The Pastor's Physical and Emotional Growth, Part 1

The Necessity and Inevitability of Concern for the Preacher's Physical and Emotional Health

0:04 Well, in our opening lectures this fall, brethren, as you know, we've been concentrating our attention on the essential elements of effective pastoral preaching, as these elements concern the man of God himself. And in the unfolding of this subject, we've considered the man before God in his spiritual well-being and development, last week in his intellectual growth, freshness, and maturation, and today we move to a third and equally vital aspect of the man before God, namely, that of his physical and emotional health and vigor. One of the essential elements to sustained effectiveness in pastoral preaching is the physical and emotional health and vigor of the preacher himself. Now, in developing the subject...

1:03 There will be three major units of thought, and the first is, without any lengthy introduction as I often give you, number one, the necessity and inevitability of this concern for the preacher's emotional and physical health. The necessity and inevitability of this concern for the preacher's emotional and physical health.

1:38 There are some who would question whether such a theme should be made a vital and an organic part of lectures in pastoral theology. And my rejoinder to those who would question either the wisdom or the necessity of including this subject is that such a concern is both necessary and inevitable for four basic reasons.

2:07 The first three... The first three are derived from special revelation, the scriptures, and the last from the book of general revelation.

2:16 So the necessity and the inevitability of this concern for the physical and emotional health and well-being of the man of God is rooted in these four categories of revelation. Number one, the biblical doctrine of man demands this concern. And I've chosen my words...

Biblical Doctrine of Man Demands This Concern

2:39 In other words, carefully and purposely, the biblical doctrine of man not merely suggests but demands this concern. In your systematics course, you either have or will eventually come to the doctrine of man under the heading, of course, of anthropology. And in that course, you will learn that man is not essentially and primarily a soul, but is in fact a man who is merely housed in a body. The concept of the knife in the sheath, the hand in the glove, the old pagan concept that the true man, the soul, is merely sheathed in the body as the knife in its sheath, or is merely gloved by a body as a hand in its glove. Rather, you will learn from the creation account that man as life is to be found in likeness of man, from the beginning. living soul is a body-spirit entity, and that apart from the body, his true identity cannot be understood or appreciated. Genesis 2 and verse 7, And God breathed into him the breath of life,

4:05 and man became living soul. And what was living soul was this body-spirit entity. Furthermore, the scriptures make it abundantly clear that although there is a distinction between the body and the soul, Matthew 10, 28, James 1, as the body apart from the spirit is dead, yet the scriptures teach us that there is a powerful, delicate, and constant interplay between the body and the soul. Long before the term psychosomatic was popularized, the term psychosomatic was popularized.

4:49 In medical and psychological circles, the reality of it is clearly recognized in Holy Scripture. Assembling, just several texts out of the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 3, As the father is urging his son, as the teacher urges his pupil to a life of godliness, to a life of true wisdom, notice the motivation. Proverbs 3, 7, and 8, Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It will be health to your navel, and marrow or moistening to your bones. A healthy man was a man whose bones were considered to be well-moistened. And he says, if you walk in the way of heavenly wisdom and in the way of righteousness, it will be health to your navel. The center of life is health to your bones.

5:50 As life begins in our mother's womb and then is, as it were, becomes a separate entity when the umbilical cord is cut, it will be health to your navel and marrow to your bones. In other words, the life of godliness, he says, to which I urge you, is a life in which there will be a direct relationship between godliness and good health. Proverbs 4, verses 20 to 23, My son, attend to my words. Incline your ears to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes.

6:30 Keep them in the midst of your heart, or they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Here's a passage in which the internal absorption of the word is enjoined. The guarding of the inner source of life, keeping the heart, is enjoined. But in the midst of it, there is this word, for they are life to those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Now, there's no way you can spiritualize that. Here is a direct relationship between true internal godliness and the health of the flesh. And chapter 17 and verse 22, a cheerful heart, internal, emotional, psychological state, is a good medicine.

7:34 But a broken spirit, an internal, emotional, psychological state, dries up the bones. It has a physiological effect upon the whole constitution. Chapter 18 and verse 14, the spirit of a man is internal, non-physical. In material essence, the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a broken spirit, who can bear? A broken spirit, an internal, emotional, and psychological disruption can have a tremendous effect upon the physical frame, just as in the midst of infirmity, a man who has a joyful, ebullient spirit is even lifted above. In the midst of infirmity, a man who has a joyful, ebullient spirit is even lifted above. In the midst of infirmity, a man who has a joyful, ebullient spirit is even lifted above. What would normally be the crippling effect of that physical infirmity. So it moves both ways.

