General Introduction

Introduction to the Pastoral Theology Course Structure

0:01 Now, as we come to this, our first pastoral theology class for this fall semester of 1986, we shall limit our thinking this morning to what I would call a general introduction to the course in pastoral theology. Now, since the existing six units or semesters are taught in a three-year cycle, for some of you, this introduction will be like having a meal in a restaurant in which the appetizer is served after the main course or after the dessert. You've already come through, some of you, units three and four, five and six, and now

0:44 we're going to come to units one and two preceded by an introduction. So you've already had the main course and the dessert, and now you get your appetizer and your hors d'oeuvres. To change the introduction, for some of you, this introduction will be like having a meal in a restaurant in which the appetizer is served after the main course or after the dessert. To some of you, this will be like having an introduction to the sermon after the exposition and the application and conclusion.

1:06 However, for several reasons, we have chosen this approach in the structure of the pastoral theology class, and those reasons are basically three and in order of importance. First of all, the stewardship of my own time. It's obvious if I were to come in for each class, I would find myself coming in at least six hours a week, possibly eight hours a week, and since I usually find that it takes me a half a day, sometimes a full day, to rework a lecture from the last time I gave it, even though I've given it two or three or four times, you can imagine the amount of hours I would be spending here and thereby causing other pastoral duties to suffer.

1:50 So the stewardship of my time demands this structure, but then secondly, there's the benefit of three years of matrimony. Maturation in my own thinking and experience between the time that I give Unit 1, as we go through it together and come back three years later, and take up that same subject. Frankly, I've been shocked at times how much alteration, and I hope maturation, has gone on in my own mind in the course of three years between giving the same material. And then the third reason.

2:28 The third reason is the peculiar chemistry of this united gathering at the end of the week. In a very real sense, this is a corporate reminder of what we're here for. Now, what we're here for is, from time to time, explicitly underscored as you work your way through your other disciplines, all the way from your biblical languages to your exegesis and systematics and historical theology courses. But when we meet as a group in this way, we're going to be able to see that there's a lot of diversity in the way we work.

2:59 It's a very vivid reminder that everything that we're doing throughout the previous part of the week is all funneling in to this dimension of the work of the ministry. And there is something about the dynamics of our corporate life and relationships in these lectures that hopefully will give us peculiar preparation for the work of the ministry. Now, having given this brief rationale for why we're here, I'm going to go ahead and explain why we do what we do and the way we do it. In our general introduction this morning, I want to cover five areas.

Outline of the General Introduction

3:36 And the first three will take the bulk of the time, and the last two I'll be able to cover in a matter of a few minutes. First of all, I want to set before you an explanation of our course title, what precisely is pastoral theology. Then, secondly, give you a description of the course lectures. Then, thirdly, and I'll take these up one by one as we come to them, I want to give an explanation of the course presuppositions.

4:07 There are some fundamental presuppositions in our approach to pastoral theology, and I want to spell those out in your hearing. And then, fourthly, we'll give a brief summary of the scope of the course. And then, finally, a word about the structure of each lecture session. First of all, there's a lot of talk about the structure of each lecture session.

Explanation of the Course Title: What is Pastoral Theology?

4:28 First of all, then, we take up in this general introduction to your course in pastoral theology an explanation of the course title.

4:38 Most of you are aware of the various categories by which the theological disciplines are both separated, identified, and described, and any list of the major categories would generally include these following theological disciplines. First of all, exegetical theology.

5:02 Now, exegetical theology is the term used to describe the discipline devoted to the issue of how to arrive at the precise God-intended meaning of the words of Scripture.

5:20 How does one arrive at the precise God-intended meaning of the words of Scripture? Well, it is the peculiar responsibility. It is the peculiar responsibility of exegetical theology to answer that question. Therefore, under the rubric, under the umbrella, the canopy of exegetical theology, comes such disciplines as canonics.

5:47 What books are to be regarded as the word of God? Textual criticism. What is the purest text by which we recognize the words of God at any given time? What is the point in Scripture?

6:03 The whole matter of philology, that is, the ascertaining of the meaning of precise words.

6:12 Hermeneutics, words in relationship to other words forming clauses and phrases and sentences and paragraphs. And what principles do we use to ascertain the mind of God in those words arranged in phrases, clauses, paragraphs? Well, all of those things, canonical, textual criticism, philology, hermeneutics, all come under the basic umbrella of exegetical theology. But then there is a second theological category, biblical theology.

6:52 Now, this discipline in its purest form is devoted to the history of special revelation.

