Spiritual Experience

Reorganizing the Call to Ministry Framework

0:01 The following lecture is part of the Pastoral Theology course given at the Trinity Ministerial Academy in Montville, New Jersey.

0:11 Now, some of you are aware that the history of this material that I'm reworking and presenting in Unit 7 of our Pastoral Theology goes way back to probably at least 15, 18 years ago when in a Sunday afternoon class of seminary students and men aspiring to the ministry, I had the temerity to attempt to speak on the subject of a call to the ministry. And I have given much thought to that subject over the years, and as I contemplated these new units of Pastoral Theology, I felt that it was right and proper that this matter should be addressed at this point, though in the total restructuring of the course it may well be that it will end up on the front end of Unit 7. Number one, that's really the logical place for the thing to be. So you have to bear the illogic of being here at this point in time in the academy while the course is growing from six to eight semesters. And as I've been reworking it, and I've come to this particular part in the reworked material, I have not been at all satisfied with the way the material has been organized, and I am not exaggerating when I say, I lay away from the material, and I am not exaggerating when I say, I lay away from the material, and I am not exaggerating when I say, after an elder's meeting that went on until eleven o'clock, the last time I looked at my clock, it was somewhere close to one-thirty,

1:39 and my mind still deeply exercised and agitated that I had not yet broken through the wall of a proper organization of the material. And my fellow elders pleaded with God last night that God would give help, and in the early hours, the, I should say, later hours of this morning, after I fell asleep somewhere around one-thirty, plus, I believe God did hear and answer that prayer. So with the sheet before you, let me try to give you at least some general idea of what the present structure is. You will notice that down through Roman numeral number three, everything is as it was presented to you originally. We're dealing with the essential elements of a biblical call to the pastoral office. And in the introduction, I laid out the biblical warrant for addressing the subject under three headings, and then my personal fears in addressing the subject under two headings. And then we looked at the foundational principles that must regulate our thinking and our judgment on this subject. And one of them was that we were in the realm of experimental divinity,

2:54 and this is why precision here is much more difficult than in such matters of objective divinity. As the doctrine of justification or adoption. And so I keep comforting myself that my foundational principle was a warning to me. And when I find myself lying awake and bordering on getting irritated with the thought that why in the world do I have to do this? I go back to one of those foundational principles and find comfort. And then we considered briefly the fundamental errors regarding what constitutes a call to the pastoral office, including that material primarily from Breckinridge's article, to which Thornwell makes constant reference in his article on the call to the ministry. Then we considered the third Roman numeral, the common false reasons for assuming a call to the pastoral office. And we looked at seven.

3:51 Now it's at this point that I've reorganized the material. Roman numeral four, the four elements which comprise a biblical call to the pastoral office. And I'm going to go ahead and read it to you. Roman numeral four, the four elements which comprise a biblical call to the pastoral office.

4:02 Note, it is here that the major changes in the outline appear. We dealt first of all with the fact that there must be a spiritual desire for the work of the pastoral office. And our attention was focused primarily on 1 Timothy 3, 1a, where the scripture embodies one of those faithful sayings of the pastoral epistles. Faithful is the saying, if a man seeks overseership, he desires to be a pastor. And if a man seeks overseership, he desires to be a pastor. And if a man seeks overseership, he desires a good or a noble work. And we tried to open up from the scriptures what are the elements of a spiritual desire for the work of the pastoral office. That is a desire that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit working by and with the truth upon a man's heart, giving him godly aspirations for the office. Now, the large second division, B, the second of these four elements, is the desire for the work of the pastoral office. I have now listed as a proven competence to do the work associated with the

5:08 pastoral office. And then under that, we will consider these three headings. The first one we've already considered, spiritual character. And that's 1 Timothy 3, 1 through 7. And I want to reword that major heading of the spiritual character, and I have reworded it this way, a general exemplary godliness, a general exemplary godliness discernible to the church, one's family, and the world. As I have pondered 1 Timothy 3, 1 through 7, seeking to bring what is said in that passage regarding spiritual character traits into its distilled essence,

6:03 I am at least presently satisfied with this statement. It is describing general exemplary godliness discernible to the church, one's family, and the world. Moreover, he must have a good report of those that are without. And every word is pregnant. General exemplary godliness. That is, there must be an overall pattern. It must not be just a modicum of godliness. It must be a model of godliness that would keep a man a member in good standing. But exemplary godliness. Why?

6:39 Because one laboring in this office is to be an example of the believers in word, in manner of life, in faith, in purity. He is to be able to say, be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ, the things that you have both learned and heard and seen in me do. And the God of peace shall be with you. And so spiritual character, then, is part, the first strand of a proven competence to do the work associated with the pastoral office. Now, number two is spiritual experience. And here's where we have a problem, because I have already jumped ahead to spiritual gifts and dealt in our last lecture with the necessity of gifts and the origin of gifts. Well, don't throw that material away. We're just going to insert it at a different place. All right? And then, having dealt with this proven competence, then look at large letter C.

