The Pastor's Spiritual Development, Part 1

Introduction to Unit 1: The Essential Ingredients of Effective Pastoral Preaching

0:03 Now, in our first session last week, brethren, I set before you a general introduction to your course in pastoral theology, and in that introduction we covered the following ground. First of all, an explanation of the course title, precisely where does pastoral theology fit in relationship to the other major theological disciplines. And then I tried to give you a description of the nature of our course lectures, and then thirdly, an exposition of the formative presuppositions of these course lectures,

0:43 and then a brief summary of the course lectures, as you see that summary in the outline of Pastoral Theology 1 and 2, and then just a word about the general format of the actual lecture time. Now, this morning we begin our consideration. of Unit 1, and if you have your abstract, your outline before you, you will notice that Unit 1 is entitled, The Essential Ingredients of Effective Pastoral Preaching.

1:15 The Essential Ingredients or Elements of Effective Pastoral Preaching. And as you will see from your outline, we will eventually work through three major divisions under Unit 1. Those elements of effective pastoral preaching as they relate to the man himself, Roman numeral number 2 will be as they relate to the sermon, its content and form, and Roman numeral number 3 in the delivery or the act of preaching itself. Now, as we begin a careful consideration of this vast theme, let me first of all explain

Exegeting the Unit Title: 'Pastoral Preaching'

1:59 the wording of the unit title. What do I mean by the essential elements of effective pastoral preaching? And I'm going to exegete that heading to Unit 1. The first thing I want to exegete is the subject matter.

2:18 The subject matter of Unit 1 is pastoral preaching, with emphasis upon the word pastoral, assuming that the majority of you will ultimately be found in the false history of prayer. that the majority of you will ultimately be found in the false history of prayer. in the office of an under-shepherd, we are convinced that the kind of preaching that most of you will do will be preaching that can and must be described as pastoral preaching. That is, preaching that you will do week in, week out, month in, month out, hopefully year in, year out, in the context of pastoral relationships.

3:02 Now, many of the principles articulated will apply to all kinds of preaching in any preaching situation, but the conscious and the deliberate preoccupation of my mind in the formation of the lectures and in their delivery is with pastoral preaching, preaching that will be addressed to the broad spectrum represented in any ordinary congregation of God's people – congregations in which you will find diverse intellectual capacities, varied spiritual

3:41 conditions, and, as you will also find, a multifarious taste among your people, natural tastes with regard to subject matter, form, and manner of delivery. For some, you will never be animated enough. For others, you will be excessively animated. For some, you're never animated enough.

4:03 You're never long enough. For others, you are perpetually too long. For some, you don't repeat yourself enough. You go too fast.

4:12 For others, you are boring in your repetition of your heads. Well, that's what pastoral preaching is all about – preaching in a context to the same people basically week in, week out, month in, month out, preaching to the people of God as they exist in a given setting. Furthermore, under the concept of pastoral preaching, I'm thinking of that preaching which is carried on in the context of the living current of pastoral bonds – preaching which occurs where the heart of the preacher is bound to the people in realistic pastoral

4:56 love, knowledge, and compassion. Preaching which, hopefully, is carried on in the context of the living current of pastoral bonds. Preaching which occurs where the heart of the preacher is bound to the people in realistic, God-fearing, love-loving, worshipful, and respectful way. Preaching which's carried on in the context in which the hearts of the listeners are bound to you in love, esteem, appreciation, and biblical submission.

Exegeting the Unit Title: 'Effective Preaching' and the Distinction Between Preaching and Teaching

5:17 Now, when I use the term pastoral preaching, that's what I'm talking about. But then the second thing I want to say in exegeting the unit title is that we're talking about effective pastoral preaching. true preaching will contain strong elements and large blocks of teaching. There is no such thing as biblical preaching that is not teaching. But the scriptures do make a distinction between

5:55 preaching and teaching. In many passages, I quote several as merely specimen passages. In Matthew 9 and verse 35, it is said of our Lord, Matthew 9 and verse 35, Jesus went about all the cities and the villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. And here our Lord's ministerial labors are reigned.

6:31 under the three headings of teaching, preaching, and healing. Likewise, back in chapter 4 and verse 23, the same gospel, Jesus went about in all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of disease and sickness among the people. Now we find the apostle Paul using similar terminology in Acts chapter 20. In Acts chapter 20, as he reviews both the manner and the

7:11 substance of his ministry at Ephesus, he describes it in this way. Acts 20, 20, and 21. How I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, repenting of your sins, toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. He declared and he taught. And so there was

7:42 declaration and there was teaching. Now most of you will have to be both the primary teacher and primary preacher in the initial stages of church planting ministries. Until God is pleased to raise up men of sufficient power, he will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will

8:04 not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not

8:05 be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not

8:05 be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not

8:06 be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not be able to do that. He will not

8:06 sufficient gift and knowledge to whom some of the teaching and perhaps even occasional preaching responsibilities can be given, you will be the main teacher and the main preacher. And when we try to nail down the precise difference or distinctions of these two things, it's not an easy thing to do. But if my thinking is biblical on the matter, I would suggest to you that the distinction lies somewhere along this path. In teaching, the primary object is the impartation of an accurate understanding of the mind of God as contained in the Word of God.