6:59 It seeks to grasp what God is saying in each epoch of his revolutionary history. activity building upon and using the disciplines of exegetical theology, it seeks to discover what God is saying at a given point in history and to show the organic development of the revelatory process. For those of you who've had OTBT and New Testament biblical theology, this is old hat to you. Some have not, and so we need to at least introduce the hat. So in exegetical theology,

7:41 we're devoted to the issue of how to arrive at the precise God-intended meaning of the words of Scripture. In biblical theology, we are seeking to ascertain what God is saying in the given epochs of his revelatory activity. Then there is a third theological category, historical. Theology. This discipline is devoted to discovering what the church has understood

8:11 the truth of God to be, particularly as that truth has been articulated in the crucible of controversy and conflict. In historical theology, we are concerned to know what the church has understood the truth of God to be. Now often this is called the history of God. of dogma, or the history of Christian doctrine. And works such as Cunningham is a classic example

8:48 of this, Shedd's two-volume work. Burckhoff has an excellent work. But in historical theology, we are concerned to discover what the church has understood the truth of God to be. Then there is the fourth theological category, systematic theology. Now, its peculiar concern

9:13 is to ascertain the total witness of Scripture on any given scriptural subject, and to see the interrelatedness of all of the parts to the whole. That's the peculiar concern of systematic theology, to ascertain the total witness of Scripture on any given subject. And the interrelatedness of all of the parts to the whole. Professor Murray has given this excellent little definition of systematic theology. I quote,

9:53 Systematic theology synthesizes the whole witness of Scripture on the various topics with which it deals. Systematic theology synthesizes the whole witness of Scripture on the various topics with which it deals. Now, obviously, a systematic theology that is worth the name will bring to its task all of the other theological disciplines. It will work with all of the tools of exegetical theology,

10:31 the insights of biblical theology, the quality control of historical theology, and therefore theology. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so,

10:42 it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so,

10:44 it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so,

10:47 it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so, it is a systematic theology that is worth the name. And so,

10:49 standard theological disciplines, we here at the Academy regard systematic theology as the king and the queen of the theological sciences and the theological disciplines. There is in our day a very strong movement, even in Reformed circles, to make systematic theology subservient to biblical theology, in which certain aspects of the part dominate the total witness of the whole. Now you be careful of this. When people start talking about a Petrine theology and a Pauline theology

11:27 and a Johannine theology, beware. We believe in a theology that is the sum total of the witness that God is given through Peter and through Paul and through John. And it is one witness because it is one God in his activity of self-revelation. So we regard systematic theology theology as the queen and the king of these other theological disciplines. Well, that brings us

11:57 lastly to pastoral theology. Where in the world does it fit in all of that? Well, this discipline has as its concern the witness of Scripture to the actual work of shepherding the flock of God. This discipline has as its concern the witness of Scripture to the actual work of shepherding the flock of God. In the other disciplines, the pastoral or shepherding elements are more or less

12:33 latent. In this discipline, they are patent. In the other disciplines, they are implicit. In this discipline, they are explicit. And it's very interesting that in a very real sense,

12:51 we can prove from Scripture that the whole end for which Scripture was given with reference to a servant of Christ is the end of the world. And that's the end of the world. And that's the end christ is to make him a pastoral theologian say well that's kind of a strong statement isn't it a little bit prejudiced by your discipline no 2nd timothy 3 16 and 17 all scripture is inspired of god and is also profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for instruction which is in righteousness why that the man of god may be complete furnished completely unto every good

13:33 notion of truth no furnished completely unto every good work the whole of the scripture is given to make a mature man competent to do the work of the ministry and that what the text says if so you see where pastoral theology fits with respect to all the others theological disciplines they are handmaidens to help us to understand the message of scripture god breathed scripture that we may rightly ascertain its teaching that we may rightly

14:13 feel its reproof and correction its child training in the life of righteousness but all to the end that we may be competent and furnished unto every good work theological disciplines they are handmaidens to help us to understand the message of scripture demanded of us in the labor of the ministry so that's another reason why we have pastoral theology at the end of the week so that even the schedule the structuring of the curriculum points to the fact that everything else you've been wrestling with from your languages which

14:51 are in the area of course of exegetical theology that you might be a good philologist a good student of words and your biblical theology your exegetical courses all of this is to the end that you may be a competent a complete a well furnished man of god prepared unto every good work and so i hope you have this at least cursory perspective on the various theological disciplines their distinct and individual characteristics their relationship to each other and above all their relationship to

Description of the Course Lectures: Topical, Permeated, and Selective

15:36 the subject of pastoral theology all right now then in the second place in our general introduction this morning i want to set before you a description of the nature of these course lectures the nature of these course lectures and here i want to say three things first of all they will be topical as to their structure and form they will be topical as to their structure and form

16:20 one could conceivably work through the key passages on the work of the ministry and in that case construct a course in pastoral theology that would be thoroughly exegetical and expository however such a method would leave much to be desired in terms of both comprehensiveness and practicality now hopefully though topical in form and structure i trust that all of the major segments of the biblical witness to the work of the ministry will be brought to bear upon the issues at hand as i seek periodically to review

17:05 what we cover and how we do it i am confident that increasingly there is no major segment of the biblical witness to the work of the ministry that is not at least brought into the orbit of our perspectives, if not thoroughly expounded, in the course of the six semesters of pastoral theology. But in terms of their form and structure, these lectures will be topical. Second thing I want to say about them is that they will be permeated with quotations and illustrations. They will be permeated with quotations and illustrations. Others have gone

17:46 before us in these things, as I am in debt to those who've gone before us and left a legacy in print, and God has providentially brought into my hands much of that legacy that is not to be found except in a very extensive library. As I've been helped, so I want to pass on that help to you.