7:40 The third element of a biblical call to the pastoral office, overlaid upon spiritual desire, proven competence, is an adequate external confirmation of fitness for the work of the pastoral office. An adequate external confirmation. And I've used general enough terms to allow for the fact that in differing ecclesiastical frameworks and in the providence of God, given the horrible ecclesiology that exists in our day, that confirmation may not always come in an exactly kosher framework. But it must be an adequate external confirmation of fitness for the work of the pastoral office. And then the fourth element, so essential in comprising a biblical call, is what I have presently designated as a providential opportunity and proper ecclesiastical recognition for the work of the pastoral office. Or you'll notice in parenthesis, or as in the case of a missionary, a similar recognition for the work of church planting, etc. And the man's call is not truly sealed biblically until there is a

8:59 properly constituted ecclesiastical recognition of him as a gift of Christ given by the head of the church. And though the previous three must go before, they do not in and of themselves constitute a call to the office. There must be an assembly of God's people, thinking biblically, determined to act biblically, who recognize the specific man in his specific fitness for that call, or a court that is duly constituted that will commission a man to send him forth as a church planter, an evangelist, or into some other legitimate sphere of labor in the work of Christ. So I feel much more satisfied, brethren, with that organizing framework, it may still undergo some fine-tuning, but at least I hope you see now where we're going and how what we've already considered fits into the whole picture. Now, having given you that broad overview, what I wish to do now is to return to large letter B, sub-letter or number 2. Under a proven competence to do the work associated with the pastoral office, we have considered the spiritual change of the church.

Spiritual Experience: A Proven Competence for Ministry

10:24 We have considered the character of the man of God, that general exemplary godliness discernible to the church, to one's family, and to the world. But now, secondly, there must also be spiritual experience. Spiritual experience. Did I see someone come in with a glass of water for me?

10:50 Excuse me, would someone just get me regular water, that will be fine. With my sister, I'll get you some water. System full of antihistamines and antibiotics, I'm running out of running out of fluid here. Need to fill up my radiator, alright?

11:07 Now, under this matter of spiritual experience, thank you, Bob,

11:13 notice I did not say an experience, but spiritual experience. And by these words, I mean to describe the inner life of the man of God, which fits into the work associated with the pastoral office. Now, what are the major components of such experience, which are essential to a biblical call to the pastoral office? Well, again, while not feeling entirely satisfied with what I have to present, the moment of truth has come, and I must go on.

11:58 I must give you what I presently have. And under this matter of spiritual experience, I want to direct your attention to three categories of spiritual experience that make up part of the proven competence to do the work associated with the pastoral office. And here is the first.

Deep Experimental Knowledge of and Devotion to Christ

12:23 There must be a deep,

12:27 experimental knowledge of

12:32 and devotion to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. There must be a deep, experimental knowledge of and devotion to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not sufficient experimental knowledge, which is of the essence of possessing eternal life, but a deep, experimental knowledge. John 17, 3.

13:10 This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. But there must be more than that modicum of what is present in every saving experience of the grace of God. And upon what biblical data do I rest this assertion? Well, first of all, consider the fact that, our Lord, in dealing with those whom He was preparing for ministry, made clear that deep attachment to His person and acquaintance with His person was the heart and soul of all that they would become as His servants. In Mark chapter 1 and verse 17, we have those very pregnant words with reference to the call, of those early disciples, Mark 1 and verses 16 and 17. And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them,

14:27 Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they left their nets and followed him. It was in the crucible of their attachment to his person that he would make them into effective ministers in his kingdom. Come ye after me, and in that context of living intercourse with my person, I will make you to become fishers of men.

15:06 To become effective ministers, that is, fishers of men. After me, and I will make you. And there's the heart and the soul of that whole principle. And we see that exemplified very vividly in the experience of Peter.

15:28 You will remember that it was after his horrible and tragic lapse of courage, leaving. To his temporary denial of the Lord that in John 21, the Lord lovingly, patiently restores and recommissions Peter to his task as a servant of Christ. And as he is doing it, what is the very central issue at stake in that restoration and recommissioning of Peter? Well, according to verse 15, it was his own attachment to the person of Christ in fervent, genuine love and devotion. When they had broken their fast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, Do you love me more than these? You who protested, though all others forsake me, yet will not I forsake you? I'm ready to die.

16:34 I'm ready to go to prison. He said, Unto him, yea, Lord, you know that I love you. He said unto him, Feed my lambs. He said unto him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

16:50 And he said, Yea, Lord, you know that I love you. He said unto him, Tend or shepherd my sheep. And he saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Do you love me?

17:07 And he said unto him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said unto him, Feed my sheep. And then he goes on in verse 18 to tell Peter that in the course of his obedience born of loving attachment to his person, he will one day be martyred.

17:31 I say unto you, when you were young, you girded yourself, walked where you would, but when you shall be old, you will stretch forth your hands, another shall gird you and carry you where you would not. Now this he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, now notice the emphasis, Follow me. Here is the renewed call to personal attachment to himself.

17:59 And follow me in that context did not mean what it did in that context. That first call, because he was going back to heaven. So the call was, carry out your life in attachment to my person, doing what my word has revealed as my will for you. And Peter understood that.

18:20 So what did he do? Instead of saying, Lord, by your grace, I will follow. And in love to you, I will feed your sheep, shepherd your sheep, and pasture, your lambs. I will do that, even to the point of martyrdom.

18:39 But instead, Peter turning about, see if the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who leaned back at his breast at the supper and said, Lord, who is it that betrays you? Identifying John. Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? In response to the call, Peter, I have brought you back to negate, as it were, each of your denials with a confession of your faith.

19:05 I have let you know that that denial has not disenfranchised you as one of my servants. So I give you this task to pasture my lambs, to shepherd my sheep, and to pasture my sheep, which would be a more literal rendering of the nuances of the Greek in that section. And Peter, I call you to do this even in loving attachment to me in accordance with the law. In accordance with the law, I am a force that leads to martyrdom.

