52a) Disposition of Biblical Oversight, #2

Introduction to the Disposition of Biblical Oversight

0:02 Now in our consideration of the varied aspects of pastoral duty and privilege, we have begun this semester to examine the subject of the work of oversight by the man of God in the pastoral office. And as you know from your abstract, this is listed as PT 6, part 4 in the overall structure, and having considered together the biblical description of the task of oversight and focusing our attention upon the four major families of words that describe that task, we began last week to take up what appears as Roman numeral 2 in the abstract, the task,

0:47 in its disposition. And in our lectures last week, I laid before you my introductory concerns, giving you a definition of the word disposition, that which is the normal or prevailing aspect of a man's nature, and then explained my selective principle, namely that Christ as the chief shepherd and the great shepherd is the perfect paradigm of the work of shepherding, and Paul and others, insofar as they are, are not the perfect paradigm of the work of shepherding. They follow Christ, are to be our models. And then I confessed my sense of frustration, a frustration born of fear on the one hand of being arbitrary or capricious in being selective,

1:30 and the fear on the other of being imbalanced, but recognizing that we have those who have gone before us and marked out this field, and seeking to be sensitive to them, and seeking to be dependent upon the Spirit of God, we press ahead. Trusting that there will be no major imbalances or omissions. Then we had time to consider the first four elements of the disposition with which we must seek to do the work of oversight, shepherding, caring for the people of God, ruling and governing in the house of God. And I described those first

2:09 four as a disposition of assertive servanthood, a disposition of meekness with the attendant graces of lowliness, and a disposition of servitude with the attendant graces of lowliness, and a disposition of gentleness, a disposition of vulnerable compassion, and a disposition of self-giving love. Now, in our two sessions today, it's my purpose to consider with you four more elements which must be part of the dispositional complex with which we seek to do the work of oversight as men of God set apart to labor in the pastoral office. And so, as we take up the final four, they appear in your mind.

Disposition of Zeal for the Honor and Glory of God: Manifested in Christ

2:46 They appear in your notes on page 126 as letter E, the first of those four, a disposition of zeal for the honor and glory of God. A disposition of zeal for the honor and glory of God. And as we take up this subject, we're going to do so, first of all, considering this disposition as manifested in our Lord Jesus, and then as manifested in our Lord God. And then, as we take up this subject, we're going to do so, first of all, considering this disposition as manifested in the life and ministry, particularly the pastoral ministry of the Apostle Paul. Now, in our Lord Jesus, this matter of

3:26 principled zeal for the honor and glory of God was a dominant aspect of his soul and a powerful and constant influence upon his ministerial labors. And as a classic example, let us consider, first of all, the first cleansing of the soul. And then, as we take up this subject, we're going to the temple as recorded in John's Gospel and chapter 2. You will remember that after the first miracle in Cana of Galilee, the turning of water into wine, we then find our Lord going down to Capernaum with his disciples and then going to Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. And we

4:08 read in John 2 and verse 14, and he found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and calves and the changers of money sitting. And the comments of Hendrickson in giving us a real verbal picture of what our Lord found when he went into the temple is most helpful. I read from Hendrickson's commentary on John, page 122. Now, at this occasion, Jesus, entering Jerusalem's temple, notices that the court of the Gentiles had been changed into what must have resembled a veritable stockyard.

4:47 There was the stench and filth, the bleating and lowing of animals destined for sacrifice. It is true in the abstract that each worshiper was allowed to bring to the temple an animal of his own selection. But let him try it. In all likelihood, it would not be approved by the judges, the privileged vendors who filled the money chest of the high priest Annas. Hence, to save trouble

5:12 and disappointment, animals for sacrifice were bought right there in the outer court, which was called the court of the Gentiles, because they were permitted to enter it. Of course, the dealers in cattle and sheep would be tempted to charge exorbitant prices for such animals. They would exploit the worshippers. And those who sold pigeons would do likewise, charging perhaps four dollars for a pair of pigeons worth a nickel. And he footnotes that

5:39 from Edersheim, the life and times of Jesus the Messiah. And then there were the money changers, sitting cross-legged behind the door of the temple. And they were the ones who sold the little coin-covered tables. They gave the worshipper lawful Jewish coin in exchange for foreign currency. It must be borne in mind that only Jewish coins were allowed to be offered in

5:59 the temple, and every worshipper, women, slaves, and minors accepted, had to pay the annual temple tribute of half a shekel, Exodus 30 and verse 13. The money changers would charge a certain fee for every exchange transaction. Here, too, there were abundant opportunities for deception and abuse. And in view of these conditions, the holy temple, intended as a house of prayer for all people, had become a den of robbers.

6:30 So when we read in John 2.14 that he found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting, this is the scene fleshed out in more of its details. Not only the physical details, but the moral inequities, and all of this going on in that one spot on the face of the earth where God had chosen to deposit and manifest his special presence. And particularly in that part of that place where God was manifesting, his heart was larger than his love for Israel.

7:05 The court of the Gentiles, part of that place to be a house of prayer, not just for my people Israel, but for all peoples, where even the goyim could come and in a precursor of gospel days have some intimation that Yahweh's heart was large, even toward the nations. And what does our Lord do? Verse 15. He made a scourge of cords.

7:31 Can you picture our Lord, of whatever material he had at hand, braiding it together into a scourge? What are you doing, Lord? I'm making a scourge. What are you making a scourge for, Lord? You will soon see.

7:45 You will soon see. What are you doing, Lord? I'm making a scourge. What are you making a scourge for, Lord? You will soon see.

7:46 What are you making a scourge for, Lord? You will soon see. his scourge is made he goes into that very area and look at the vigor of the verbs and cast out of the temple both the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers money and overthrew their tables and to them that sold the doves he said take these things hence do not make my father's house a house of merchandise now can you picture that scene with those vigorous verbs reflecting the action of our lord the scourge in his hand i use my left hand because i'm left-handed i don't know whether the lord was left or right-handed the scourge of cords in his hands

8:30 he cast out of the temple sheep and oxen pours out the money not content to simply turn it over but he's doing this with vehemence with vengeance that perhaps to the uninformed observer my border on the appearance of madness and overthrows their tables and then no doubt with ostentorian sharpness that we can't begin to repeat commands them in all of his regal authority as the lord of his father's house take these things hence don't make my father's house a house of merchandise now then what does all this active do as it impinges upon the

9:13 eyeballs and the ears and the psyches of the disciples. Verse 17. His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for thy house shall what? Not merely move me or move me strongly, but zeal for your house shall eat me up. Graphic imagery where zeal is likened to a large mouth

9:43 that consumes that which it sets its teeth upon. Zeal for your house has eaten me up. Zeal has consumed me. So that zeal was not something that was just a secondary element in our Lord's soul at this point. Zeal at this point became the dominating dispositional complex of our Lord.