8:29 We have the health of the soul pumping life into the body, and we have just the opposite. We have the non-life of the soul, the death of the soul, the disruption of the inner life, pumping, as it were, non-health into the body. And surely we see this illustrated in scripture, you remember David's sin and his subsequent period of impenitence when he records the fruit of that in Psalm 6, Psalm 32, and Psalm 51. The physiological effects of unconfessed sin are clearly delineated in those psalms. Those are not the only psalms, but those are three of the most powerful witnesses to this truth. And then, of course, you remember in life, Elijah's depression in 1 Kings 19, 2 and following. Here was a man, physically, emotionally, and spiritually spent. And in the midst of that, he goes into this tremendous state of depression,

9:37 and God's first ministry was not to rub his conscience raw. It was to give him sleep and food. And then a period of total detachment from pressure, and then and only then, when he was alone in that cave, God began to go after his conscience and say, Elijah, what do you do here? His first ministry was not to his inner man. His first ministry was to give him sleep and give him food. God recognizes the nature of the creature that he has made. Spurgeon, very wisely, and one wonders if he forgot some of his own counsel later on in life, very wisely to the men in the younger years of his ministry, said, these words in all-round ministry, not lectures to my students, but all-round ministry, page 198. As most of you know, these sermons are a selection of the sermons Spurgeon preached when his preacher boys came home for an annual convocation, sort of like what our pastor's conference is becoming

10:47 for our graduates, a homecoming. And Spurgeon would always preach to them as their beloved father and spiritual father. And he would always preach to them as their beloved father and spiritual father. And he would always preach to them as their beloved father and spiritual father.

10:55 And on this particular occasion, these words are prophetic, but they underscore so clearly the truth I'm trying to establish at this time. My dear brethren, I greatly value your prayers, and I feel intensely grateful for that Benjamin's share in them which is ever my portion. I never consciously needed your intercessions more than I do just now, for I may say with the psalmist, he weakened my strength in the way. After my severe illness, I'm trembling like a child who is only just commencing to use his feet. It is with difficulty that I keep myself up. What can you expect from one who can scarcely stand? During the last six weeks, I've considered from day to day what to say to you, but nothing has come of my consideration. My meditations have been a failure. I've gone to the pits and found no water, and returned with my vessel empty. My brain has been

12:01 so occupied with sympathy for the poor body that it has not been able to mount aloft with the eagle, nor even to plume its wings for the lower flight which I must needs attempt this morning. You see what he's acknowledging? My brain has been so occupied with sympathy for my body that it has not been able to mount aloft with the eagle, nor even to plume its wings for the That I couldn't think created thoughts. He understood that delicate interplay of the body and of the spirit, the state physically, the state mentally and emotionally.

12:39 One thing, however, is very clear to me. I am in communion with my subject and can speak as the good old people used to say, experimentally. I cannot, however, draw much aid from the fact, but I cast myself upon power divine, which has so many times been displayed in weakness. The Lord has been mindful of us. He will bless us.

13:06 And then he took as his text. Then I am weak. Then I am strong. And he says, my own feelings supply me with a commentary upon the text, and that's all the exposition I shall aim at.

13:20 He acknowledged that his mind was even too weak to do a critical analysis of the text that he was going to give, as it were, a testimony wrung out of the agony of the present state of his mind, which was the direct influence of the weakened state of his body. And that's why I use. That as a very clear extra biblical indication of this principle. So as we think of effective pastoral preaching, we must not only be concerned with the man before God and his spiritual development, the man before God in his intellectual development, but the man before God in his physical and emotional development for the simple reason that the biblical doctrine of man demands. Now, what is true of all men as men is nonetheless true, because the man happens to be called and equipped for the work of the ministry. We're still under that first line of proof.

The Law of God Demands This Concern

14:27 We are not like the angels, disembodied spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. Whatever we may be as new men in Christ, and I hope we are increasingly. More as new men in Christ and what we are, especially as those who are the gift of Christ to his church, we are still human by virtue of our distinct identity established by God in creation. Now, the man who forgets this fact and acts as though it were not true, does so to his own peril and to the undermining of his optimism.

15:10 The man who forgets this fact and acts as though it were not true, does so to his own peril and to the undermining of his optimism. The man who forgets this fact and acts as though it were not true, does so to his own peril and to the undermining of his optimism. God has made you with a nervous system. He's made you with your own peculiar circuitry, your own peculiar fuses.