19:38 And instead of saying, Lord, by your grace, in loving attachment to you, I will follow, he turns and says, what about this one? Where is he going to end up? And the Lord, very lovingly, and I personally believe it's a bit of euphemistic bleeding of the vigor of the words, the Lord basically said, that's none of your business. Jesus said unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what to thee?

20:04 What to thee? What does that have to do with you, Peter? I've made my will known to you. And then this saying went about, et cetera.

20:12 So we see the great principle enunciated on the very front end of Peter's call into special service that the orbit within which that call was to be nurtured was that of experimental knowledge of and devotion to the person of Christ. And though the Lord Jesus was to return to his father and Peter was to remain on caring for his sheep and his lambs, the orbit of effective ministry was not to change. It was still the attachment in love to Jesus Christ. It was still to be a ministry flowing out of the matrix of following hard after the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But then the second line of evidence that I set before you that a deep experimental knowledge of and devotion to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is a necessary requirement for doing the work of the pastoral office is the example of the great Apostle Paul.

21:19 Of all the privileges that the Apostle had in terms of uniqueness of gift and office, he loves his designation bond slave of Jesus Christ and gives it precedence over Apostle of Jesus Christ. Romans 1 and verse 1, a church that he had never visited but hopes to visit, how does he want them to think of him? Paul, the doulos, the bond slave of Jesus Christ, called an Apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, et cetera. But his primary, his initial self-identification is bond slave, of Jesus Christ. And you find the similar construction in Philippians 1 and verse 1. And as the bond slave of Jesus Christ, it was his own experimental acquaintance with Christ that formed the heart and the life of his ministry. And this was made plain to him in his very conversion and initial commission according to the account in Acts chapter 26.

22:38 What was to be the orbit within which the Apostle would carry out his vast and very complex ministry?

22:49 Acts chapter 26, verses 14 to 17 are pregnant with significance. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice say unto me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad. And I said, who art thou, Lord?

23:15 Now, if you are multilingual and someone speaks to you in a given language, you of course assume that he knows that language if he knows no others. And you will respond then in that language. This is one of the clearest affirmations of the deity of Christ. He says, a voice spoke in the Hebrew language.

23:32 So how would Paul have answered? Who art thou, Adonai? He wouldn't say Jehovah. Who art thou?

23:42 Adonai? And Adonai answers what? I am Jesus. I am Jesus.

23:52 I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But arise and stand upon thy feet for to this end have I appeared unto thee to appoint thee a minister and a witness. Now notice. Both of the things wherein thou hast seen me and of the things wherein thou hast seen me.

24:14 And of the things wherein thou hast seen me. And of the things wherein thou hast seen me. And of the things wherein I will appear unto thee delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom I send thee. And then that he's to do a conversion work to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive remission of sins and in inheritance a lot among them that are sanctified by faith in me.

24:37 And then he goes on to say that he was not disobedient unto that heavenly vision. But now for our purposes the crucial part of the passage is this. You are to be a minister and a witness of the things wherein you have seen me and of the things wherein I will appear unto you. And though there are elements that are utterly unique to an apostle who was both the recipient and the conveyor of special revelation something we have no right to lay claim to nor does anyone in spite of the fanatic claims of Satan to be able to do so.

25:15 The principle is nonetheless the same. Paul is given to understand that his ministry will not be something in which he is given a static revelation of Christ and of his ways and of his truth and out of, as it were, that stock of that static deposit he is to draw for the rest of his days. No, there was to be a dynamic ongoing attachment to Christ out of which would come the stuff of his ministry.

25:50 And there we see the great principle that for us as well as the apostle dropping off all the elements unique to apostleship it is in the matrix of the dynamics of our ongoing attachment to Jesus Christ in deep experimental knowledge of and devotion to his person that the true life of Christ of our ministry is to be found.

26:20 Now, why is this so essential?

26:24 Well, let me give you two very simple reasons. Number one,

26:32 if proclaiming Christ is the great, the fundamental, the all-encompassing task of the ministry, what can be more deadening than to proclaim an unknown and an unfelt and an unexperienced Christ? 1 Corinthians 2.2 I determine to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him as crucified. Colossians 1.28 Whom we proclaim we preach not ourselves 2 Corinthians 4.5 but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves your bond slaves for Jesus' sake. If proclaiming Christ not in some narrow truncated church Jesus' only simplistic mentality but in a way consistent with Acts 20.26 proclaiming the whole counsel of God but showing that Christ is the great lodestone of all truth that all roads of God's truth lead to him and all of them lead out of him to the farthest reaches of Christian duty and responsibility.

27:50 How deadening is such a ministry of Christ if it is not it comes out of a heart unacquainted with personal communion with Christ.

28:03 And therefore if we are to be equipped for the ministry there must be some indication this side of entering the ministry that by the grace of God we have come to some measure of what I have called spiritual experience in which there is a deep experimental acquaintance with the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the life and the soul of our ministry and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. And if Christ is not occupying all of the crevices of our heart and there is not present experience of the reality of fellowship and communion with Christ then even the most explicitly Christological truth will be tinged with death when it comes out of our lips.