8:49 In teaching, the primary object in view is to take something that is contained in the Scriptures, that is passed through the crucible of your own careful thought and organization, and now passes through the crucible of your own careful thought and organization, and now passes through your redeemed humanity, including your vocal apparatus, which you are seeking to impart in the minds of others. The primary object is the impartation of an accurate understanding of the mind of God as contained in the Word of God. Now, that's not the exclusive object.

9:30 No, but it is the primary object. You want them to know that they may eventually be. You want them to know that they may do. Whenever a man accurately teaches the Word of God, he will never forget the end for which that word was given, and that is the transformation of character into the moral likeness of Jesus Christ. So there is no such thing as biblical

9:55 teaching that is simply imparting the so-called pure white light of knowledge. No. But its primary object, though not the exclusive object, is the impartation of an accurate understanding of the mind of God. In preaching, the primary object is the confrontation of the affections and the will with the mind of God as contained in the Word of God. The primary object is the confrontation of the

10:29 affections and the will with the mind of God as contained in the Word of God. Now, to get to the affections and the will, you must impart truth. Therefore, all true preaching will involve teaching. But you see, the object is that you're going after man's soul in terms of his affections and will, and that is the object towards which you are driving the primary object in preaching. In the former, that is

11:00 teaching, the great preoccupation is the effective, clear impartation of biblical knowledge. Whether of a doctrinal or a practical theme. In the latter, that is preaching, the great preoccupation is the searching, powerful application of biblical knowledge, whether doctrinal or practical in its theme. Now, from this attempt to at least point in the direction of the distinction between teaching and preaching, it should be obvious that one can and must

11:40 teach in all true preaching, but one need not necessarily do much preaching in that which could legitimately be called true teaching. Now, our concern is in this unit with the essential elements of effective pastoral preaching. Now, along the way, I hope the manner in which I teach you will give you some principles of teaching. But we're concerned not to highlight the principles of effective teaching, though they will come in

12:19 obliquely, and I hope by example, but we are concerned with what it is that is essential if we are truly to preach so to handle the Word of God as to be effective in attacking the consciences and wills and affections of those to whom we minister. Now, if pastoral preaching is the subject of the service of God, then we must be concerned with what it is that is essential to matter, there are two qualifying concerns in our unit title. I've explained what I mean by pastoral preaching, but now we're talking about the essential elements of effective pastoral

13:00 preaching. Now, let's take the word effective. I have deliberately bypassed such words as forceful, though some effective preaching will be forceful. I've bypassed the word eloquent, though effective pastoral preaching may be tinged with eloquence. I've bypassed the word

13:22 impressive, successful, and I've chosen my word very purposefully. Effective preaching is that preaching which, under God's blessing, effects the ends for which preaching was instituted. Preaching is effective when it effects the end for which it was instituted.

The Ends of Effective Preaching: God's Glory, Sinner's Salvation, Saint's Edification

13:48 And what are... What are those ends? That God be glorified by the declaration of his revealed mind,

13:57 that sinners be saved and saints edified unto full-armed usefulness. That's it. And if you can reduce what you've got in your mind every time you enter the pulpit to that simple structure, it will save you from a thousand pitfalls. Why has God instituted preaching that he might be glorified in the declaration of his mind as revealed in Scripture, that sinners may be brought in penitence and faith to the foot of his Son, and that the saints may be built up into

14:38 spiritual maturity unto full-armed usefulness. That's what it's all about. It was never instituted to meet some kind of sick hunger in the heart of a man to be fawned over and loved. It was never looked upon as somebody special. It was never instituted simply to be an integral element in

14:59 the professional religious climate of the day. It was instituted by God that he would be glorified in the declaration of special revelation, and that in that declaration sinners be saved and saints be edified. Now, effective preaching may have elements of great force, forcefulness. It may have great effects at times of what could be called true eloquence and impressiveness, but it may have none of these things. But if the end for which it was instituted

15:38 is realized, it is effective preaching. And realizing that not many mighty, not many noble, not many wise are called, but God takes the weak, the foolish, the things that are not, the things that are despised, to bring to naught, things that are what Fox calls God's five-ranked army of descending human weakness with which he will conquer the world, then most of you who go through this place are not going to have your names go down in church history as great pulpiteers. And the sooner you give up that

16:12 ambition, the better. You can be effective preachers so that in the final day there will be people rise up and bless the eternal God that from your lips they were brought to the knowledge of themselves and of their Savior and were brought safely to heaven. And brethren, if you can bring a few people with you who can say that, then you've not lived nor labored in vain. Some people at times have asked me, well, as you see all this that God has brought to birth around you, did you ever think of this in your early days of the ministry? I said, of course not.

16:54 Well, what were your goals and your ambition? I said, God has witnessed that this was my goal. Many a time on my knees in a little study up in North Caldwell, I prayed, Lord, if you'll just give me some people who will love your word, if they're here, help me to teach them. If they're not, help me to be used to see them called into grace.

17:11 And if you'll just let me see a hundred people who give marks of grace and hunger to obey you, will be constituted into something that at least approaches a healthy church and taken to heaven in fairly good shape. Lord, I'm prepared to live, labor, and die. You didn't have much faith. Well, maybe I didn't, but that's all I was ambitious for.

