89b) Spiritual and Mental Gifts #2

The Necessity of Understanding Scripture's Meaning, Interrelatedness, and Self-Consistency

0:02 To pick up the thread of thought where we left it at the previous hour, as we are now addressing the subject of the necessity of gifts, having considered that necessity and then the source of those gifts, we are now beginning to identify the specific gifts requisite for the pastoral office. And the first of them I have designated as a mind that is reverently, lovingly, submissive to the absolute authority of the scriptures, a mind furnished with a grasp upon the basic content of scripture. And now we come, thirdly, to a mind furnished with a basic understanding of and a love for the meaning. Interrelatedness and self-consistency of scripture. Now that's a lot of words thrown together, but in throwing them together, what I've tried to do is capture something that is very crucial to one who is a gift of Christ, to the church of Christ, to keep the church from being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, to be an instrument in the hands of Christ, to fulfill the very purpose of the church, to fulfill the very prayer of Christ, that his people be sanctified through his truth.

1:32 We read in 2 Peter 3 and verse 16, of those who rest or twist, literally torture, the scriptures to their own destruction. And that verb would be the verb you would use to describe what a man did to another human being when he put him on a torture rack and he maintained the basic contours of human being, but he was tortured, he was stretched out of his native shape, shoulders dislocated, hips dislocated. And Peter says this is what the ignorant and the unstable do with regard to the scriptures. The ignorant and the unsteadfast rest. They put upon the torture rack and take out of their divine intended contours, as they are. As they do the other scriptures unto their own destruction. And furthermore, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4.1,

2:37 another text listed in your note, that he did not handle the word of God deceitfully. And as new covenant ministers, we are commanded in the language of 2 Timothy 1.13 to hold fast to the pattern or to the pattern of the word of God. Or to the form of sound words.

3:00 There is a form of sound words. And what does this mean in concrete terms? It means that the one who would be recognized as a gift of Christ, furnished by the chief shepherd to be a good shepherd to his sheep, must have what I've described in these words as an understanding, and love for the meaning, interrelatedness, and self-consistency of scripture. Now by way of application, I've placed in your notes this statement.

The Role of Theological Disciplines in Understanding Scripture

3:39 This principle shows the necessity of a fundamental grasp of the various theological disciplines, such as biblical theology, systematic theology, historical theology, and experimental theology. If we, we are, by the grace of God, to handle the scriptures as they ought to be handled to the edification of God's people, then there must be this understanding and love for their proper meaning. And yet we know that the meaning of scripture is scripture. And that what is unclear in one place is made clear in another.

4:21 So how can we stand as a gift of Christ to feed his sheep with the word of God, if there are gaping holes in our understanding of the meaning of scripture? Well, that being impossible, then there must be, whatever we may call it, whatever the terms are, is a matter of irrelevance. But I must use the terminology that is acceptable code language among professionals, and I've used the code language. Biblical theology, that is having some understanding of the meaning of scripture, of the progress of revelation.

5:00 Why we do not take a passage out of Deuteronomy and lift it up and apply it one to one to the people of God in the new covenant without any qualification, without any sensitivity to the differences that exist between the old covenant community and the new covenant community. Why we do not take promises, there shall be no miscarrying womb, and then hold that out to new covenant believers and say, all the promises of God are yes in Christ. Therefore, any of you women who have a miscarrying womb are living in unbelief or under the curse of God. Some other nonsense.

5:37 You see, it's a failure to be sensitive to biblical theology, distinctions between the Mosaic economy and the gospel age, the distinction between the transition out of the old covenant age into the new covenant age, taking sections out of the book of Acts, and saying, since God did it then, and He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, can He not do it now? And then whipping up God's people into a frenzy. Because there's no appreciation that there is a progress in the revelatory data, that progress that we seek to understand within the discipline of biblical theology. Systematic theology, the total witness of Scripture concerning the issues which Scripture addresses. What is God like? What is man in his original state?

6:36 Man in his fallen state? Man in his regenerate but imperfect state? Man in his glorified state? To use Thomas Boston's language, human nature in its fourfold state.

6:50 What is sin in terms of its legal dimension? What is sin in terms of its moral impact upon the Constantine, the institution of man? What is the divine method of redemptive and restorative intervention on behalf of men? Who does that work?

7:10 How is He constituted, able to do that work as the God-man, the person of Christ? How does God call people unto Himself? We must have some grasp upon systematic theology, the total witness of Scripture on the great issue, which Scripture addresses. And then likewise, historical theology, an awareness of what has happened in the ongoing warfare of Genesis 3 and verse 15.

