In a Call to the Ministry

Introduction: Sermon Series and Personal Update

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, May 12, 1991, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Before we pray and turn to the ministry of the Word of God, I want to express my thanks to you as a congregation for your prayers for me in conjunction with my knee surgery on Tuesday. Everything went well as far as we know, and I will be returning for my first post-op visit tomorrow morning at 9.30.

0:36 But I am not to be on the leg any longer than is absolutely necessary, so I will not be at my normal post at the rear. Bending down and picking the kids would probably land me back in the surgical operating room, and so I will be leaving to get off my leg right after the surgery. Service, or any who are visiting among us, we want you to know that is not my normal practice. I'm usually one of the last ones to leave this building morning and evening, and it is my delight to greet visitors and mingle with you, the Lord's people, but it's not the part of wisdom to do so today.

1:16 Now let us pray and ask God's help in the ministry of the Word of God. Our Father, again, we do thank you for the truth that a life of faith and of faith is not a matter of words. It is a matter of words. A life of self-renouncing love is one of liberty.

1:35 We confess with shame that many of us thought for years that liberty was to be found in a life of self-indulgent, willful rebellion against you. But we thank you that you opened our blinded eyes and showed us that that was the very essence of tyranny and slavery and could lead only to death. We thank you that you've set us free free to love. You've set us free to deny ourselves.

2:07 And we would now consciously deny all of our own native thoughts concerning the great issues that will be brought before us today and pray that in everything, every thought will be brought captive to the obedience of Christ. Send your spirit upon preacher and hearer alike that together we may know your presence and may know your love. O fresh light coming from your word through Jesus Christ our Lord we beseech you to give us such mercies. Amen.

The Church's Unique Place in God's Purposes: Ministerial Recognition and Training

2:45 Love's the dark, the misty, and the nebulous.

3:12 On the other hand, truth is most at home in the light. In the clear and unclouded atmosphere of transparent honesty. The noonday sun. The sunlight of clear, unambiguous statement is always that with which truth has a powerful affinity.

3:42 And as those who love the truth of God's word we are seeking in this present series of messages to bring into sharp focus and to put under intense, direct light the light of unambiguous truth. The light of unambiguous truth. The light of unambiguous truth. The light of unambiguous truth.

4:01 The light of unambiguous truth. Those things which lie at the heart of who we are as a church and what we are committed to be and to do by the grace of God. This present series of sermons is entitled A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church. And we are presently considering the fourth major affirmation in that manifesto.

4:29 If you desire, I don't know what the others were, I'm not going to review them, they're available from the tape library, that we are presently focusing upon the fourth major affirmation of this manifesto, and it is this, we as a church are determined that our life and ministry will unquestionably confirm the unique place assigned to the church in the saving purposes. In opening up this affirmation, I first of all set before you a working definition of

5:12 the word church, and then I gave a demonstration of the unique place assigned to the church in the saving purposes of God. We are now in the third place, examining what I'm calling the plain manifestations of this determination that our life and ministry will confirm the unique place assigned to the church in God's purposes. The first plain manifestation is found in our theology and practice of the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life,

5:57 and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, and from the scriptures we saw that that theology was found in the Christian life, to be severed. The theology and practice of the Christian life that is not Christ-centered is not biblical. A theology and practice of the Christian life that is not church-based is not biblical. The theology and practice of the Christian life in the New Testament is at one and the same time Christ-centered and church-based. And though we fall far short

6:38 of the biblical ideal, it is that unequivocal framework by which we seriously attempt to shape and mold our life together. The second plain manifestation of our commitment to this concept, to this principle, is that we are not church-based. We are not church-based. This principle is found in our theology and practice of evangelism and missions. And

7:06 once again, we turn to the scriptures and saw that in the New Testament, the theology and practice of evangelism and missions was again Christ-centered and church-based. And then I tried to give you the manifestations. Again, poorly attained, we have not yet come to the biblical standard, but that we are nonetheless honestly seeking to press towards it, that in our life together, we seek to have a pattern and practice of evangelism

7:44 and missions that is Christ-centered and church-based. Today, we take up the third plain manifestation of our determination that our life and ministry will confirm the unique place of our life and ministry. We are not church-based. We are not church-based. We are

8:01 not church-based. We are not church-based. We are not church-based. We are not church-based.

8:01 We are not church-based. We are not church-based. We are not church-based. We are not church-based.

8:01 assigned to the church and the saving purposes of God. And what is it? Well, let me state it simply at the outset, and then we'll begin to unpack it. It is our effort to function with a Christ-authorized, church-based theology and practice of ministerial recognition, specialized training, and formal prayer.