29:05 In his excellent little book on preaching very powerfully expresses this quoting from Whitefield on the duty of a gospel minister this is Whitefield's word you will never preach he said in a sermon in Glasgow with power feelingly while you deal in a false commerce with truths unfelt it will be but poor dry sapless stuff your people will go away out of the church as cold as they came in for my own part he cried I would not preach an unknown Christ for ten thousand worlds I would not preach an unknown Christ for ten thousand worlds such offer God strange fire and their sermons will but increase their own damnation Isaac Walton has described John Donner's one in the pulpit of St. Paul's quote preaching the word so as showed his own heart was possessed with those very thoughts and joys that he labors to distill into others isn't that a beautiful picture here's the heart of the preacher seeking to distill certain realities into the hearts of his hearers does not that lay bare our deepest need we want something better than second hand religion and power and borrowed theology

30:34 and stolid unkindled churches which are merely efficient and competent machines dealing with reality at a distance and sending earnest seekers away with an aching disappointed sense that something vital is lacking we want that thrilling sense of immediacy that directness of touch that spiritual drive and momentum that spiritual and spiritual which only a personal encounter with God can ever impart well you see if the great task then of the ministry in its broadest expression is proclaiming Christ how deadening then to proclaim a Christ with whom we are not presently acquainted this is why I've used the term a deep experimental acquaintance with and devotion to the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ reason one it is the very substance the soul and life of our ministry and reason number two it is this knowledge of and devotion to Christ that is the great antidote to the major pitfalls of the ministry it is this knowledge of and devotion to Christ

32:02 considering them as a union unit I'm using them as a singular subject which is the great antidote to the pitfalls of the ministry and I were using that as a compound subject it would be which are that I'm using the two as a combined singular subject knowledge of and devotion to Christ is the great antidote to the great pitfalls of the ministry now you tell me what are the great pitfalls of the ministry pride because of public posture public position well what's the great antidote to pride it's a deep experimental acquaintance with knowledge of communion with the Lord Jesus Christ pride withers in his presence the greatness of his glory swallows up the worm-like nature of what you are let an Isaiah with all of his noble courtly bearing and all of his external as far as we know morality let him see an exalted Christ upon the throne John 12 this spake he when he saw his glory and his cry is woe is me I'm done done I've had it all the struts gone is gone for mine eyes have seen the King Jehovah

33:30 and you let a man come forth from his closet with deep experimental acquaintance with knowledge of and communion with his Savior and no matter how much he may be used of God pride has no fertile soil in which to grow the abuse of one's position how can that be effected in the heart of a man who realizes that my Lord Jesus Christ is entrusted to me that for which he died will I abuse his sheep purchased by his own precious blood no like a good shepherd I will seek to lay down my life for them but abuse them never will I consciously engage in such a horrible prostitution of my office and you go right down the line with the major pitfalls of the ministry and the greatest antidote is a growing experimental knowledge of and devotion to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and brethren I'm coming increasingly to believe that whatever spiritual gifts a man may manifest in terms of knowledge and utterance if he is not manifesting that God is taking him a cut above the ordinary Christian in this area

34:58 and I am for one ready to discourage him from pursuing the ministry because the measure of his gifts of utterance and rule will only set him up for an even more God dishonoring fall his profile will be all the higher because he doesn't have that which will keep him from the great pitfalls of the ministry so if this be lacking what can make up for it what can make up for it Christ in his glory in his the glory of his person is the central sun in the universe of God's truth and in the universe of the experience of God's people everything else are planets and satellites in their proper orbit around him but take away the central sun and all is chaos there is no light there is no warmth there is no life so my brethren prize above all things in these days of your preparation a deep experimental acquaintance with the person of Jesus Christ as revealed in the word of God I quote here again from Stuart page 54 Alexander White describing his Saturday

36:27 walks and talks with a fellow minister declared quote whatever we started off with in our conversations we soon made a cross country somehow to Jesus of Nazareth to his death to his resurrection and to his indwelling isn't that precious here two men of God out for a walk and he said wherever we started with our conversation we soon made a cross country somehow to Jesus of Nazareth to his death to his resurrection and to his indwelling and unless our sermons make for the same goal and arrive at the same mark they are simply beating the air it was a favorite dictum of the preachers of a bygone day that just as from every village in Britain there was a road which linking on to other roads would bring you at last to London so from every text in the Bible even the remotest and least likely there was a road to Christ yes possibly there were occasions when strange turns of exegesis and dubious allegorizings were pressed into service for the making of that road but the instinct was entirely sound which declared that no preaching which failed to exalt Christ was worthy to be called Christian preaching this is our great master theme

37:57 in the express forthright language of John Dunn quote all knowledge that begins not and ends not with his glory is but a giddy but a vertiginous and I had to look up the word I had an idea it had to do with vertigo and it does spinning whirling but a vertiginous circle but an elaborate and exquisite ignorance what vivid language all knowledge that begins not and ends not with his glory is but exquisite ignorance exquisite ignorance all right so under the heading of spiritual experience I set forth as the first strand of that experience what I have called in your hearing this deep experimental knowledge of and devotion to the person of Jesus Christ the Lord but then secondly and I'll only have time to touch this second and we'll take our break there must be a deep experimental acquaintance with the great issues of sin and of grace a deep growing experimental acquaintance with the great issues of sin and of grace

Deep Experimental Acquaintance with Sin and Grace

39:24 and remember this is all under the heading of a proven competence to do the work associated with the pastoral office if the work of that office is proclaiming Christ then we must know the Christ we proclaim and know him not out of the stock of a static knowledge from the past but out of the dynamic ongoing knowledge and acquaintance with him of the present but then also there must be this deep this growing experimental acquaintance with the great issues of sin and of grace now what am I talking about well first of all let me try to underscore the pattern and principle of the apostolic ministry which again was this that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you be quiet don't speak anymore in his name we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard now if in terms of spiritual experience we are not in a different class with our people that is

41:17 what we are living in the world and we are living day by day in their respective spheres of calling under the constant pressure on the one hand of the realities of their own sin with its tentacles embedded in remaining corruption reaching out in terms of the world and then the equilibrium of knowing in spite of my sin I'm accepted in the beloved and when I fall there is pardon and forgiveness if we confess our sins he is faithful and just the great distinctions of justification and adoption as opposed to sanctification and mortification these are the things this is the stuff of which your people feed on which they feed and of which they live growing experimental acquaintance with these great issues of sin and grace, the struggles of the soul that is stained still with remaining corruption, yet rejoices in hope of the glory of God, if those things are not the stuff of your spiritual experience, how can you speak a word to him that is weary in his pilgrimage?

