Spritual and Mental Gifts

Introduction to the Third Element: Essential Gifts for the Pastoral Office

0:02 The following lecture is part of the Pastoral Theology course given at the Trinity Ministerial Academy in Montville, New Jersey.

0:13 Well, we return again this morning, brethren, to take up this very vital subject of the essential elements of a biblical call to the pastoral office. Thus far, we've addressed what I call the foundational principles that must always be kept in mind as we wrestle with the subject, and by way of aside, let me say that I have found, even in the preparation of today's material, that keeping those foundational principles in mind has been my greatest help in sorting out what at times has been confusion in my own thinking and tentativeness. And as I've gone back to those foundational principles, I've found that they greatly helped me, even in my preparation. So I would urge you to continue to keep them in mind as we work our way through this subject. Then we considered together the fundamental errors regarding this subject, that historically, the three categories of erroneous thinking, which are identified by Breckinridge in his article reviewed by Thornwell, and then we took a whole session to consider, in the third place, false reasons, or assuming or desiring to be called to the pastoral office.

1:37 And then last week, we began to consider the four elements which comprise a biblical call to the pastoral office. And we had time to cover two of them. First of all, we looked at the desire for the work of the pastoral office, and our attention was directed fundamentally to 1 Timothy 3, 1a, faithful is the saying, if a man desires the office of an overseer, or more literally, if he desires overseership, he desires a good work. And then we tried to flesh out what it meant to have a desire for the pastoral office rooted in right motives. And then we noted, secondly, that there must be the graces requisite for entrance, into, the pastoral office. And then again, our primary sphere of reference was 1 Timothy 3. So we've covered two of the four elements that comprise a biblical call to the pastoral office.

2:47 Desire for the work of the pastoral office. Secondly, the graces requisite for entrance into the pastoral office. Now today, we begin, take up the third element which is always present or which ought to be present in a biblical call to the pastoral office and that is the gifts essential the gifts essential for fulfilling the ends and purposes of the pastoral office the gifts essential for fulfilling the ends and purposes of the pastoral office so we've moved from desire to graces to gifts now in opening up this strand of thought let me say two things by way of introduction and then we're going to address the necessity and importance of the requisite gifts the source and impartation of the gifts and then the specific gifts described but by way of introduction let me say two things number one i am presently struggling with certain aspects of the best way to articulate some of these things

4:10 so the thinking that will be embodied in the lecture this morning is not my final word on the matter in desperation i even consulted with one of my fellow elders this morning seeking to have his help in sorting out my thinking to be a quality control or check or even to blast it as being irrelevant or off base and so i do want to make it plain that in addressing the matter in the way in which i'm addressing it this does not represent as in many other areas what i would regard to be not my final word on the subject but at least my more mature thinking having gone through the other areas of the course four times i'm not going to invent a wheel uh... that is some other shape then round in those areas that we've gone over uh... on those four times so please understand that if i

5:15 stick very closely to my notes at certain points and if i speak tentatively it's because someone is struggling who is speaking to you and when you're struggling in your own mind with a matter uh... often that tentativeness and struggle will come out in the manner in which one is going to fall into the trap of tension and that's my final word for the day to be continued for next week speaks, and I don't want you to think and wonder, well, is he tired? Is his stomach upset? Is he distracted? No, I'm just unsettled as to the best way to express some of these dimensions of our subject. And then the second thing, by way of introduction, I want to say, and this is crucial for you men, I'm speaking of the things which must be present at such a time as a man would actually be called by a church and formally set apart to do the work involved in the pastoral office. I'm speaking of the things which must be present at such a time as a man would actually be set apart for the work.

6:26 work of the ministry. I am not asserting that all of these gifts will be as clearly discerned at this period in your preparation as one can discern the sun on a cloudless day at high noon,

6:50 and that's crucial. If you don't keep that in mind, some of you may be discouraged who ought not to be discouraged. You may even question the wisdom and the integrity of the men who invited you into the academy and say, if that's the standard, what in the world did you do inviting me to this place? So we are speaking of the gifts essential for fulfilling the ends and purposes of the pastoral office as those gifts would be manifested of necessity at the time of a man actually getting married.

7:27 Entering into the office. All right? So those two words of introduction, something of my own tentativeness and something of the sphere of reference that I have in mind in addressing these matters. All right? As we now address the subject of the gifts essential for fulfilling the ends and purposes of the pastoral office, first of all, we want to take up the necessity and importance of the requisite gifts. For the pastoral office, the necessity and importance of the requisite gifts for the pastoral office. And under this heading, I have three subheadings. And the first is the clear demand of the most relevant texts, the clear demand of the most relevant texts. And the most

The Necessity and Importance of Requisite Gifts: Scriptural Demands

8:29 relevant texts are four that we're going to look at. The first is in 1 Timothy 3 and verse 2b. 1 Timothy 3 and verse 2b. Remember the emphasis we placed upon that little particle of necessity, day, following the faithful saying that there is a noble, sanctified, godly aspiration and stretching out and luster.

9:05 The second is the desire for and desire of the works of worship and giverly overseeing. Then, we are told, the bishop therefore must be, and then we have some of the character traits and graces highlighted. But then, the last in verse 2, apt to teach. The three words translating the one Greek word.

9:35 D'Arnton Gingrich, agreeing with most of the commentators that I have consulted, say that the word means skillful in teaching. And the bishop, at whatever level he functions, must be skillful in teaching. He must be one who is able to take an element, an aspect, a dimension of the body of revealed truth and to impart it with sufficient clarity as to fulfill the ends and purposes of the pastoral office, namely, to edify saints and to see sinners brought to repentance and faith. Appetite. Preach, then, is a non-negotiable gift requisite for the pastoral office. Now, when someone asks the question, where is the line between ineptitude and aptitude?