15:21 And if you run too much current over that system for too long, something's going to blow. You have a body that is called an earthen vessel, and if it's pressed for found reason, it will crack. Now, I know special grace will be given under special circumstances to meet special conditions. special demands in the path of duty. But I also know that my Bible says thou shalt not tempt the Lord your God. And it's one thing for God to give special grace under special circumstances in the path of duty. It's another thing willfully and deliberately to place ourselves in a way in which we tempt God to physical or emotional breakdown or to a state physically and emotionally that keeps us from optimum usefulness in the work of the ministry. There comes a time when our Lord says to his disciples, Mark 6 31, come ye apart and rest a while. And as old Vance Havner said,

16:27 if you don't come apart, you'll come apart. Now I know that some lazy hireling may use what I've said as justification to become a ministerial hedonist, an ecclesiastical slugger, and a clerical parasite. But that's his abuse of what I've said. I know the Bible does have a doctrine of self-denial and what we might even say sanctified asceticism. First Corinthians 9 27, I keep under my body. I literally bruise it. I keep under my body. Lest in preaching to others, I myself should be ad hocimos, reprobate.

17:15 However, the Bible does condemn as that which is evil and of no use to true piety an attack upon our physical bodies. Colossians 2 20 to 23, that whole system of asceticism that was growing up around or with that Gnosticism, touch not, taste not, handle not. He says all of those things are of absolutely no use in terms of true spiritual progress. And it's interesting that in 1 Timothy 4 1 to 5, the doctrine of demons that Paul says was already at work did not attack the deity of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity, but attacked the reality of our humanity as it interacts with God's gifts. Doctrines of demons were what? Forbidding to abstain from meats and forbidding to marry. The meeting of fundamental God-given physical appetites.

18:15 And he says, It's demons that lead people to believe that in the path of negating those appetites, they will find a higher dimension of spirituality. Let me put it as bluntly as I know how. It may be a demonic influence that is driving you to neglect your body and your emotional health. It may not be the interest of genuine piety. It may be the influence of a false spirit. And remember, Satan at times presents himself as a what? As a minister of righteousness. You want to be a holy man? Flagellate yourself. Deny yourself the legitimate concerns of your body

19:00 and of your emotional health. And brethren, it is nonetheless the devil, even though he comes as a messenger of light and righteousness, supposedly urging in a path of holiness. So the scriptures, then, demand this concern for our physical and emotional health. Secondly, the law of God demands it. The law of God demands it. Now, if you're not familiar with the larger catechism, you ought to be, especially the section on the Ten Commandments. And if you've studied through the larger catechism, you know that under each of the commandments, the question is asked, what duty is commanded? What sin is forbidden? And with reference to the Sixth Commandment, thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not kill, the question is asked, what are the duties required in the Sixth Commandment? Listen to the answer. The duties required in the Sixth Commandment are

20:10 all careful studies and lawful endeavors, to preserve the life of ourselves and others. Careful study and lawful endeavor to preserve our own lives. That's part of the duty required by the Sixth Commandment. Further, in this lengthy paragraph, and then all the scriptural proofs are here, and many of them are right on target.

20:44 A sober use of meat, drink, physics, and what they mean by physics is proper medication, because the proof text is, for Isaiah said, let them take a lump of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil and he shall recover. So under the proof text for physics, they are saying medication. A sober use of meat, drink, medication, sleep, labor, and recreations. You mean the Puritan says it's our duty?

21:20 In keeping the Sixth Commandment, to have recreation? Yes. So the caricature we've had of the Puritans, that they sat around with doer faces and did nothing but say bah humbug if anyone laughed or had a good time.

21:38 No, remember, this is Puritan divinity at its distilled essence. A sober use of meat, drink, medication, sleep, labor, and recreations. Yes. And when you come to what sins are forbidden in the Sixth Commandment, listen to this.

21:57 The sins forbidden in the Sixth Commandment are the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life, immoderate use of meat, drink, labor, and recreations, and whatsoever else tends to the destruction of the life of any. God did not put any man in the midst of death. ministry to kill him, not the God who said thou shalt do no murder. Now sometimes in divine providence the work of the ministry does consume the man, and those are factors we can perhaps take up in discussion. But regulating our duty, not by God's exceptional dispositions of providence, but by his holy law, evangelical law-keeping demands that as a pastor I have a proper intelligent concern for the well-being of my physical and emotional constitution. And if you don't have conscience about this, I hope God will give you a conscience about it. It does not glorify God to see men entering ministry to kill him, not the God who said thou shalt do no murder. Now sometimes in divine

23:16 providence the work of the ministry does consume the man, and those are factors we can perhaps take up in discussion. But regulating our duty, not by God's exceptional dispositions of providence, but by his holy law, evangelical law-keeping demands that as a pastor I have a proper intellectual burnout because they have not honed their consciences by the law of God with reference to their duty in this area. All right, so there's the second line of concern with respect to this matter. Not only does our doctrine of man demand it, the law of God demands it, but thirdly, the biblical doctrine of salvation demands this concern. Why must I be concerned about this? Why must I be concerned about this? Why must I be concerned about this? Why must I be concerned about this? Why must I be concerned about this? Why must I be concerned about this?