42:41 If you are not acquainted with the things that are the stuff of which their lives are made, how can your ministry have true biblical relevance?

42:53 You've got sheep that are weeping over the fact that there is a stubborn, it seems utterly immovable area of remaining sin in their life. If you're not struggling with those areas that seem to be stubborn and immovable in your life, there'll never be a hook-up point in your preaching.

43:18 And just take that into the whole orbit. If you don't struggle to be patient with your wife, how does the man who struggles to be patient with his ever hook up with you in ministry? How will your applications ever hook up with him? How will your pastoral conversations, your oversight visits?

43:37 You see, the whole essence of what it is to be a shepherd to God's people in public or private ministry assumes that in terms of Christian experience, you're living where they live. You struggle where they struggle. Your battles are won where theirs are won with the weapons with which they win them or failure to use the weapons when they lose those battles. And without a deep, growing, experimental acquaintance then with the great issues of sin and of grace, our ministry simply will be something that float by our people with a casual interest secured on the basis of their respect for the Word of God.

44:19 Or, or our ministries will be that way. That which crawl inside their hearts and meet them at the point of their need. Let me quote from some of the old writers who understood this. You won't find this in modern books on preaching, but you will find it in most modern books.

44:38 When Owen is writing on the especial duty of pastors, in the old English, he didn't say special, but the especial duties of pastors. This is found in volume 16, the bottom of page 74. The first and principal duty of a pastor is to feed the flock by diligent preaching of the Word. It is a promise relating to the New Testament that God would give unto his church pastors according to his own heart, which should feed them with knowledge and understanding.

45:17 Jeremiah 3, 15. By this teaching or preaching of the Word and no otherwise. But now listen. This feeding is of the essence.

45:26 This feeding is of the essence of the office of a pastor, as unto the exercise of it. So that he who doth not, or cannot, or will not feed the flock is no pastor, whatever outward call or work he may have in the church. The care of preaching the gospel was committed to Peter and in him unto all true pastors of the church under the name of feeding or shepherding the flock of God. John 21, 15-17.

45:52 According to the example of the apostles, they are to free themselves. From all encumbrances that they may give themselves wholly unto prayer and the ministry of the Word. Acts 6, 1-4. They are to labor in the Word and in doctrine.

46:06 1 Timothy 5, 17. But now he goes on to say this. A man is a pastor unto them whom he feeds by pastoral teaching and no more. And he that doth not so feed is no pastor.

46:21 And then he goes on to say that this demands then that he give himself to this labor. Now he moves to the question. What things are required then unto this duty? Having established it is the duty, what are the prerequisites to the performance of it?

46:36 You know what he puts as the first? Not the gift of gab.

46:41 Spiritual wisdom and understanding in the mysteries of the gospel that they may declare unto the church all the counsel of God. Number two. Experience of the power of the truth which thou art. Number two.

46:57 Which they preach in and upon their own souls. Without this they will themselves be lifeless and heartless in their own work and their labor for the most part will be unprofitable to others. It is to such men attended unto as a task for their advantage or as that which carries some satisfaction in it from ostentation and supposed reputation wherewith it is accompanied. He says people who do not have a deep growing experiment or a mental acquaintance with the truth may carry on but the motives are utterly stained.

47:31 But a man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul. And he that doth not feed on and thrive in the digestion of the food which he provides for others others will scarce make it savory unto them. Yea, he who knows but the food he hath provided may be poisoned. Unless he hath really tasted of it himself.

48:01 If the word do not dwell with power in us it will not pass with power from us. And no man lives in a more woeful condition than those who really believe not themselves what they persuade others to believe continually. The lack of this experience of the power of the gospel truth on their own souls is that which gives us so many lifeless souls. So many lifeless, sapless orations quaint in words and dead as to power instead of preaching in the demonstration of the Spirit.

48:39 And let any say what they please. It is evident some men's preaching as well as others not preaching hath lost the credit of their ministry. Then and only then does he go on to deal with what I will deal with in the next heading when we come to number three. Spiritual gifts.

48:59 Skill to divide the word aright. But he puts the first two. Isn't it interesting? The first two requirements.

49:09 Spiritual wisdom in an understanding of the mysteries of the gospel and then experience of the power of those very truths. Listen to Owen writing in volume nine. Hear a sermon on the duty of a pastor. And you find some of these emphases coming through in various sermons.

49:27 Of Owen. What I shall do now, page 454 of volume nine, is to show you in some instances what is required unto this work of teaching or feeding the congregation with knowledge and understanding in this duty of preaching the word. And he has again, head number one. There is spiritual wisdom in understanding the mysteries of the gospel.

49:53 Then he adds a different number two that I'm going to come to later. Authority. And then number three. Another thing required here unto is experience of the power of the things we preach to others.

50:07 I think truly no man preaches that sermon well to others who doth not first preach it to his own heart. And then he uses almost identical language. You see, good preachers repeat good stuff. So never be embarrassed if you get accused of that.