18:14 Another purpose in lacing the lectures with quotations and illustrations where possible is is to make you familiar with certain authors, hoping that you will be drawn to esteem them now, even though you may not have time to read them now, and have your eyes on the lookout for these names and authors in the used book lists and used bookstores. One such work that I came across that, to my knowledge, went through only one edition, and I regard it as a classic. In fact, it kind of destroyed for a while my one literary ambition to put these lectures eventually into print when this book came into my hands by Thomas Murphy, D.D.,

18:58 pastor of Frankfurt Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. How many of you ever heard of Thomas Murphy? How many of you ever heard of Frankfurt Presbyterian Church? Well, these lectures were published in 1887.

19:11 They're masterful lectures. It follows the very outline that we use here. He borrowed from me proleptically.

19:21 The nature and importance of pastoral theology, what is it, the history of it, sources. Then he starts with the pastor in his closet, the pastor in his study, the pastor in the pulpit, the pastor in his parochial work, the pastor in the leadership of the church, the pastor in the Sunday school, the pastor with his elders. It's very comprehensive. But he understood this principle of using the mind, and input of others, and says very early in his treatise, and I quote here from pages 20 and 21, the accumulated experience of other workers in the same general field is a vast storehouse from which the pastor can draw instruction

20:03 and reference to all his duties. Indeed, this experience classified and framed in accordance with the teaching of the scriptures is in itself a system of pastoral theology, men of sound and discerning minds, men full of the spirit of Christ, men whose lives have been spent in the most unwearied activity, have filled the office of the gospel ministry. They have given earnest attention to every department of their beloved calling. Whatever plans were likely to give success to their work, they have tried.

20:41 It would probably be very difficult to conceive of any scriptural method of building, or of setting up the kingdom of Christ on which they have not experimented. Long lives of thought, of wisdom, and of toil have been spent in striving to make the ministry more effective. What one man or generation of men has attained to has been made the starting point from which others have gone on in efforts to improve in doing the work of Christ. Even mistakes and failures in devising and executing methods have proved to be the most effective ways of doing the work of Christ.

21:16 They have proved of great value in adding to the general store of knowledge on the subject. All this experience, whether written or unwritten, has accumulated into an invaluable fund for the ministry. When it is sifted and tested by the sure precepts of God's inspiring and classified, it forms a system of principles by which the workmen in the ministry may be safely guided. No wise pastor will neglect this help of experience derived from all those who have gone before him.

21:55 He can no more neglect it than the artist or the mechanic can neglect those rules which the skill of centuries has wrought out for his assistance. And so for this reason not for want, I trust, of thought, of my own, these lectures will be permeating my life. permeated with quotations but also with illustrations. Great principles are often undigestible until they are seen in the concreteness of specific application. A principle

22:37 can be articulated but it just floats by us until we see it hooked into a specific outworking of that principle. And for some reason God was pleased to put me by grace into Christ at a relatively early age and call me to preach at a relatively early age and spare me to my mid-years so that when I speak to you on these subjects it's out of the matrix of attempting to preach for now in my 35th year and attempting to shepherd God's people for around 27 years. So I hope I've learned one or two things.

23:16 Along the way that will illustrate some of these principles and make them vivid to your own mind. So as to the nature of the lectures they are going to be topical in form and structure. Secondly they will be permeated with quotations and illustrations. And thirdly they are purposefully selective in their points of emphasis. They are purposefully selective in their points of emphasis.

23:48 It would be utterly impossible to attempt to be exhaustive or completely comprehensive in teaching the subject of pastoral theology. Either to be as deep or as broad as the theme requires. So somewhere along the line an instructor, a teacher, must be selective. And I'll be very honest with you that I have been selective and my tools of selectivity have basically been selected. I have been selected.

24:23 I have been selected. I have been selected. I have been selected. I have been selected. I have been selected.