8:31 Ordination. Function with a Christ-authorized, church-based theology and practice of ministerial recognition, specialized training, and formal ordination is indeed a plain manifestation of our conviction of the unique place given to the church in the purpose of God.

The Crucial Importance of Godly Leadership

9:04 Now as we take up this vital issue, let me remind you by way of introduction that according to the scriptures, and it is vividly enforced in the history of the church, it is a fact that few things are more crucial to the well-being of God's people than the quality of its spiritual leaders. When the spiritual leaders are marked by vital godliness, spiritual wisdom, competence of gift, and moral courage, it will usually result in a period of blessing for the people of God.

9:47 When spiritual leaders are ungodly in character, ignorant of spiritual realities, incompetent in gift, and cowardly in terms of their own spirits, tragedy almost always, tragedy almost always comes to those who are cursed by their leadership. These principles are stamped on the very face of large sections of Holy Scripture. Take the book of Judges.

10:23 One can plot the history of the nation of Israel under the period of the Judges by the good and the evil Judges. And when God would bless His people, He would raise up a man. Of course, He would raise up a man. He would raise up a man of spiritual stature, of wisdom, of gift, and of courage.

10:44 And when God would curse a people, He would leave them at the mercy of ungodly, unwise, incompetent, and cowardly men. Read through the books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and the same thing is true with reference to the kings of Israel. Read through the prophets, and you see, the constant conflict between false prophets who were to be found by the handfuls, while true prophets were the minority.

11:23 And whole chapters are given over to divine condemnation upon these false shepherds, whether they are shepherds in the prophetic or in the kingly sense. Ezekiel 34, Jeremiah 23. These chapters, demonstrate the principle that I've articulated, that leadership among the people of God is crucial to the well-being of those people. And perhaps nothing highlights the principle more vividly in a negative way

12:00 than the condemnation of our Lord upon the recognized spiritual leaders in Israel at the time of our Lord. Matthew 23, The scathing indictment upon the leadership both produced by, received, and tolerated by the nation of Israel at that time is perhaps the worst commentary on the spiritual state of the nation itself.

12:31 Therefore, it should not surprise us that in predicting the better and more glorious blessings of God under the new covenant, one such promised blessing should be that spoken of by Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah 3 and verse 15. Here God promises that under the better days of that better covenant, this is what God will do. Jeremiah 3, 15. And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed,

13:13 who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And then the prophet goes on to describe under old covenant imagery the blessings that will flow to the new covenant community under the spiritual guidance of shepherds according to God's heart, who feed God's people with knowledge and with understanding. And according to Ephesians chapter 4, verses 10 and following, it is none other than the Lord Jesus himself who fulfills this promise under the new covenant.

Three Burning Questions Regarding Ministerial Recognition and Training

13:56 The ascended Christ gives gifts unto men, and among those gifts are the standing office and usefulness of pastors and teachers, given for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of service. But if Jeremiah 3, 15 is true, and Ephesians 4, 11 is being fulfilled, we cannot escape, if we're thinking at all, three burning questions. Question number one.

14:36 It is to recognize those whom Christ is making into shepherds after his own heart, and to recognize those whom he has made into shepherds after his own heart, who shall feed his flock with knowledge and with understanding. Who is authorized to recognize those whom Christ is preparing to give as a gift to his church? Second question. Who is authorized to impart the general instruction, or any concentrated specialized training which such men may need, if they are to be given to them?

15:17 Who is authorized to impart the general instruction, or any concentrated specialized training which such men may need, if they are to feed the flock with knowledge and understanding? That's a different question. Who is authorized to recognize those shepherds when the Lord is forming them into his gift? Who is authorized to impart general instruction, and where necessary, concentrated specialized instruction, if they are to be Christ's gifts who feed with knowledge and with understanding?

15:49 And question number three. Who is authorized formally and officially to confer the office and authority upon those whom Christ has prepared and is now actually giving to specific churches as pastors and teachers? Who is authorized to recognize them and to say, no longer we have reason to believe that you may be becoming, a gift of Christ, but to say we have reason to believe you are a gift given by Christ to the church?

16:30 The answer to each of these questions is that the church, functioning according to the word of God, is both responsible and competent in the strength and wisdom of the Spirit to bear the full burden, of recognition, and the ordination of the true shepherds of God's people.

17:02 That is our understanding of the word of God. That is the commitment of our heart. That is a strand of the plain manifestation of our conviction of the uniqueness of the church in the saving purpose of God. It has to do not only with our theology and practice, of the Christian life, which is Christ-centered and church-based, our theology and practice of evangelism and missions, which is Christ-centered and church-based, but our theology and practice of ministerial recognition, preparation and ordination,

17:42 which is Christ-authorized and church-based, period.