17:38 And everything else that God has done and given, he's done it and given it. And that's my consolation when at times I feel like it's going to crush me. I say, Lord, I never asked for this. This is your doing. So you've got to give the strength to bear it. And that's a great comfort.

17:52 I wouldn't want to be in the place of an ambitious preacher when some of his ambitions begin to be realized. Then he has to ask, are these the fruit of God's working or my own cleverness? So effective preaching is just that. It is what McPherson in his wonderful little, book called The Burden of the Lord describes this way. And if you don't get the goosebumps

The 'Burden of the Lord' and the 'Essential Elements'

18:14 when you hear this, I doubt you're called to preach. Now, I won't go check your skin.

18:22 Christian preaching, therefore, is not the bare utterance of words, however skillfully woven on the loom of literary or oratorical art. It is infinitely more the communication of the word, the bearing and the delivery of a burden, and that burden, burden of the Lord, not just the burden of the Lord, but the burden of the Lord. The burden of the Lord. The burden which the Lord bestows, but the burden which the Lord himself is. Hence,

18:50 preaching is something august, sublime, and awe-begetting, a supernatural act, the transmission of a person, capital P, through a person, to a company of persons, a person so conveyed,

19:08 lasting Jesus, and about its shimmer true eyes men bring, mediated to mankind through the body of Mary, when the humble,

19:36 Hebrew maiden became the mother of her God. Now, effective preaching is to be considering the essential elements of that kind of preaching. That's the second qualifying. The essential

20:11 elements of effective passage are to dip into one of our presuppositions, the last one, that delicate interplay of the divine and the human. Because of the reality of the delicate interplay and confluence of the divine and human aspects in preaching, preaching is a mysterious, and in many respects, a very elusive thing. It is when you hear it, but you could write volumes and never be able to describe it. But in the light of what the scriptures give us, and the

20:50 masters who've looked over my shoulder and continue to look over my shoulder in seeking to wrestle with these matters, I've sought to strip the elements to their irreducible number, to set forth those aspects of preaching. Without which is done is either not preaching or not effect. Trying to address the essential, an essential element of any commodity is that without which the thing won't be what it's supposed to be. The essential element of a living human being is a head attached to the shoulders.

21:34 Take in what you've got left, Alice, and still be a human being. Some of you are getting to look like him by slow process. Through no fault of your own, you were genetically programmed to be a human being. You were genetically programmed to be a human being. You were genetically

22:00 programmed to be of the society of Elisha. Go up, thou bald head. So you see what I mean when I talk about essential elements. We're not dealing with matters that may be a full head of hair or no hair. We're not talking about broad shoulders or narrow

22:19 shoulders, but those things which, in the analogy of the human organism, without which you do not have a normal human being, we're going to consider those essential elements of effect pastoral preaching without which. Commodity does not exist. All right, so much for exegeting the title to unit one. Now, as you see in your outline, we take up, first of all, Roman numeral number one, the essential elements as they pertain to the man himself. Opening up this aspect of our study, I shall establish a basic

Principle Stated: The Preacher's Redeemed Humanity and Preaching Effectiveness

23:02 principle, and that's about all I'll probably have time to do this morning, and then amplify the principle along several vital lines. First of all, then, under the man himself, we have the principle stated, and I'm going to give you an axiom. Here it is. As a general rule, effective pastoral preaching, effective pastoral preaching is

23:32 realized in direct proportion to the health and vigor of the whole redeemed humanity of the preacher. As a general rule, effective pastoral preaching is realized in direct proportion to the health and vigor of the whole redeemed humanity of the preacher.ye That that? Now note I said, as

23:59 a general rule, I am fully aware that Scripture and church history teach us that there are

24:16 glaring exceptions, that there are some men who have perfect authority and the church some men who over a long period ministered with apparent effectiveness who ultimately manifested that they were devoid of grace, not to speak of health and vigor in the totality of their redeemed humanity. The God who speaks through a dumb ass can make Saul prophesy, can do anything in the way of making someone speak effectively for him who is yet devoid of

25:01 the operations of grace within him. And there are also many exceptions in the course of a true man's ministry. There may be times when a preacher is dull, backslidden, overly tired physically, mentally, emotionally, and yet will preach effectively. He may be emotionally tired, physically, mentally, emotionally, and yet will preach effectively.

25:24 He may be emotionally tired, physically, mentally, emotionally, and yet will preach effectively. He may be emotionally weak, intellectually sterile, and yet wonder of wonders. He may preach with effectiveness at such periods in his vicissitudes as a redeemed man. But the general rule is true.

25:41 As a general rule, effective pastoral preaching, week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, to the health and vigor of the whole redeemed humanity of the preacher. Scripture everywhere asserts and assumes that true preaching exists where there is no radical disjunction between the character of the man who proclaims and the content and intent of the

Scriptural Demonstration of the Principle: The Preacher IS the Message

26:21 message proclaimed. Titus 2 verse 7, In all things showing thyself, an example of these things. Someone had accompanied Mahatma Gandhi into various parts of India for several weeks, listened to him speak, observed his life, and at the end of that time said to him, Mr. Gandhi, can you please articulate very simply and pointedly, what is your message?

26:56 And he looked at the man and said, you've accompanied me for X number of days and weeks. My answer is, I am. My message. And if you've understood me, you understand my message.

27:13 Well, in a very real sense, brethren, we are our message. Now, I know it must be articulated. There must be verbal proclamation. There must be the didactic element.