24:24 three. Number one, the biblical emphases regarding the work of the ministry. What does the Bible emphasize more than anything else with reference to the work of the ministry? Well, there I've tried to major and reflect in the content, in the proportion of the lectures, the major emphases of Scripture. A second thing has conditioned my selectivity, the observed

24:55 lack and deficiency in terms of existing materials on the work of the ministry and existing theories on the work of the ministry. There are areas where I've said, oh, if only I could have found something in print or somebody would have said that or told me that 20 years ago. Well, it may not have been so. It may not have been so. It may not have been so. It may not have

25:26 may be somewhere, but I ain't never found it. And in some of those areas that are vital, I will be deliberately and purposely selective in the light of observed lack in terms of existing materials on the work of the ministry and in terms of existing perspectives on the work of the ministry. And then thirdly, I will be purposely selective in terms of the proven areas of needful instruction and exhortation. The proven areas of needful instruction and

26:07 exhortation. As most of you know, in God's providence for the past 20 plus years, no little part of the ministry God has entrusted to me outside of this assembly has been that of being a pastor. I've been a pastor for 20 plus years. I've been a pastor for 20 plus years.

26:23 I've been a pastor for 20 plus years. I've been a pastor for 20 plus years. I've been a pastor for 20 plus years. I've been a pastor to pastors. It's not a ministry I ever sought. I never asked

26:28 for it. I never politicked for it. God dumped it on me. And having dumped it on me, he hasn't undumped it. And out of that intense and constant interaction, both in pastors' conferences and in

26:44 extensive correspondence and telephone ministry with preachers all over the country and in many parts of the world, there are certain areas that God has entrusted to me that I haven't come through again and again and again as areas in which men, no matter how long they are in the ministry, desperately need to be instructed and exhorted. And I try to take note of those areas and reflect them in the selection of materials for this course. All right, now we come to the third division of this general introduction, and that is an explanation of the formative

Presupposition 1: The Primacy of Preaching

27:24 presuppositions of these course lectures, an explanation of the formative presuppositions of this course of lectures. Now, a presupposition can be simply a prejudice or a personal preference which a man imposes on a given subject. Now, that's what a presupposition can be. Many times, alas, that's what it is. However, a presupposition can also be a specific expression of a biblical

28:02 reality. Rooted in a sensitivity to the witness of Holy Scripture. And I hope that's what my presuppositions are, though I claim no infallibility or total release from the effects of indwelling sin, which to one degree or another always make us imbalanced in our thinking. What then are the presuppositions which are foundational to the whole structure of this course? Well, I believe

28:38 I have four, if my memory serves me rightly. Yes, there are four. Number one, the primacy of preaching among the public duties of the Christian ministry. The primacy of preaching among the public duties of the Christian ministry. There are, as you are well aware and as we

29:07 shall see from the Scriptures, both public and private duties connected with the Christian ministry. But among the public ministries, such as counseling the distressed, giving oversight to God's people, calling on the sick, personal evangelism, etcetera, none, none is so vital as that of the stated seasons in which you will stand among God's people as one laboring in the Word and in teaching, and give yourself to public preaching and teaching. The presupposition

29:46 of this entire course is that the primary means ordained of God for the gathering out of His elect and the building up of His people is that of public teaching and preaching. 1 Corinthians 1.18 and Romans chapter 10, these two pivotal passages which I trust become part of your spiritual bloodstream, if they are not already. For the word or the message of the Cross and the Word of God are one and the same. For the Word of God is one and the

30:25 same. For the Word of God is one and the same. For the Word of God is one and the same. For the Word of God is one and the same. This page about Moses is like a pencil, but it

30:26 is written by God to—as unreligious or choppy one— outsourced the Writing of the Bible. That is the point what I am giving it. When we leave it, when we let it play, we let it continue at once. We say, as in when the gospel was beats everywhere. It durches everything

30:30 where it needs to be beaten. It keeps up the sweetness of things, almost like only a light can set his words away, in whose presence it is reflected. It was God's good pleasure, through the foolishness of preaching, the thing preached. And as you know, that word cannot be divorced either from content or form.

31:13 Through the thing preached, as the marginal reading in the 1901 renders it, to save them that believe. The kerups, the kerugma, the whole concept bound up in the idea of heralding, speaks not only of content, the kerugma is not only something that has content, but it is content conveyed in the context of a kerups, a herald. And therefore the translators find it difficult to know precisely how to render it. Well, it is rooted in the good pleasure of God, through that which the world calls foolishness.

31:56 Both its content and its form, the means that God has ordained to save those that believe, is the thing preached. The thing preached. The thing preached. And then, of course, the classic treatment in Romans chapter 10, Paul's closely reasoned argument.

32:19 Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on him whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent?

32:29 The voice of Christ is heard when those are sent speak in his name and by his authority. It is the agreed testimony of scripture and of church history that the pulpit is, in the words of Spurgeon, the thermopoly. Now, thermopoly was that mountain pass in which the Persians destroyed the Spartans. That's the place where the battle was lost.

33:00 Spurgeon went on to say, It is in the pulpit that the fight will be lost or won. To us ministers, the maintenance of our power in the pulpit should be our great concern.