10:10 Zeal. Principled zeal. Zeal for the honor and the glory of his Father. His Father's house being turned into a den of robbers, a house of merchandising instead of a house of prayer for all people. Surely in our

10:27 Lord Jesus we see this element of a disposition of zeal for the honor and for the glory of his Father. Now turn to a second pivotal passage in which our Lord's principled zeal is clearly manifested. But in a totally different set of circumstances and with reference to a totally different set of concerns. John chapter 12. Our Lord is here focusing on the only way in which sinners can

10:59 be saved. And as he anticipates the coming baptism of Gethsemane and Golgotha, he finds a holy aversion to these realities beginning to settle in. Upon his own soul. And how does he react to that aversion? What is it that tips the scales of

11:23 volition to choose the very path towards which he has a sanctified and holy aversion? Was it, this is essential to salvation of sinners, therefore I must do it? This is necessary for the good of men? No. Notice the two things that were dominant in our Lord's mind as he reveals

11:45 his mind in his own words. We begin in verse 27. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? In the light of this reality that I'm disclosing to you of my own inner state, of this agitation and troubling of soul, what shall I say?

12:08 Here's one possibility. Father, save me from this hour? Shall I react to this aversion by asking that my Father deliver me from this hour? No. Here's his response. But for this cause came I unto this

12:27 hour. And secondly, Father, glorify thy name. The two things that prevailed upon our Lord to choose the path of suffering in spite of real felt aversion, here are the two principles. It is the will of my Father.

12:48 It is for this that I have come, and it's the only way to see my Father glorify. Shall I say, save me? No. Why? Because I've come to do thy will, O God, yea, thy law is within my heart. For

13:07 this cause came I to this hour. Father, glorify your name. As our Lord anticipates the tremendous apex of the revelation, the revelation of the revelation of the revelation of the revelation of the revelation of the character of his own Father in his own sufferings, it is his zeal for the Father's glory that enables him to embrace all that lies before him. At the expense of my comfort, thy name be glorified. At the price of my agony, Father, your name must be glorified. That Satan may be

13:44 judged, my people delivered, and you glorified, Father, your will. He knew that in all of the events surrounding the very thing to which he now has an aversion in the light of this troubling of his soul, there would be the fullest revelation of the Father's love, the fullest revelation of the Father's justice, the fullest revelation of the Father's wisdom, that every attribute of this Holy Father will come to its fullest expression in the events of the next hours. And it is his passion, his disposition of zeal for the honor and glory of God, may I say it

14:28 reverently, that binds him to that course before which as he now looks upon it, he says, my soul is troubled. But it was this passionate disposition of zeal for the honor and glory of his God that presses him on to endure what he endured. And then a third crucial portion of the Word is Revelation 2 and 3. And I have found over the years that I would call this sort of the Cinderella of pastoral perspectives, because it is the one portion in the Word of God where Christ, in his present glorified state, as the chief shepherd, is set before us specifically

15:13 examining, commending, and rebuking the various flocks of sheep in Asia Minor. It's utterly unique in the corpus of revelatory data. The Lord Jesus is seen by John in the midst of the lampstands. Later on, he's seen in the midst of the throne. But the whole thrust of those opening

15:34 chapters is intensely pastoral. He's seen in the midst of the lampstands. And the interpretation is given by Christ. The seven lampstands are the seven churches. And the Lord Jesus wants the

15:46 churches to know that though he is no longer present as the good shepherd, he is no longer the chief shepherd of his people from his place of exaltation. And what does he do? As he speaks to every one of those churches, we see something in his comforting, his consoling, his encouraging, his rebuking, his threats. We see something of the zeal for the house of God that consumes him yet, even though he is no longer in the state of his humiliation. Why does he speak so passionately

16:22 when he sees the church being true to her identity? Because he has zeal for his father's house, that house that is no longer the temple in Jerusalem. That temple has been dismantled by the time he speaks. It's his true spiritual temple made up of living stones. And when he sees within

16:42 his temple that which reflects his will and his father's purpose, he commends and he speaks in positive terms. When he sees conduct and opinion, he speaks in positive terms. He speaks in positive terms. He speaks in positive terms.

16:52 Opinions held that are contrary to truth, he does not speak with a bland, detached theological objectivity. He says, I have this against you. Be zealous, therefore, and repent, or else I will come and remove your candlestick. I gave her space to repent. If she will not repent, I will cast her

17:14 into a bed of fornication. I will do this. You read those chapters and you don't find the Lord sitting back like the laid-back dude. Just saying now, there are a few things that ought to be adjusted here, and I don't want to give any impression of being a heavy-handed, cheap shepherd. And so I'll just speak in measured,

17:33 reserved tones. And there are a few things here that, no, no, you see zeal for the house of God continues to consume him even from his position of exaltation in his present state, now in glory. So in our Lord Jesus Christ, surely this disposition of zeal for the honor, and for the glory of God is patent. And if we are to be shepherds, and we are to carry on in Christ's name, and with Christ's spirit and disposition, the work of shepherding, of caring for, of governing and ruling in his house, then we too must have by the spirits working in us this disposition of zeal

Disposition of Zeal for the Honor and Glory of God: Manifested in Paul

18:17 for the honor and for the glory of God. Then we turn to the Apostle Paul, and we see, not surprisingly, this same principled zeal for the glory of God in his life and ministry as a universal pastor, or a pastor to all the churches. Now Paul was very conscious that that was one of the aspects of his job description as an apostle. For in 2 Corinthians 11, 28 and 29, as he is listing for these Corinthians the badges of his apostleship,

18:55 badges of suffering and of labors, he puts as the capstone of these things, verse 29, who is weak, and I am not weak, who is cause to stumble, and I burn not. And what does that concern and in what is that rooted, verse 28, besides those things that are without that he's been describing? There is that which presses upon me daily, and I am not weak, and I am not anxiety. The very thing he forbids in Philippians 4, 6, and 7, be anxious for nothing. He says,

19:32 I have it, and I have it in a noble and godly way. I have deep solicitous concern, anxiety for all the churches. And is this some kind of broad, generic concern? No. It descends right

19:46 to particular individuals in the church. Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble and I burn not? You see, Paul was not one of these who said, you know, I love humanity.