Agent 1: The Man Himself (Sober Self-Assessment)

17:57 This is so. And we're going to look then, first of all, at that which will, I'll answer the first question. The agents involved in the preliminary recognition of a man as a potential gift of Christ to his church, as a shepherd after God's own heart. What agents are involved in the preliminary recognition of a man as a potential gift of Christ to his church as a shepherd after God's own heart?

18:34 While the Lord fulfills his promise to give shepherds after his own heart, he does not mark them out and send them to us all wrapped up like a birthday gift with a tag on them. Here is a shepherd who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. Nor does he send an angel down from heaven with a white-hot branding iron with the letters G.O.C.

19:11 and sear the forehead of those whom he has marked out. Gift of Christ. So we go around looking at foreheads and say, Oh, there's one, there's one, there's one. He doesn't do it that way.

19:30 In recognizing those men who are potential gifts of Christ to his church.

19:41 Now, while fully... Fully acknowledging that in the case of each man called of God, given by Christ to the church, there will be factors that are unique, personal, and non-repeatable, yet there are certain things clearly authorized by Christ, the head of the church, which lead to the preliminary and tentative judgment that he may indeed be a gift of Christ.

20:11 And those agents are? The man himself, the mature people of God as a body of wise counsel, and thirdly, what I have called the formal encouragement of the church through its appointed leadership. Now, those are the agents, according to the scriptures, that are involved in the preliminary recognition of one whom Christ is making into an able minister of the new covenant. First of all, there is the man himself.

20:43 Please turn to Romans chapter 12. There is the man himself.

20:50 Now, remember, this book that we call Romans was written to a church, and therefore the assumption is everyone who heard it read was a church member, and whatever he was called upon to do, he was called upon to do in the context and life of the church. And after giving a general call to general sanctification that applies to all of God's people, regardless of their spiritual, specific calling in life or position in the church, he then says in verse 3 of Romans 12, For I say, through the grace that was given me to every man that is among you,

21:32 not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but so to think as to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith. For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not, so we who are many are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another, and having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us. In this particular section of the epistle, the apostle, by the inspiration of the Spirit, calls upon every individual within the collective body

22:16 to undergo the work of the Holy Spirit, to undergo the work of the Holy Spirit, to undergo the work of the Holy Spirit, to undergo a process of sober self-assessment. And that sober self-assessment in the context has peculiar reference to the assessment of divine giftedness. For we read on about the gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, and then some of those gifts are listed. So that the process of sober self-assessment of divine giftedness is the first agent in ascertaining whether or not the head of the church is making a man into a shepherd after his own heart

22:59 who will feed his people with knowledge and understanding is the sanctified man himself. The man of whom it can be assumed Romans 12, 1 and 2 is the passion of his heart. Romans 12, 1 and 2 are this call Romans 12, 1 and 2 are this call in response to God's mercy utterly to abandon ourselves to the Lord himself with a heart commitment not to our own power but to do acceptable and perfect will.

23:47 Verses 3 and following assume a man can sing hymn number 444. Little place, if thou be gore. The sins about the ministry have been buried.

24:23 Dupedite. Ideas that love for Christ and a sweet disposition will make a man a minister. All that's been dealt with. Romans 12, 1 and 2 and now a man with a disposition that's prepared to prove in his experience the good and acceptable and perfect will of God whatever it is seeks to undergo in the solemn presence of God an honest self-evaluation.

24:56 Professor Murray's comments on this passage are most perceptive. Why does the apostle say to think soberly? Be in touch with reality. He says one of the ways in which the design contemplated by the apostle is frustrated is by the sin of pride.

25:18 And how I've meditated on this next sentence. Pride consists in coveting or exercising a prerogative that does not belong to us.

25:31 What is pride? Pride consists in coveting or exercising a prerogative that does not belong to us. The devil became the devil when he became proud. Send unto the hill of the Most High in glory that doesn't belong to me.

25:59 What is not given to me is a creature that entered into the sin of our first parents. Ye shall be as gods knowing you'll have something that doesn't belong to you. an experimental knowledge of good and evil. You'll have something.

26:18 And so it was pride that led to the fall of our first parents. The negative is here again to be noted and the liability to indulgence is marked by the necessity of directing the exhortation to all. I say to everyone that is among you no one is immune to exaggerated self-esteem. And then Murray quotes a commentator he therefore who covets a higher or another status standpoint in sphere of activity in the community and is not contented with that which corresponds to the measure of faith bestowed on him.

26:56 Evidence is a willful self-exaltation which is without measure and is not of God.