33:16 Now, brethren, it's been the erosion of this conviction. On this point, I would like to say, On this point, I would like to say, On this point, I would like to say, On this point, which in great measure has led to the shoddiness that is current in preaching, the paralysis of godly ambition to excel in pulpit usefulness, and the pitiful inadequacies of formal ministerial training precisely in this vital area. As my dear friend, the Reverend Donald McLeod said in my hearing at a pastor's conference in a well-known seminary, as my dear friend, the Reverend Donald McLeod said in a well-known seminary, the curse of the ministry in our day is that it's full of nice guys who can't preach. That's the curse of the ministry.

34:02 Full of nice guys who can't.

Presupposition 2: The Vital Place of Biblical Church Order

34:08 And so, the first presupposition of this course is that of the primacy of preaching among the public duties of the ministry. Secondly, here's the second presupposition. The vital place of biblical church order, as the supportive context of effective preaching. The vital place of biblical church order, as the supportive context of effective preaching.

34:44 As this course unfolds, and as some of you already know, there will be lectures dealing in detail with how to order the worship of God's people. A matter which in our day, many, good and godly evangelicals feel is purely a matter of taste and of cultural accommodation. To think that you'd even dare to assert that there are clear biblical principles which must be understood and must be regulative in the public worship of God. People look at you as though you're some kind of an anachronism.

35:22 You've come out of the dark ages. You've come from another planet. Well, we give whole lectures to this matter. Well, we give whole lectures to this matter.

35:30 Well, we give whole lectures to this matter. We give whole lectures to church discipline, to the cultivation of inter-church relationships, all of these things. Now, why these concerns? Because of the apostolic mentality expressed in 1 Timothy 3, 14 and 15.

35:47 And those verses, you all are familiar with them. Paul's writing to Timothy, he says, I hope to come shortly, but if I cannot come, I want you to know how men ought to behave themselves I want you to know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, the church of God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth. The great apostle who writes that it's God's good pleasure to save through the foolishness of the thing preached also writes and says that the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. In other words, truth is to have as its constant context well-ordained.

36:31 Well-ordered churches.

36:34 And that was the passion of the great apostle. He's willing to leave his dear spiritual son and companion in labor behind at Ephesus, a church already having received the benefit of Paul's ministry, a well-ordered church, and yet he's not satisfied. And all of the admonitions to Timothy, these things command and teach, preach the word, be diligent, give thyself wholly to them, all of those admonitions, which assume the first presupposition, the primacy of preaching among the public duties of the ministry, also reflect the second, the vital place of biblical church order

37:14 as the supportive context of effective preaching. Let me put it this way. Under the blessing of God, when preaching is what it ought to be in content, form, and spiritual, energy, and comprehensiveness, a vigorous, healthy, biblically ordered church will become both its fruit and its validation.

37:47 When preaching is what it ought to be in its content, in its form, and spiritual energy,

38:00 a vigorous, healthy, biblically ordered church will become both its fruit and its validation. Write to the Thessalonians, and say, Our gospel came, not in word only, but in power, and you became examples to all who believe.

38:25 As his message was what it ought to be, and was owned of God, a vigorous, healthy, well-ordered church became both its fruit and its validation. You are our epistle, known and read of all men. You are the validation. When these things are said, when these false apostles come along and say, Look, this hook-nosed Jew hoodwinked you.

38:51 He's no true apostle. Paul says, Oh yes, the very fact that they have a group to come to and try to persuade that I'm no apostle, your very existence is the living witness and seal of my apostleship. You are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

39:07 And you see, brethren, those two things cannot be divorced. And in back of my mind, in all my thinking, and it will leak out, and I want you to catch it. And when it does leak, is that presupposition that though preaching has the place of primacy among the public duties of the ministry, biblical church order is the supportive context of effective preaching. Then the third presupposition is this.

Presupposition 3: The Indispensable Prerequisite of Vital Godliness

39:38 It is the conviction that a life of vital godliness is an indispensable prerequisite for a ministerial efficiency. The conviction that a life of vital godliness is the indispensable prerequisite ministerial efficiency.

40:19 It's an old but true saying that a man's life is the life of his ministry.

40:29 As it will be demonstrated in specific details, there is no aspect of pastoral duty which does not have its roots in the state of the minister's own ministry. There is no aspect of the ministry that does not have its roots in the state of the minister's own inner life. And if ever Proverbs 4.23 was true, it is true of the servant of Christ.

41:01 Guard your heart above all that you guard, for out of it are the issues of life.

41:11 What is the first and primary requisite for one who aspires to the office of an elder? Not cleverness, not loquaciousness, not someone who can blether on at the drop of a hat.

41:26 If any man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. The bishop therefore must be blameless, blameless. The emphasis falls upon the indispensability of a life of vital godliness. Now I am not saying that vital godliness is all that is needed.

41:49 A man may be as godly as grace can make in this side of heaven and be a total flop in the ministry if the head of the church is not furnished with gifts to minister.