Biblical Doctrine of Salvation Demands This Concern

23:48 Why must I be concerned for my physical and emotional well-being? Well, the biblical doctrine of salvation demands it. As sin has radically altered for the worse the totality of our humanity, body and soul, so grace has designed and provided a remedial and a restorative intervention that touches the whole of our humanity. 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 and 24.

24:16 And I pray, God, your whole body, soul and spirit be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, faithful as he who called you, who also will do it. The word of God is plain in teaching that God's saving purpose to conform us to the image of Christ means nothing less than the transformation of the totality of our humanity, body and soul. Whom he did foreknow, then he did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his Son. And what does that mean? Not simply the glorification and the perfecting of the Spirit. But as we read in these pivotal texts, Romans 8, 23, Philippians 3, 20 and 21, and 1 Thessalonians 4, 14 and following, it involves the glorification of the body. In fact, it's interesting. Redemption will not be complete for any one member of the church until it's complete for all of us at the resurrection and glorification of the body. How else could God underscore more powerful his concern for man

25:38 in the integrity of his being as a body, soul, entity? That's why the Apostle Paul in his epistle to Timothy can move so easily from the concern of the body to the glory of the Son of God. 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 and 24. And I pray, God, your whole body, soul and spirit be preserved in the glory of the Son of God.

25:54 From the concern of the inner life of Timothy to the concern of the outer and back to the inner. One specimen passage is 1 Timothy chapter 4 and then chapter 5. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, Paul says in verse 8, or the latter part of verse 7, exercise yourself unto godliness. He uses, obviously, a figure of speech that godliness is an end to be pursued by means of spiritual exercise.

26:24 For bodily exercise, exercise that has reference to the cultivation and well-being of the outer man, is profitable for a little. Probably a time reference for a little time. That's a positive statement, as we'll see later. But godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is and of that which is to come. And then he goes on to give what is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is and of that which is to come. Probably the most crucial exhortation in all of the two epistles, apart perhaps from chapter 4, with reference to Timothy himself, where he's urged to give himself to these things, that his own life will be an example of vigorous, vital, growing piety, and his progress manifested unto all. And yet when he comes to chapter 5, he can move very naturally, as he does in verse 23, to this very practical dimension of concern. Be no longer a drinker of water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake, and your oft-infirmities. Now it's interesting, as I re-read early this morning again the

27:36 context of this, it just amazed me how godlike Paul was in his ability to move from one to the other. Verse 20, Then that sin reprove in the sight of all, that the rest may be in fear. He's concerned about the maintenance of purity in the church in general. He's concerned about purity in the eldership in particular, in the context. I charge you in the sight of God, Christ Jesus, elect angels, observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality, lay hands hastily on no man, be not a partaker of other men's sins, keep yourself pure. I mean, these are lofty spiritual commodities in which he's trafficking right here. He's charging them in the sight of God, Christ Jesus, elect angels, don't have men, don't have women, don't have women, don't have women, don't have women, don't have men, don't have women, don't have women, don't have women, don't have women, don't have men intruding quickly into the ministry, be a holy man. And then he says, by the way, Timothy, stop being just a water drinker. You have many infirmities, and taking a little

28:37 wine as a medicinal measure will be good for you. And then notice verse 24, Some men's sins are evident, going before unto judgment, some men's follow after. Right back to the great issues of sin and judgment and the great asses. And in the middle of it, he's saying, stomach, oft infirmities, medicinal use of wine. I love that. That's God-like.

29:00 That's God-like. To show concern for the whole man. Why? Because Paul had a biblical doctrine of salvation, that God is committed to the redemptive restoration of the entire human person. And of course, we could bring many other passages. Let me just add a couple of others. Let me just add a couple of others. When Paul would express the apex of what we would call a wholesome expression of the gratitude in the heart of a sinner for grace received. How does he do it in Romans 12? I present you, I beseech you by the mercies of God to present, if we were writing it, we'd probably say your souls. But he says, present your bodies. In the concreteness and the integrity of your humanity, present your bodies a living sacrifice. 1 Corinthians 6, 13 and 20. Know you not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy

