Jason K. Allen's Blog, page 10

Lord’s Day Meditation: “Men Ought Always to Pray” by C.H. Spurgeon

Lord’s Day Meditation: “Men Ought Always to Pray” by C.H. Spurgeon (Morning & Evening, November 13, Evening)

“Men ought always to pray.” (Luke 18:1)

If men ought always to pray and not to faint, much more
Christian men. Jesus has sent his church into the world on the same errand upon
which he himself came, and this mission includes intercession. What if I say
that the church is the world’s priest? Creation is dumb, but the church is to
find a mouth for it. It is the church’s high privilege to pray with acceptance.
The door of grace is always open for her petitions, and they never return
empty-handed. The veil was rent for her, the blood was sprinkled upon the altar
for her, God constantly invites her to ask what she wills. Will she refuse the
privilege which angels might envy her? Is she not the bride of Christ? May she
not go in unto her King at every hour? Shall she allow the precious privilege
to be unused? The church always has need for prayer. There are always some in
her midst who are declining, or falling into open sin. There are lambs to be
prayed for, that they may be carried in Christ’s bosom? the strong, lest they
grow presumptuous; and the weak, lest they become despairing. If we kept up
prayer-meetings four-and-twenty hours in the day, all the days in the year, we
might never be without a special subject for supplication. Are we ever without
the sick and the poor, the afflicted and the wavering? Are we ever without
those who seek the conversion of relatives, the reclaiming of back-sliders, or
the salvation of the depraved? Nay, with congregations constantly gathering,
with ministers always preaching, with millions of sinners lying dead in
trespasses and sins; in a country over which the darkness of Romanism is
certainly descending; in a world full of idols, cruelties, devilries, if the
church doth not pray, how shall she excuse her base neglect of the commission
of her loving Lord? Let the church be constant in supplication, let every
private believer cast his mite of prayer into the treasury.

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Sizemore Luncheon with Dr. Michael J. Kruger

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Lord’s Day Meditation: “The Branch Cannot Bear Fruit of Itself” by C.H. Spurgeon

Lord’s Day Meditation: “The Branch Cannot Bear Fruit of Itself” by C.H. Spurgeon (Morning & Evening, November 13, Morning)

“The branch cannot bear fruit of itself.” (John 15:4)

How did you begin to bear fruit? It was when you came to
Jesus and cast yourselves on his great atonement, and rested on his finished
righteousness. Ah! what fruit you had then! Do you remember those early days?
Then indeed the vine flourished, the tender grape appeared, the pomegranates
budded forth, and the beds of spices gave forth their smell. Have you declined
since then? If you have, we charge you to remember that time of love, and
repent, and do thy first works. Be most in those engagements which you have
experimentally proved to draw you nearest to Christ, because it is from him
that all your fruits proceed. Any holy exercise which will bring you to him
will help you to bear fruit. The sun is, no doubt, a great worker in
fruit-creating among the trees of the orchard: and Jesus is still more so among
the trees of his garden of grace. When have you been the most fruitless? Has
not it been when you have lived farthest from the Lord Jesus Christ, when you
have slackened in prayer, when you have departed from the simplicity of your
faith, when your graces have engrossed your attention instead of your Lord,
when you have said, “My mountain standeth firm, I shall never be
moved”; and have forgotten where your strength dwells–has not it been
then that your fruit has ceased? Some of us have been taught that we have
nothing out of Christ, by terrible abasements of heart before the Lord; and
when we have seen the utter barrenness and death of all creature power, we have
cried in anguish, “From him all my fruit must be found, for no fruit can
ever come from me.” We are taught, by past experience, that the more
simply we depend upon the grace of God in Christ, and wait upon the Holy
Spirit, the more we shall bring forth fruit unto God. Oh! to trust Jesus for
fruit as well as for life.

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Brothers, We Are Not Amateurs: A Plea for Ministry Preparation

Few men have shaped the
21st-century church more than John Piper, and few of his books have proven more
helpful than his Brothers, We are not Professionals. Piper was
right. Ministers are not to be professionals, and his call for radical,
sacrificial, selfless ministry is spot on. Yet, when it comes to ministerial
service, we are not called to be amateurs either.