42:03 But what I am saying is assuming that the head of the church is furnishing you with gifts to lead and shepherd his people, the conviction you must have, the conviction which lies at the root of the entire structure of this course is that a life of vital godliness is a life of vital godliness. is a life of vital godliness. It is the indispensable prerequisite of all ministerial efficiency. James Stalker in his excellent work that was reprinted by Baker on the Yale Lectures on Preaching made this statement and some of you have heard it before it won't hurt to hear it again.

42:45 Page 167 in his book called The Preacher and His Models. We are so constituted that what we hear depends very much for its effect on how we are disposed towards him who speaks to us. The regular hearers of a minister gradually form in their minds almost unawares an image of what he is into which they put everything which they themselves remember about him and everything which they've heard of his record. And when he rises on Sunday in the pulpit it is not the man visible there at the moment that they listen to but this image which stands behind him

43:30 and determines the precise weight and effect of every sentence which he utters.

43:40 Now you see why most people can't hack lengthy pastorates? Because the years erode the weight of their words until they almost float. They're so light when they enter the pulpit. Now there may be other reasons for short pastorates, I'm convinced this is one of the primary reasons because the longer you are with people then the more intertwined your life becomes with people.

44:09 The more circumstances and relationships in which they see you one of two things happens. Either your words become more and more weighty because your life becomes more and more a validation of truth or words become less and less credible.

44:31 It's one thing for them to say hmm the guy's got some credibility he knows how to make his little kids sit down when they're supposed to sit keep their mouth shut when they're supposed to be say hello and please and thank you but then they're going to see you as to whether or not you can handle them when they begin to be teenagers. Any man loses his credibility when he shows he can't handle his teenage kids. But if they see you under God giving direction as your kids come through the teen years even if those children are unconverted and even if those children are unconverted they put the bit in their mouth on spiritual matters and see you under God able to maintain stability and order in your family life

45:15 even with unconverted teenagers what happens to your credibility? It goes up. It goes up in stock. See the principle of stalker?

45:24 That with the passing of the years there is this constant construction or reconstruction of the image of what people know you to be and when you stand to speak on the Lord's day it is that image that gives weight or takes away from the weight of every word that you speak. Another old divine put it this way he fed you with his doctrine and edified you by his example he wooed for Christ in his preaching and allured you to Christ by his walking. Isn't that beautiful? Well they're flipping that cassette over let me give it to you again.

Presupposition 4: The Confluence of Divine and Human Elements

46:08 He fed you with his doctrine and he edified you by his example he wooed for Christ in his preaching and he allured you to Christ by his walking. Would to God that that could be truthfully said of us when we're laid in our graves. Well there's a fourth presupposition and this is absolutely vital don't be scared by the language I use I'll explain it it's a little technical but I feel it's vital to use the words that I've used. The fourth presupposition that undergirds everything you'll get in this course is this there is a constant

46:52 and delicate confluence c-o-n-f-l-u-e-n-c-e there is a constant and delicate confluence and interaction between the divine and human elements in every aspect of the work of the ministry. There is a constant and delicate confluence and interaction

47:33 of the divine and human elements in every aspect of the work of the ministry. Now I'm sure many of you have read or heard Newton quoted his famous quotes only the God that made the world can make a minister of the gospel. And that's true. Paul says who is sufficient for these things?

47:59 And then he answers the question it is God who has made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant not of the letter but of the spirit. But, but the same Paul who says it is God who makes us sufficient is the one who says to Timothy these words 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 14 through 16 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 14 to 16 neglect not the gift that is in you which was given you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery the gift was given divine action

48:44 don't neglect it be diligent in these things give yourself wholly to them that your progress may be manifest unto all continually pay close attention to yourself a present imperative and to your teaching continue in these things for in doing this you shall save both yourself and those that hear you 2 Timothy 1.6 same emphasis for this cause I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God it's the gift of God but you stir it up which is in you

49:28 through the laying on of my hands chapter 2 and verse 15 2 Timothy give diligence to present yourself approved unto God a workman that needs not to be ashamed handling a right or cutting or holding a straight course in the word of truth Timothy if you're to handle the word as you ought you must give diligence and then the classic text is 2 Timothy 2.7 Paul has written certain things using several different analogies and now he says consider in a verb that means use your noose your noggin your brain consider think

50:11 concentrate your mental faculties on what I say for the Lord shall give you understanding well if God gives me understanding shouldn't I just pray and wait Lord give it here I am waiting and this is what God wants no He says put your head to work you think you consider you exercise your faculties and wonder of wonders when you get insight you don't pat your head you bow as a man of faith and say thank you Lord for you have given the understanding that only you can give now each of us brethren by nature temperament many of us by previous and present relationships and influences tend either

50:55 to be overly mystical or overly practical in our approach to the work of the ministry. None of us comes down dead center on this issue of understanding the confluence. Now, confluence is what you have when two rivers come together at a given point. And at the point where the two rivers meet, there is a confluescence, so you can't separate them.