10:50 Well, God has not given us a fixed line. He leaves us to the general principles of the word, and here's the line. Here's the line. Here's where it's crucial.

11:02 The discretion of the people of God thinking biblically. That's why we will come eventually to the fourth element of a valid call, and that is the recognition of the people of God that we are a gift of Christ. And how can they receive as a gift of Christ a pastor-teacher who can't teach and who can't shepherd?

11:28 I mean, that's ludicrous. And so Paul was right. And it makes sense when he says the bishop must be skillful in teaching. And whatever gifts, mental gifts, spiritual gifts, mechanical gifts, go into making an apt teacher, they must be present to a degree that makes it legitimate to describe a man as skillful in teaching.

11:58 Now, it doesn't say brilliant in teaching. It does not say the teacher in Israel, as Nicodemus was described, but certainly skillful in teaching. And we are left to wrestle with what skillful in teaching means. But that he must be skillful in teaching is not a matter of wrestling.

12:23 It's a matter of submission to clear biblical data. All right? The second relevant text is 1 Timothy 3, 4, and 5.

12:35 He must be one that rules well his own house. And here we have a use of the verb proistemi, which, as you know, is one of the words and family of words that is incorporated into a description of elders and their function as spiritual leaders. Remember them that are over you in the Lord. In 1 Timothy 5, 1 Thessalonians 5, 12.

13:09 And he must be one who rules well his own house, proistemi. And then the parenthetical statement, if a man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he epi meleomai? How shall he take care of the church of God? So here, taking care is used at least parallel to, if not synonymous with, ruling well.

13:47 And the whole point is, he must not only be skillful in teaching, he must be skillful in ruling. He must be one that rules well, proistemi, his own house.

14:09 And if he does not rule well his own house, how shall he epi meleomai? How shall he take care? How shall he have the requisite character traits and other elements that go into proper care of the church of Christ? And it is perfectly possible and patently evident in some men that they are, they are exceedingly skillful in teaching, but utterly inept at ruling.

14:46 And skillfulness in teaching does not in itself constitute the requisite gifts for the pastoral office. And that's why I have not used the term call to preach, but call to the pastoral office. And there is ample room in Christ's church for men skillful in teaching to whom God has not given the requisite gifts and graces essential to skillful ruling. They can indeed have a sphere of great usefulness if they will give themselves to their teaching in the language of Romans 12.

15:31 But if they have no gift of ruling, then they have no place in the pastoral office. For in that office, the gift of teaching, or exhortation, or a combination of both, coupled with the gift of ruling, must be joined. They cannot be separated. They cannot be separated.

15:53 They must not be separated, for the text says the overseer must be, must be, a proven skillful teacher and a proven apt ruler. All right. The third relevant text is Titus 1 and verse 9.

16:17 When Paul by the Spirit is giving to Titus the standard by which to evaluate men who ought to be urged and guided into the office of elder in the Isle of Crete, the concentration throughout the entire first part of the section beginning with verse 6 coming down to the office of elder to verse 8 is upon character and graces. But now in verse 9, the direction shifts to that of gifts, holding to the faithful word which is according to the doctrine that he may be able both to exhort, and the word exhort there should be given its full range of biblical significance. Exhort means to encourage, to motivate to action. It can have the overtones of admonition, though we generally make it a synonym for admonition and we should not do that. That he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine and, and to convict the gainsayers.

17:37 That he may be able, that he may have a proven, manifested ability to exhort and comfort and inspire to action the true people of God and then with the same sound or healthful teaching convict, bring to the test and bring to the bar the judgment of fair minds, the word of truth, the healthful teaching, the apostolic tradition and sure, show the anti-leggos, those who speak against the truth, show them for what they are. And here in no uncertain terms, the apostle clearly demands certain gifts as essential to those who would enter the office of an elder. There must be manifested ability to exhort and to, to convict. And then our fourth relevant text, and some of you have already anticipated it I'm sure, is 2 Timothy 2 and verse 2.

18:58 2 Timothy 2 and verse 2.

19:06 Speaking to Timothy and one of his responsibilities among many there in the church at Ephesus and the things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, the same, commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Hikanoi eshantai,

19:34 who shall be worthy, fit, sufficient,

19:39 able to teach others also. Or also others to teach is the order in the original. So the focus, this here, is upon not only proven character, faithful men, but upon manifest gift. Men worthy, fit, sufficient, able to teach others also.

The Necessity and Importance of Requisite Gifts: Inferred Demands of Revealed Tasks

20:09 And the apostolic tradition is to be committed to such men who have both manifested grace and manifested ability. Now these four texts, and there are many others that could be pressed into service, but surely the clear demand of these most relevant texts underscores the necessity and importance of the requisite gifts for the pastoral office, gifts of proven ability to teach and proven ability to rule or to govern. But then the second pillar of evidence, on the necessity and importance of requisite gifts, is what I am calling the inferred demands of the revealed tasks connected with the office. We've looked at the clear demand of the most relevant texts, but now secondly, the inferred demands of the revealed tasks connected with the office. Now when you think of the office, of an overseer, of a pastor-teacher, and you're asked the question, what are the primary demands connected with that office? I hope you think immediately

21:37 of such texts as Acts 20-28. Shepherd the flock of God which is among you. I'm sorry, that's 1 Peter 5, but take heed to yourselves and to all the flock of God to shepherd the church of the Lord, which he purchased with his own blood. And then he goes on to amplify what that shepherding will mean in terms of protection from wolves and perverse men, and following the apostolic pattern of selfless service for the people of God.