27:08 And he goes on to say but to think soberly means we do not think less.

27:15 If we consider ourselves to possess gifts we don't have then we have an inflated notion. of our place and function. We sin by esteeming ourselves beyond what we are. But if we underestimate then we're refusing to acknowledge God's grace and we fail to exercise that which God has dispensed for our own sanctification and that of others.

27:38 The positive injunction is the reproof of a false humility which equally with over self-esteem fails to assess the grace of God and the calling which distinguishing distinguishing and the distribution of grace assigns to each. And then nobody can do this for you. Every man must shut himself up with God in his Bible praying that all unmortified pride that will blind his judgment unmortified ambition that will cloud his spiritual eyesight may be enabled to do what this passage says not to think more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly

Agent 2: The Mature People of God (Wise Counsel)

28:23 and to make an assessment as to whether or not there are some indications that the head of the church may be furnishing me with the necessary gifts and graces to be a shepherd after his own heart. But then the other agent involved in that preliminary recognition or the second agent is the mature people of God as a body of wise counsel. You see in a well-advised ordered church people are praying for God to raise up and send forth laborers. Matthew 9 and verse 37 Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send forth laborers.

29:06 And it's interesting whenever something begins to become a burden of prayer your spiritual feelers go out in that area. And if you're praying Lord raise up man then your eyes are looking could it be God's answering prayer in our vicinity and we're praying and we're praying and we're praying and we're praying and we're praying and we're praying and we're praying and we're praying and we're praying and we must never despise help that comes from the mature people of God as a body of wise counsel. Listen to the familiar words from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 11 and verse 14 Proverbs 11 and verse 14 Where no wise guidance is the people fall.

29:47 But in the multitude of counselors there is safety. God's given a safety net to my own individual judgment. It's not a safety net It's not the counselors who may either be filled with an overweening desire to curry my favor and tell me what I want to hear or those who may have something against me and will not be objective. But it's in a multitude of counselors those who have an earned reputation for spiritual grace and wisdom and the maturity that only years brings when people walk with God in the multitude of such counselors there's safety.

30:30 Not in the multitude of any kind of counselors. Remember the king who sought out the wise mature counselors and he didn't like what they said. He was looking for confirmation not counsel. So he got his young buddies and they agreed with him and he said I'll do what they say.

30:44 They have the wisdom. And I've no men itching for the ministry to go around and get their own buddies their own age to say oh well yes sir he's got it he ought to they wouldn't dare go to God's older seasoned people. Because they'd all say no way Jose.

31:00 So when the Bible says multitude of counselors that's not an unqualified multitude it better be counselors as A.W. Tozer said whenever I take counsel from a man I look for the oil on his forehead.

31:13 He's got the oil on his forehead that is the mark of a man living in God. Then I'll listen to his counsel. No oil on his forehead nicks on his counsel. 15.22

31:29 There is no counsel purposes are disappointed but in the multitude of counselors they are established. Where there is no counsel purposes are disappointed. I have a purpose to make sober self-assessment but I'm conscious God's placed me in a body of his people who are praying people who have discernment as to what the marks are of one upon whom God has his hand and I want to know if they see those marks in me and so I avail myself of this multitude of counselors that purposes may be established. But then look at

32:13 Proverbs 18.1 Here's the man he's so sure he's got a direct line between him and heaven. He can make such accurate self-assessment why he doesn't need to ask anybody else. Look what God says about him.

32:28 He that separates himself seeks his own desire and rages against all sound wisdom. In other words he's made his mind up and he's made he doesn't want to be confused by the facts that might come if he sought counsel.

32:42 I tell you I've seen men like this by the carloads pipeline to heaven because their ministries are a blight and a curse on earth because they've separated themselves seeking their own desire and they rage against all the sound wisdom that they'd hear if they sought the counsel of wise men and women in the body of Christ. But then the third agent now this is just the preliminary recognition of a man as a potential gift of Christ to his church. The first agent is the man himself. Secondly

Agent 3: The Formal Encouragement of Church Leadership

33:27 the mature people of God as a body of wise counsel. Thirdly the formal encouragement of the church through its appointed leadership. The formal encouragement of the church through its appointed leadership from the first instance in the New Testament church of seeking out office bearers this principle stands out very vividly. You remember Acts chapter 1 when they were looking for a replacement for Judas what quoted the scriptures that warranted the seeking of a replacement and two men who met the qualifications

34:13 were put forward and then they cast lots and one of them was chosen. But you see the principle here was the formal encouragement of the church through its existing leadership.