27:25 But in terms of your life and my life, as the context out of which effective preaching is carried on, we are our message. You see, it was scribes and Pharisees who were denounced by our Lord because there was a great disparity between what they professionally proclaimed and what they personally embodied. They say, therefore, when they sit in Moses' seat, do what they tell you, but do not after their works, for they say and they do.

28:04 Matthew 23 verse 23. That's the mark of the Pharisee. What he may say in his profession, the original clerical position may be accurate and biblical and therefore worthy to be received, but it is not personally embodied and therefore receives the most scathing denunciations of our Lord. Again, the scriptures even go further and they indicate that there exists what we can call a cause and effect relationship between what a preacher is as a man and what he accomplishes

28:44 as a preacher. Scriptures go so far as to indicate that there exists a cause and effect relationship between what a preacher is as a man and what he accomplishes as a preacher. And I want you to look with me at several vital texts that demonstrate this. First Thessalonians chapter 1. This text

29:10 used to baffle me for years. Paul begins, as you know, with giving thanks for the ongoing manifesto of the Lord. He says, I will give thanks to the Lord, and I will give thanks to the nations of grace in the Thessalonian church. Then he says in verse 4, 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 4,

29:30 Knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election, how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, even as you know what manner of men we shall be. And he says, I will give thanks to the Lord, and I will give thanks to the

29:52 order of the Lord. You are a book, Lord, to our very Lord. You are a book, Lord, to our very Lord. You are a book, Lord, to our very Lord. You are a book, Lord,

30:22 authority, as you know what manner of men we shall be. And he says, I will give thanks to the the living embodiment of redemptive dynamic in us even as we preached and saw the effective operation of redemptive dynamic in you. We know your election because when we preached the gospel came not in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance or conviction even as you know what manner of men we showed ourselves towards you. Almost a cause and effect relationship.

31:00 The same in chapter 2 verses 10 and following. You are witnesses and God also how holily and righteously and unblameably we behaved ourselves towards you that believe as you know how we dealt with each one of you as a father with his own children. Exhorting you, encouraging you and testifying to the end that you should walk worthily of God who called you into his own kingdom and glory.

31:34 Almost sounds like carnal boasting doesn't it? But it isn't. What he is saying as he exhorts them to a life of holiness is that we embodied in our redeemed humanity the very thing to which we were exhorting you. That's what he's telling.

31:54 And then when Paul writes to Timothy 1st Timothy chapter 5 he's concerned about the totality of his redeemed humanity if he is to fulfill all of his ministerial duties. And so what does he do? Well he tells him in 1st Timothy 5 22 Lay hands hastily on no man that's a caution about ministerial activity do not quickly be prepared to sell your man apart for distinct public ministry. Now he says neither be partaker of other men's sins keep yourself pure.

32:37 Timothy in the midst of all of your ministerial functions be sure that you do not in any way get contaminated with the sins that are there in the lives of those to whom you minister. Be not a partaker of other men's sins and then he moves right on to this injunction. Be no longer a drinker of water but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake in mine oft infirmities. You see what he's saying? Timothy I'm

33:08 concerned about the health and vigor of your entire redeemed humanity. Yes I am concerned that you continue to walk in blameless holiness but I'm also concerned that you do whatever is necessary to be as healthy as you can be as well as holy as you can be. And you see for Paul, don't partake of sins, partake of wine. There is no contradiction.

33:36 Now I'm not here to give a polemic for the moderate use of wine.

33:41 What I'm saying is that it's obvious that as Paul thought of his spiritual son to whom he had given a tremendous spectrum of ministerial responsibilities he was concerned about the whole of Timothy's redeemed humanity. Timothy was not serving God. He was a disembodied Ephesus of a disembodied spirit. If that were so, all he'd have to do is say, don't partake of other men's sins.

34:08 He would have no infirmities. But he's concerned about his many infirmities and for one reason or another Timothy apparently was a teetotaler. And Paul says, Timothy don't bind your conscience to that in the light of your many infirmities apparently those that were localized in his gastrointestinal system. He says, take a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine oft infirmities.

34:35 Why did he do that? Did he just have a lapse of memory or mind and say, well, I think I'll play a doctor and practice medicine without a license? No. It's this perspective. Timothy's usefulness

34:47 is linked to the integrity and the well-being of his entire redeemed humanity. The health of his soul, the health of his body. So that's why I've used the terminology that as a general rule, there will be a direct proportion between the health and vigor of our whole redeemed humanity and our effectiveness as preachers. And then in Acts 11, 22 to 24, there is another text that sets forth this principle so clearly. Acts chapter

35:22 11, verses 22 to 24.

35:30 You remember the situation? God has brought about the persecution which has resulted in the spread of the gospel, and God is pleased to use these that were scattered abroad to go up into Antioch and speak the word of God. And now we read verse 21, the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned unto the Lord. And the report concerning them came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas as far as Antioch, who, when he was come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.