22:14 Well, that's a task inseparably connected with the office. Then the 1 Peter 5 passage. The elders among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, shepherd the flock of God, exercising the oversight. And then you think of Hebrews 13-17.

22:39 Obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them, for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account. And then when we bring in all of the inferred demands of the task, when taking, as it were, a systematic theology approach to the work of the ministry and extracting the principles of what it means to be a pastor in passages like 1 Thessalonians 2, and in the manifold exhortations given to Timothy to preach the word, to be an example of the believers, the admonitions to Titus, these things, command and teach with all authority. Well, when we take the demands of the revealed tasks connected with the office, it's evident they cannot be fulfilled without specific gifts being resident and patently present in a man. A man simply cannot fulfill the demands connected with the office who is devoid of the gifts essential to the fulfilling of those demands. If the demand to come into

24:07 Trinity Ministerial Academy was that you had to bench press 400 pounds, then none of us would be here. If the demand of the pastoral office is to fulfill the function of a shepherd to God's people, which means to feed them and to guard them, then the man who does not have a combination of gifts that enable him to penetrate the mind of God in Scripture, to lay it out with sufficient clarity so that others can perceive his insights into the word of God and he can carry their judgment, if he does not have the gifts of utterance and divine unction so that the listeners are conscious that he is not simply a Bible talker, then he cannot do what the task demands, namely to feed the people of God. And if he has not the ability to attack a man's conscience lovingly and graciously and yet clearly to show him his sin, how can he reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching? How can he do it? If I say the inferred demands of the revealed tasks connected with the office indicate the necessity and the importance of the requisite gifts

The Necessity and Importance of Requisite Gifts: Owen's Inescapable Logic

25:35 for the pastoral office. So we've looked at two lines of evidence, the clear demand of the most relevant texts, the inferred demands of the revealed tasks. Now thirdly, and this is where I'm trying to express and I may come up with something better later, the thinking of Owen which I find compelling. The inescapable logic between the office and the intention of Christ who gives men to fill that office.

26:17 The inescapable logic between the office and the intention of Christ who gives men to fill the office. Now that may sound like meaningless gibberish at this point, but I hope it will make sense after I read to you what hopefully you will be reading on your own over the next two weeks. A two-week reading assignment is Owen Volume 9, pages 431 to 462. And what you have there are some of his posthumous sermons, that is sermons that were published after his death. And those three sermons contain some of the most helpful material on this whole subject, not only of the work of the ministry in general, but indirectly the call to the ministry. The sermons are the first one on Ephesians 4.8, Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

27:30 And this was preached at the ordination of a minister January 23, 1673. More than 300 years ago. And then the second sermon was preached at an ordination April 3, 1678. And it's based on 1 Corinthians 12.11.

27:51 But all these work one in the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. And then the third sermon is on the duty of a pastor. And this was preached at an ordination September 8, 1682, based on Jeremiah 3.15.

28:11 And I will give you pastors according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to have heard Owen preach ordination sermons? Then you see the things that were really the cream of his perspective on the ministry would come out. And that's what makes these sermons so edifying.

28:32 And I have gone over them a number of times. And one of the principles that he articulates in almost each one of these sermons that is so helpful is found here. And now I want to give it to you in direct Owenese. All right?

28:50 On page 432, Owen writes, Owen preached, The second thing he doth, based on the text, when he ascended up on high, he gave gifts unto men. The second thing he doth is, the giving of spiritual gifts unto men, whereby they may be enabled unto the discharge of the office of the ministry, as to the edification of the church in all the ends of it. And then this is in italics, so he must have either thundered or spoken very slowly or repeated these words. Gifts make no man a minister, but all the world cannot make a minister of Christ without gifts. And it's a beautiful turned phrase that catches the pith of the logic of the connection between the office and the intention of Christ who gives men to fulfill it. Gifts make no man a minister. You see, that's why this whole notion that someone that's got a gift of blethering in the name of Christ is called to preach.

30:05 Gifts make no man a minister in and of themselves. But all the world cannot make a minister of Christ without gifts. If the Lord Jesus should cease to give out spiritual gifts unto men for the work of the ministry, he need do no more to take away the ministry itself. It must cease also.

30:33 And it is the very way the ministry ceases, it ceases in apostatizing churches. Christ no more giving out unto them of the gifts of his Spirit, and all their outward forms and order which they can continue are of no signification in his sight. He said an apostate church is one in which men go on getting the name reverend and filling pulpits with titles and names, but Christ endows no gifts to edify and to save, and virtually then nullifies the very essence of the ministry. He goes on to say on page 433, and I have written in the margin, classic statement, there is no power in any church to choose anyone whom Christ hath not chosen before. That is, no church can make a man formally a minister that Christ hath not made so materially. If I may so say, if Christ hath not pre-instructed and pre-furnished him with gifts,

31:58 it is not in the power of the church to choose or call him. And where these two things are, where the law of Christ is the foundation, and where the gifts of Christ are the preparative, thereon the church calls, and persons are constituted elders by the Holy Ghost and overseers of the flock. Isn't that precious? It states the thing in its most elementary essence, where these two things are.

32:34 The law of Christ, that's where we started this morning, the overseer must be an apt teacher. Commit these things to men who shall be able. Where the law of Christ is at the foundation, and the gifts of Christ are the preparative, thereupon the church calls, and in so doing, they are constituted overseers by the Holy Ghost. Then I quote from page 449 in the next sermon, where the emphasis is upon the fact that it is the Holy Spirit who imparts the gifts.