34:28 You didn't have Matthias jump up and say hey fellas I believe on the one. Look at me. Oh no. Here were the requirements laid out those that accompanied with us from the baptism of John right on.

34:41 We need to have another who will be witness of the resurrection. Therefore those that fit that description let's narrow them down. Who are they? They narrowed them down to two and then there was the casting of the lots.

34:54 And the recognition of the one. Same thing in Acts chapter 6. It was the apostles who were the spiritual leaders of the church in Jerusalem who recognized this problem of the inequities of serving the tables of the widows. And they said look we must come up with a holy expedient.

35:10 It's not fit for us to leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore they said you people look out among you. Then they gave the standard and then when they sought out these people they brought them before the apostles and then what happened? The apostles recognized the wisdom of their choice and we read in Acts chapter 6 and this saying please the whole multitude verse 5 and they chose and then the men are listed verse 6 whom they set before the apostles and when they had prayed they laid their hands upon them.

35:47 What is this but the same principle? The formal encouragement of the church through its appointed leadership. And all the way through to 2nd Timothy 2 to the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses the same commit to faithful men. Timothy you're in a place of leadership.

36:08 If anyone comes forward saying he believes that he's being made into a gift of Christ you must exercise judgment in conjunction with the consensus of the people of God. Is this a faithful man who will be competent to teach? Judgments are to be made.

36:28 And while God does not claim or promise that we shall have infallibility in those judgments there are many encouragements to believe that he will keep us from repeatedly and wickedly erring again and again if we will use the means of his appointment. And one other pivotal passage that I had overlooked in previous studies of this subject is Acts chapter 16 where young men Timothy some want to put him in his teens at this point but most likely he was in his early 20s. Acts chapter 16 and speaking of Paul he came to Derby and to Lystra and behold a certain disciple was there

37:13 named Timothy the son of a Jewish that believed his father was a Greek the same was well reported of by the brethren.

37:25 Him would Paul have to go forth with him. You see what you had? You had a grass roots consensus among the brethren that the head of the church had his hand upon Timothy. You didn't have Timothy going around swaying people.

37:43 I'm called his life his graces had gone before him so when Paul came everywhere he went in those churches Timothy's name cropped up cropped up cropped up cropped up no doubt after some hours of sitting with him and picking his brain and probing him and probing his life and examining him Paul came to the conviction yes everything I've heard is true and probably a lot more I'm going to take him along and put him under my wing and I'm going to make him as it were my spiritual son and he nurtures him and later on entrusts tremendous responsibilities to him

38:25 but you see the great principle that the agent in recognizing the potential gift of Christ was not just the man himself not just the counsel of the godly but the formal encouragement of the church through its appointed leadership.

Trinity Baptist Church's Practice of Ministerial Recognition

38:47 Now do you understand why we operate the way we do with reference to men being encouraged to pursue the work of the ministry in this place?

38:59 We do not come apart at the scenes as a group of elders when a young man comes saying I felt the flutter it was in my right ventricle 3.33 in the morning and as I put my hand in my heart I realized it was Morse code and when I wrote it down and I deciphered it it said George go preach the gospel we don't fall on our knees and say hallelujah God's called it God's called it no they don't work that way Morse code or not because there's no warrant for that in the word of God no warrant

39:43 tell the fellow maybe you got the same kind of problem the president does go ahead and do it have your thyroid checked and get some medicine and get your fibrillation checked out and then go home and take Romans 12 and start doing some sober self-assessment as to whether or not the head of the church is giving you those graces of Christian character and those gifts essential to the work engage in a period of serious intense self-evaluation and seek out the brothers and sisters with the oil on the forehead around this place and ask them with judgment day honesty do they see in you those things which when they prayed

40:27 Lord send forth labors have ever caused them to say and Lord I think it may be George Lord put your hand on George go ask them and be prepared to listen to them even though what they say may not encourage you and then be prepared to come with your conclusions and sit down before your own elders and put your fibrillations to the test of the objective standards of the word of God and you see why we operate the way we do in the academy we don't just beat the woods for students first question people ask me is how many students you got I say why what difference does that make look at me I say I'd like to ask another question how do you get students let's talk about that

41:12 if we just send out a general advertisement in the Christian periodicals four year ministerial training no tuition just bust your hump to live in the area you're all welcome we could have more students than we could handle but we're not going to do that we will not take a man into this academy who has not come through that three-fold agency to some settled tentative conviction that the head of the church has his hand upon him and that's why it's a long process and that's why it involves a man having already had his life embedded in a church where he's known and where his gifts