19:58 My only problem is I don't have much concern for people. So when he speaks of anxiety for all the churches, this was not some broad, generic, nondescript concern for the churches in the abstract, but the churches composed of individuals who were weak and who stumbled. And Paul said, these things touch me at the deepest level of my being. And in that position, Paul's zeal is manifested again and again with reference to his passion for the honor and for the glory of God. And I've just listed a specimen list of text to show the broad

20:37 ranging scope of this passion for the glory of God in practical pastoral matters. What could be more practical than his treatment of the adiaphora, of the matters pertaining to Christian liberty, eating and drinking? And what does he do as leader of the church? One of the crowning exhortations in dealing with that subject in 1 Corinthians 10, whether therefore you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. His passion is that in giving

21:09 to the saints the principles by which they are to regulate conscience and conduct in these areas, that there would be this concern that in the most mundane activities of eating and drinking, they would be filled with the glory of God. And this is one of the crowning exhortations in dealing with that subject in 1 Corinthians 10, whether therefore you fixed upon a course of action that would secure optimum glory to the God who has redeemed them. And then, very interestingly, in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9, as you know, this is the very practical section dealing with Christian benevolence and the collecting of this corporate offering among the churches for the poor saints in Judea. And what is Paul's great passion in all of this?

21:53 What does he perceive is going on? All of the energy that he's expending to organize this, to make sure that it is done in a way that is honorable in the sight of God and of men. Well, look at these two texts that I've listed. 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 19.

22:10 And not only so, but who was appointed? Well, let's back up to verse 18. We have sent together with him the brother whose praise in the gospel is spread through all the churches. And not only so, but who was appointed by the churches to travel the world and to the earth.

22:24 To travel with us in the matter of this grace, which is ministered by us to the glory of the Lord. And to show our readiness in this practical matter, with all of its practical niggling details. Paul did not lose sight of the fact that that which was to be secured in this was a manifestation of the glory of the Lord. There would be an outshining of the mercy and the compassion and the beneficence of God through the hands of the Christians who share in this benevolence.

23:01 And when he later on then even speaks of those messengers, notice how he describes them.

23:08 In chapter 9 and verse 13. Chapter 9 and verse 13. Dealing again, I'm sorry, for the benevolence itself. Seeing that through the proving of you by this ministration, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession, unto the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution unto them and unto all.

23:33 Paul saw in his mind's eye that the reaction of those who are on the receiving end would be to look beyond the kindness, the compassion, the generosity, the sacrifice, the self-denial of the human instruments, and to see an outshining of the very character of his God. And that God himself would be magnified in the eyes of the people. And that God himself would be magnified in the eyes of the people. And that God himself would be magnified in the eyes and in the hearts of his people.

24:00 And the other reference that is not in your notes that I had in mind is 8.23. Where any inquire about Titus, he is my partner, my fellow worker to youward, and our brethren, they are the messengers of the churches. And look at this strange statement.

24:15 They are the glory of Christ.

24:19 These hands that carry the benevolent offering are the glory of Christ. They are the outshining of the hands. The hands and the heart of Christ. So you see, even in this most practical matter, along with what I shall eat and drink within the biblical principles of Christian liberty, the glory of God is dominant in the apostles' thinking, and he wants it to be dominant in the thinking of the Corinthians.

24:45 In this practical concern of the benevolence, the glory of God is a passion in his heart. Turn over to Romans, here at the end of the section that is parallel to the Corinthian section, dealing with Christian liberty. Paul gives his capstone exhortation to those with differing consciences, influenced by differing backgrounds and other religious and social influences. He says, verse 5, The God of patience and comfort grant you to be of the same mind, one with another, according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify,

25:29 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, receive one another, even as Christ also received you, to the glory of God. And whether the phrase, receive to the glory of God, is Christ having received you to the glory of God, and we argue back by analogy, or whether it refers to the injunction to them, receive one another to the glory of God, one thing is clear, that this mutual reception, in the Apostle's mind, is something vitally linked to the manifestation of God's glory, and he cannot give this practical pastoral exhortation

26:10 to true, unfeigned, open-hearted reception of one another without seeing bound up in it the securing of God's glory. God's glory revealed in a gospel that breaks down the ancient barrier between Jew and Gentile. God's glory revealed in a gospel, that takes people with their differing past religious scruples, and present tentacles of those scruples, and present grave claws of those scruples, not holding each other off until they can all come to common ground in the particulars of how those scruples should be worked out. No!

26:47 Opening their hearts in spite of those scruples being held, in spite of the differences. And he says this brings glory to God. You see something of the passion of this principle as he deals, as he deals with pastoral concerns, than when it comes to his pastoral prayer. Philippians chapter 1.

27:06 And I trust you will familiarize yourself as you pray for your people in days to come with those prayers recorded in the scriptures. Ephesians 1, Ephesians 3, Colossians 1, and here Philippians 1, verse 9. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and void of offense unto the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are through Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. That's the capstone over everything that he prays.

27:47 As he prays that they may have this love that abounds more and more, abounds in a context of knowledge and discernment that enables them to approve the things that are excellent, so that in turn their lives may be sincere and without offense. And in their ongoing Christian experience they are marked not by just a little bit of fruit here and there, but filled with fruits of righteousness. He says the whole end of this is the revelation, the manifestation, the securing of the very glory and praise of God. In his pastoral prayer for the maturation of the flock of God at Philippians, his zeal for the...

28:29 the honor and glory of God breaks through as the crowning expression of his intercession for them. And then similarly in the very familiar words I'm sure of Romans 11.36 after Paul is dealt with God's intricate and amazing sovereignty manifested in the disposition of whole nations in conjunction with the gospel. His free sovereign electing grace being manifested.

28:59 He comes to that concluding paragraph beginning with verse 33. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. And where does he conclude? For of him in free sovereign exercise of his own inscrutable and wise choice through him by a powerful, imminent, superintending, providential ordering of all things and unto him the great end of all of his works is himself are all things.

29:29 To whom be the glory forever. Amen. Having contemplated such a God the God who says Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. The God before whom Pharaoh is an instrument to be raised up and be the theater of displaying his power.

29:47 The God before whom when men would question his right to be sovereign and yet judge he reminds people who are you, oh man? Who are you, oh man, to reply against God? Put your hand on your mouth. You are the...

29:59 Preacher, he is God. Where does all of this end up? In the apostle's thinking and in his spiritual viscera. He's prostrate on his faith saying glory be to such a God.

30:10 I wouldn't have him any other way. I wouldn't have him any other way. This zeal for the honor and the glory of God when he is theologizing. When he's coming up with a theodicy.

30:24 One of the most difficult elements in theological thought. The whole matter of the problem of evil. Paul is here in this passage wrestling, grappling with these issues. But he never loses sight of this great passion that God be glorified for who he is and what he does in the way that he does it.

30:45 And then in chapter 16 of Romans and verse 27 again in this closing doxology, benediction unto him who's able to establish you. Verse 27 To the only wise God through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever. And you see this is not some kind of little liturgical P.S. that Paul sticks on.

31:10 This is the outpouring of his heart. This is something that is a passionate perspective within his own breast. And to clinch all of this in terms of our corpus of concern. This disposition, crucial to the work of shepherding, caring for, ruling and governing in the house of God.

