Gifts of Utterance, Part 1

The point: Put the section from Owen (volume 4, pages 510-512) in your notes regarding a heightened level of spiritual experience.

Martin recommends Spurgeon's chapter on the Holy Spirit's work in ministry, noting that different editions make page numbers unhelpful, so he gives the chapter name.

The following lecture is part of the Pastoral Theology course given at the Trinity Ministerial Academy in Montville, New Jersey. Now we take up once again, brethren, the crucial issue of what constitutes a biblical call to the pastoral office. And as you further your reading in this area, I would like you to take chapter 14 of Spurgeon's lectures to my students, a chapter on the work of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the ministry. And I give you the chapter and the name of it because there are different editions of Spurgeon's lectures floating around and page numbers often are more confus...

0:02 - 0:46 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But the cursory perusal of a few books is thought sufficient to make any man wise enough to be a minister. And not a few undertake ordinarily to be teachers of others who would scarcely be admitted as tolerable disciples…

Martin recalls a quote from Owen about some ministers being less qualified than ordinary church members, which he had previously struggled to locate, and now provides the exact reference and text.

Three, a mind furnished with a basic understanding and love for the meaning, interrelatedness, and self-consistency of the scriptures. Four, a mind furnished with the basic tools and spiritual dexterity to discover and make plain to others the meaning, and valid application of scripture. And then five, a mind disposed and furnished with sound practical judgment. Now I confess to you when I gave you the quote that some are admitted to the ministry who would hardly be admitted into a well-ordered gospel church that I couldn't find that quote from Owen.

4:08 - 4:51 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But the cursory perusal of a few books is thought sufficient to make any man wise enough to be a minister. And not a few undertake ordinarily to be teachers of others who would scarcely be admitted as tolerable disciples…

Martin quotes John Owen (volume 4, page 509) on the first gift needed for a pastor: wisdom, knowledge, and understanding in gospel mysteries, emphasizing it's 'no small thing' and not achieved by 'cursory perusal of a few books'.

Well, alas, in my digging around this week I found it. And this is perhaps the best conclusion to our review. I quote from Owen, from volume four of Owen, page 509. Under the general heading of the gifts of the spirit necessary unto doctrine, worship, rule, how attained and improved, Owen says on page 509, the first, that is, the first gift needed for a pastor is wisdom or knowledge or understanding in the mysteries of the gospel, the revelation of the mystery of God in Christ with his mind and will towards us therein.

4:51 - 5:35 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But the cursory perusal of a few books is thought sufficient to make any man wise enough to be a minister. And not a few undertake ordinarily to be teachers of others who would scarcely be admitted as tolerable disciples…

Martin quotes Owen's observation that 'not a few undertake ordinarily to be teachers of others who would scarcely be admitted as tolerable disciples in a well-ordered church,' which he had been searching for.

And then after going on to indicate that this is no small thing, this is what he says. But the cursory perusal of a few books is thought sufficient to make any man wise enough to be a minister. And not a few undertake ordinarily to be teachers of others who would scarcely be admitted as tolerable disciples in a well-ordered church. That's the quote I was fishing for.

5:35 - 6:02 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But the cursory perusal of a few books is thought sufficient to make any man wise enough to be a minister. And not a few undertake ordinarily to be teachers of others who would scarcely be admitted as tolerable disciples…

Martin quotes Owen's detailed description of the necessary wisdom, knowledge, and understanding for ministry, which involves a deep comprehension of Scripture's scope, doctrinal truths, and God's mystery in Christ, enabling effective disclosure of God's counsel.

But there belongs more unto this wisdom, knowledge, and understanding than most men are aware of. Were the nature of it duly considered, and with all the necessity of it, unto the work of the gospel, probably some would not so rush on that work as they do, which they have no provision of ability for the performance of. It is in brief such a comprehension of the scope and end of Scripture, of the revelation of God therein, such an acquaintance with the systems of particular doctrinal truths in their rise, tendency, and use,

6:02 - 6:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Rest your case upon these three texts (1 Tim 3:2, Titus 1:9, 2 Tim 2:2) alone for the necessity of gifts of sanctified utterance in a bona fide call to the pastoral office.