A ministerial amateur is not one
who lacks formal training or advanced degrees from reputable institutions. An
amateur is one who lacks the knowledge base, skill set, and experience for a
particular task, in this case, Christian ministry. This is to say, one can
still be an amateur though holding an earned degree, and one can be a faithful
minister though lacking one.

In fact, Christians—and especially
ministers—are called to be 1 Corinthians 1 people, confidently preaching the
foolishness of the cross. Moreover, the list of those who lacked formal
theological training while impacting the world for Christ is long, including
luminaries such as John Bunyan, Charles Spurgeon, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I
have learned much from men in times past and present who lacked formal
education.

Yet, never before in the history of the church
has theological education been so accessible, and never before has it been so
needed. Advanced technology, innovative delivery systems, and proliferating
resources all make being a ministerial amateur—as a permanent
state—inexcusable. Why pursue ministry preparation?

The
Complexity of our Times

Our cultural moment necessitates rigorous
ministry preparation. Every generation presents the church with particular
challenges, but our generation comes with unique baggage and angularity. It is
not that the 21st century is more fallen or more secular than
previous ones, but it may well be more complex.

Befuddling ethical questions, the often
tortuously complex ramifications of sin, and a cultural intelligentsia devoting
its best energies to undermining the Christian belief system all present the
church with serious challenges.

The lost need more than shallow answers from
ill-equipped ministers. They need ministers prepared to bring the full
complement of Christian truth to bear in a winsome, thoughtful, and compelling
way.

The
Centrality of Teaching the Scriptures

The preaching and teaching of Holy Scripture
is the principal responsibility of the Christian minister, and it is the
central need of the church. In fact, in order to be biblically qualified to be
a Christian minister, one must be “able to teach.”[1]

Paul repeatedly charged Timothy to a faithful
ministry of the Word with exhortations like, “retain the standard of sound
words,” “guard the truth which has been entrusted to you,” “rightly divide the
word of truth,” and “preach the Word.”[2] These exhortations, and many others,
require a renewed mind—and an informed one. There simply is no place in
ministry for sloppy exegesis, shoddy interpretation, or shallow sermons.

One can be a faithful minister without a
seminary degree, but one cannot be a faithful minister without knowing the
Scripture.

The
Consequences of Ministry

There is an alarming inverse correlation
between the seriousness of the ministerial task and the casualness with which
it is often approached. We would neither let an untrained mechanic rebuild our
transmission nor would we permit an unlearned pediatrician to diagnose our
children. Yet, churches often place individuals with the lowest levels of
preparation in the highest office—the pastorate.

Why would one knowingly receive soul care and
biblical instruction from an amateur, and why would a minister be content as
one? Souls hang in the balance. There is a heaven to gain and hell to shun.
There is fixed truth to defend and proclaim. Satan is serious about his
calling; ministers must be serious about theirs. The ministry is too
consequential not to be.

The
Priority of the Great Commission

The end to which the minister labors is the
proclamation of the gospel and the furtherance of the Great Commission.
Fulfilling the Great Commission necessitates a burden for the lost, a passion
for the glory of God in the salvation of sinners, and an
equipped mind to reason, teach, and persuasively present the gospel.

Furthermore, the Great Commission is a call to
make disciples, not just converts. Though often conceptualized as
primarily an act of zeal, the Great Commission also requires knowledge. It
requires a readiness to “give an answer for the hope within you,” an ability to
“contend earnestly for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints,” and
the skill to “teach these things to faithful men who will be able to teach
others also.”[3]

Conclusion

Once I heard a professor rebuke a student who
argued it was appropriate to read his sermon manuscripts because Jonathan
Edwards read his. The professor shot back, “You fool, you’re no Jonathan
Edwards.” Similarly, don’t look to models like Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones as
justification for not pursuing formal theological education. They were
self-taught geniuses. Likely, you are not.