51:20 The one river meets the other river, and where they mingle is the point of confluence. Interaction, we all know the meaning of that word. And I'm saying that one of the fundamental presuppositions of this course is that there is this constant and delicate confluence, this coming together, this mingling and interaction of the divine and human elements in every aspect of the work of the ministry. And some of us, by temperament, training, background, associations, teaching, and other things, we tend to be overly mystical.

51:59 That is, we tend to think that by prayer and by dependence upon God alone, certain aspects of the work of the ministry will become what they ought to be. Whereas in reality, no amount of prayer and waiting upon God is going to automatically overcome a faulty speech pattern that you may have. You may have to stand in front of the mirror. mirror and work on using your lips and your tongue in order to speak so as to be heard and heard

52:37 distinctly and you can fast and pray until you look like you just tumbled out of dacha but if your problem is overcoming a certain speech pattern that can only be overcome by recognizing it and working on it god is not going to correct it while you're asleep some of you are short circuited between your heart and what it feels and your larynx and your diaphragm and your lungs and your vocal apparatus and how what you feel finds an appropriate expression in your speech

53:15 apparatus and you can pray and ask god to help you but until you start doing something to mend those circuits there's no indication that god's going to mend them automatically on the other hand on the other hand as old tevye said Tapiacean other hand he's always reasoning with himself well on the other hand some of you tend to be very practically minded something needs to be done you say lord help me and you set out and you do it and your whole orientation in terms of psychology in terms of the way god puts you together in your mother's womb you're very practically minded you're industrious you know how to set goals

53:56 and press after those goals and your tendency will be to say well look if you got a problem here you just work on it you just work on it and there is not a real oh there may be a token asking of god's help that's all it is it's tokenism you know it's a now i lay me down to sleep kind of attitude with regard to the thing and you know what god will do god will mock you he'll let you go on with all your foot pedal religion like he said you know the land into which you're coming is not like egypt when you had a drought down in egypt all you did was pump a little harder because everything came out of the nile and they had a beautiful irrigation so So when you needed water you just pumped away see and god says the land into which i bring you is

54:38 the land of hill and valleys and you don't walk with me i'll shut up the heavens when i shut up the heavens you had it ain't no irrigation systems there in gaiman you walk with me and i'll send early in latter rain and you'll have crops you don't walk with me i'll shut up the heavens it's not like the land out of which you're coming now some of us you see our egypt was a land where we pretty well got whatever we set our minds to get by sheer doubt and we're not going to get there dint of effort and discipline've fine but now you're in the new ballpark without me do nothing john fifteen four jeremiah seventeen five cursed is the man who trust in man and makes flesh his arm whose heart departs from the lord

55:22 so some of you are going to have to learn what it is to play with god earnestly for certain thing that's that's in so elementary but He's going to teach you the utter necessity of His grace. And if there's any text that you ought to continually meditate upon, it's Philippians 2, 12, and 13.

55:42 One of the texts that God used for my liberation from the paralysis of some of the deeper life passivity teaching that almost ruined me, because I took it seriously. Most people around it who were teaching it to me, they didn't take it seriously. That's why they could exist and live a sane life. But I was taking it seriously and almost drove me out of my tree.

56:04 Some think it did, but anyway. And I never got back in. But anyway, here's the text. So then, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

56:23 Now, if anything is a call to conscious, whole-souled endeavor that engages all of my faculty, under the eye of God and in the fear of God, it's verse 12. Work out your own salvation with fear and with trembling, so conscious of the awesome responsibilities laid upon you, and you can't shift them off on anyone else, and you can't even shift them off on God. He's laid them on you. For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

57:00 His working and my working. Our concurrent reality. The reality of His working doesn't negate the necessity of mine. The necessity and reality of my working doesn't cancel the validity and the reality of His working.

57:17 There is confluence of my working and His working. And wonder of wonders, at the end of the day, when I find that I have worked and I have labored, I acknowledge that even the desire as well as the strength to work for His good pleasure is an obligation. But you see, He didn't work to cancel my willing and my working. That is in what the text says.

57:42 It doesn't say it's God who works through you to will and to work. It's God who works in you both to will and to work, so that if my will chooses to stand in front of the mirror and find why in the world I can't pronounce a T-H as I ought, I cry to God and ask Him to help me. And then I go look in front of the mirror and say, God, how are you doing? And then I go look in front of the mirror and say, the mirror and pronounce my oh now i see what i'm doing wrong and i stop doing that and i start and lo and behold i say thank you lord you worked in me the willing and the working for your good

58:19 pleasure so in this course there will be a constant assumption of this delicate confluence and interaction of the divine and the human elements in every aspect of the work of the ministry well i think we ought to break there now we completed the first three points of our introductory lecture and the final one dealing with the presuppositions and i want to add just a little ps to that on this matter of the constant confluence and interaction of the divine and the human i came across a choice statement the other day in an old work again i've never seen and one