30:03 Spirit? And then his great concern, Philippians 1, 19 and 20, that Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. You see, there is a concreteness about the whole perspective of the Bible doctrine of salvation as it touches the body. Therefore, as a man of God, you are a man of God. You are a man of God. You are a man of God. You are a man of God. Seeking to embody the perspectives of Scripture, you cannot carry on a biblical ministry in a biblical context if you live in a manner that reflects indifference to the health and well-being of your body and of your emotional constitution. But then, fourthly, the biblical doctrine of preaching demands this concern. Why should we be concerned about the health of the body and our emotions? I've said, you know, we're

Biblical Doctrine of Preaching Demands This Concern

30:58 concerned because our biblical doctrine of man demands it, the law of God demands it, the biblical doctrine of salvation demands it, and fourthly, the biblical doctrine of preaching demands this concern. The biblical doctrine of preaching is one that sets forth preaching as an activity of the whole of our redeemed humanity. Just as surely as the most spiritual and accurate insights into the meaning of Scripture are not preaching, until translated into vocables articulated by the lips of the preacher. So there is no effective use of the lips without the lungs, the larynx, and the diaphragm. And they happen to be couched in other parts of the anatomy. And if the whole system is not operating at optimum efficiency, then there will be, under ordinary circumstances, an erosion of effectiveness in preaching. But if the whole system is not operating at optimum efficiency, then there will be, under ordinary circumstances, an erosion of effectiveness in preaching. Furthermore, if a man is to speak

32:04 convincingly and movingly, and God help us if we don't aim at that. If all you're concerned about is speaking accurately, you'll never be a preacher. But you're concerned to speak accurately, convincingly, and movingly, you must speak as one whose emotions have felt and are presently feeling the pressure of the truth that you are speaking. Now that makes tremendous difference.

32:36 This demands upon your emotional constitution. And therefore, if it is all spent, if it is out of whack, if it is not being regulated and cultivated, there will be an erosion of your effectiveness as a preacher. Now I am not saying that truth must ever take second place in preaching. However, it is not naked truth which makes preaching what it is. In the mystery of what preaching is, it is truth as conveyed through the human instrument presently feeling the power of that truth, the pressure of that truth upon his own spirit, and able to express that truth by his own physical faculties in such a way as to allow its emotional content to come throbbing through the message. Now, if the bodily and emotional faculties are in a state of perpetual weakness, listlessness,

33:46 dullness, and spentness, the preaching will reflect it. It is just a reality. A man may have spent much labor to have a well-furnished mind, but through excessive and relentless use of the mind, come to his pulpit mentally exhausted and therefore unable to frame sentences, and to give clear, conceptual expression to the truth of God. And the problem may not be that he didn't study, he didn't prepare, it's that he has come without the necessary physical and emotional energy to deliver the goods. Wasn't that what Spurgeon was confessing? He said, I don't have what it takes to deliver the goods in terms of what I know delivering the goods involves.

34:41 So a biblical view of preaching, and we don't have time to go into all of that now, but we shall eventually. establish it from Scripture that preaching is an activity of the whole man, not just the mind and the mouth, demands this concern. So those are my lines of evidence from special revelation. Now, my one line of evidence from general revelation, the past and present experience of men of God demands this concern. The past and present experience of men of God, I'm talking about proven preachers, not armed preachers. to read in the brief biography of Owen, or synopsis of his life that is in his works, that Owen acknowledged that irreparable damage was done in his early years because of his failure to come to grips with a disciplined, reasonable concern for his physical and emotional health. I want to read something from a man who, apparently,

Past and Present Experience of Men of God Demands This Concern

35:54 was no mean preacher in his own days and taught homiletics and pastoral theology for a number of years. I'm referring to Porter. And on page 510, he has a footnote in a chapter on the preservation of the vocal organs. I mean, these old guys, they didn't bypass this stuff.

36:17 It's the new experts who can't preach their way out of a paper bag that bypass it. But not these men that could preach before they had microphones and PA systems and a lot of other things. And men had to be able to be heard to be considered worthwhile to preach. I often said I'd like to make it a cardinal sin for which there was no forgiveness for at least five years. If a man couldn't preach to 300 people without PA systems, maybe we'd have more preachers than whisperers who lean into microphones. I think you can't fill the ordinary auditorium with 300 people without a mic. I really wonder if a guy ought to preach. But anyway, that's a little aside. I better stick to my notes.