33:13 And this is what he says, Having therefore gifts, let us, saith the apostle, do so and so, and so and so. If there be no spiritual gifts, there is no spiritual work. Spiritual gifts are the foundation of office, which is the foundation of work in the church. And of all gospel administrations in a special manner, according to the gifts received.

33:47 Truly, it may be, you may think it lost labor to prove this. But there is nothing more despised or reproached in this world than this one apprehension, that there are spiritual gifts given unto persons to enable them to perform all gospel administrations. That not only the discharge of duty and work depends on the administration of gifts, but the measure of work depends on the measure of gifts. It is according to the measure everyone hath received, and there are many measures.

34:23 As long as there is any measure of spiritual gifts, let it not be despised among you. The gifts of the Holy Ghost are not only for work, but, I say, for the measure of work. Ephesians 4, 8 through 13, all these spiritual gifts the Holy Ghost doth bestow to enable persons to perform their work. Then he goes on to his next head and says this.

34:48 Seventhly, as spiritual gifts are bestowed unto this end, so they are necessary for it. There can be no gospel administration without spiritual gifts. The ministration of the gospel being the ministration of the Spirit, and all gospel ministry are spiritual ministrations. The truth is, one reason why they are called so and are so is because they are no way to be administered to the glory of Christ, but by the aid and help of these spiritual gifts.

35:23 And then he goes on to amplify this and set forth something of the glory and the privilege. And in that last sermon on the duty of a pastor, he amplifies this. He emphasizes more the actual labor of preaching and praying. But I commend those sermons to you.

35:43 They make good Lord's Day reading and will warm your heart. But you see, Owen has grasped what I call the inescapable logic or the logical connection between office and the intention of Christ who gives men to fill it. If he gives men to the church as gifts to shepherd and to teach, to guard, to protect, to guide, to warn, to instruct, to seek the lost, then surely he would not give giftless men to accomplish what they are utterly unable to accomplish. He does not give men whom he has not first of all furnished to perform the functions of that office. And the thing is so simple. You say, how in the world can we miss it? But the fruitless pulpits and the sick and scattered and oft-times tick-infested and we could go on and use all kinds of descriptions to describe sick sheep are surely an evidence that either men are derelict in stirring up and exercising the gifts Christ has given or he has never given them.

The Ultimate Source of Gifts: God Himself

37:01 And frankly, I have had to sit and listen to men that I am convinced Christ never gave them the requisite gifts to teach and preach the word of God in a public manner. And they have mistaken their way. And churches suffer. Churches are brought to a sad spiritual state because there has not been sufficient emphasis placed not only upon the grace's requisite and I am not taking back anything said last week, but the same texts that say the bishop must be and then focuses upon certain graces also says must be and must possess with reference to certain gifts. So I trust I have convinced your conscience that the gifts essential that the gifts of the necessity and importance of the requisite gifts for the pastoral office. Now then, we come to consider having looked at the importance and necessity of the gifts, the source of these gifts. The source of these gifts.

38:16 And we are going to consider first of all the ultimate source and then the mediate sources. The ultimate source and then the mediate, not immediate, but mediate sources that is sources through which the gifts are mediated or conveyed to men. Well obviously the ultimate source is God himself. And this is one of the reasons why Owen in the first two of those posthumously published sermons places the emphasis or takes the text which placed the emphasis here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 though the specific gifts that are mentioned here, are not our concern. The great principle articulated is our concern. 1 Corinthians 12.4 Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit.

39:31 There are diversities of ministrations and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings but the same God who works all things in all. But to each one is given. There is the emphasis.

39:49 Is given. The manifestation of the Spirit to profit with all. For to one is given through the Spirit. And then all the way down to verse 11.

40:06 But all these worketh the one and the same Spirit dividing to each one severally even as he will. And the whole emphasis upon Scripture in a passage like this or we could take the Jeremiah 3.15 passage. It is God who says I will give them shepherds according to my heart who shall feed them with knowledge and with understanding.

40:42 It is the Lord who furnishes His servants with the requisite gifts. Again quoting from Owen on this particular point on page 441. You are a church of ancient standing speaking to this particular congregation in April 3, 1678 and therefore are acquainted with both the duty and the practice of it. God hath guided you to call them to office over you and among you who have been long experienced in the work of the ministry so I'm sure neither they nor you stand in any need of my instruction as to particular duties.

41:25 Therefore I shall speak a word in general upon that which is the foundation of all our station work and duty from these words and then he quotes the 1 Corinthians 12.11 text. The emphasis falling here upon the activity of the Holy Spirit constituting an able minister of the new covenant. And again on page 450 a similar emphasis from Owen and men's hearts waxing carnal they grow weary of spiritual things they did not care to wait upon Christ for supplies of grace and gifts of the Spirit for these gifts are not grace and in truth will flourish long in no other soil but where there is grace. As we should not have such a product of sin were it not for original corruption whence it grows. So flourishing gifts will not long grow but in the soil of the Spirit. How many persons with gifts have flourished for a while and then have withered because they were planted in no good soil.

42:40 So he's saying that it is the soil of the heart in which the Spirit dwells and is ungrieved that the gifts he imparts are nurtured and flourish through such a man. So the ultimate source of every single gift is God himself. We might take as our watchword text James chapter 1 Every good and every perfect gift cometh down from above from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow cast by turning. Or arguing by analogy from the Ephesian book James 4, 11 passage If it is Christ who gives pastors and teachers to the church unto the building up of the body of Christ to the stabilizing and maturation then it's evident that he furnishes them with the gifts essential to realize those ends. So from a number of angles we see that the ultimate source of the gifts is God himself. God the Father God the Son God the Spirit but in a unique way the emphasis falls either upon the gifts of the ascended Christ as they are actually imparted through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Now why is it important to recognize this?