7:41 How has the seed of the serpent and the serpent himself stuck his fangs into the heel of the seed of the woman and the woman and her seed some sensitivity to these issues that will help us not to make a mistake, but to make the mistakes that others have made and also to learn the lessons that our forefathers learned in the crucible of theological controversy, in the crucible of the real live warfare between the prince of darkness and Prince Emmanuel. And then experimental theology, this whole matter again of the application of God's truth to the experience of God's people, how the Spirit works in conversion, the struggles that some may have with assurance and the biblical antidotes, how men are to deal with besetting sins, etc. Well, here again I commend to you and I would ask you to write into your notes under this heading, Owen, Volume 16, page 82 through 86, some very helpful material from John Owen, underscoring the necessity of a man having a modicum of understanding of these various theological disciplines

Biblical Theology Illustrated: Acts 2 and Pentecost

9:08 by whatever name we may call them. And I want to underscore, I'm not a stickler for the name, but for the thing itself. You may meet a man who doesn't even know what the word biblical theology means, but he does know that when he reads that when the day of Pentecost was fully come, there came from heaven the sound as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, and cloven tongues of fire appeared above them, and they all spoke in other languages as the Spirit gave utterance, he knows that Pentecost was a once-for-all redemptive history and doesn't tell people, let's pray for another Pentecost. And when he's reading through and teaching his people the book of Acts and sees that there is an extension of Pentecost into Samaria, and into the household of Cornelius, and ultimately to Ephesus, he may have never heard the word biblical theology, but he understands that these things are to be viewed in the light of the fact that God is at work in this transitional period locking, as it were, the new covenant community into its new covenant contours, so that when he comes to the latter part, of Acts chapter 2, and reads of those on the very day when all this other phenomena

10:39 was manifested, they just had a very ordinary conversion. They received the word, they were baptized, they were added to the church, and they continued steadfastly in ordinary church life. Apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers. No indication any one of them heard any wind!

10:58 Any one of them had tongues of fire!

11:02 He can appreciate that. He can understand it. He can appreciate that. He can appreciate that.

11:04 He can appreciate that. He can appreciate that. He can appreciate that. He can explain it to his people.

11:06 He's not embarrassed by the first part of Acts 2, nor is he reluctant to point to the latter part of Acts 2 as normative. He understands that. Now, by whatever terminology, he's cut to have some grasp upon those disciplines. And while now, for some of you men, these disciplines may seem to be at times relatively irrelevant, mark my word, the curriculum here has not been established in a vacuum.

The Gift of Spiritual Dexterity to Discover and Make Plain Scripture

11:39 We've tried to look over our shoulder and stand in a stream of those who, having wrestled with these issues, have sought to answer the question ordinarily, what theological disciplines are essential if a man is to be an able minister of the new covenant, a safe guide to God's people? And the answer that has come back is he must be a man furnished with the knowledge furnished with a mind marked by this love for the meaning, interrelatedness, and self-consistency of scripture. And then, the fourth characteristic of the mind of a one who is gifted of Christ to serve his church is this. A mind furnished with the necessary tools and spiritual dexterity to discover and make plain the meaning and application of scripture.

12:45 A man must have a mind furnished with the necessary tools and spiritual dexterity. I didn't know what else to call it. Coming up with words to express things in a succinct way is not an easy task many times. That's the best I could come up with.

13:04 Spiritual dexterity to discover and to make plain the meaning and application of scripture.

13:20 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 assumes that the man of God will be able by the continual co-action of the ministry of the Spirit with the Word to come to that position where he is called furnished unto every good work. It is scripture that furnishes him unto every good work.

13:55 Some have the tools in order to discover the meaning of scripture but they don't have the spiritual dexterity to make plain that meaning of scripture.

14:10 Some have great ability in making things plain. The problem is they are not apt at grasping the true significance of scripture and what they make plain is not the meaning of scripture. And we, by the grace of God, must manifest a modicum of this mental gift that brings us back to this apt to teach as one who holds fast to the faithful word that he may be able. You see, the indication is that that faithful word is the word that is the most important.

14:49 The word does not lose significant content in being transferred to others. Holding fast to the faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able both to exhort and to convict. And so I don't know how else to express it but to express it in this language a mind furnished with the necessary tools and spiritual dexterity to discover and to make plain the meaning and the application of scripture. And one of the texts that I've listed there that I've not commented upon 2 Timothy 2 in verse 7 Think on these things and the Lord shall give you understanding. Think and the Lord shall give you understanding. Here's a mind that is working over what Paul has said and yet in the midst of that activity there is the opportunity of the operation of the Spirit of God giving an understanding and that understanding being given is then to be conveyed with a measure of spiritual dexterity aptitude to teach so that what is understood by the Spirit's enablement is conveyed by the Spirit's enablement to the understanding and to the benefit of others.