36:12 He was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit, and of faith, and much people was added unto the Lord. You see, nestled in between this description of the effective ministry to the saints, confirming them in their commitment to discipleship, and this state of wonderful gospel increase and success, the success as an edifier of the saints and an evangelist to the unconverted is a description of the man himself. He was a good man. It's a shame that term is so seldom heard in

36:56 our day, isn't it? He was a good man. He was a good man. He was a man who in the entirety of his redeemed humanity was marked by goodness, and the source of that goodness was the operation of the Spirit full of the Holy Spirit, and any man full of the Spirit is a man strong and vigorous in his faith, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. So, brethren,

The Pastor's Fundamental Task: Nurture of His Own Redeemed Humanity

37:27 I trust these four texts are sufficient to convince you that when I assert that as a general rule your effectiveness as a pastor-preacher will be in direct proportion to the health and vigor of your whole redeemed humanity, I'm not imposing something upon the Word of God. I'm simply trying to state in human language a principle frequently set forth in the Word of God. Now, it's precisely because of this principle that the fundamental task of the pastor and elder has to do with the nurture of his own redeemed humanity.

38:13 Fundamental task, the primary task of a pastor of his own I'm going to quote now, don't you? You can anticipate them. Acts 20, 28 and 1 Timothy 4, 16. After Paul reviews the manner of his life, the substance of his ministerial labors before the Ephesian elders and is now about to turn and charge them with ongoing pastoral responsibilities, his first charge focuses in upon this principle. Acts 20, 28

38:55 Take heed. Be continually paying close attention unto yourselves. Now notice, he does not say take heed unto your hearts alone. Take heed unto your souls alone.

39:11 He says take heed unto yourselves. The entirety of what you are as a body, soul, entity, as redeemed men, set among the flock as under shepherds, take heed unto yourselves. That is your baseline, primary fundamental duty. It is the nurture, the cultivation, the health and the well-being of your own redeemed humanity.

39:42 And to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit made you overseers. And what does God make overseers? He makes redeemed men. Redeemed men. Not

39:58 unredeemed angels,

40:02 not redeemed glorified men, but redeemed men with remaining sin, with this body that has the seeds of death within it, that is called by the apostle the body of our humiliation, and yet we are placed in the position of overseers, and our first task is to take heed unto ourselves. And then the same emphasis in 1 Timothy 4.60. After laying upon Timothy a massive amount of ministerial responsibilities.

40:39 Sometime take an unmarked Bible and then just using an unusually colored pencil or pen circle all the ministerial imperatives in the pastoral epistles. I mean the things God laid on Timothy, full well knowing that he was naturally physically weak, apparently a bit timid, relatively young and inexperienced. When you look at the things he lays upon him and yet above all of those he turns to Timothy and says in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 14 and following do not neglect the gift that is in you which was given you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Be diligent in these things. Give your

41:21 self wholly to them that your progress may be manifest unto all. Take heed. Pay close attention to yourself and to the teaching. Continue in these things for in doing this you will save both yourself and those that hear you.

41:44 Timothy, your first responsibility is here. Pay close attention to yourself. A present imperative. Continually paying attention to yourself.

41:57 Your great concern is to save yourself. That is to see the saving work of God in its ongoing dimensions operative in your own heart and life to such an extent that your progress as a man as well as a minister may be manifested unto. Those two texts brethren, I trust the Holy Ghost will etch upon your mind and your heart because as I said last night to the missionaries and pastors in that meeting in Phillipsburg, it is here that the greatest warfare will be waged to the end of your life. The maintenance of the disciplines

42:41 essential to fulfill this responsibility, namely, the nurture of my own redeemed humanity. And I come back to the axiom now as a general rule. Effective pastoral preaching will be realized in direct proportion to the health and vigor of the whole redeemed humanity of the preacher. Now let me bring in the witness from the past. First of all

Witness from the Past: Spurgeon and Murphy on Piety and Self-Culture

43:11 Spurgeon, who alas I fear at times, driven by such a heart of compassion for sinners, forgot some of his own exhortations. Not for the nurture of his inner life but I fear he killed himself in terms of the nurture of his tent of clay. In his chapter on the minister's self-watch, he says to the young men in his college, we are in a certain sense our own tools and therefore must keep ourselves in order. If I want to preach the gospel, I can use only my own voice.

43:54 Therefore I must train my vocal powers. I can only think with my own brains, feel with my own heart, and therefore I must educate, listen, my intellectual and emotional faculties. Educating my emotional faculties. Yeah, that's what he said.

44:16 And he was right. I can only weep and agonize for souls in my own renewed nature. Therefore must I watchfully maintain the tenderness which was in Christ Jesus. It will be in vain for me to stop my life.

44:33 Library, organized societies, project schemes, if I neglect the culture of myself, for books and agencies and systems are only remotely the instruments of my holy calling. My own spirit, soul, and body say that, the whole humanity are my nearest machinery for sacred service.

44:59 My spiritual faculties in my inner life are my battle acts and weapons of war. Make shame writing to a ministerial friend who was traveling with a view to perfecting himself in the German language used language identical with our own, quote, I know you will apply hard to German but do not forget the culture of the inner man. I mean of the heart. How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his saber clean and sharp. Every stain

45:27 he rubs off with the greatest care. Remember, you are God's sword. His instrument. I trust the chosen vessel unto him to bear his name in great measure according to the purity and perfection of the instrument will be the success.

45:46 It is not great talents God blesses so much as likeness to Jesus. And then his famous saying, a holy minister is an awesome weapon in the hand.

