to instruct, to seek the lost, then surely he would not give giftless men to accomplish what they are utterly unable to accomplish. He does not give men whom he has not first of all furnished to perform the functions of that office. And the thing is so simple. You say, how i...

35:43 - 37:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Direct the appreciation of your people towards God, ensuring it does not turn into idolatry.

He shares his personal warning to his congregation not to hold him in such esteem that it robs God of glory, lest God be 'forced' to allow something to happen to smash their idol, illustrating the danger of idolatry of a pastor.

But now you want to make sure that that appreciation does not turn into idolatry does not become the occasion where the Lord says Jehovah is my name I will not give my glory to another neither my praise to graven image. I've said on more than one occasion to my people please don't hold me in such an esteem that robs God of glory that will force God to allow something to happen to me that will smash your idol. Don't put God in the position I say it reverently where he'll have to withhold measures of grace and let me do something stupid or foul to get your affections weaned from me in a wrong wa...

48:08 - 49:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Direct the appreciation of your people towards God, ensuring it does not turn into idolatry.

Martin references the Corinthian church's factions ('I am of Paul, I am of Apollos') to illustrate how people can wrongly appreciate ministers, failing to see them as mere instruments of God.

for your ministry to them because you really do believe that if God could take the likes of you and make you an instrument to help them on their way to heaven it's all of God it's all of grace. Remember how Paul expressed it when those people at Corinth were lining up behind their spiritual heroes? He said you don't understand what ministers are for when one says I'm a Paul I'm of Apollos are you not men? You're thinking like men of the world.

49:37 - 50:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Cry to God for an increase of necessary gifts, recognizing Him as the ultimate source.

He uses the affectionate nickname 'heat-seeking missile mind' for Pastor Nichols, whom he consulted, to illustrate the value of seeking counsel from those with sharp theological discernment.

and rule ultimately comes from God Himself alright that's the ultimate source then I want to take up with you the mediate sources the mediate sources and what I think I'll do so Randy can get the seed thought tucked in his head and before he leaves us and then we'll take a break is what I want to do is I want to demonstrate that though God is the ultimate source the mediate source the way in which God imparts the necessary gifts fall into the realm of both creation and redemption they fall into the realm of common grace and into the realm of special grace and the point at which they overlap an...

53:27 - 54:54 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains that gifts are imparted through mediate sources rooted in God's creative and redemptive activity, encompassing common and special grace. Some gifts, like clarity…

Martin uses David's imagery from Psalm 139 of God as a weaver in the mother's womb to illustrate that some gifts, like clarity of speech or mental ability, are imparted primarily in conception.

or the realm of the operations of common grace and then the operations of special grace now in order to illustrate what I mean and to give some practical warnings let me make a series of statements and you can just put them down any way you want I have them listed one two three four the first one is this some gifts are imparted primarily in conception some gifts are imparted primarily in conception when we take seriously the truth of Psalm 139 in which David uses the imagery of his own conception and pre natal development as that of a weaver working upon a loom when we come to the conviction t...

57:51 - 59:20 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains that gifts are imparted through mediate sources rooted in God's creative and redemptive activity, encompassing common and special grace. Some gifts, like clarity…

He uses the metaphor of a 'subterranean cavern' from Psalm 139 to describe the hidden, sovereign work of God in forming individuals in the womb, including the impartation of foundational gifts.

the Lord himself is weaving us together according to his own sovereign purpose Psalm 139 13 for thou didst form my inward parts thy very power which I have seen in my life and my ego is not the full of me but a twerking one part of all things which I have made wonderful are thy works and the context is thy works in making me who i am and that my soul knows right well and then he likens his mother's womb to a subterranean cavern in which god was secretly doing his work my frame was not hidden from thee when i was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth and there ag...

59:20 - 60:49 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Other gifts are imparted germinally in regeneration (spiritual insight), gradually through ordinary acquisition (social demeanor, leadership charisma), or more immediately by the…

Martin shares a personal anecdote about his ability to maintain eye contact while being aware of his surroundings, attributing it to his upbringing as the second oldest of ten children, illustrating how common grace can impart useful traits for ministry.

For example, if I may use this to illustrate it at times, it amazes people that I'm looking them straight in the eye and right in the middle and say, excuse me a minute, there's something here I need to attend to. And I go, I didn't even know you were looking. I said I wasn't. But second oldest of ten children, I had pounded into me as part of my training.

67:02 - 67:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Be honest with men about their abilities and limitations, helping them to think soberly about their call to ministry.

He reuses the analogy of bench-pressing 400 pounds, even with steroids, to illustrate that some abilities are simply not given by God in creation, and no amount of cultivation will produce them, highlighting the limits of human effort.

And try as he may, he'll never be able to bench-press 400 pounds. Pump him full of enough steroids to kill him in a year. He's still not going to...

82:38 - 82:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Be honest with men about their abilities and limitations, helping them to think soberly about their call to ministry.

He uses the metaphor of beating one's head against a wall to illustrate the futility of ignoring the 'stubborn things' of God's sovereign working and the facts of how He imparts gifts.

You can beat your head against one of these walls. I tell you, it isn't going anywhere. You'll only have a bloody scalp to show for your efforts. And facts are facts.

84:15 - 84:24 Read in full sermon