50:21 He who doth not feed on and digest and thrive by what he prepares for his people, give them poison as far as he knows. For unless he finds the power of it in his own heart, he cannot have any ground of confidence that it will have power in the hearts of others. It is an easier thing to bring our heads to preach than our hearts to preach. To bring our heads to preach is but to fill our minds and memories with some notions of truth of our own or other men and speak them out to give satisfaction to ourselves and others.

50:55 This is very easy. But to bring our hearts to preach is to be transformed into the power of these truths or to find the power of them both before in fashioning our minds and hearts and in delivering of them that we may benefit. He is saying your preaching ought to edify you as you preach because it is in rapport with your own present spiritual experience. A man may preach.

51:25 He may preach every day of the week and not have his heart engaged once. This hath lost us powerful preaching in the world and set up instead of it quaint orations. For such men never seek after experience in their own hearts. And so it is come to pass that some men's preaching and some men's not preaching have lost us the power of what we call the ministry.

51:57 And though there be twenty or thirty thousand in orders that is official reverence set apart to minister yet the nation perishes for want of knowledge and is overwhelmed in all manner of sins and not delivered from them unto this day. Now you see why with all his learning the good Dr. Owen would go to hear the tinker preach whenever he could. People thought it was beneath the dignity of the great Dr. Owen to be sitting at the feet of Bunyan.

52:29 But whenever he could he went to hear the tinker preach. Why? Because the tinker preached that which he did feel that which he did smartingly feel. He said when I was in chains I came to my people as in chains.

52:43 I preached that which I did feel that which I did smartingly feel. That is why Owen went. He said here is a true preacher. And of course he said he would give up all his learning could he but preach as the tinker to the hearts of men.

53:00 Now I'm glad he didn't give up his learning. We would be impoverished but that's the spirit of a man who knows what true ministry is. And he saw in Bunyan not all of the official clerics around him but he saw in Bunyan someone truly qualified for the pastoral office by spiritual experience. And it put a hue and a pin and an aura and an ethos around the ministry of Bunyan that set him apart from his contemporaries.

53:32 Let me give you the words of another on this matter. Here are the words that you'll read in our good friend Bridges. He's speaking of the necessity of the qualifications of the ministry and one of them is spiritual attainments with spiritual character. But the one I want to...

53:54 Yes. Here it is. It's on page 27. It is evident that this ministerial standard presupposes a deep tone of experimental and devotional character habitually exercised in self-denial prominently marked by love to the Savior and to the souls of sinners.

54:15 And he says a babe in grace and knowledge is palpably incompetent to become a teacher of babes much more a guide of fathers. The school of adversity of discipline, of experience united with study and heavenly influence can alone give to a man the tongue of the learned. Some measure of eminence and habitual aim towards greater eminence are indispensable for ministerial completeness. And brethren, how crucial this is that in our days of preparation we realize that with all of the acquisition of the tools of exegesis and the quality controls upon our ministries that come with our systematics and historical theology there must be a deep growing experimental acquaintance with the great issues of sin and of grace. And though no trauma of the soul is pleasant I look back over those years of chasing the rabbit trails of the charismatic experience and the deeper life experience and quietism and all of those things. The agony of it, none of it was pleasant and when I sit and people at times ask me give us a little bit of a biography of your spiritual pilgrimage I go through great emotional trauma when I relive chasing all of those rabbit trails. But it was in the crucible of those things

55:42 that God was teaching things from which I continue to draw to this day. And then it's in the present wrestling with the realities. You'd think it was easy for me to have my wife sweetly tell me that I overstated the case last Wednesday and go to my knees Thursday morning and say Lord if my wife's right make it plain to me from your word as I reflect upon the sanctity of truth and I have to confess my sin to God and go find my wife and say honey thank you and confess my sin to her and determine that first thing Wednesday night I have to confess my sin to the people. You think that's easy for me?

56:22 That I've got some special little button I know brethren. But how in God's name are you going to teach your people to be real if you aren't real in your own struggles with overstatement? You will struggle with it. If in the multitudes of words they're wanted not sin I tell people I have to confess more sin than anybody else because I speak more around here than anybody else.

56:44 Stands to reason if the multitude of words they're wanted not sin I have the biggest multitude of words I'll have the most sin. For in many things we offend all. Yet people come up and say I can treat you like a hero because you confess some sin and it to me is abominable. It ought to be ordinary stuff.

57:02 Confess your sins one to another. Pray one for another. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us. The assumption is that that's part and parcel of real Christian experience in any community of real believers.

57:16 Had a man new to our fellowship with whom I've had to deal at a very deep level with some very deep sins he came to me Wednesday night to acknowledge that as he's begun to deal with those sins God has laid bare areas of sin that he wasn't even aware of. And I put my arm around him and I said so and so look the longer you're around here you're going to find out two things. Number one we don't treat sin lightly we take it seriously. But number two you can afford the luxury of being an honest sinner in this place.

57:47 You don't need to brush your sin under the rug. We're all struggling with remaining sin. And that's what I mean when I say the ongoing experience and the experimental acquaintance with the great issues of sin and grace. How do you keep a good conscience?

58:03 How do you keep a sensitive conscience without losing the joy of your adopted justified state? That's where your people live. And if your ministry doesn't address those issues you leave them crippled and they can't walk let alone run well in the race that's before them. So brethren there is no substitute for that experimental ongoing acquaintance with the great issues of sin and of grace.