46:03 A holy minister is an awesome weapon in the hand of God. And then he goes on to amplify this matter and makes this statement. You all know the injurious effects frequently produced upon water through flowing along lead pipes. Even so the gospel itself in flowing through men who are spiritually unhealthy may be debased until it grows injurious to the hearers.

46:35 And may I say, brethren, if you are physically and emotionally unhealthy, the gospel can be debased as it flows through you. There must be concern for the nurture of the whole of your redeemed humanity. And then listen to Murphy as he speaks along the same lines in the opening section of his book on pastoral theology. It should be laid down as our first principle that eminent piety is the indispensable quality for the ministry of the gospel.

47:12 By this is not meant simply a piety, the degree of which is above that of ordinary believers. It is meant that there should be a more thorough infilling of the Holy Spirit, a more absolute consecration of all the powers and faculties to the service of God, a more complete conformity to the likeness of the Lord Jesus, a greater familiarity with the mind of the Spirit, a nearer approach to the perfect man in Christ Jesus in those who take upon them the privileges and the responsibilities of the pastor than are commonly expected even in true Christians. The pastor should not be satisfied with reaching the

47:57 general standard of spirituality. He has devoted himself to a high and holy office to which he believes himself called, and hence he has need of a very high tone of piety. As a minister appointed to serve in the sanctuary and wait upon souls, how deep should be his humility. His great aim is to save men, and it will not therefore suffice to him to have merely the ordinary sympathy with the suffering and the lost. He is to be a leader

48:27 in the spiritual host of God. Must he not therefore go before others in spiritual attainments, to draw men up to a more and more elevated standard of piety and devotedness, is the appointment he holds from the great head of the church? Surely he must himself rise still higher. And then he goes on to amplify the fact that we must develop in all areas, and then he comes back and says, however, the first thing for the young minister to consider is how he may attain to this degree of holiness in heart and in life. How often do

49:09 other things occupy the mind? How much more anxiety there generally is about other branches of preparation? But this should be before them all and at the root of them all and ever present to give character to them all. You see what he's saying?

49:28 Yes, there must be concern about all the other disciplines, but this concern must be before all others, lie at the root of all others, and ever present to give character to all others. Then he goes on to say, why do I continue to write on this subject? Why do I not desist and go on? He says, because of its superlative importance, there is no other point in the whole subject that needs to be so thoroughly impressed upon us as this. It must

50:07 not be overshadowed by the consideration of other things, even though they too are necessary in preparing for the practical duties of the minister. We would have it so conspicuous and so deeply impressed on the heart and conscience that it may give complexion to all our other studies on the subject. And then he ends up with the text that brethren, I pray that God by the Holy Spirit this morning and throughout all of your days in this place will convince you with such a conviction that you can never be

50:50 comfortable if you're living contrary to that conviction. That if you're to be an effective pastoral priest, that effectiveness will be realized in direct for the health and humanity health. The principle will take up principle

Amplifying the Principle: The Man as a Man Before God

51:31 amplified and the specifics of that. Brethren, in the previous hour I sought to state and demonstrate the major principle that lies at the heart of our taking up as our first major concern, the man himself with reference to the essential elements of effective pastoral preaching. Now having articulated and demonstrated the principle we now begin to amplify and apply the principle and you'll

52:15 see according to your outline we'll consider the man himself as a man before God, spiritually, intellectually, physically and emotionally then as a man before his people and then as a man in relationship to himself. What we'll do in the time that remains today is to consider the man as a man before God and then just the first subheading, spiritually, we'll get an introduction to it. Now what do I mean when I speak of the man as a man before God? Well I'm trying to capture what is set forth in such texts as 2 Timothy 2 and verse

52:59 15, 2 Corinthians 2.17,

53:05 2 Timothy 4.1 and 1 Corinthians 4.1-5 and let me just briefly read and comment upon those texts. As Paul is admonishing Timothy as he does periodically through these two letters about his own personal responsibilities he says in 2 Timothy 2.15

53:30 give diligence or do your utmost to present yourself approved unto God. A workman that needs not to be ashamed handling aright the word of truth. In other words, Paul wants Timothy to think continually within a mindset in which his accountability to God is his supreme consciousness in the work of the ministry in all of its facets. Do your utmost to show yourself approved unto God. It isn't

54:08 enough. If the level of your attainments in grace and ministerial efficiency receive the approbation of men you must be concerned supremely about the eye of God and the approbation of God himself. Similar emphasis in 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 17. For we are not as the many corrupting the word of God but as of sincerity but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

54:42 Paul says in all of my exercises of gospel proclamation I never forget that I am carrying out my task in the sight of God. And then in the familiar 2 Timothy 4 passage when he charges Timothy with his great responsibility as a preacher he seeks to bring him into the context of the immediate presence of God and then the ultimate manifestation of the true nature of his character and ministry in the day of judgment. I charge you in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus who shall judge the living and the dead and by his appearing in his kingdom

55:27 preach the word. Timothy as you carry out your task cultivate a mindset that always remembers you are doing this in the sight of God as one who is on his way to the great unveiling at the judgment seat of Christ. And then in that lengthier passage 1 Corinthians chapter 4 1 to 5 the apostle gives us another clear indication of how he thought with reference to this matter of his being a man essentially and primarily answerable to God. Let a man so account of us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries

56:11 of God. Here moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. But with me it's a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea I judge not my own self for I know nothing against myself I don't have any present conscious controversy with God in the theater of my own conscience.