God may well use you in spite of a lack of
formal training, but if you have accessibility—and virtually every person on
the planet now does—to theological education, why find out?

Ministers will be judged for their
faithfulness, not their academic accomplishments, but it is impossible to be
faithful without being rightly equipped. Brother, you are not to be an amateur
minister.

[1] I Timothy 3:2.

[2] II Timothy 1:13–14; II Timothy 2:15; II
Timothy 4:2.

[3] I Peter 3:15; Jude 1:3; II Timothy 2:2.

*This article was originally published on 1/20/14*

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Lord’s Day Meditation: “He Went out Into a Mountain to Pray” by C.H. Spurgeon

Lord’s Day Meditation: “He Went out Into a Mountain to Pray” by C.H. Spurgeon (Morning & Evening, November 12, Evening)

“And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12)

If ever one of woman born might have lived without prayer,
it was our spotless, perfect Lord, and yet none was ever so much in
supplication as he! Such was his love to his Father, that he loved much to be
in communion with him: such his love for his people, that he desired to be much
in intercession for them. The fact of this eminent prayerfulness of Jesus is a
lesson for us–he hath given us an example that we may follow in his steps. The
time he chose was admirable, it was the hour of silence, when the crowd would
not disturb him; the time of inaction, when all but himself had ceased to
labour; and the season when slumber made men forget their woes, and cease their
applications to him for relief. While others found rest in sleep, he refreshed
himself with prayer. The place was also well selected. He was alone where none
would intrude, where none could observe: thus was he free from Pharisaic
ostentation and vulgar interruption. Those dark and silent hills were a fit
oratory for the Son of God. Heaven and earth in midnight stillness heard the
groans and sighs of the mysterious Being in whom both worlds were blended. The
continuance of his pleadings is remarkable; the long watches were not too long;
the cold wind did not chill his devotions; the grim darkness did not darken his
faith, or loneliness check his importunity. We cannot watch with him one hour,
but he watched for us whole nights. The occasion for this prayer is notable; it
was after his enemies had been enraged–prayer was his refuge and solace; it
was before he sent forth the twelve apostles–prayer was the gate of his
enterprise, the herald of his new work. Should we not learn from Jesus to
resort to special prayer when we are under peculiar trial, or contemplate fresh
endeavours for the Master’s glory? Lord Jesus, teach us to pray.

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Simply Profound yet Profoundly Simple: The Paradox of the Gospel and the Mandate for a Robust Witness

A paradox,
G.K. Chesterton quipped, is “a truth standing on its head, waving its legs to
get our attention.” In the Bible, such paradoxes abound. Paradoxically, Jesus
is both God and man; and, paradoxically, the Bible was given by both human
inscription and divine inspiration. One such paradox, or seemingly
contradictory truth, is rooted in the gospel itself – the gospel message is
simple, yet profound.

The gospel is
a simple message. Simple enough to be comprehended by a child, understood by
the illiterate, and conveyed by those lackingformal
education. In fact, at times in the New Testament the Apostle Paul, an educated
man, seems to revel in the gospel’s relative simplicity. To the church at
Corinth, he chided the Jews who desired authenticating signs and Greeks who
searched for wisdom. On the contrary, to the Corinthian believers, Paul
purposed to “know nothing among you except Christ and him crucified.”

At the same
time, the gospel is also a profound message. Paul, the church’s great
missionary-evangelist, was also the church’s most accomplished theologian. Paul
penned some 13 New Testament letters, explaining and applying the gospel. 
Moreover, the Pauline epistles both insist and assume believers to be students
of Scripture, equipped and equipping others to defend the faith. In many ways,
the New Testament as a whole is one large project in documenting, defining, and
defending the gospel.