37:03 Porter, footnote. Here he's saying, perhaps my own case may be regarded as proving that neither correct theory nor correct practice as to exercise can be expected to prevent infirmity of lungs. Certainly there are cases of such infirmity not to be controlled by ordinary means and therefore not falling within ordinary rules. But the truth is that my own experience is not less admonitory to young men than my precepts. As a brief sketch of this experience will show, I entered college at the age of 15. Those active habits which had previously sustained my health were greatly diminished during two and a half years of severe study, often continued to a late hour at night. Without one admonition or apprehension of my danger, my strength imperceptibly declined until a single cold threatened to destroy my lungs. Six months traveling enabled me to resume my studies. Thus admonished, I proceeded with

38:06 more regularity and caution until my health was confirmed by saddle exercise, horseback riding, which I was called to take as a candidate for the ministry. As a pastor, I soon became so involved in labors that I gradually forgot the past. presuming too much on the stock of the strength I had acquired, devoted to my study every hour that I dared to retrench from my exercise and parochial duties. Upon emergencies I often sat at my desk from twelve to fifteen hours in the day, and not infrequently read or wrote an hour or two after midnight. Eight years after my ordination, during the accumulated labors and excitements, in the midst of an outpouring of the Spirit in my congregation, my health failed, so I was unable to preach for forty-six Sabbaths, almost a whole year. By resorting again to the saddle, to mechanical labor at the workbench, to sawing wood and to gardening, and at last to holding the plow, sufficient strength was gained to go on with my ministry. And this is what makes me want to weep, brethren. But it was only the strength of an invalid. Now it was my calamity to have inherited a

39:27 constitution predisposed to catarrh and dyspepsi, we'd probably say post-nasal drip and upset stomach, but it was my fault, and a grievous one, that I invited disease by indulging love of study without a more settled plan of daily exercise. I bless God. God that for the last twenty years of thorough reformation has enabled me, not indeed to retrieve former mistakes, but at least to live, and by His gracious smiles on my imperfect labors to live, as I hope, not wholly in vain. What a sad confession. The man says, I've lived out the last twenty years only part of the man I could have been had I...

40:20 admonitions first of all had i then listened to the lessons i had learned by bitter experience and then in his own counsels he's a real realist about whether or not young men will listen to counsel in more than one instance gentlemen i've heard of young ministers who had been my pupils whispering with broken lungs they're surprised that the point i'm now urging should not have been seasonally thought of by themselves my reply to them has been it will be to any of you should i hear you utter the same regret some five years hence quote it's not the fault of your instructors that these things have not been thought of end quote while this subject is in hand then i affectionately offer you some admonition in the hope that they may save you some of those painful lessons which so many have refused to learn from any teacher you but experience it's a subject i'm well aware of which belongs rather to the medical professor than to me but if the learned physician well understands the danger of the public speaker which is not always the case his counsel in most instances does not bear on the mischief in season it is not sought except to administer the pound of remedy where the ounce of prevention

41:42 was neglected nor am i such a novice in human affairs as to expect that any counsels which i have heard of have been thought of in the hope that they may save you some of those i can give by way of premonition will be seasonally and seriously regarded by more than one in ten of those to whom they're addressed so if he were standing here he'd say about 2.5 of you would listen to what he was saying one who had the very best opportunities for observation on this subject and who was much distinguished for two for discrimination of judgment remarked to me the student must break himself before he'll take warning very few men learn and learn and learn and learn and learn and learn and learn and learn and learn and learn and learn anything as to the preservation of health from the experience of others rather not play that will be true he was in older man putting his years of lectures into print or subsequent generations and he said the last spariens is thought me few will listen will make out help us to listen past and present experience of men of god and is this concern or the physical and emotional health of the preacher. Listen again to Blakey, a wise Scottish divine, in his excellent work for The Work of the Ministry, page 83 and page 84. Now it remains to say a few words on physical

43:04 preparation for preaching. The present generation is much more disposed than some of its predecessors to believe in a certain connection between good health and good preaching, although to many persons it may seem there's no such connection, while a smaller number may think that a preacher's delicate health actually aids a right impression. No doubt there's a certain class of truths which are taught more impressively by a man who bears the seal of death on his wasted face, but on the other hand, such a man's influence in other respect is feeble if not injurious. It is impossible, said Mr. Beecher, for an invalid to sustain a cheerful and hopeful ministry. An invalid looks with a sad eye on human life. He may be sympathetic, but it's almost always with the shadows that are in the world. He will give out moaning and drowsy hymns. He'll make prayers

44:01 that are almost piteous. It may not be a minister's fault if he be afflicted and ill and administers his duty in mourning and sadness, but it is a vast misfortune for his people. The sad, somber, melancholy, look of the invalid preacher, and indeed a heavy, dull, dreary look in any preacher, has a specially repulsive effect on the young. It insensibly leads them to associate with church services the very opposite of those happy feelings they so readily associate with their sports.