56:35 Yet am I not hereby justified but he that judges me is the Lord wherefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts and then shall each man have his praise from God. The very thing Pastor Nichols has been emphasizing began to emphasize last Lord's Day. This whole element of the fear of God this consciousness that I am supremely a man living out my life as a man and a servant of Christ in the eye of God. And if we are to be effective preachers we must start here as men

57:19 before God in terms of the totality of our redeemed humanity and now I want us to start with the first strand of that humanity namely our spiritual development.

Spiritual Development: Maintaining a Real, Expanding, Varied, and Original Acquaintance with God

57:35 Alright as a man before God we're going to now introduce this subheading our spiritual development and here I will give you again as I often do an axiom state of principle explain it and then we'll apply it God willing next week in our lecture but spiritually this is the axiom you must maintain real expanding varied

58:14 and original acquaintance with God and his ways you must maintain real expanding varied and original acquaintance with God and his ways now as I seek to exegete that axiom let me quote from Stalker in his book The Preacher and His Models to which I made reference last week Stalker on pages 54 and 5 speaks as follows perhaps of all causes

58:58 of ministerial failure the most common lies here and of all ministerial qualifications this although the simplest is the most trying either we've never had a spiritual experience deep and thorough enough to lay bare to us the mysteries of the soul or our experience is too old and we've repeated it so often it's become stale to ourselves we've made reading a substitute for thinking or we've allowed the number and the pressure of the duties of our office to curtail our prayers and shut us out of our studies or we've learned the professional tone

59:43 in which things ought to be said and we can fall into it without present feeling see what he's saying we know how it ought to be said if there were feelings we can say it that way without present feeling power for work like ours is only to be acquired in secret it is only the man now you'll see where I got some of the thoughts for my axiom it is only the man who has a large varied and original life with God who can go on speaking about the things of God with fresh interest but a thousand things happen to interfere with such a prayer and meditative life

60:26 it's not because our arguments for religion are not strong enough that we fail to convince but because the argument is lacking which never fails to tell and that is religion itself people everywhere can appreciate this and nothing can supply the lack of it the hearers may not know why their minister with all his gifts does not make a religious impression on them but it is because he his he is himself no longer a spiritual power and brethren nothing nothing will substitute for this maintenance of a real expanding

61:10 varied and original acquaintance with God his ways now let me exegete that word by word you must maintain a real acquaintance with God in his ways now by real I mean that which is in contrast to what is either feigned or merely formal and professional God I could stand before you and say that I had never feigned spiritual vigor would God I could say that the semblance of spiritual vigor was never merely formal or professional but you and I must at all cost

61:53 maintain a real acquaintance with God and his ways though there is a sense in which it was unique for the apostles to say yet in principle we must be able to say that which we have seen and heard in our hands and handled of the word of life that we proclaim unto you we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard out of the abundance of the heart the mouths and if the heart is devoid of real present acquaintance with God and his ways there will be to discerning people something lacking

62:37 in the most accurate ministry I quote that old Scottish woman who said to the denominational executive or denominational leader who was helping a small church in Scotland try to find a pastor sir please send us a man who knows God other than by hearsay send us a man who knows God other than by hearsay what she was saying is she was a real acquaintance with God and his ways but then I've used the term we must maintain a real expanding

63:22 acquaintance with God and what do I mean expanding well as glorious as our initial acquaintance may have been with God and his grace there is much more of God to be known and much more of ourselves to be known than is ever ever encompassed in that initial revelation of grace.

63:49 Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3.18, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into that image from one stage of glory unto another. There's a beautiful demonstration of this pattern. In Paul's case, it was by direct revelation, ours in the ordinary means, but the principle is the same.

64:15 What could be more glorious than to hear the voice of the glorified Christ, to be blinded with a vision of His glory, to be directly called into grace and service by the voice of Christ, and yet, in commissioning Him, we read in Acts 26 and verse 16 these words, Arise, stand upon your feet, to this end I have appeared unto you, to appoint you a minister and a witness, both of the things wherein you have, have seen me, and there's more to come, of the things wherein I will appear unto you. You will be a witness of what you have seen, and of the things that are yet to come.

64:59 It's like a long and a healthy marriage. That's one of the most amazing things to me. Thirty years my wife and I have been married, and yet there is ongoing, real, fresh acquaintance with one another, and expanding acquaintance with each other. Now, if, if two finite creatures cannot fully know one another, even though they're married in a healthy marriage for seventy years, what a range is open to us when the finite is knowing the infinite.

65:32 So when I speak of an expanding acquaintance with God and His ways, it's that that I'm addressing.

Exegesis of the Axiom: 'Varied' and 'Original' Acquaintance with God

65:41 But I've also used the term varied acquaintance with God and His ways. We must maintain not only a real and expanding acquaintance, but a varied acquaintance with God. The scriptures, particularly the Psalms, clearly indicate that an expanding relationship to God is not experienced on a level plane. As surely as the joys of a growing Christian become more solid, so his griefs become more acute.

66:16 The pain you may have felt in the initial disclosure of your heart is nothing, nothing to the pain you feel, to the subsequent disclosures of just how foul your heart is.