One need not
look back to the first-century church to find this gospel paradox. In the 21st century,
just like the first century, the gospel message – the simple gospel message –
still saves. Yet the 21st century also brings with it a season
of unique evangelistic challenge. Prior generations of Christians often had the
luxury of presenting the gospel in a cultural context of shared presuppositions
– even among the lost – concerning the authority of Scripture, the truthfulness
of the gospel, and the realities of heaven and hell. In past generations, the
great enemy of the gospel was frequently perceived as apathy among unbelievers,
and much of evangelism was oriented toward persuading the hearers to respond to
the gospel message they knew and acknowledged but had not yet personally
embraced. Evangelism focused more on exhortation to believe the gospel than an
explanation of the gospel.

Such is not
the case now.  Contemporary believers can no more assume modern man is
predisposed to believe an ancient gospel message than we can assume a modern
man would be predisposed to believe in ancient medicine.  Therefore, when
it comes to explaining the gospel less may be more, except when less is not
enough. God’s people must not settle for only a rudimentary knowledge of God’s
saving message. Rather, we must have a robust and confident grasp of God’s Word
and be ready to field the questions of modern man. In every sense of the
expression, we must be New Testament believers, ready to give an answer for the
hope that resides within us.

In Paul’s day
and in ours, the gospel is indeed a paradox. In its own way, to paraphrase
Chesterton, the gospel stands on its head, waves its legs and demands our
attention. This is a paradox worth embracing, celebrating, and proclaiming.

*This article
was originally published on 4/12/13*

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Lord’s Day Meditation: “The Trial of Your Faith” by C.H. Spurgeon

Lord’s Day Meditation: “The Trial of Your Faith” by C.H. Spurgeon (Morning & Evening, November 12, Morning)

“The trial of your faith.” (1 Peter 1:7)

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little
faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials.
Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are
her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the
sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a
slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling forth, and let
the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck
may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full
and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven.
No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier;
no stars gleam so brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky; no water
tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so
precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings
experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been
compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have known God’s
strength had you not been supported amid the water-floods. Faith increases in
solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation.
Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too.

Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in
faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will
be measured out to you in due season. Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the
result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise him for
that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk according to
that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of the blessing of God, till
your faith shall remove mountains and conquer impossibilities.

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Are You Ready to Defend the Faith?

A call to the ministry is a call to the ministry of the Word. As
such, we are called not only to proclaim it but also to defend it. The New
Testament Epistles overflow with injunctions to guard the truth. Reflect on Paul’s
words to Timothy—a mere sampling of the New Testament charges to defend the
faith—and let their import for you and your call to ministry sink in:

“As I urged you . . . instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines” (1 Tim. 1:3).“Retain the standard of sound words” (2 Tim. 1:13).The church is “the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).The Lord’s servant is to gently correct those who “are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25).“You followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings. . .” (2 Tim. 3:10–11a).“Continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of ” (2 Tim. 3:14).“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Tim. 4:2–5).“I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).

Paul speaks through Timothy to us, his charges echoing through
the ages. As Christian ministers, we must be ready and willing to defend the
faith. If ministers don’t do it, who will? That is one reason why God placed
the “able to teach” qualification in 1 Timothy 3.

The concern is not eloquence but the ability to rightly study,
interpret, teach, and apply God’s Word. The truth is the bone marrow of the
church. When the truth is compromised, the church withers. Vibrant mission and
ministry do not occur where there is doctrinal decay.

And as you go about
the business of defending the truth, be encouraged, God will defend you. As you
care for the truth, God will care for you. As A. W. Tozer once said, “God will
never let a man starve to death for telling the truth—remember that, my
friend.”[1]

Defending the Faith, A Timely Charge

While every generation is called to defend the faith, our
generation especially is called to this responsibility. The twenty-first
century is the age of apostasy. Theological liberalism has fully metastasized
globally. In its wake are shipwrecked ministers, undermined faith, dead
churches, and dying denominations.

In addition to theological liberalism, we are also confronted by
social and cultural upheaval. All of this makes the twenty-first century a
uniquely challenging and exhilarating time to minister.