31:32 Tie together those final two texts as we see the Apostle lay bare his heart before us. In 1 Timothy 3, 14 and 15 again familiar to most of you men. Here he tells Timothy in a more expanded way than he did in chapter 1 and verse 3 why he left him at Ephesus and why he has written this precise letter with its specific contents. These things write I unto you hoping to come unto you shortly.

32:03 But if I tarry long that you may know how men ought, how men are under obligation to behave themselves in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth. Now why is Paul so passionately concerned about obligatory behavior in God's house? Well it's not only because of what God's house is by his sovereign choice and purpose his church, pillar and ground, or the truth but because of the purpose for which it exists. And when we tie in this passage with Ephesians 3 and verse 21 unto him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus

32:48 unto all generations forever and ever. Amen. Paul saw this intimate connection between God's house rules being understood and implemented and the great end for which the church exists to be the theater for the display of his glory. You see if we have any less motive than that when it comes to the implementation of God's rule in God's house if we do not have a disposition of zeal for the honor and glory of God at some point we're either going to say it isn't worth it to try to teach away misconceptions

33:31 bear the possible rejection of introducing something that never has been and never in the minds of some ever will be what is it that will drive you through prayer and pains and patience and the love that bears all things and hopes all things and believes all things to continue to labor to see the ought-ness of divinely revealed house rules implemented where you labor. What is it that's going to drive you? If it isn't this motive, sooner or later you're going to back off and cave in give up or find another sphere of labor. We must, brethren, we must not only in our preaching

34:15 may I say it's relatively easy to sustain a disposition of zeal for the honor and glory of God in preaching. There's something so majestic about that first-hand contact with the word in your preparation and in the act of preaching that in a sense insulates you from much of the pressure to cave in. But when you're calling the people of God together and you're explaining to them why we can no longer with a good conscience do this or do that or why we must implement a course of discipline and there isn't that exhilaration that comes in the act of preaching. When you're sitting with an individual who has shown himself to be stubborn and bullheaded and resistant

34:59 to the will of Christ and you must open up the word of God and look him straight in the eye with love and compassion but nonetheless do as we were reminded in the previous hour even a Peter rocked a prominent leader in Christ's church and get in his face and say, Peter, you are to be blamed. Your conduct is a threat to the truth of the gospel. It is zeal. It is passionate zeal for the honor and the glory of God that will enable us in God's grace to do what we need to do.

35:37 What we must do in the work of oversight. Regulating and ordering the worship of God. Cultivating the gift of public prayer. Some of you may think it very unspiritual when we come to that lecture on cultivating the gift of public prayer.

35:54 When I give you reasons why you ought to spend time thinking through your public prayers if necessary making outlines of your public prayers. Taking the lead in the discipline of the church. Tracking down wayward sheep. When we come to all of the specifics that we will eventually touch under this section of the work of shepherding and of governing and ruling in God's house.

36:18 Nothing short of a continual work of the Spirit of God sustaining in our hearts a disposition of zeal for the honor and glory of God will keep us at the task. Someone kindly put in my hands another one of those books that apparently went through one printing and I was doing this book some reading in it yesterday to refresh my own mind in these things. Lectures on Pastoral Theology by the Reverend James Spencer Cannon, D.D.

36:47 Late Professor of Pastoral Theology and Ecclesiastical History and Government in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Dutch Church New Brunswick, New Jersey. And in the little mini-biography about this man reared right in this general area schooled under individual men of God and became a very useful pastor for many years. Listen to this. Listen to what he says.

37:09 I want to conclude this section on the disposition of zeal for the honor and glory of God by reading his most balanced perspective on this quality of disposition. That zeal, however, which is a proper qualification for the pastoral office is associated with knowledge, humility, and prudence. It is therefore in its operations not like the noisy eruptions of a volcano which attract deepening and awaken strong emotions in beholders but endanger life and destroy the beauty and fertility of the earth with burning lava but is like a majestic river which waters and enriches a country

37:53 while it presses forward with a steady current in spite of every obstacle as it makes its way to the ocean. Isn't that a beautiful contrast? Not the volcano spewing out lava and ash and destruction while getting lots of water. Lots of attention.

38:10 But like a river enriching everything that it passes everywhere that it goes moving onward to the ocean. This grace is not unrestrained like the fanaticism of the ignorant and ardor of the heretic but it loves to dress itself in the form of sound words and to move forward in the way of God's testimonies. It's not like the fire which strong passions have kindled in the breast of the conspirator who's ready to use any means to attain his ends but it is like the noble spirit that actuates the true patriot. It reveres the laws of truth and integrity while it aims at higher objects

38:52 than its own aggrandizement and power. That unholy zeal which has so often troubled the churches commences its course with loud professions of superior piety and benevolence blowing the Pharisees' trumpet that everyone may hear it. But its grand object is to stand at the head of a party to acquire fame as a reformer and to be distinguished as the author of new measures while it is reckless of the consequences of its doctrines and measures when the excitement it has industriously enkindled shall have subsided. And he wrote at the time when he was seeing the effects of the so-called new measures Finney and his ilk.

39:36 And you see the man saw through this. On the contrary, the zeal which qualifies the Christian pastor for great usefulness in the church is a flame fed with beaten oil and ardor of the soul which seeks to extend the influence and triumphs of an old gospel. If that knowledge which is associated with it is instrumental after profound and prayerful study of the sacred scriptures and careful attention to the history of the church in resolving any difficulty connected with sound doctrine or in exhibiting any revealed truth in a way that is not in a stronger light holy zeal does not hence take occasion to proclaim that quote former systems are radically defective or that former ministers

40:20 have not understood the scriptures. And that's a direct quote from Finney. See what he's saying? If God gives us to have a little keener insight and refinement we're not going to keep that back but neither are we going to speak in a way as though the son of truth has been sitting in the west until it arose on our fair head.