Deep, Genuine, and Demonstrable Love for People

58:33 Well let's break there and then we'll come to the third. We're going to look at what I'm calling a deep genuine demonstrable love of people as one of those elements of spiritual experience that are part of a proven competence to do the work associated with the pastoral office. Well let's take a ten minute break. Now Lord what we do now brethren is just pick up with the third of these dimensions of spiritual experience that are part of the proven competence to do the work associated with the pastoral office having considered the matter of our relationship to Christ and then the experimental acquaintance with the great issues of sin and grace. The third matter that I wish to address is what I'm calling the presence of a deep genuine and demonstrable love for people. A deep genuine and demonstrable love for people. And by demonstrable I simply mean that which is demonstrated evidenced by actions.

59:53 As we've had occasion to note all along the way in our treatment of this subject of the call to the ministry Christ gives pastors and teachers as gifts to the church and we've emphasized again and again that they exist for the church and not the church for them. The moment men think of the church as a God given provision for them to display themselves or their gifts their thinking is utterly unbiblical. And if they are given then for the church to serve the people of God in their capacity as leaders then one of the indications that Christ is giving them to the church is that He's giving them hearts that love His church both the called and the not yet called. So one of the marks of one who is being prepared by Christ as a gift to the church will be a deep genuine demonstrable love for people. Now examples of this take the supreme example our Lord Himself. He could say I am among you as He that serves.

61:21 The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. And as we read through the gospel records if there is one thing that stands out in all of our Lord's interaction with men even in His scathing denunciation of the scribes and the Pharisees is that He was a genuine lover of men. You never read being moved with a desire to attest His messianic identity He put forth His hand and touched a leper. It's being moved with what?

62:05 Compassion. He stretched His hand to Jesus seeing the multitudes was moved with compassion. He looks upon the rich young ruler and it says He loved Him. The woman at the well the downcast the poor who were overlooked one of the attestations of His messianic identity He says tell John the poor have the gospel preached and we've just been considering in our expositions of Mark the look of the Son of God.

62:47 Peter did everything to convince everyone around Him. I have no attachment to this person but Jesus looks at Peter in such a way and says but I have attachments to you in love and it is the love of people. He did it with little children. Someone who does not manifest love to children can never in a crowd motion to a little kid and get him to come and sit on His knee because He wants to use Him for an illustration but Jesus had no trouble. It says He brought Him the loaves and the fishes just receiving them and saying a polite thank you. I can't imagine not rubbing His head and saying thank you Son and giving Him a hug. It is unthinkable.

63:58 It is just incongruous in the context of our Lord's genuine love. I remember only there for three Sabbaths and yet He could say He was like a gentle nursing mother, a loving caring father and then He starts chapter three with saying I was being distracted from my labors. So solicitous was I for your spiritual well-being. I had to send Timothy and find out how you were doing and who is offended and I burn not.

64:42 Who could say when He is writing to the Philippians I tell you now even weeping. They are the enemies of the cross of Christ and I believe the parchment was probably stained with the salt of His tears when it was sent to the Philippian church. He could not have the power to lead about a wife. How that sensitive soul of Paul in which there was mingled all that is noble in feminine character and all that is noble in Christian manliness.

65:26 I believe His singleness was a deep painful wound that He carried with Him continually. They are granite like men. There is just nothing in them that you would sense ever reached out for the warmth and the intimacy of a deep relationship in marriage. But I believe it was painful for Paul.

65:56 Who knows what pain he experienced when he wrote the words have we not the Judaizers have stirred up prejudice against me to have someone who knows me for what I am and loves me to put her arms around me and say it's all right Paul I understand and the Lord knows. He didn't have that. He said for the sake of the Gospel gnarled hands pulling leather over his hips it was not just a love to preach not a love to hear the sound of his own voice but a love for people. That's why he could pen first Corinthians 13. I show you a more excellent way. If I if the head of the church is fashioning you into an able minister of the new covenant, part of your proven competence to do the work associated with the pastoral office will be in this area of spiritual experience a real growing love for people.

67:25 And I want to say by way of application some very pointed things. I have no hesitation in asserting that the man, young or old, who believes tentatively that he is called of God to the ministry, who shows no real concern to serve people now in a way consistent with his dominant calling as a student,

67:51 is kidding himself. What does it cost you to give warm greetings and ask three or four brothers or sisters on the Lord's Day, how are you doing?

68:03 I know you by name or I know you by faith but I really don't know who you are. You've probably forgotten who I am. I'm so and so. Out of love.

68:12 Not a technique to gain Absalom-like ability to steal. No. Put up a heart for people. A heart for people.

68:22 The warm greeting. The informal visit. The leading question.

68:28 Some ministerial students act as though being a ministerial student means becoming a budding hero to be admired.

68:38 Rather than a budding servant to be poured out in love to help God's people. I've seen many men, altogether too many men that I could not be convinced the head of the church ever gave them as shepherds to his people because there was no demonstrable love for people. They could stand with a sea of children all around them and not relate to them. Not even say hi to them.

69:09 Not even say hi to them. Not even say hi to them. Not even rub their heads. How are they ever going to secure the affection of the children?

69:15 If you don't secure their affection you'll never have their attention. If you don't have their attention how are you going to get the gospel into their hearts? Because you won't be able to get it into their ears. A demonstrable love for people.

69:27 Now granted, given all of the differing personalities, differing backgrounds, I'm fully aware I'm not pressing everyone into one specific mode. But I am saying if you're not alone lover of men and one whose love for men is evident how in God's name can you serve in the work and task that is impelled by love?