With the sexual revolution now having come full bloom, and the
American public having largely accepted same-sex marriage, pressure for the
church to fold on issues of sexuality, gender, and marriage will only
intensify. Orthodoxy has never been popular, and it will be decreasingly so.

There is an unavoidable collision of worldviews, and the irony
is that the more our culture tries to silence us, the more the minister must
speak, because the church must be strengthened and warned. Now is the time for
the strongest men to preach the strongest sermons in the context of the
strongest churches. You don’t need to be a trained apologist. Though God gifts
His church with such persons, that may not necessarily be your calling. You
must, however, in your own context and with your own abilities, be ready and
willing to study and speak the truths of Scripture.

At its most basic level, to prepare to defend the faith—in the
words of Peter—is to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being
ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the
hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

You can’t defend the faith without having studied it. First, you
must study the faith so you don’t inadvertently fall into error yourself.
Heresy is unwittingly preached in evangelical churches every Sunday by
ill-equipped pastors. That’s a tragedy, and you don’t want to be among their
number. You don’t have to be an honors student, just a diligent one. After all,
as a general rule, God has chosen not to populate the ranks of his ministers
with the wise or the noble, but with those who are willing to be counted a fool
for His sake.

More broadly, you must
study the truth so you can uphold and pass on biblical, orthodox Christianity.
As you study, you’ll find how well the Bible defends itself. As Spurgeon once
quipped, “Defend the Bible? I would as soon defend a lion! Unchain it and it
will defend itself.”[2]

_____________________________________________

[1] A. W. Tozer, address on WMBI Saturday Morning Radio,
“Talks from a Pastor’s Study” segment (Chicago, March 7, 1959).

[2] This is a paraphrase of a larger quotation from an address Spurgeon gave to the Bible Society in 1875. Variations occur in at least two of his Metropolitan Tabernacle sermons (Nos. 2004 and 2467).

*This article was originally published in November 2016

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Lord’s Day Mediation: “He Shall Choose Our Inheritance for Us” by C.H. Spurgeon

Lord’s Day Mediation: “He Shall Choose Our Inheritance for Us” by C.H. Spurgeon (Morning & Evening, November 11, Evening)

“He shall choose our inheritance for us.” (Psalm 47:4)

Believer, if your inheritance be a lowly one you should be
satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured that it is the
fittest for you. Unerring wisdom ordained your lot, and selected for you the
safest and best condition. A ship of large tonnage is to be brought up the
river; now, in one part of the stream there is a sandbank; should some one ask,
“Why does the captain steer through the deep part of the channel and
deviate so much from a straight line?” His answer would be, “Because
I should not get my vessel into harbour at all if I did not keep to the deep
channel.” So, it may be, you would run aground and suffer shipwreck, if
your divine Captain did not steer you into the depths of affliction where waves
of trouble follow each other in quick succession. Some plants die if they have
too much sunshine. It may be that you are planted where you get but little, you
are put there by the loving Husbandman, because only in that situation will you
bring forth fruit unto perfection. Remember this, had any other condition been
better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you
there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances, and if you had
the choosing of your lot, you would soon cry, “Lord, choose my inheritance
for me, for by my self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows.” Be
content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for
your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your
shoulder, and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word
and work to the glory of God. Down busy self, and proud impatience, it is not
for you to choose, but for the Lord of Love!

“Trials must and will befall–

But with humble faith to see

Love inscribed upon them all;

This is happiness to me.”

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6 Reasons Why Pastors Should Stay Faithful

Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, is considered one of the greatest elected officials in our nation’s history, and one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known. He was a tsunami of energy—one who never saw a mountain too tall to scale or a battle too threatening to join. He shook the nation, invented the modern presidency, and left a changed country in his wake. There is a reason why his face, along with Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln’s, is chiseled on Mount Rushmore.

Roosevelt, reflecting on the burden of leadership and the willingness to risk all and attempt great things, famously observed:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.[1]

Every time I read Roosevelt’s quote, my mind darts to the pastorate and to the fine work that men of God do. The office of the pastorate is a high one, the work a noble one, and the men who faithfully undertake it are worthy of our admiration. Pastors are in the arena, putting their life on the line. My challenge to them is to stay faithful. My challenge to church members is to encourage your pastor to do the same.