Practical Implications of Recognizing God as the Ultimate Source

44:06 Well, for two reasons. Reason number one it is the only framework within which a man can continually put to death the horrible, cursed remnants of pride in his heart if God is pleased to give such gifts and to bless them to their God intended ends. Whatever gift a man may possess however much he may have labored to cultivate it to optimum usefulness the question still should haunt him at every turn. 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 7 What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Why dost thou glory as though thou hast not received it? Who makes thee to differ? The rhetorical question who makes you to differ?

45:11 The answer is God. What have you that you did not receive? The answer is nothing. But if you did receive it why do you glory as if you had not received it?

45:22 The madness of unmortified pride. That's the answer to that question. The moral insanity of unmortified pride. And so settle it before God.

45:37 If his church ultimately makes the judgment that you are a gift of Christ to his church because they see the requisite graces and gifts in you that warrant the extension of a call to serve in a given congregation as a pastor an elder an overseer a bishop then recognize that the ultimate source not only of every grace for without me ye can do nothing but of every gift is God himself. And the measure of that gift it is according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephesians 4 says. And he distributes 1 Corinthians 12 according to his will. So if any of you particularly wrestle with pride memorize write out in bright letters and post it wherever it will confront your eyeballs at critical points 1 Corinthians 4 7 who makes thee to differ what hast thou that thou didst not receive but if you did receive it why do you glory as though you had not received it. That's the first reason why we must be

47:02 clear as to the ultimate source of the gifts requisite for the ministry to have an ample antidote to the incipient pride in our hearts. But then secondly properly to direct the appreciation of our people as they are helped and blessed by the exercise of our gifts. Properly to direct the appreciation of our people. If you are a gift of Christ furnished by Christ to truly function for the good of the people of Christ they are going to love you beyond measure and appreciate you beyond anything you could ever hope to experience. And that's right that they should. When they think biblically that the greatest gift God can give them next to the gift of Jesus Christ is a true shepherd to watch over their souls. They are going to appreciate you.

48:08 But now you want to make sure that that appreciation does not turn into idolatry does not become the occasion where the Lord says Jehovah is my name I will not give my glory to another neither my praise to graven image. I've said on more than one occasion to my people please don't hold me in such an esteem that robs God of glory that will force God to allow something to happen to me that will smash your idol. Don't put God in the position I say it reverently where he'll have to withhold measures of grace and let me do something stupid or foul to get your affections weaned from me in a wrong way. Don't put God in that position because he's committed to it. My glory I will not give to another neither my praise to graven images. So when you are convinced not as an abstract theological conception but as a burning present spiritual conviction that the ultimate source of any and every gift you have and the measure of that gift is God you not only have the one sure antidote to unmortified pride but now you have a framework to direct your people into proper expressions of appreciation for you

49:37 for your ministry to them because you really do believe that if God could take the likes of you and make you an instrument to help them on their way to heaven it's all of God it's all of grace. Remember how Paul expressed it when those people at Corinth were lining up behind their spiritual heroes? He said you don't understand what ministers are for when one says I'm a Paul I'm of Apollos are you not men? You're thinking like men of the world.

50:11 Men of the world think of their fellow man and their particular gifts and what they find attractive as something that is theirs and therefore they line up behind them he said you're acting like unconverted men. What then is Apollos? What is Paul? What is their true identity?

50:31 Simply ministers through whom you believed and each as the Lord gave to him the particular gift and the measure of its youthfulness is all given. I planted Apollos watered but God gave the increase. Conclusion so then neither is he that plants anything neither he that waters but God who gives the increase and therefore the God who gave the gift who attended the gift with spiritual power and efficacy he gets all the glory and you recognize that his servants are just that instruments in his hands whose usefulness is determined by God himself. So we must recognize that the ultimate source of our gifts is God himself that we might have a proper antidote to pride that we may have a correct framework to direct the appreciation of our people and then I've just thought of a third I told you the first this stuff was just percolating and it's so clear I wonder how I could have missed it in my preparation and I want to write it down so I don't forget it I had a pen here somewhere thank you and that is that we then have what shall I call it

51:58 a proper framework for aspirations for increase of gifts a proper framework for aspirations for increase of gifts we're told to covet earnestly the better gifts are we not and whatever gifts are needed whatever gifts are present then if we're convinced that God is the ultimate source of those gifts above all else we will cry to God that he by the Holy Spirit would give us those necessary gifts if we have a measure of the gift of utterance we'll plead with God to give us greater utterance if we have a measure of the gift of aptness to teach we'll ask God to make us more apt and clearer teachers more convincing gripping teachers if we have some measure of the gift of penetrating conscience invading applicatory preaching we'll ask God to increase the gift that we'll be able to dive more quickly and deeply and convincingly into the consciences of men and that you see we will grow out of the recognition that every gift for public ministry for private ministry for oversight

53:27 and rule ultimately comes from God Himself alright that's the ultimate source then I want to take up with you the mediate sources the mediate sources and what I think I'll do so Randy can get the seed thought tucked in his head and before he leaves us and then we'll take a break is what I want to do is I want to demonstrate that though God is the ultimate source the mediate source the way in which God imparts the necessary gifts fall into the realm of both creation and redemption they fall into the realm of common grace and into the realm of special grace and the point at which they overlap and interpenetrate I can't sort it out that's where I sought help from my heat-seeking missile mind friend and you all know to whom I make rounds that's my special affectionate nickname for Pastor Nichols