66:29 I'll never forget when I heard Tozer say, the most sickening sight I've ever seen is my own heart.

66:42 And in our acquaintance with God and His ways, there are times when our joys will rise to the cymbal clashing and trumpet-blasting tenor of Psalm 150. There'll be other times when we will feel ourselves in the funeral dirge of a psalm singer, a psalm 69 and a psalm 51.

67:08 But it's a varied acquaintance with God, which alone is a real acquaintance with God. And brethren, you and I must have it if we are to be effective at the pastoral level. Because if we're ministering to true saints, their experience is varied. And if yours becomes stilted and wooden and lopsided, there will be many of your sheep who'll never hear a word addressed to their need.

67:37 But then it must be done. But then it must be done. But then it must be done. But then it must be done.

67:40 But then it must be done. But then it must be done. But then it must be done. But then it must not only be a real and expanding, a varied, but an original acquaintance with God and His ways.

67:49 And what do I mean by original? Well, the Word of God is full of concepts of solidarity and community. And in a day of crass individualism, we need to understand that and preach it. And in many things, we stand in identical relationships of solidarity.

68:09 We are one in Adam. We are one in all the horror and wretchedness of what that involves. We are one in Christ, in all the glory and blessedness that that involves.

68:25 We are one in our identification with the one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one God and Father of all. But the same scriptures that set forth these concepts of solidarity and community present the noblest individualism. The hairs of your head are numbered. Now, what's more individual than the hairs of your head?

68:48 I don't mean to be picking on the bald ones, but it should take comfort that God knows every single one that was left on the pillow last night. The hairs of your head are numbered. He calls His sheep by name. What's more personal than your name?

69:06 You can be in a crowd of 300 and someone says your name. When He putteth forth His own, He goes before them, He calls them by name. And therefore, in our acquaintance with God, there is an element of originality. We must not seek to parrot the language of the experimental divines.

69:31 We must not seek to echo the present dealings of God with another. But we must be prepared for what I know not what else to call, but the loneliness of an ongoing, developing walk with God. Again, I remember Tozer writing or speaking on that, that text in the Psalms, Thy way is in the sea, thy paths are not known. And he went on in a most beautiful way to show that in a footpath, after ten people have walked over it, you can see the path, it's marked out.

70:10 There's a trail over which carts run, cars run, they leave their tracks. But he said as many ships as have plied the sea, once the wake has been absorbed into the sea, there's no path. The next ship goes on, it goes out as though it were the first one. He said so it is in the man who would walk with God.

70:32 There's no set path. Thank God there is the chart and compass and the sexton to the word of God, the principles of scripture and Christian biography, and the fellowship of the brethren to guide us. But there's no well-marked path into which you can just sort of set your wheels, take your hand off and fold your arms and know that you'll just go along. There's an element of loneliness, thank God, what could be more blessed than a lonely night in which God comes to a frightened Jacob?

71:05 And there's a ladder stretched up between earth and heaven and God visits him. Well that's what I'm talking about brethren, the original acquaintance with God and his ways in which you must be prepared for God to unfold himself and his ways to you in terms of his knowledge of both your personal need and what you need to know. and experience at any given point to be all He would have you to be to your people. And when you get together and consult with one another, you'll never be able to throw down identical blueprints as you trace out the ways of God.

71:44 Now hopefully, whatever those ways have been, we can all say through tears or through joy, God is faithful, God is good, God is wise. But how His faithfulness, goodness, and wisdom work themselves out in one brother will be entirely different in its details as to how He works them out in another. And I foolishly can remember when I'd read in biography how men were made men of God through suffering. I'm so glad God didn't answer my prayer.

72:17 I said, Lord, I don't know what it's like to suffer like that. How can I be a man of God? Give me that kind of suffering. Little did I know what I was asked.

72:24 I might have apostatized that He'd given me the baptisms of suffering that He gave me and left me. But I saw men who were rich with suffering and I wanted that. I wanted to have those overtones of tenderness and richness that only a man that's suffered has.

72:44 But God has His own original blueprint for every one of us. You just walk with God. And when it's time for Him to bring you through what the old mystics called the dark night of the soul, He'll bring you through your dark night. And He'll cause it to end at precisely His own hour.

73:02 And there are times when experience alone will exegete the Word of God.

73:09 Experience alone will exegete the Word of God. So be prepared for an original acquaintance with God and His ways. And you see how that will spill over into your ministry. Not to speak of the freshness in your prayers and your pastoral duties, but just in your preaching.

73:28 People will not be able to say, oh yes, I know what comes after that and what comes after that. No, no. There's a sense in which they sit wondering, what will come next? Because I know that God's dealings with His servant who is the mouthpiece of the Lord to instruct me are not static dealings.

Conclusion and Next Steps

73:48 They are not dealings that are cut according to some precast mold. But that He is in the orbit of an original acquaintance with God and of His ways. Well, God willing, next week we're going to take up the very vital question, how? How?

74:06 Is such an acquaintance with God to be pursued and experienced? If I must have a real, varied, original acquaintance with God and His ways, how am I to pursue that? And in answer to that question, we'll trace out some categories of spiritual disciplines which must form the faculty, the fabric of your own walk with God. But that's for next week.

74:41 Here I'm going to stop for this morning. And this will give us an opportunity for questions and interaction, contributions that some of you may wish to make. All right?