So, pastor, I want to encourage you about who you are in Christ, the stewardship he has entrusted to you, and the uniqueness of your ministry.

First, you are called by God. Christ has given the church, in our age, “Evangelists, pastors, and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.”[2] One does not stroll into the ministry; one surrenders to it, receiving it as a weighty gift and calling. Pastors are those who have been set apart by God, called by His Spirit, and who have submitted their lives to Him. This requires obedience not only to enter the ministry but to continue in it. So celebrate the calling, and in your submission to it, stay faithful.

Second, you are a minister of the Word. Your one irreducible responsibility is to feed the sheep the Word of God. Paul stipulates that the pastor “must be able to teach,” and he charged Timothy to “give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching” and to “preach the Word.”[3] The pastor who faithfully discharges this responsibility does more than explain the Bible, he feeds the church—eternal souls—the bread of the eternal Word. Every Christian needs a steady intake of God’s Word, and a faithful pastor, who rightly divides the Word weekly, is worthy of high praise. In your ability to handle the Word, stay faithful.

Third, you are held to a higher level of accountability. The task of preaching and the responsibility of spiritual leadership bring a higher level of accountability upon you. It begins with the qualifications of the office, as outlined in I Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9, but it extends to other passages as well, including “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment,” and that congregations should, “Obey their leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.”[4] This fact is all the more daunting when you realize that pastors face more intense temptation. Satan targets those whose fall will do the most damage to the church and most sully God’s glory. Live sober, Spirit-led lives. In your fitness for ministry, stay faithful.

Fourth, you confront more intense temptation. Peter tells us that Satan roams about as a roaring lion seeking those whom he may devour, and there is no one he enjoys devouring more than a Christian minister—especially an erstwhile faithful one.[5] When he does, he not only ruins a pastor and his ministry, he also destroys a family, disrupts a church, and discredits God’s glory in that community. There simply is no sin like the sin of a clergyman, and there is no one Satan desires to bring down more than those whom God is using most fruitfully. Guard your heart. In your battle against temptation, stay faithful.

Fifth, you face unique pressures. There are days pastors carry the weight of the world, and for reasons of confidentiality, all they can do is bottle it up. Whether it is a piercing word of criticism, a church member’s scandalous sin, a draining counseling session, a rigorous day of sermon preparation, or just the operational challenges of most congregations, all of these burdens—and more—can mount up to make the strains of ministry seem at times nearly unbearable. In these times, stay firmly grounded in Christ and seek your strength in His faithfulness. In your dependence on God, stay faithful.

Sixth, you tend the flock of God. Pastors are more than a shoulder to cry on, and they offer more than consolation during life’s trials. They preach, lead, and fulfill a host of other responsibilities, but pastors are men who are willing to bear their congregants’ burdens of heart. When church members need prayer, counsel, or support, pastors stand in the gap for them. They bear these burdens with their flocks. Paul spoke of his affection and parental care of the believers in Thessalonica, and Peter exhorted the elders to shepherd the flock with eagerness, not lording it over them. Such is the heart of a pastor, one who loves his congregation. This is no easy task. Church members can be wayward, stubborn, and even rebellious. Thus, the pastor who loves and serves the flock is worthy of admiration. In your care for the sheep, stay faithful.

Pastor, this is you. This is your calling, your work, and your reward. As you honor God and strengthen his church, one day you will hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” So, stay faithful.

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[1] Roosevelt, Theodore, and Brian M. Thomsen. The Man in the Arena: The Selected Writings of Theodore Roosevelt: a Reader. New York: Forge, 2003, 5.

[2] Ephesians 4:11-12.

[3] I Timothy 3:2, 4:13; II Timothy 4:2.

[4] James 3:1, Hebrews 13:17.

[5] I Peter 1:8.

*This article was originally published on September 13, 2017

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