44:35 Under any circumstances, the solemnity of divine worship constitutes something of a trial for the buoyant, playful tendencies of youth. But infinitely the more, on that account, is it a matter of regret if the trial is aggravated by the repulsiveness of a countenance on which nothing bright and radiant ever appears to settle. And then he goes on to develop this whole matter. It is certain, it is certain, now here's a wise, useful preacher, it is certain that due attention to physical exercise is an essential condition of sustaining,

45:45 vigorous preaching. The command to be strong in the Lord includes strength of body as well as strength of soul. Well, I don't know I could prove it from the text but I like what he says. Anyway. Some men may affect to despise these things, but it is a foolish affectation. Subordinate though their place may be, it is a real place northwestanding. At least in every case where the bow re회inорд beauty So abides in strength, and the arms of the hands are made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Genesis chapter 49 and verse 24. Well, I say from general revelation, past and present experience of men of God demands this concern. So I give you these five lines of evidence.

46:11 If that doesn't convince you, you're hopeless. If that doesn't convince you, brethren, I say, God will have to break you down, and then you'll say, hey, I was a thick-headed, bull-headed dope. I should have listened. Please, please don't join the ranks of the preachers that call me from all over the country, thinking they're backslidden and thinking they're spiritually dull, when their basic trouble is they think they're angels and they ain't.

46:39 They're human beings. And when I do a little probing, the basic remedy...

46:44 The basic remedy has nothing to do with the inner man. It has to do with remembering that the inner man's couched in the outer man. And I preach to them, not quite as systematically, what I've given you in the past 45 minutes. All right?

Axiom: Understanding and Discipline for Optimum Health

46:58 Now, in the second major division of our materials, I want to make an assertion in the form of an axiom, and then expound it. And then, after we take our break in the third division, we'll give some practical directions. And then, after we take our break in the third division, we'll give some practical directions. I hope I've demonstrated from Scripture and from the voice of preachers of the past and present the necessity of being concerned about your physical and emotional health.

47:34 Now then, let me give you this basic axiom relative to our physical and emotional health, and then expound it. Here's the axiom. You must seek to attain...

47:45 You must seek to attain... And...

47:51 An accurate understanding of your present physical and emotional constitution. You must seek to attain an accurate understanding of your present physical and emotional constitution,

48:10 and engage in a regular but flexible discipline aimed at keeping them in optimum health and vigor.

48:35 Engage in a regular but flexible... Am Oops.

48:39 ...discipline aimed at keeping them in optimum health and vigor.

48:48 All right? Now, let me just...

48:50 Pardon?

48:53 All right? You must seek to attain an accurate understanding of your present physical and emotional constitution, and engage in a regular but flexible discipline aimed at maintaining optimum health...

49:16 I'm sorry. I didn't read that as I had here so...

49:18 Oh. That's where the last phrase is wrong. Aimed at maintaining, I have here, optimum health in these two aspects of your redeemed humanity. That's too wordy.

49:28 Aimed at keeping them in optimum health and vigor. Aimed at keeping them in optimum health and vigor. All right? The axiom explained.

Explanation of the Axiom: Accurate Self-Assessment

49:36 The first area of concern is that of attaining and maintaining an accurate assessment of who and what you are in your physical and emotional constitution. And that's never static, brethren. That's what's difficult.

49:54 You ain't now what you were ten years ago. And I got news for you. I don't care how much you do, to keep what you got at any point at optimum usefulness, it ain't going to be twenty years from now what it is now.

50:12 Okay? So that's why I said your first area of concern is that of attaining and maintaining an accurate assessment of who and what you are as a physical, emotional person. Here and now. So that you never get locked into the stupid notion that you are what you were ten years ago.

50:33 This present body, according to scripture, is decaying. The outward man decays. The inward man is renewed day by day. And here a good dose and a constant absorption of Psalm 139 is helpful.

50:53 Because as David celebrates with great delight the omniscience of God, he reminds himself that he is what he is because God made him what he designed to make him when he knit him together in his mother's womb. Particularly verses 13 to 16. And then in Psalm 103, when he's celebrating the goodness of God as his loving father, he said he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust.

51:22 He knows. He takes cognizance of what we are as physical creatures. And we ought to be like God in that we also take as much as possible accurate cognizance of what we are. Now some of you, by virtue of genes, early training, etc., have a naturally strong and vigorous constitution.

51:44 And you will have that, if you take good care of it, perhaps into your 70s or into your 80s. Some of you are genetically progeny. Some of you are genetically programmed to be physical and emotional wrecks before you live out your three score and ten. Now God knew all about that.

52:01 He was there with the gene pool, sorting it all out, mixing it all up, and putting it all together. I take great comfort in that. Tremendous comfort in that. That's the great teaching of Psalm 139.