The Gift of Sound Practical Judgment

16:18 Now here again do you see why in our curriculum we are concerned not merely to impart the theological disciplines but why we spend so much time in our pastoral theology on the whole matter of sermon construction itself why you have your courses in exegesis why we have to labor at acquiring a working grasp upon these strange ancient languages it's because if we are to truly minister to the people of God we must be able to have the dexterity to discover and to make plain to others the meaning and the application of scriptures of scripture and then letter E we must have a mind disposed to and furnished with sound practical judgment and that is and here I would refer particularly to 1st Timothy 3 and verse 2 it's perfectly possible for a man to have a mind reverently submissive to scripture furnished with the basic knowledge and content of the Bible and accurate knowledge of and love for the meaning and interrelationship and self-consistent witness of the Bible and even some necessary tools

17:47 and spiritual dexterity to make the meaning of scripture plain to others but it's in the area of sound practical judgment that he shows great lack and it's here that I would direct your attention to 1st Timothy 3 and verse 2 the bishop therefore must be without reproach the husband of one wife temperate sober minded the word is sophrona in Titus 1.8 it is used again it speaks of prudence and of self control it speaks of a cast of mind that has to do with what I'm attempting to address as I speak of a mind furnished with sound practical judgment I commend to you Samuel Miller's able and faithful ministry pages 7 and 8 and he's talking about what is now necessary for the work of the ministry and he has piety as requirement number one I quoted from that in our last lecture but then the second major category he lists is what he calls talents by which I mean not that every minister must of necessity be a man of genius but he must be a man of good sense of native discernment and discretion

19:16 in other words of a sound respectable natural understanding when our Lord was about to send forth his first ministers he said to them be wise as serpents as well as harmless as doves and truly there is no employment under heaven in which wisdom practical wisdom is so important or rather so imperiously and indispensably demanded as in the ministry of reconciliation a man of weak and childish mind though he were as pious as Gabriel can never make an able minister and he ought never to be invested with the office at all for with respect to a large portion of its duties he is utterly unqualified to perform them and he is in constant danger of rendering both himself and his office contemptible no reasonable man would require proof to convince him that good sense is essential to form an able physician would you want a doctor who didn't have good sense he might be able to recite reams of pages from the most difficult technical medical textbooks but would you want him as your physician if he didn't have good sense he goes on to say

20:46 an able advocate at the bar that is a lawyer or an able ambassador at a foreign court nor a would any prudent man entrust his property his life or the interest of his country to one who did not bear this character and can it be necessary to employ arguments to show that interests in comparison with which worldly property the health of the body and even the temporal prosperity of nations are all little things ought not to be committed to any other than a man of sound and respectable understanding alas if ecclesiastical courts had not frequently acted as if this were far from being a settled point it is almost an insult to my audience to speak of it as a subject even worthy of being discussed though a minister concentrated in himself all the piety and all the learning of the Christian church yet if he had not at least a decent stock of good sense for directing and applying his other qualifications he would be worse than useless that's strong language isn't it upon good sense depends all that is dignified prudent conciliatory and respectable in private

22:16 deportment and all that is judicious seasonable and calculated to edify in public ministry the methods to be employed for winning souls there are so many and various etc and he goes on to underscore what I have called here sound practical judgment now how do you evaluate that well I'm not prepared to say ten tests to see if a man has sound practical judgment but I tell you I keep my eyes open and it's one of those things you can better tell where it ain't than describe it where it is and there are men in the ministry men godly men earnest men knowledgeable men learned men and perhaps even effective publishers but they make a mess wherever they go as pastors because they lack this quality of a mind furnished with sound practical judgment they can make a mountain out of a mole hill quicker than than a Komatsu their biggest shoveling hole to move earth and they can stand in front of a mountain of a problem that ought to be addressed and not even see it and when someone points it out they say oh yeah that's a mountain

The Manifestation and Importance of Practical Judgment in Ministry

23:45 there isn't it and where does this problem come from well some of them it's the way God put them together in their mother's wombs others factors of their upbringing training influences they simply lack sound practical judgment and they could have great usefulness in various dimensions of the service of Christ but the pastoral office if it's anything it's an office demanding men whose minds are furnished with sound practical judgment when I think of the men who've gone out of this academy and are have been in the ministry long enough now to begin to have a track record it's very interesting for the most part they've not been the students that aced all their courses but they manifested while they were here and continue to manifest in the work of the ministry this grace this gift of sound practical judgment not enough else to call it but that but without it there can only be one crisis after another and a state of disruption and in the hearts of God's people a sense of uneasiness that they are not under the guidance and direction of the trusted and a safe guide Owen volume 16 and page 86 I'm not sure I brought