40:39 No, this grace is modest and cautious as it existed in the breast of Meade, Edwards, and Newton and so linked with humility and its progress that after unwearied efforts to explain the word and save souls it can thank God as an eminently learned and laborious minister among the Puritans in England did quote that it has never broached any manner of new opinion end quote. At this day brethren listen if this were true in the mid-1800s at this day the spirit of change is abroad and its course both in civil and religious society is marked by an intemperate daring and proud zeal

41:23 in securing its objects. It therefore becomes the Christian pastor to guard the health of his principles amid an infectious atmosphere and to keep his zeal untainted by the pride of opinion and the lust of the uppermost seats in the synagogue. Brethren those words move me as I trust they move you and that when we pray that God will give us a disposition of zeal for the honor and glory of God that we will understand it to be this kind of zeal which God's servant from another generation has described. Now let me hasten on to take the second most of my time

Disposition of Principled Diligence and Dogged Determination to Do God's Will

42:07 that's going to be spent disproportionately on this first head but I want to address with you what appears as letter F now in your notes a disposition of principled diligence and dogged determination to do the will of God. Now as I reworked the lecture I said is dogged the right word and having looked it up afresh I said yes dogged is the right word and I'm not going to replace it. Dogged is described as not giving in readily not giving in readily persistent stubborn. So we're talking about a disposition of principled diligence and dogged

42:51 you might want to put the word sanctified stubbornness dogged determination to do the will of God. Now while the previous disposition has a primary God word reference zeal for the honor and glory of God this aspect of the dispositional complex has primary reference to men and to our talents and to our duty and the key text that places this disposition in direct relationship to the work of oversight is Romans 12 in verse 8 and that's why I've listed it above its manifestation in Christ and the Apostle Paul it is the watershed text that identifies

43:34 or that brings into close conjunction the work of government and rule and what I'm calling principled diligence and doggedness dogged determination here in Romans chapter 12 and verse 8 after establishing that there are these diversities of gifts within the body of Christ Paul is then giving exhortations as to what people should do upon the discovery of the possession of this or that gift verse 8 he that exhorts to his exhortation he that gives let him do it with liberality he that rules diligence here is one of the texts

44:18 in the proistemi family of words referring to one who takes the lead or one who rules and he says in the performance of that rule it is to be done with spude now in looking at the noun spude and the verb spudazo it is clear that the emphasis is upon diligence and determination that verb is the one we encounter when the apostle says to Timothy do your utmost to show yourself approved unto God 2 Timothy 2.15 when he is giving a practical direction to Timothy do your diligence

45:02 to come shortly unto me 2 Timothy 4.9 Titus 3.12 be diligent to come to me 2 Peter 1.10 give diligence to make your calling and election sure Jude 3 we have the noun when I gave all diligence to write in 2 Peter 1.5

45:26 the noun again giving all diligence I've cited enough of the word usage I trust to carry your judgment that it does indeed point to what I'm describing as diligence and dogged determination in doing the will of God now where do we see this in our Lord Jesus? well we see it breaking forth first of all explicitly in that incident recorded in Luke chapter 2 when our Lord was but 12 years of age and you remember the story that he goes up to the feast with his family and after the feast beginning in verse 41 of Luke chapter 2

46:07 where we have the account of the feast being over we read verse 43 and when they had fulfilled the days and as they were returning the boys were Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem and his parents knew it not but supposing him to be in the company they went a day's journey and they sought for him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance and when they found him not they returned to Jerusalem seeking for him and it came to pass after three days they found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the teachers both hearing them and asking them questions and all that heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers and when they saw him they were astonished they were astonished they were astonished and his mother said unto him son why have you dealt

46:52 thus with us behold your father and I sought you sorrowing and he said unto them how is it that you sought me did you not know that I must be in my father's house or in the things of my father our Lord is surprised with what we would call a sanctified youthful naivety I don't know how else to call it a sanctified youthful naivety not a sinful naivety he seemed shocked that they did not immediately assume that he would be there in his father's house apparently by this stage in our Lord's life in his human understanding of his own messianic identity

47:35 there was a growing awareness of the unique relationship he sustained to the father and of the unique identity of his mission as Messiah and he turns and says didn't you know that I must be in my father's house or in the things of my father what is he manifesting as a twelve year old boy not a kind of precociousness that irritates adults disgusts them and makes them want to whack someone on the backside and teach them humility there is none of that precociousness in our Lord apparently in the asking and answering of questions he does it in such a way as one obviously keeping his place that even these learned men are amazed and not threatened

48:20 their sense of impropriety is not tweaked by the manner in which he does it a fascinating passage and likewise since we know he was sinless there was no breach of the letter or spirit of the fifth commandment in this so we have to taking what is clear read backwards to what is not so clear and assume that what we have in that growing sense of his identity is certainly then in the work for which my father has marked me out I must be in the things of my father and from the very outset then of the dawning of that consciousness in his human mind and psyche we see our Lord marked by diligence

49:03 and dogged determination to do the will of his father and then in the John 4 passage you remember the whole incident of his dealing with the woman at the well in John 4 the disciples go off to buy food and when they come back and they try to give the Lord a snack the Lord says no verse 32 I have meat to eat that you know not the disciples therefore said to one another has anyone brought him anything to eat has somebody beat us to the punch and Jesus said unto them my meat that which sustains me that which strengthens me that which invigorates me for remember he was wearied with his journey

49:47 the last time they saw him he's sitting at the well obviously tired and weary he's sitting at the well obviously tired and weary he's sitting at the well obviously tired and weary now he's invigorated and they say well somebody must have given him a snack and he's got some fresh blood sugar going through his system and he's got some fresh energy who's fed him and he says my meat that which sustains me invigorates me strengthens me is to do the will of him that sent me and to accomplish his work here the Lord weary must needs go through Samaria because there was one of those other sheep that he must bring and as he gives himself to doing the will of his father in seeking out this woman in order to bring her to himself and through her

50:30 multitudes from that city eventually are to be brought to himself we see this principled diligence and dogged determination to do the will of God driving him even through the threshold of weariness when if ever he could have given an excuse to say look I'm tired, I'm weary I have nothing to give much less to enter into discourse with a spiritually blind woman with a morally debauched woman this is not the time yet it was the time he must needs go through Samaria and his principled diligence and dogged determination to do the will of God he reveals in those words

51:14 my meat is to do the will of him that sent me then in John 9 in verse 4 we could have taken many texts but again in the interest of time just some of these epitomizing texts as the Lord is about to heal the man born blind he says we must we must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night comes when no man can work what I want to highlight for you is that opening statement we must work the works of him that sent me I'm sorry the works of him that sent me

51:58 we must work the works of him that sent me he's saying my inner disposition is one of principled diligence and dogged determination to do the will of God I am conscious that the framework of the accomplishment of his will for me on earth is limited a night is coming I must here is the diligence here is the dogged determination what is seen again in our blessed Lord is seen likewise in the apostle Paul a very cursory reading of the book of the Acts and of the epistles shows a man in whom with regard particularly to what we would call

52:43 pastoral concerns is a man of principled diligence and dogged determination to do the will of God turn to Acts chapter 20 chapter 20 as he has the Ephesian elders before him and verse 24 that's two Acts 20's there strike out one of those that was a typo that Ann must have made it's Acts 20 and verse 24 I hold not my life now look at this statement of any account as dear to myself why?