41:56 and his character are known and why we make a man come and sit down for several hours with his wife and interview them and examine them and probe them why? because we to set our own standard as to how grace fulfills his promise to give shepherds after his own heart who will feed his people with knowledge and understanding if he's given away whereby they come to that position God have mercy on us if we make our own someone says Pastor John

42:40 you aren't going to have many people going into ministry that way and don't we need a lot more ministers than we have well that objection was raised back in the days of Samuel Miller excuse me Samuel Miller was calling for a higher standard of admission into the work of the ministry and people said to Miller but if you do that why you're just not going to have enough ministers and listen to Miller's answer a Presbyterian living back in the mid-1800s in 1850 in 1834 Miller estimated the Presbyterian church was in need of more than a thousand ministers in order to fill vacant congregations and begin mission churches

43:24 yet Miller was convinced that the quality of the ministry was more critical than the mere quantity of ministers and to emphasize the point Miller offered the following illustration and observations now this is Miller writing suppose a population of 10,000 families to be laboring under a contagious and mortal disease that's pretty relevant suppose you're in Bangladesh where right now right now cholera is afflicting its thousands would it be better to send among them half a dozen wise and skillful physicians or 50 or even a hundred miserable quacks

44:08 who would be more likely to kill more than they would cure there's this question surely no thinking man can hesitate a moment about the proper answer but if you're not the truth is there are unqualified men enough in the ministry other denominations are furnishing them in abundantly sufficient numbers the task seems to be incumbent on us under God to train up for the service of the church ministers of a more mature scriptural and elevated character and if the proper qualifications are not insisted on and provided for by our church if the great mass of those

44:52 sent out by us are not able as well as pious and faithful ministers of the New Testament I know of no denomination of Christians likely to supply the deficiency end quote and brethren while we would rejoice if there were right now 50 men that had all the marks of being potential gifts of Christ to his church we would rejoice but we would rather be giving our life's blood to training five physicians of souls than 50 quacks and God will do more with those five

45:37 than with 500 for my Bible says one shall chase a thousand and two shall put ten thousand to flight and you guys that like to play with numbers in your computers work with that up to the number ten one thousand to flight thousand to flight what do you got by the way? by the time you get up to ten that's our God for it is not with the Lord to save by many or by few but he does save by those whom he puts into his service well that's what

General Training: Thorough Involvement in Church Life

46:21 we're committed to you say you know it's easy to talk about yeah you believe the church is unique what's the proof of it? well here it is here's the plain manifestation of it commitment that in this matter of the recognition of those whom Christ may be forming into able ministers of the new covenant we are determined that the church shall have its proper place a man whose life is embedded in the church who is fulfilling his proper duties as an ordinary churchman seeking to be a holy man proving the good acceptable and perfect will of God he then undergoes

47:05 sober self-assessment he then is willing to submit himself to the body of the wise council existing in a mature church and he is willing to submit himself to the judgment and the official recognition or non-recognition of his elders and the congregation but then I hasten and less extensively to take up in the second place the agents involved in the general and specialized training of these potential gifts of Christ the agents involved in the general and specialized training of these potential gifts of Christ to his church well the general

47:49 training is to be imparted by thorough involvement in the life of a biblical church as God's primary agent of training for the ministry that's so clear from the New Testament I wonder how we could miss it according to 1st Timothy 3.15 the church and in the context it's the church functioning with elders and deacons and men and women and women in rightful places and caring for her widows and disciplining the unruly and praying for the spread of the gospel and dealing with heresy the whole book of 1st Timothy Paul says I write these things hoping to come to you shortly but if I tarry long that men may know how they ought to behave themselves

48:34 in the church of the living God which is the pillar and ground of the truth where then is a man's general spiritual knowledge to come from in preparation for the ministry by being a vital integral part of a living church under lively preaching in prayer meetings where the spirit of prayer is upon the people in congregational meetings where office bearers are recognized biblically where sinning saints after due admonition are disciplined biblically where the church suffers when one suffers where the church rejoices where there's

49:18 real benevolence where there's real mutual biblical body life one of the most pathetic things is when I try to give counsel to men in the ministry about church matters who've never been in a church they've never been part of the thing they're trying to bring now imagine you mothers if you'd never seen a baby and you went into the labor room and you gave birth to something you held it up and said what is this is this a proper baby if you'd never seen one you wouldn't know that you had some kind of a tragic genetic abnormality and I don't say this to be funny

50:03 it's grievous if it was born with one eye in the middle of its head two ears on this side three on this side one leg you wouldn't know when you held a baby and you know what a normal baby's like and after the birth pangs and the mucus has been extracted and the baby's plumped on your breasts and you look down and you're counting its fingers you look at its nose and you say thank you God for a normal healthy baby you know what one is think of the men in the ministry they've never seen a church never been part of they got converted