69:55 And how are you ever going to love when in return for your love all you get is dirt in your face and be able to say though the more I love you the less I be loved? Doesn't make any difference. I'm going to go right on loving you and right on serving you for Christ's sake and do everything in my power to get you safely to heaven.

70:16 You see, it's the man who now makes self-denying efforts to reach out consistent again with his primary calling as a student to establish good relations with his neighbor. And it's hard at times. I confess to you this past three weeks my wife and I have wrestled through one of the most sensitive elements of casuistry and I only share this to let you men know that none of us gets beyond this. We've had good neighbors for 22 years.

70:43 We moved into our present home in July of 67 and our neighbors across the street their kids were little like ours were and now they're grown and married all but well two of them aren't no in fact three of them are only ones married. Ours were quicker to get married. They got their pappy's genes I guess but they're about the same age. But we've established good relations and they have a lot of common grace.

71:07 They represent the pre-war generation in their whole view of life and their structure and the woman is always worked at home and not out of the home et cetera. Well an issue came up in the neighborhood where their neighbors are trying to get a variance to build a deck on the property between our neighbors and theirs and it would infringe upon their privacy it would be visible from the street and nobody who was notified according to town regulations was going to go to bat for them and we wrestled with this matter. Well if we go to bat for them will we alienate the young couple that wants to have the deck and we've got good relations with them and our daughter's baby sat for them and we pray for them we ask God to give us openings of witness and we were wrestling with all the scriptures on this matter and it was a pain in the neck at this time. That's the last thing in the world I needed at this time. Pastors conference coming, chest infection and a host of other things and I wanted to say Lord why in the world but here were people that we love and we're trying to love them with the greatest of love. To have credibility for the sake of the gospel.

72:15 And so when this crazy infection was at its height and I was trying to work and my head was off spaced out somewhere else I had to sit and I'm no typist this thing only looks half decent because it's got a good strike over thing that patches up my errors but I had to sit there until I had attention knocked at eight like a toothache for two and a half hours composing a letter to be read at the town meeting because I couldn't attend it. And I confess at times I was ready to just kick that typewriter and walk away from it. And why do I need this? But then the truth kept coming back to me.

72:52 You prayed for their salvation. Is all you've done to establish good relations really been done out of love? Then will not love enable you to bear this little bit of inconvenience? Bear this intrusion upon your schedule?

73:05 Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And I had to say Lord, I must. Everything else would be negated. Well, to make a long story short, I wrote the letter and they were so grateful they sent over a big pot of beautiful mums with a thank you note.

73:22 I just say that to underscore this, you see. They've heard me preach at my kids' weddings. That's the one time I've had them under the gospel. What would have happened if what I professed in that preaching was not validated by that neighborly deed?

73:37 Who knows? They might be skeptical, skeptical from here on in. That's what I'm talking about. Being a lover of people considering where God's placed you, brethren.

73:47 And that love must be real and genuine but like all graces it must be cultivated and it must be demonstrated. You should be the one always to take the initiative to wave at your neighbors even if they don't grunt in return. You're learning then to love when love is not reciprocated. And you smile at them and say hi just like they were the loveliest, warmest night.

74:10 I got some of the neighbors that to this day I think either they're blind or I'm not blind. I'm invisible.

74:20 No response. That's all right. I still have been in a big grin in the high. I'm out jogging and I see them.

74:26 Hi, how you doing today? I don't care. Keep on loving. Demonstrable love of people.

74:36 And brethren, in a day when there's so much cynicism and so much lack of trust and the whole fabric of society is coming apart at the scene, a genuine lover of people is a refreshing thing in the midst of that. But let me tell you something. There's a flip side to it. You'll be vulnerable and you'll be hurt and you'll be cut to pieces.

75:01 But the only way to be protected from the vulnerability of love is not to love.

75:08 And that then is to forfeit any validity to your professed call.

75:15 And so I lay before you according to the light that I have at the present that in terms of spiritual experience some proven competence to do the work associated with the pastoral office must surely involve these three elements of experience. One relating to the person of Christ. The other the great issues of sin and grace where our people work. And then this matter of true, genuine, demonstrable love for people saved and unsaved without which there will be no true ministry to people that is willing to meet them where they are.

Conclusion and Future Directions

75:55 Pay whatever price is needed to profit them spiritually. Either to see them get into the way to heaven or to help them as they are already upon that way by the grace of God. Well, that's what I wanted to say to you this morning. I think it's in the right place.

76:15 I'd appreciate your feedback and perspectives helping me on the matter if it sounds right to you because as I said, you men are the guinea pigs for these new sections and God willing, next time we'll take up the third area of competence namely spiritual gifts and I would covet your prayers because as I've been wrestling with that whole matter so many spiritual gifts overlap with spiritual graces and I've come to see why God in His wisdom used the word karis for what we would call gifts and karis for the good and I've been in the midst of a lot of things that God calls them graces and gifts and I said, there may be a whole field that I've got to do some rooting around and doing some in-depth word studies because I've felt that frustration in isolating certain gifts but I've said, Lord, for example, when I've been dealing with the gift of a mind reverently submissive to all that God has revealed in Scripture, I said, yes, that's a gift but that's a grace. It's grace but it's a gift. And then when you go to your Bible you say, well, gifts are called graces in the Bible, aren't they? And so I just feel like I'm on the border of going in some new areas in my own thinking and I confess that to you men and ask you to pray the Lord will guide me.

77:38 And it may be hand to mouth but I hope it will be good stuff if it comes from the Lord's hand to all of our mouths together. All right, any questions?