Martin considers the hypothetical case of a mute student in the academy with gifts of writing, acknowledging it as a specialized application of principles, but emphasizing that the ordinary framework requires the ability to teach.

Now, while it may be a proper application of other biblical principles to commit this specialized training to a mute who has no facility of utterance, but is evidenced unusual spiritual and theological perception coupled with a gift of writing, and there may be a time when we may have a mute in the academy, and his presence would be, as it were, a specialized application of our general principles. And while that may be perfectly proper, the ordinary framework of this task of giving to any man whose character is described as trustworthy,

19:25 - 20:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Rest your case upon these three texts (1 Tim 3:2, Titus 1:9, 2 Tim 2:2) alone for the necessity of gifts of sanctified utterance in a bona fide call to the pastoral office.

Martin uses the analogy of someone with a gift for giving trying to exhort, calling it 'ludicrous' to highlight the incongruity of someone claiming a gift of teaching who cannot actually teach.

with his own self-assessment coming under the quality control of the assessment of the church, utterly incongruous that sober self-assessment that a man's gift is a gift of giving should give himself to exhorting. It's ludicrous. The whole assumption is that the only one who manifests an unusual facility of utterance in a manner that conveys a body of truth to others in a way that instructs them should give himself to teaching. One can only assume he has a gift to teach if he's able to teach and to exhort

22:21 - 23:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Exercise your gifts according to what you have actually received, not your imagination or desire.

Martin illustrates the point of an unqualified teacher by imagining a scenario where only the individual believes they can teach, while everyone else who hears them is convinced they cannot.

if he has the ability to exhort. The assumption is that you don't have someone intransigent in his conviction of sober self-assessment that he has a gift to teach who can't teach. And the only one who's convinced he can teach is himself. Everyone else every time they hear him is convinced whatever he can do he sure can't do that.

23:06 - 23:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Exercise your gifts according to what you have actually received, not your imagination or desire.

Martin references Donald McLeod's book on the promised Spirit to support the idea that every church is charismatic in a truly biblical sense, where each member receives and ministers a gift.

According as each hath received a gift and here the whole concept of the church being as Donald McLeod so aptly demonstrates in his book on the promise of the spirit or the promised spirit where he shows that every church is charismatic in a truly biblical sense according as each hath received a gift a charism ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Now notice it's according as we receive that we minister. And then he gives several examples. If a man speaks the assumption being he's received a gift of utterance

23:50 - 24:34 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He transitions to the implicit testimony of Scripture, first examining the apostolic model of pastoral labor. Paul's ministry in Acts 20, Colossians 1, and 1 Thessalonians 2 is…

Martin mentions that Pastor Nichols had expounded Colossians chapter 1 about two years prior, making the passage familiar to many in the audience.

of utterance a form of verbal declaration of the word of the living God and Paul marshals these words into the description of what lay at the very heart and substance of his ministry there at Ephesus. Colossians chapter 1 is another pivotal text showing the apostolic model of pastoral labor in conjunction with sanctified utterance. Colossians chapter 1 in a passage that was made familiar to many of us I think about two years ago when Pastor Nichols expounded it

29:03 - 29:47 Read in full sermon

The point: If men cannot preach, they are not Christ's gifts to his church to serve as elders laboring in the word and in doctrine.

Martin recounts hearing a man at a preaching conference assert that 'the curse of many churches is that their pulpits are filled with nice guys who can't preach,' reinforcing his argument about the necessity of utterance gifts.

9, 14, even so the Lord has ordained that those that proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel. Well, brethren, I don't want to wear you with texts, but I want to give you enough so that there will be no doubt in your own mind that the testimony of scripture is both manifold and conclusive on this point. And the tragedy is that as I heard a man say in my presence at a preaching conference in a certain place, I said, I don't want to wear you with texts, but I want to give you the gospel. And I said, I don't want to wear you with texts, but I want to give you the gospel.

45:16 - 45:47 Read in full sermon