53:27 was it that he wanted to be known as a martyr that he wanted to have a star next to his name in the annals of church history no he said I hold my life as something relatively indifferent as far as preserving it I hold not my life of any account as dear to myself why? so that or in comparison of accomplishing my course and the ministry I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God my great passion is not sparing my life my great passion is accomplishing my course principle, diligence and dogged determination to do the will of God

54:12 and he says my life is expendable in that holy obsession and that's the principle that I'm seeking to highlight and you see a very clear illustration of it in chapter 21 is this guy just talking pious talk among his friends? no he isn't prophet Agabus has indicated that Paul is going to be bound he's going to suffer he's going to be handed over to the Gentiles verse 12 and when we heard these things both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem I mean these folks are thrown into a paroxysm of emotional trauma then Paul answered what do you weeping and breaking my heart

54:55 for I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus and when he would not be persuaded we ceased saying the will of the Lord be done Paul was convinced because he had had a word from God that he was going to bear witness to him and the will of God for him was the all-absorbing concern and when people tried to turn him aside even on the basis of a prophetic announcement that suffering and bonds awaited him Paul says look this is no big deal to me I'm ready not only to be bound but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus

55:39 principle, diligence and dogged determination not to be a martyr but to do the will of God and if the will of God leads to martyrdom then so be it I count not my life as any account of dear as dear to myself then 1 Thessalonians 2 17 and 18 another example of this disposition in the Apostle Paul 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 17 I wonder if that's the right text I'm sorry let me look at my own notes here no it's 2

56:23 2, 7 and 8 I'm sorry that's a typo 2, 7 and 8 here in this rich chapter dealing with Paul the pastor among the people at Thessalonica it's one of the richest chapters along with Acts 20 I hope you often return to it and pray over the principles illustrated in the Apostle's pastoral heart and actions we were gentle in the midst of you as when a nurse cherishes her own children even so being affectionately desirous of you we were well pleased to impart unto you not the gospel of God only but also our own souls because you were become

57:08 very dear to us you had become dear to us and in the discharge of pastoral responsibilities with gentleness of a nurse cherishing her own children we were not sparing ourselves we were driven by this principled diligence and dogged determination to do the will of God and then from Galatians chapter 2 and verse 10 here in this matter of the charge he received from what we might call the Jewish apostles and pillars when Paul gains or not gains but secures the approbation upon his own ministry to the Gentiles we read in verse 10

57:52 only they would that we should remember the poor which very thing I was also zealous to do I did not simply do with a minimum amount of energy and interest and industry no I was zealous to do it there was principled diligence and dogged determination to do the will of God in this matter of the constant remembrance of the poor and then by way of application what I've done is cited those texts out of Proverbs that tell us the baneful effects of the sluggard and I've chosen as the first and primary text the one that I trust again will constantly haunt us

58:37 when we are tempted to serve in the work of oversight and shepherding and governing and ruling with anything less than principled diligence and dogged determination it is that frightening picture of the field of the sluggard I went by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding and lo it was all grown over with thorns the face was covered with nettles the stone wall thereof was broken down then I beheld and considered well I saw and received instruction a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall your poverty come as a robber and your want as an armed man that's the picture of many a church even with a solid

59:21 reformed confession because somebody was unwilling to be diligent in this dimension of pastoral responsibility brethren preaching alone won't do it I don't care if God were to combine in you all the preaching gifts of the ten greatest preachers that ever lived preaching alone won't do it because any institution is only effective for the ends for which God instituted it and preaching was not instituted as the sole means of securing the health of the church if it were all we would need to do is preach and our life would be a lot simpler and in many ways a lot more joyous but Christ has never given to preaching

60:06 the sole exclusive responsibility of securing a healthy church he has instituted hands-on wise alert non-sluggardly pastoral involvement and where that dimension of pastoral ministry is not is rejected and slighted you're going to see churches that are like this field of the sluggard and there will be the nettles of unchecked carnality divisions irregularities of church order poverty will come to that assembly and the other texts simply highlight again this matter of the sluggard indifference

Disposition of Relative Indifference to the Approval and Praise of Men

60:50 a disposition short of diligent and dogged determination to do the will of God well well as we seek to complete the four remaining aspects of the dispositional complex that should mark God's servants doing the work of pastoral oversight and government and ruling we come now to take up the last two of the eight that we will address and that which is listed as G in your notes page 127 a disposition of relative indifference to the approval and praise of men now let me explain the use of the words relative

61:34 indifference there is a proper sense in which we ought to be able to say that we seek to govern and guide so as to please the true people of God and an example of this is found in Acts 6 and verse 5 in that first congregational crisis a crisis of priorities a crisis of continued even-handed distribution to the widows we find that when the apostles wrestle with what they should do in the light of this crisis verse 3 look out among you seven men of good report full of the spirit and of wisdom whom we may appoint over this business

62:18 we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word and the saying pleased the whole multitude now when that happened and was evident you didn't have one of the twelve rising up and saying this must be the wrong solution woe unto you when all men speak well of you you didn't have a fanatical itch for disruption and opposition God gave them wisdom to come up with a proposition that pleased the whole multitude and in that setting it was one that secured the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace likewise the apostle in 1 Corinthians 9 19 to 23 shows that he has a deep desire to be well pleasing to people

63:03 particularly in this context to gain people's ears for the gospel though I was free from all men I brought myself under bondage to all strong language that I might gain the more and then he specifies what that meant in the particulars familiar words to each one of us and then in chapter 10 verses 32 and 33 gives us the word and then in chapter 10 gives us the word and then in chapter 10 gives us the word and then in chapter 10 gives us the word and then in chapter 10 give no occasion of stumbling either to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God even as I also please all men in all things that's broad language I please all men in all things not seeking

63:47 my own profit but the profit of the many that they may be saved so here is what I would call the legitimate passion to be well pleasing to men so I've used this terminology to say that I'm not deliberately we must in the work of oversight have a disposition of relative indifference to the approval and praise of men not total indifference it takes little effort to be abrasive it takes great effort to be able to say with Paul I please all men in all things with respect to matters that are not my own profit my own reputation sparing my own hide but gaining a sympathetic ear for my own message in that sense we must be

64:32 passionately concerned about the approval and praise of men but but there must be a relative indifference to the approval and praise of men if we are to be faithful in the discharge of pastoral duties not merely in terms of unfettered boldness in preaching but in the manifold duties of governing and shepherding God's people when it comes to fidelity to our call to lead by the word to give individual and corporate rebuke to implement biblical norms in the face of resistance we must have a disposition of indifference to men's approval and men's praise

65:17 now we see this in our blessed Lord in Revelation chapter 3 he speaks to his church his people and he says in verse 19 as many as I love I reprove and chasten here our Lord is manifesting a relative indifference to what those reproved and chastened will think about him will say to them say to him because he has said some very strong things to this church he has spoken about being sick to his stomach with their lukewarmness he has spoken about puking them out and now he says what I've said