54:54 I call him my my colleague with the heat-seeking missile mind once it locks in to the tail of that MIG the MIG and the heat-seeking missile follows it everywhere it goes and so I subjected this to the computer on his mechanism and he felt after I gave the way I had organized it that I was trying to separate and put into categories things that really so interpenetrate he said what is your real concern I said well my real concern is this brother on the one hand I don't want men beating their head against the wall trying to acquire and cultivate what only God can give and if he didn't give it in creation or common grace he doesn't intend to give it therefore face the fact the ministry is not your sphere but on the other hand I want the men to recognize that there are things given in redemptive grace in special grace and in redemption that can be sought from the Lord and ought to be sought from the Lord he said well then tell him that tell him that's your fear and then just lay the things out buckshot fashion and you won't make artificial distinctions and I said well brother thank you for your counsel and I'll try it out on the men and see what happens so let's take a break here and then we'll come back and we'll take up some of the things that

Mediate Sources of Gifts: Creation and Redemption

56:23 I want to say under this heading of the source of the gifts the ultimate source clearly being God but the immediate sources being the channels by which God imparts things to us in creation common grace in redemption or in special grace alright it's ten past let's reconvene at twenty past well brethren we'll pick up right at the point that we left off in the previous hour we're dealing now with this matter of the source of the gifts requisite we spent considerable time looking at the ultimate source which is God himself and why it's vital to understand this constantly remind ourselves of it and I gave you three reasons and three ways in which this will practically impact our hearts now we're trying to deal with this matter of the method of the impartation of the gifts if God is the ultimate source what is or what are the immediate sources and I've suggested that as an organizing principle we should think in terms of the sources being rooted in God's creative activity but creation conditioned by the fall never forget that and then by God's redemptive activity

57:51 or the realm of the operations of common grace and then the operations of special grace now in order to illustrate what I mean and to give some practical warnings let me make a series of statements and you can just put them down any way you want I have them listed one two three four the first one is this some gifts are imparted primarily in conception some gifts are imparted primarily in conception when we take seriously the truth of Psalm 139 in which David uses the imagery of his own conception and pre natal development as that of a weaver working upon a loom when we come to the conviction that what we have been taught is a matter of gene selection etcetera and that we are not just a weaver in our mother's womb but

59:20 the Lord himself is weaving us together according to his own sovereign purpose Psalm 139 13 for thou didst form my inward parts thy very power which I have seen in my life and my ego is not the full of me but a twerking one part of all things which I have made wonderful are thy works and the context is thy works in making me who i am and that my soul knows right well and then he likens his mother's womb to a subterranean cavern in which god was secretly doing his work my frame was not hidden from thee when i was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth and there again is imagery a different metaphor this subterranean out of sight cavern where god was making david what he was there in his mother's

60:49 womb now how does this relate to the matter of the ministry well if one of the necessary mechanical gifts is an ability to speak with sufficient clarity as a a to be a means of edification some of that was determined in our mother's wombs if a man was put together in such a way that god incorporated into his work one of the effects of the fall and all birth defects of course ultimately can be traced to the fall but they do not randomly enter who makes a man blind or deaf i jehovah his what god says through the prophet jeremiah so that god is even sovereignly at work in incorporating the facts of the fall in that work that he's doing in our mother's womb and if a man has been given an impediment that cannot be corrected by speech discipline or by uh... modern technology and surgical procedures ever had a writer happen to be a word and mountains lot of people but

62:11 and not doing that in any way to market motivational speech or but used to illustrate that principle some tickets such as the gift to articulate the sufficient clarity has determined that conception likewise would be mental ability that lower-come of mental ability necessary the tools for responsible exegesis, the modicum of mental ability to take the fruit of responsible exegesis and organize it into intelligible homiletical form, some of that was determined in the womb. And some men have simply not been endowed with sufficient intellectual powers to do the work of the ministry.

63:10 Now, where is the standard between a limited but useful man and a brilliant and useful man? Well, it's just like an apt teacher. God hasn't given us, well, if your IQ cuts off at 120, you're disqualified. 119 ain't enough.

63:30 No, God hasn't given us that. But it's obvious, you see, that some of these things are established in creation.

63:40 Some. Some, primarily in conception.

Mediate Sources of Gifts: Regeneration, Acquisition, and Direct Spirit Action

63:44 Secondly, some gifts are imparted germinally in regeneration.

63:54 Some gifts are imparted germinally, that is, in germ form.

64:02 I was going to use the word seminally, but I think germinally is better. In regeneration, for example, there must be the gift of spiritual insight and discernment. Well, when the Spirit of God regenerates us, takes up His residence in us, and we become, in the language of the New Testament, spiritual men, some of those gifts are imparted germinally in this dynamic of redemptive grace in regeneration. We have the mind of Christ.

64:46 Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. So some of the gifts are imparted germinally in regeneration. Thirdly, some are imparted gradually in the various processes of ordinary acquisition. Some are imparted gradually.

65:18 In the various processes of ordinary acquisition.

65:24 And here you see it both in the realm of common grace and special grace.

65:32 The stature of character essential to be a credible leader. What goes into that? Well, so many factors. You've seen this in the elders' meeting last night.

65:42 It wasn't on our agenda, but in dealing with one issue, we got off into this matter and we were really working this thing over. How do you identify? That element in a man's character that makes him a commanding leader. We have to rule out that it's a certain personality type, because God uses all personality types.

66:04 You have to rule out physical stature. So we were trying to rule out, well, what is that thing that makes it credible for a man to be a leader in Christ's church? Well, many of those things are things that come in a process of ordinaryization. Ordinary acquisition, starting with such things as good social demeanor.

66:30 Maybe he was reared in a home where he was taught elementary social graces that in any situation, he immediately makes people feel at home and they feel at home with him. He doesn't do things that turn people off to his person long before he opens his mouth to influence them with the truth or with the gospel. Well, those, you see. May come in the ordinary acquisition in the realm of common grace, good family upbringing, certain influences brought to bear upon him.