25:15 no I didn't bring Owen volume 16 you'll have to consult that at your own leisure unless I no I did I copied him off so we could have this Owen volume 16 page 86 to be able rightly to understand the various cases that will occur of this kind that is the troubles and the disruptions that the people of God go through in their Christian experience the man of God the pastor must have the tongue of the learned to know how to speak a word that is in season to him that is weary and then he goes on to address some of the specific areas where this is absolutely essential and then he goes on further to say on page 87 to be ready and willing to attend to the special cases that may be brought to them and not to look upon them as unnecessary diversions whereas a due application unto them is a principal part of their office and their duty to bear patiently and tenderly with the weakness ignorance dullness slowness to believe and receive satisfaction yea it may be impertinencies in them that are so tempted in other words to have that sound judgment to know when the response of one of the sheep is not a matter of spiritual rebellion

26:44 or rebellion against constituted authority but a manifestation of a sick soul and be able to relate to that sheep in that way in the discharge of the whole pastoral office there is not anything or not anything or anything or duty that is of more importance nor where in the lord jesus christ is more concerned nor more eminently suited upon the nature of the office itself than this is but whereas it is a work or duty which because of the reasons mentioned must be accompanied with the exercise of humility patience self denial and spiritual wisdom with experience with wearisome diversions from other occasions those who had got of old the conduct of the souls of men into their management turned this whole part of their office and then he goes on to take a slap at Rome saying they abuse this and then the doctrine of auricular confession but he said in reaction against that we must not retreat away from that kind of interaction with our people where they need to be met with sound practical judgment in the various struggles through which they pass now in summary brethren let me ask you would you want to place yourself under the spiritual care and nurture of a man who was not furnished by the head of the church with a modicum of these

Summary and Call to Prayer for These Gifts

28:13 gifts related to the disposition capability and acquisitions of the mind would you submit yourself to a man whose mind was not reverently and lovingly submissive to the authority of scripture would you have as your overseer one who did not have a I basic mental deposit of the overall content of scripture one who could illustrate scripture with scripture explain scripture by scripture who in counseling you was not adept in taking you to the appropriate passages if it were a family problem could move very freely from Ephesians 5 to Colossians 3 or perhaps to Proverbs 31 whatever the need was would you have one who was ignorant of the development in the history of redemption of what God has recorded in scripture and was banging you on the head and the whole church saying the reason we don't have all of the sign gifts of first Corinthians is because of unbelief and a lack of faith and a lack of desire and whip you and your fellow believers into continually until you had someone who said they had a word of

29:43 knowledge and someone else who said he was prophesying would you have one who teaches the necessity of works in such a way that he really casts shadows over the absolute freeness of justifying grace in Jesus Christ apart from works would you have a man who teaches justification by faith alone on the grounds of the imputation of the righteousness as to make you and others think that your works have absolutely no importance whatsoever in the complex of the Christian life and make de facto antinomians would you want a man who was not a systematic theologian in being able to preach in a popular edifying way justification in relationship to a life of good works would you have one who when he opened up his bible left his you bewildered confused and frustrated what was he saying where was he going did he get there and if so where were we when we got there one that was not furnished with the tools to make clear the meaning of scripture and would you have one who constantly floated by you in a world of unreality who lacks sound practical judgment ask yourself the question would you want a

31:12 man who did not have these fundamental characteristics of mine not me I could put up with a lot of things but not with the absence of any one of these things and so I urge upon you to pray as you seek to come to an increasing self awareness or accurate self assessment Lord what are the areas where I have a tendency to deficiency or actual deficiencies and pray and labor and seek counsel as to what can be done by the grace of God to make up those deficiencies that this first of the gifts that I'm going to seek to open up to you will indeed be one that will mark you as a servant of Christ you will have the mind of one that is reverently submissive to the word of God well furnished with the truth of God a mind that is possessed of the spirit's enablement to discover and make clear the meaning of scripture to others and is constantly suffused with the evidence that you're in touch with the real world in which your people live and in which they struggle and that mind that must be evident to some degree on the threshold is the mind that must be developed and expand and increase in these areas throughout the life of one's ministry we never never coast in any one of these

32:42 areas well that's what I hoped and planned to say to you this morning and that leaves us a few minutes for questions and