66:01 I say out of love and I reprove and I chasten you and I call you to earnest repentance our Lord could not do that unless he had a relative indifference to the approval and to the praise of men and we see that in his earthly ministry and I've cited some of the examples Matthew 16 21 to 23 and I must hasten over these the incident with Peter when the one whom he has just designated the rock would stand between him and the cross our Lord does not scruple to say get behind me Satan get behind me adversary will it mean that Peter might sulk when he's called the devil well he may but our Lord's

66:45 disposition of relative indifference to Peter's approval is manifested at the point where Peter stood to be severely reproved for daring to stand between our Lord Jesus and the accomplishment of his redemptive purposes in Matthew 17 14 and following we have another such example Matthew chapter 17 verses 14 and following you remember the incident they come down from the mount of transfiguration and there there is this needy individual the man has an epileptic son the disciples are not able to cast out this demon they are not able

67:29 to heal him and Jesus says in verse 17 oh faithless and perverse generation how long shall I be with you how long shall I bear with you bring him hither to me here our Lord expresses in a very open blunt way his assessment of his own and he rebukes them and he could only do that with the kind of language and liberty with which he doeth which he did it if he were free from an enslaving passion to have the approval and the praise of his own and then in John 4 27 he was willing

68:14 to have people raise an eyebrow when he broke social custom and may I say it reverently left himself vulnerable to people questioning his integrity upon this came his disciples and they marveled that he was speaking with a woman he was doing something that was not socially acceptable and a Samaritan woman at that they marveled yet no man said what seekest thou or why do you speak with her here our Lord was indifferent to the approval and praise of his own in a setting where the will of God demanded that he speak to this woman and even bend existing social custom

68:58 to the limits and likewise in the incident recorded in Luke 5 in Luke 5 27 and following after the call of Levi Levi makes a great feast in his honor and our Lord exposes himself to the disapproval of the Pharisees why does your master eat with publicans and with sinners so here our Lord carries out in that passionate commitment to do the will of the Father he carries out that mission with a disposition of relative indifference to the approval and the praise of men and this was seen so clearly in the entire ministry of the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 1 he states as the mark of his integrity

69:43 as a servant of Christ the fact that he is not passionately concerned about men's acceptance and praise for am I now seeking the favor of men or of God am I striving to please men if I were still pleasing men that's what governed me in my pre-converted days I should not be the bond slave of Christ for no man can serve two masters either who love the one and hate the other hold to the one and despise the other when I was a proud unconverted Pharisee pleasing men was a passion with me when I became united to Christ that passion was dead and buried in Christ's tomb and I now

70:27 live as a man who has a relative indifference to the approval and to the praise of men in the interest of time I can't read the quote but there's a masterful comment on this in John Brown's commentary on the book of Galatians and it's found on page in my in my edition anyway on page 50 of John Brown on Galatians let me just give this last part of it it is a happy circumstance if a Christian minister when slanderously reported of can fearlessly appeal to the tenor of his life and leave the decision with those who know him best it's a marvelous statement it's a happy circumstance

71:12 if a Christian minister when slanderously reported of can fearlessly appeal to the tenor of his life and leave the decision with those who know him best and Paul could write knowing that those who knew him best would be conscious in the theater of their own conscience that this man is not driven by seeking the approval and praise of men he is relatively indifferent both to their praise and to their blame and then in the passage I put in my notes that I urge all of you to pray into the very texture of your souls 1 Corinthians 4 3 and 5 and again in the interest of time I just pass over it remember Paul's emphasis it's a little thing if I be judged of you or of man's

71:57 judgment he that judges me is the Lord therefore judge nothing before the time come until the Lord come who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness make manifest the counsels of the heart then shall each man have his praise from God there is the apostle saying that it is a little thing a little he didn't say nothing but a little thing with me if I be judged of you or of man's judgment and then I had as my final text Galatians 2 11 to 14 not knowing that that text would be opened up in chapel this morning and I've put there in parenthesis C. Lenski's commentary on Galatians pages 99 and 100 in this whole incident where Paul reproves Peter

72:41 to his face before others listen to what Lenski says I've had occasion to quote this to a number of pastors in the last few months much to their comfort then Paul acted and did so effectively he rebuked Peter the one who was chiefly guilty and he did it in the presence of all should he not have gone to Peter privately we have found that men who have committed some grave error are very particular not to have those who rebuke them commit the least error in the place and the manner of the rebuke otherwise they become the guilty ones and the errorist become persecuted

73:24 martyrs AP soup where you pass me on the road you see what he's saying we've found that men who've committed some grave error the Peters who stand to be publicly rebuked are very particular not to have those who rebuke them commit the least error technicalities throw the case out on the technicalities well you didn't exactly follow Matthew 18 15 you didn't exactly hit the tip and then they tried to switch and put the guilt on the one who reproved them and brethren you will face that again and again in the work of the ministry and if you are not relatively indifferent to the approval and praise of men you will not be a faithful Paul to the Peters who need to be

74:08 rebuked Lenski saw it in his day and any true servant of God will see it and experience it and we must plead with God for grace to have this disposition of relative indifference to the approval and to the praise of men and then you'll notice in the application I've listed these three texts because they have as their common denominator that dispositional aspect is most powerfully fed by constantly bringing near the last day when the only approval that will matter is the words of our Savior well done good and faithful servant they watch on behalf of your souls as they that shall give

74:53 an account to whom to their Lord and Master Hebrews 13 17b 1st Timothy 1 17 if you call on him as father who without respective persons judges every man past the time of your sojourning in fear in the fear of God in 2nd Timothy 4 1-5 Paul's charge to Timothy in all of his ministerial labors I charge you in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus and of all the things he could say about Christ Jesus what does he bring forward when he's giving a charge to ministerial fidelity who shall judge the living and the dead and by his appearing in his kingdom of all the things he could have said he focuses

Disposition of Conscious Dependence Upon the Grace and Power of God

75:37 upon this aspect of judgment and so I say brethren in nurturing this element of the dispositional complex that we might have relative indifference to the approval and praise of men constantly bring near a moment is coming in human history when my gaze shall meet the burning searching gaze of my Lord and if he says well done then it matters not how many have cursed me on my way to his vindication but then finally the last letter H the eighth element of this dispositional complex that we must have by the grace of God I've described as a disposition of conscious dependence

76:21 upon the grace and power of God for ability to perform the manifold tasks a disposition of conscious dependence not theoretically theologically and exegetically articulated dependence but a disposition but an existential conscious visceral felt dependence upon the grace and power of God for ability to perform the manifold tasks in a real sense this final aspect of the disposition vital to the work of oversight shepherding caring ruling and governing is both the taproot and the capstone of all others

77:05 it's the taproot and it's the capstone conscious dependence upon the grace and power of God at this point you might think well surely our Lord is not our paradigm here yes he is he's our supreme paradigm he is our supreme paradigm notice what I have stated in the incarnation our Lord voluntarily assumed real humanity which in its very nature placed him in a posture of dependantness and remember Owen's shocking statement that was read in our hearing from the glory of Christ that even in glory the human nature of Christ is continually dependent