67:02 For example, if I may use this to illustrate it at times, it amazes people that I'm looking them straight in the eye and right in the middle and say, excuse me a minute, there's something here I need to attend to. And I go, I didn't even know you were looking. I said I wasn't. But second oldest of ten children, I had pounded into me as part of my training.

67:23 Keep your eyes open to what's going on around you. And if you see a child about to fall down the stairs, don't wait for an invitation to rescue him or rescue him. If you see a dangerous move in. Well, that was common grace that gave me a capacity to give my full attention to someone while at the same time be aware of what's going on around me.

67:43 And it's been a great asset in the ministry. Now, it had nothing to do with special grace. It was an element of common grace. You see now, likewise, with so many.

67:53 Other facets of the development of a man, he may have had a good example of a strong leader in his father may have been a quiet personality, but it was evident that there was stability. Someone had his hand on the rudder of that home and had his eye on a compass, and it was taking it somewhere and knew how to take it there. And that was absorbed. And lo and behold, you see a man that has that charisma in the right sense of the word, that grace.

68:23 Of leadership and a commanding presence that has nothing necessarily to do with physical stature and with tone of voice or anything else. It comes in a gradual process of assimilating certain disciplines and perspectives. But so likewise, do certain gifts come in the realm of special grace by gradual assimilation. And I thought immediately of Messiah.

68:53 There. In some in Isaiah, that beautiful description of the servant of Jehovah, and this is what he said.

69:07 Isaiah chapter 50, verse four, the Lord has given me the tongue of them that are taught that I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary. Now, there is Messiah saying, I am able to exhort and to comfort. In sound doctrine, my people, isn't that what he's saying? That I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary.

69:41 What a marvelous pastoral privilege to sustain with words some of your weary sheep. Now, how do you acquire that ability? Well, how did Messiah acquire it? Look, he wakeneth morning by morning.

69:57 He wakens mine ear to hear as they that are taught. The Lord has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. I say it reverently. Our Lord is here speaking in prophetic utterance that by ordinary drop by drop assimilation of the truth of God, he was made competent to speak an appropriate word.

70:24 And yet that's in the realm of special grace.

70:31 It's special revelation with spiritual. It's spiritual illumination, but coming in an ordinary framework of assimilation and growth and development.

70:45 But then, some of the gifts do not come primarily in conception or germinally in regeneration or gradually by the various processes of ordinary acquisition, common grace, special grace. Now, you see why I need to put through a phone call? Well, some of them come. Some of them come more immediately by the Spirit's direct action upon the faculties connected with public utterance.

71:18 Some gifts come more immediately by the Spirit's direct action upon the faculties connected with public utterance.

71:32 And in using that terminology, all I'm trying to do is to do justice to such passages as Ephesians 6 and verse 9. Where Paul says, pray on my behalf that utterance may be given unto me in opening my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.

72:01 Now, whatever he needed, it was something God would give and it would result in utterance connected with the faculty of speech. Now, we know it was not limited. It was not limited to the faculty of speech, but you see how crassly mechanical the emphasis of the text is. He doesn't say, and that internal convictions and perceptions and the burning heart may be given unto me.

72:31 He says, no, that utterance may be given unto me in opening my mouth. Utterance to open my mouth. There's almost a crass emphasis upon the faculties of speech. And you see that again and again, particularly in the book of Acts.

72:50 And Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, said, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spake the word of God with boldness. My speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power. And you see that again and again, particularly in the book of Acts. And Peter, full of the Holy Spirit said, and that internal convictions and perceptions and the burning heart may be given unto me in opening my mouth. And Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, said, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spake the word of God with boldness. And Peter, full of the Holy Spirit said, and that internal convictions and perceptions and performance may be given unto me in opening my mouth. And he says, if you will, make for that appearance fold the latest part of my things that I have here, battered under the face of Calvary."

73:46 with public utterance. My next statement is, some are given more immediately by the Spirit's action upon the faculties connected with rule and government. Some are given more immediately by the Spirit's direct action upon the faculties connected with rule and government. And here my mind turned immediately to Solomon. As he is set apart for his work and is told by the prophet to ask of the Lord whatever he will, what does he pray for? Give unto thy servant wisdom that he may be able to judge this thy so great a people. He expected a wisdom that would be imparted by the Spirit of God, not the cumulative wisdom that it already accrued to him in the years of his development, and a wisdom that would grow with the advancing years. But he pleads with God for a peculiar gift of wisdom to be imparted

75:03 in a concentrated measure by a direct operation of the Holy Spirit. Now, what faculties are involved in the exercise of a gift of wisdom? Well, the faculty of observation, collation, preparation. Prioritizing what you observe, sorting it all out. And yet, he says, it was this thing that he sought from God that God would grant him wisdom. And that's found in 1 Kings chapter 3, I believe is the, yes, 3-9. Give thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and evil. And he says, give thy servant therefore an understanding heart between good and evil. And he says, give thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge thy people

75:53 evil, for who is able to judge this, thy great people? And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon asked this thing, and he says, because you've not asked for long life, riches, nor the life of your enemies, but you've asked understanding to discern justice, I have done according to thy word, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart. So here was something imparted in a more direct way by the Holy Spirit, the same way with moral courage, the gift of moral courage essential to the work of the ministry. How can we use the scriptures for their intended end, for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness? How can we rebuke sharply, as the word of God says? How can we, as the word of God says, command and teach with all authority without moral courage? Well, some people,