52:13 Now you've got to do what God commands with regard to spiritual gifts in Romans 12. Make a sober, accurate self-assessment. Not coming in too high. Too low.

52:25 I'm urging you to attain an accurate understanding of your present physical and emotional constitution.

52:36 Try to do that now. God is the Lord of reality. Face the reality.

Explanation of the Axiom: Regular but Flexible Discipline

52:43 And that's what I'm saying in those words of the axiom. The second area of primary concern has to do with that of establishing a structure of activities and relationships. That with the blessing of God will be used to maintain you at optimum physical and emotional strength. That's why I've said engage in a regular but flexible discipline aimed at maintaining optimum health and vigor in these areas.

53:23 Now that doesn't happen automatically. You must establish a structure of activities. And relationships, both personally, domestically, and ministerially, with the blessing of God, will result in optimum physical and emotional strength. When you pray, thy kingdom come, give me this day, or give us this day our daily bread, lead us not into temptation, how do you affirm the sincerity of your prayers?

53:53 Well, by doing what you can do to extend his kingdom, to provide for your bread, and avoid the temptation of your prayers. And that's what I'm saying in those words of primary concern. And avoiding circumstances of temptation. You don't pray those prayers sincerely, and then be indifferent to the means to extend the kingdom, to provide bread, and to avoid sin.

54:11 Well, likewise, if you pray, Lord, I want to be kept in optimum physical and emotional health to serve you as best I can for as long as I can to your glory. You ought to be ambitious to do that. Well, then, you have got to set out. Of course, you establish a structure within which you have reason to believe that prayer will be answered.

54:38 Now, granted, you'll submit to unexplained, unexpected intrusions. Paul had one. His thorn in the flesh, 2 Corinthians 12. Job had his.

54:50 It boils from the top of his head to the sole of his feet. Fully recognizing that. And there will be certain unexpected events and circumstances. That's why I said that you ought to engage in a regular but flexible discipline.

55:10 The night for total relaxation from all ministerial pressures to keep emotional health. To spend the night just playing table games with your wife, if that's what you like and she likes. I can't understand how anyone would, but if they do, then fine. If I've got an evening alone, I know how better ways I'd rather spend it than playing table games with my wife.

55:32 But be that as it may, if that gives you emotional release, then play your table games. Whatever it is, fine. But if you've got a bleeding sheet that calls at suppertime and profusely apologizes that they've intruded on your day off, and yet you sense that this sheet needs immediate attention, you don't say, Sorry, I learned in my lecture. Cut her hat and...

55:55 No, no, no, no. You bend. You bend. But it may mean that if you didn't have any counseling scheduled, for Thursday night, or if it wasn't a pressing thing, you switch that to the following Thursday and tell your wife, Honey, we're going to push our night together from Monday to Thursday.

56:11 You see, that's what I'm talking about. Structured, but flexible. Likewise with regard to physical exercise. There has to be flexibility in terms of a number of variables.

56:24 But it's much better to have structure that can be bent and then put back into its normal framework than simply... Simply living, as we use the term with one of our children, off the end of your nose.

Explanation of the Axiom: Stewardship of Christ's Purchased Property

56:36 That is, with no real plan and structure to these things. And then the final area of concern in the axiom is that which keeps in focus the fact that you and I, as redeemed sinners, are the purchased property of Christ. We are the indwelt, redemptive property of another. And that's why I've put the thing in the imperative.

57:08 You must seek to attain an accurate understanding of your present physical and emotional constitution. Engage in a regular but flexible discipline. Because you are the purchased property of another. And you have a stewardship of that body which is not your own and in which you are to glorify God.

57:31 1 Corinthians 6.20. Glorify God. Therefore, in your body.

57:36 And the therefore is connected with the assertion you are not your own. You're bought with a price. And I tell you I know of nothing that is more revolutionizing in my own thinking, more pressuring in terms of this matter than to constantly recognize this body that though it decays with each passing day, and though Ray had to crown me because of dead roots and decaying, pulp and enamel and all the rest, that this is the purchased property of Christ. And he is to get all the glory it's possible to give him in this present state.

58:18 Glorify God in your body now! Even as he will be glorified in the resurrection. All right. Now we'll take a break.

58:27 Because you are bodily creatures. And we've been going for an hour. And then we'll come back to the practical directives for implementing these. Concerns and then I'm going to lay on you seven directives for your physical concern.

58:42 And then I'm going to lay six on you about your emotional. By then you'll be spent physically and emotionally and be ready to go out and run around the block. Let's take a break till half past. All right.