77:50 upon the supplies of strength and life from the Father human nature in earth or heaven is dependent nature and in our blessed Lord we find that explicitly expressed in the text that I've listed John 5 19 and 13 and again in the interest of time I simply quote them without any effort to expound them verily verily I say unto you the Son can do nothing of himself the very Son who says without me you can do nothing he says the Son can do nothing of himself here emphasizing primarily the concept of independent action but what he sees the Father doing for what things

78:35 whoever he doeth these the Son also doeth in like manner and verse 30 of the same chapter I can of myself do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is righteous because I seek not my own will but the will of him that sent me and again in John 8 in verse 28 a similar emphasis Jesus said when you have lifted up the Son of Man then shall you know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself but as the Father taught me I speak these things amen John 12 in verse 49 similar emphasis with a little different nuance

79:20 I spoke not from myself but the Father that sent me he has given me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak and then I have listed the manifold instances of his eminent prayerfulness and I've simply given you the text that I briefly expounded in the message several weeks ago on our responsibility to be committed to our responsibility to be committed to our responsibility to be committed to our responsibility to habitual engagement in secret prayer I've listed the passages just in the Gospel of Luke where our Lord is described as a man of prayer and this is the great validation of his felt dependence upon the grace and power of God for ability to perform

80:04 the manifold tasks assigned to him and one could add to this those passages in Acts where our Lord's mighty works are not attributed to to his divine nature they are attributed to the ministry of the Holy Spirit Acts chapter 10 for example Peter's preaching in the household of Cornelius Jesus of Nazareth verse 38 how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good Jesus' own words if I by the finger of God cast out demons then has the kingdom of God come upon you so in our Lord's this principle is seen constantly

80:48 in his own life and labor and therefore we should not be surprised to find it in the Apostle Paul 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 4 to 6 in that rich section dealing with the Christian ministry the nature of that ministry its contrast with the old covenant ministry Paul can say such confidence have we through Christ of God not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves anything that pertains to the task of the Christian ministry its ultimate source of strength is not from ourselves but our sufficiency in its entirety

81:32 is from God who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant not of the letter but of the Spirit for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life and then His word is well known words in 1 Corinthians 15 10 where He humbly speaks of what God was pleased to accomplish in Him and through Him and yet He says without embarrassment I am what I am by the grace of God I labored more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me here the Apostle does not speak with false humility saying I'm a miserable failure I've done very little I've done less than they know He said I labored

82:17 more abundantly than they all that was reality and it was not pride for Him to recognize reality because He said I'm not really boasting in myself but I'm boasting in the measures of grace that God imparted to me yet not I but the grace of God that was with me and then Colossians 1 28 and 29 the well known words that in the preaching of Christ Paul here emphasizes aspects of individual pastoral care of the people of God whom we proclaim admonishing every man teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ where unto I labor also striving according to His working which works in me mightily

83:01 the conscious recognition that the enablement to do what He was doing in His pastoral labors was a revelation of God's own gracious in working in Him mightily and then this is the direction to which he points Timothy amidst all of his labors with all of the liabilities of his relative youth with the liabilities of his apparent retiring temperament a bit fearful his many physical infirmities yet he says thou therefore my child be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus Timothy there's nothing I've directed you to do or to be but that there is a sufficiency of grace

83:45 in Christ be strong in that grace cultivate a disposition Timothy of conscious dependence upon the grace and power of God for ability to perform the manifold tasks when I have told you to deal with certain people firmly to rebuke them sharply Timothy don't cop out and say that's not your temperament that's not the way you're put together in Christ there is strength to do what I've told you to do and I've told you you may find yourself a bit awkward having to speak to the older women and treat them as mothers but I've told you to do that now there's grace in Christ to do it and I've told you to relate to the younger women as sisters with all purity and whatever your temptations may be

84:30 whatever your passions may be turbulently effecting within your own consciousness Timothy there is grace to treat all of your sisters with purity with all of the younger women as sisters in Christian purity there's not a thing Timothy that I've directed you to do but that eventually it is not a demand upon your poor frail weak humanity but a demand upon the grace that is in Christ now that's got to become something more than abstract theology it's got to become a disposition to where you hardly know at times when you're praying and when you're counseling with someone when you're talking to God when you're talking to someone else it's a disposition yes

85:14 it will find focused expression in concentrated specific seasons of prayer but if we don't carry from those seasons that disposition so that when we stand behind the lectern when we sit in the counseling situation the heart is continually lifted up in communion with our God drawing upon His strength wisdom Lord grace Lord patience Lord restraint Lord utterance Lord whatever it is that constant internal intercourse of the soul with its God without that disposition we will never never carry on this work of pastoral shepherding government rule caring for the people of God in a way that brings glory to God in good

Conclusion: The Full Spectrum of Christ-like Disposition

85:59 to those to whom we minister so then my brethren as you anticipate the task of oversight caring for ruling and governing in God's house I commend to you the dispositional complex which must become part of the very fabric of your inner life one characterized by assertive servanthood meekness with its attendance of lowliness and gentleness vulnerable compassion self-giving love zeal for the honor and glory of God diligence and dogged determination to do the will of God relative indifference to the approval and praise of men and conscious dependence upon the grace and power of God

86:43 to perform your mannerisms of old task and if God helps you to any degree to be marked as a man who has that dispositional complex you'll be a marvel to yourself and a conundrum and an enigma to others some will see you at times when that particular aspect of the dispositional complex of meekness and tenderness are being exceedingly highlighted two days later someone else will see you with the scourge in your hands and the fire in your eye and they'll say which is the true man well both are the true man just as people seeing the Lord Jesus beckoning the little child to come and sit on his knee the same people

87:28 seeing him with flashing eyes and scourge in the temple would say is that the same man it looks like him but surely it can't be the tender hands that welcome a child now are white knuckled holding upon the scourge yes and you and I are to reflect him we're to reflect him in the full beautiful spectrum of what it is to be like Christ that's why I don't like any pictures of Christ because they can only capture one or two dimensions of his character they may capture one or two dimensions but I don't like them because they can fix an image on the mind that becomes an image of the soul and that's the essence of idolatry let the character of Christ and the picture of that character

88:12 continually emerge out of your Bible and pray that God will as you gaze upon it make you more and more into that likeness now I know that there are any number of other things I struggled with it in reworking the lecture should we not have in here something about this something about that but as I said this can't go on indefinitely seeking to address every aspect but I do believe whatever other elements ought to be present these surely are the dominant ones that must characterize us as the servants of God in seeking to do this work well let's pray and ask God to help us by his grace God bless you