76:55 when God put them in their mother's womb, got a greater dose of moral courage. Some people got very little. And in common grace, some have had greater degrees of moral courage cultivated. Their parents were willing to let them come home with their knees skinned and their eyes blackened. They didn't put such a hedge around them that their little darling boy never came home with a scratch or with a bump on his cheek. They let him learn moral courage. They let him learn what it was to stand up to the bully. On the block, even though he had the tar beat out of him. Being able at the moment to say, Dad, I stood up to the bully. He beat the tar out of me, but I stood up to him. Moral courage was developed. Some of that in common grace. And then certainly, when God puts special grace,

77:45 what is one of the commodities he puts in our hearts? I will put my fear in their hearts. And the fear of God is one of the taproots of moral courage. And yet, in any given situation, there is need for moral courage. And yet, in any given situation, there is need for moral courage. And the fear of God is one of the taproots of moral courage. And yet, in any given situation, there is need for an unusual measure of moral courage. And the spirit of God grants that gift of moral courage.

78:08 So the method of impartation comes in these two realms. And you see, I'm just sort of trying to think out loud in your present and get you to think with me. But now, having said all of that, this is the final thing I want to say. All of these gifts, in any combination, by combination I mean creation, redemption.

The Conscious Cultivation of Gifts

78:36 Common grace is special grace, are to be consciously cultivated. All of these gifts, in any combination, as to their immediate source, are to be consciously cultivated. And where do we get that notion? Well, there's several texts that are fascinating in this area. We turn to Paul's letters to Timothy. And I want us to look, first of all, at 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 6. For which cause I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up, or stir into flame, the gift of God, what gift? Which is in thee through the laying on of my hands. There was a peculiar gift that was

79:46 granted in the special dimension. Time and time again a mass of exalted gifts. How much Macht are the gifts, I ask? For the gift of God, it is the Spirit. What gift? It is a gjallion which is granted in the beginning of mankind. And when in the beginning it is presented by the two things. The ninth is theillness, the prerequisite, the hiPop từm patter, and the fifth is thec. Now, the end portal is undimmed in all truths according to the Law of Life. In my canned mind there is nothing more to get done here. The Christ of the Lament, however, was well known in our times, and has been said, that was the spirit of God, the Christ of the Spirit. in an unusually immediate way from God, you are a steward to stir it up by the conscious cultivation of that gift.

80:35 And then, likewise, with more ordinary gifts, when we turn over to his first letter, chapter 4 and verse 14,

80:46 Till I come, give heed to the reading, verse 13, to exhortation, to teaching, do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Be diligent in these things, all of them, not only neglecting not the gift given by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. It could be a reference to the same passage we've looked at. There's a debate on that matter.

81:17 But he's also said other things, that he's to be an example, he's to give himself in the church there to the public reading, to exhortation, to teaching, be diligent in all of these things, give thyself wholly to them, that your progress may be manifest unto all. Timothy, in the way of consistent, conscious, deliberate cultivation, these peculiar ministerial gifts will increase, and increase in such a way that your progress in them will be evident, to all men. And you see, brethren, this is part of the great mystery of both the call to the ministry and also to constant development in the ministry. And this will give you some idea of what we wrestle with as elders, as we continually, as we did last night, sitting and evaluating some of you, and as we do regularly, annually, have a formal season of evaluation. We're constantly, constantly torn.

82:28 Is this an area that can come with cultivation, or is this one of those things that God just didn't put it in his mother's womb?

82:38 And try as he may, he'll never be able to bench-press 400 pounds. Pump him full of enough steroids to kill him in a year. He's still not going to...

82:47 God just didn't give him the bone structure and the basic chemistry. He's just never going to bench-press 400. And the sooner we sit the man down, and tell him we're fair to him, but how do we know that he can't cultivate that ability? You see how you wrestle with these things?

83:08 Because the way in which God imparts them includes this and this. Do we want to put limits upon this?

83:17 Yet we don't want to be romantic. We want to be realistic and face that God never intended that redemptive or special grace should replace what God ordinarily imparts in creation, or in common grace. Those are the things we struggle with. Those are the things you're going to struggle with when men come to you with the question, I think the Lord's hand may be upon me for the work of the ministry.

83:44 You begin to feel the trauma and the pull. That's what you're wrestling with. And that's why on the one hand, we've got to be honest with men and try to help them to do what Romans 12 says. One of the texts we started this whole series with, the warrant for considering this, our first text was Romans 12.

84:03 Sober thinking. Well, this is part of what goes into sober thinking because this is the way God works. Now, maybe we'd like to have it otherwise, but facts are facts. Stubborn things, you know.

84:15 You can beat your head against one of these walls. I tell you, it isn't going anywhere. You'll only have a bloody scalp to show for your efforts. And facts are facts.

84:25 And this is the way God works. And when you've been around long enough to see God make men who at this stage, as much as you can say, without direct revelation, that man is called and equipped of God for the pastoral office,

84:42 you wouldn't have said it 20 years ago.

84:48 And there are others 20 years ago who say, if ever there was a man called, it's he, but time has shown, no.

84:58 Pastor, you're just making the matter worse for us. You're supposed to help us. I can only tell it like it is and like I see it. And according to the light that I have from the Word of God.

Conclusion and Future Topics

85:09 Well, we'll stop here today. And then, God willing, next week, we then, having shown the importance of gifts, the source of the gifts, we're then going to address, thirdly, the specific gifts requisite for the office of an elder. And we're going to look at those gifts in terms of, at least at present, I think my organizing principle will be the mental or intellectual gifts and then the gifts of the spirit, the human spirit, and then the, the mechanical gifts. Now, between now and then, I may get further light or my heat-seeking missile may move me in another direction, but that's what I intend to do.