50:47 they showed the normal fruits of conversion they loved God read their Bibles and witnessed someone said you're called in the ministry so they shipped them off to Bible school where there was no real church and then they did well in Bible school and they said you ought to go to seminary so they went to seminary and they went to seminary never were part of the church being taught preparation for the ministry by men who themselves many of whom couldn't preach them way out of a paper bag if their life depended on it who never spent an hour agonizing with someone in the study who's not sure whether or not he or she is saved who never spent an hour with the person who feels they can never have assurance of salvation because of some

51:32 dark chapter in their past that they cannot forget know nothing of the struggles of the soul know nothing of the agonies of applied truth and now they're in the real ministry and they call and they say how do I deal with this how do I deal with this and there are times they say brother my counsel to you is put yourself down in a living viable church I never say perfect church date one the minute they came it'd be imperfect I said find a church that's seeking to conduct its life biblically seeking to conduct its life by the word of God and you'll learn more church member and then you'll learn in 30 years using up all my time

52:17 and somebody else who's on the telephone that's the place where the general acquisition of the knowledge of the work of the ministry is acquired where did Timothy get it he was well reported of by the brethren in the churches apparently they saw the potential in this man and said well maybe there's some dimensions of church life over in this church because it was two churches that are spoken of and maybe they said you know there's something he can get over there he couldn't get here so he broadened his exposure but it was in the churches in the churches in the churches therefore when Paul writes as he does in 1 Corinthians 4 17 he's absolutely confident

Specialized Training: In the Context of the Church

53:02 that when he sends Timothy Timothy he says will put you in remembrance of my ways which are in Christ even as I teach everywhere in every church where it is where did Timothy learn these things in the churches in the churches in the churches where Paul was laboring for the central trainings to be imparted by a thorough involvement in the life of a biblical church but then secondly the specialized training where needed is to be acquired in the context of the church hear me carefully now as its primary agent I didn't say necessarily its

53:46 exclusive agent but primarily for the context of the church as its primary agent you say well why do you need specialized training at all well let me use an illustration here's a guy that buys a a home computer he gets himself a smaller computer and he gets fascinated with it works it up to its capacity and then begins to wonder well you know I've got such facility and capacity in this I think I'd like to go into this field and support my family well he could go around pick up a little knowledge here a little knowledge there but generally speaking what he's going to do if he's going to become a systems analyst or a technician he'll go off to school for six months or a year

54:31 of concentrated specialized training in order to overlay his general acquisition of computer knowledge with the specialized knowledge needed to be a specialist in that field now that's what we're talking about with regard to preparation for the ministry the church is the school of the general acquisition of a knowledge of what worship is of what church life is of what preaching is of what pastor flock interaction is as a man observes and is a part of it he's learning acquiring and then as it begins to be more and more evident through the agency of his own sober self evaluation the body of the council of God's people the encouragement

55:16 of his elders that the hand of God is upon him and that he may well be fashioned by Christ into an able minister he says but look if I'm going to be what 2nd Timothy 2.15 says I must be a workman who needs not to be ashamed handling aright the word of truth I've got to have some grasp upon the biblical languages that will help me decode the message as God gave it I've got to have some sense of the historical sweep of God's dealings through the history of the church that I'll be able to recognize ancient errors dressed up in new clothing and new makeup I'm going to have to have a grasp upon the great themes of the word of God as they

56:00 unfold and gather momentum and come to their full fruition in Christ and in the new covenant I've got to have some understanding of the languages of historical theology of biblical theology I've got to make sure that I see not just a part here and a part there I want to see all the parts in their beautiful whole that's systematic theology and I want to have some concentrated instruction on how you go from the knowledge of these things to their outworking in all the facets of the work of the ministry from your personal life to your family life to constructing sermons that's pastoral theology and so we have in this place the Trinity

56:45 Ministerial Academy and what are we attempting to do we're not attempting to make ministers we can't do that only Christ the head of the church can do that we're attempting to supply in a concentrated way some of those disciplines which ordinarily are best acquired in this way well why in the world are we banging our heads spending all this money getting old young why not farm them out to the seminary well because we're convinced that the specialized training we're needed is to be acquired in the context of the church as the primary agent when God said to

57:29 Timothy through Paul 2nd Timothy 2 to the things which you have heard of me among many witnesses the same commit to faithful men who should be able to teach others also who's Timothy he wasn't some freelance academician floating around the churches holding concentrated seminars for would-be preachers he was Paul's representative of the church in Ephesus fulfilling all master and still having time to mark out faithful men and commit the body of apostolic truth to them he was himself a man up to his ears in the ministry functioning