59:03 of my friends who keeps his eyes open and used bookstores picked this up i think for a dime called the ideal ministry by johnson published by revel apparently went through just one edition he was professor of homiletics and pastoral theology at auburn and then mccormick theological seminary just at the turn of the century but on this matter of the interaction and confluence of the spirit and our own activity mr johnson says this cooperation of the spirit in the preaching of the spirit of the spirit of the spirit of the spirit of the spirit of the spirit of the spirit starts with the selection of a theme or the choice of a text it continues through the meditation on

59:43 it the elucidation of it the construction of the discourse and its actual delivery it is not simply there at the contact of the sermon with the hearer's heart in the public assembly that the aid of the spirit is to be invoked and expected throughout the whole process he is a cooperating agent ignore this and we are left to naturalism in the most important department of ministerial toil ignore this that is the reality of the spirit's health and we are left to naturalism in the most important department of ministerial toil now i would balance it by saying

60:26 believe this in a wrong way and we are left to mysticism in which our minds are not active in the proper selection of the text our minds are not active and disciplined in the elucidation construction etc let the preacher believe it and get thoroughly possessed with the conviction that in the entire ordering as well as in the issues of homiletic preparation for the pulpit the spirit of god has a cooperating agency that the mightiest agent in the universe is silently constantly lovingly working with him in all of his work and in all of his work and in all of his work and in all of his work in all the process of the sermon

Summary of Course Scope and Lecture Structure

61:08 and in all the conduct of the public service and what intensity of devotion will be given to it of zeal in temper with the holy spirit zeal which must be as christ's was will be the preachers as he studies and analyzes and plans in the prosecution of his preparation for the sabbath and for the sanctuary well i found that affirming affirming uh... that very fundamental presupposition these final two points of the lecture taking me just a couple of minutes we want to address ourselves very briefly now to a brief summary of the scope

61:50 of the course lectures now what i've attempted to do is to structure the entire pastoral theology course in terms of a biblical concept of the work of the ministry and therefore the three the three main divisions will be the essential elements of effective pastoral preaching as you can see from your abstract we will consider those essential elements of effective pastoral preaching as they relate to the man himself a man before god a man before his people a man in relationship to himself

62:34 and then the second major division the sermon its content in form of the other two nares act of delivery that is the first major division will do we'll have to deal with the whole matter of effective pastoral preaching then we will deal with the essential elements of effective pastoral oversight since the work of the ministry is not only the work of preaching and teaching but shepherding the flock of god in its wider dimensions that would take a

63:15 it's five and six first four units all have to do with the subject of the essential elements of effective pastoral preaching so you see how my presupposition comes through in the amount of time given and space and then the essential elements of effective pastoral oversight and then as the course is grown we sort of chop things off here and maybe eventually it'll grow to unit seven and eight the essential elements of effective pastoral intercession we will give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word and so the lectures are at least an effort

63:56 to reflect a biblical perspective on the work of the ministry it is a work of preaching of guiding shepherding overseeing the flock and it is a work peculiar ministerial intercession and prayer so if you ask why things are structured the way they are that's why and that's why it undergoes modification in some of its details as i hope my own thinking matures in contact with the word and with the work of the ministry and those divisions are not set of course in concrete and then finally

64:37 fifth point of our general introduction today is just a word regarding the actual structure of each class period generally we'll do what we've done this morning in that i will lecture at the front end when your minds are fresher for a solid hour sometimes a little more sometimes less usually more than less and then when i find a convenient breaking point somewhere between an hour an hour and 10 or 15 minutes we break for 10 minutes or so and then i do a little mopping up with the final point of the lecture which usually takes anywhere from 15 to minutes to a you

65:18 20 minutes half an hour and that generally leaves us sometime on the tail end for questions and answers now originally when i taught the course i'd pause anywhere along the way for questions and answers but when it became evident that there was a groundswell of nothing short of pleading with me from pastors all over the world can these lectures somehow be made available to us i felt we had to alter the form to make them more suitable for reproduction on tape and distribution and it's an encouraging thing now to know that there are groups of people in several parts of the world actually getting their pastoral theology studies uh... by trans

66:02 porting what's going on in this room to the philippines to the north of scotland several other places as well so this is the way we'll handle the actual structure of the time and uh... hopefully uh... questions that are relevant to the text of the lecture and the text of the lecture

66:19 of them to all of us will be entertained and we'll have opportunity for interaction and we try to complete our course by one o'clock five after because a number of you do have commitments and you're attempting to structure your afternoon in such a way that we don't want to cause any undue distress sometimes we let anyone go has to go if we're really engaged in a fruitful discussion we go on to 1 30 but if you have commitments please don't feel that we're going to think you unsociable being indifferent to the other brethren if you just quietly slip out on

66:59 one of those occasions when discussion may go on more than the normal amount of time okay good