58:14 in the context of the local church and therefore we are convinced that though there may be an allowable expedient to send a man off to a non-church framework for the acquisition of certain skills that ordinarily we ought to have compelling reasons to take a man out of the pillar and ground of the truth for his most concentrated period of indoctrination in the truth that doesn't quite make sense to me that's like saying train a man in medicine but make sure you take him out of a hospital

58:50 in the hospital so where do doctors do their residency out on the farm watching a veterinarian once in a while cut a cow's belly open you see my point the church is the pillar and ground of the truth and therefore the concentrated disciplines ordinarily essential for a man to be a shepherd who will feed God's people with knowledge and understanding need to be acquired in that concentrated way but if ever ever

59:35 the church should have its proper place it's during that time so that as these disciplines are taught a man can say ah I see where that discipline fit into the sermon now I see in that situation in the congregational meeting that element of pastoral theology oh I see when that passage was being expounded I see why pastor so and so didn't come up with what the verse on the surface seems to say because that would

60:07 ah I see the importance and all those things are going on you men in the academy and that what happens am I theorizing or is that true it's true you see this dear people you understand it you see this is not just that we want to build up some kind of trinity empire and we've taken on this burden god knows many a time we've wished with the conscience we could

60:41 speak for every man who's labored in the academy with the dual pressure of full pastoral responsibility and academy burdens as well but I'm sure Timothy felt that pressure too so we've got good company this is why we will not ship people off to man made institutions we say again with Samuel Miller this is nothing novel listen to Miller I'm perfectly persuaded it may be laid down as an unqualified rule that no voluntary association ought ever to be countenanced which enables men who have no responsibility to the church to interfere with or to govern her

Formal Ordination: The Church's Central Function

61:26 affairs you make up your own institution outside the church you will not have the blessing of the head of the church upon it and this is the great tragedy well my time is gone we'll just have to leave the third element the agents involved in the formal recognition and ordination of a man as a gift of Christ to his church suffice it to say that in this case as well the church's function is central the church's function is paramount and the church's function and decision is final and this is why

62:11 tonight when three men will be recognized as having completed their course in the academy they'll receive a letter of commendation but they will not have hands laid on them and be ordained we don't ordain men to the ministry ordination must be among the people who see a gift of Christ and therefore some of these men will be going into places where they will not be recognized as elders till they've been there at least nine months to a year Randy Thornburg they wanted to call him as a pastor he said no you don't really know me at least

62:55 nine months look me over look at the portrait of what a true shepherd is from first Timothy three keep looking at the portrait and keep looking at me and look at me closely and look at me over a long period of time my son-in-law Gord Cook did the same thing in Canton it was about a year before he allowed them to call a congregational meeting he said during this year you look at the portrait in the Bible and keep looking at me and unless you see in me what you see in the Bible then I'm not a gift of Christ that's what Bob Minto is doing right now out in Minneapolis and I could name man after man why because we believe this is what the word of God teaches and though I don't have time to open up the passages

63:40 that's a distillation of what I would have given you had I the time but dear people do you see now why when we say in our manifesto we are determined we are determined that our life and practice as a church will unquestionably validate the uniqueness of the church and the purpose of God it's not only true in our theology and practice of the Christian life our theology and practice of evangelism and missions but it's true as well in our theology and practice of ministerial recognition preparation and ordination may God grant that these things will

Conclusion and Prayer

64:25 become visceral intelligent convictions for which you are willing to pay a price as everybody and everything thinks it can do the work that God has assigned let us pray our father we do thank you that the scriptures are not silent on these great issues we thank you that they are a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway and oh how we pray that as a congregation we will

65:10 become more and more established in these truths that we will not despise the church which our Lord Jesus is building in which he purchased with his own blood but that we may love him and love his church and we pray especially in this matter of the recognition and training and ordination of men whom you are fashioning into able ministers of the new covenant oh Lord may we hold tenaciously to your ways and where we are yet ignorant give us light where we are erring correct us but where we are right give us the moral courage to stand our ground

65:55 no matter what the cost deliver the church of the scourge of spiritual quackery and raise up men who know you men who love you men who know your word and know the human heart men who are full of the spirit men who are wise men who can counsel with incisiveness and preach with penetrating unction and searching application oh God will you not give to this generation a host of such men and if it please you God use our feeble efforts we pray have mercy

66:40 upon many who sit here today strangers to your grace who've resisted the overtures of your mercy through the preaching of the word oh God may even something said today fasten itself upon the conscience and give that one no rest until he rests may your blessing be upon us as we leave this place receive our praise for your presence and your grace in Jesus name amen