Category Archives: Pastoral Ministry

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Danger Lurks Near The Sacred Desk

Temptations fly at preachers as mosquitos swarm in a swamp. Archibald Alexander knew this well. To read his teachings on pastoral ministry is to read not only expert wisdom, but also experienced wisdom. No novice teacher can pen the paragraphs below.

The pulpit is perhaps, the severest ordeal of piety in the world. The man in secret might have felt humbled, on account of his sins, and seriously concerned for the salvation of his fellowmen; but when he rises in the pulpit, and hundreds of eyes are fixed on him, and multitudes are observing his performance, he can with difficult avoid feeling his attention drawn to himself, and a strong desire to acquit himself as to meet public expectation, and at any rate to rise above contempt.

And if a man has acquired already some degree of popularity, he naturally feels a strong desire to preserve the reputation which he has acquired. And these thoughts relating to his own dear popularity, may so get possession of his mind, that with every word which he utters, and every gesture which he makes, the thought may involuntarily occur, ‘How will this be received?’ Or, perhaps, in a form more hateful, ‘that is well spoken’—’that will be admired’—or ‘that will instruct the audience.’

And if he preaches with liberty, and some degree of eloquence, self-complacency is apt to arise in the mind. The deceitfulness and deep depravity of the human heart, never appears more evidently than in the pulpit. If all the thoughts which pass thro’ the preachers mind were exposed in their naked deformity to the view of the people, how would he be ashamed and confounded!

May the Lord enable His preachers to know true humility and vital piety in the pulpit. May the Lord protect us from seeking man’s praise. May He give us hearts that long to proclaim Christ alone.

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A New Robe

Yesterday, I preached in my doctoral robe for the first time at Redeemer. It reminded me of a letter I discovered while rummaging through M’Cheyne’s manuscripts last year.

On January 17, 1837, two months after he was installed as the minister of St. Peter’s Dundee, M’Cheyne informed his mother that he had finally received a new Geneva gown. He said,

I was preaching on Sabbath afternoon in my new silk gown which you would have been very proud to see. I daresay it is so large and handsome that you would take me for a Bishop at the very least. I hope it may be like the mantle of Elijah and bring with it a double portion of the spirit from on high

Although no one would confuse me for a bishop, I daresay that M’Cheyne’s prayer for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit is a most worthy request.

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Resolutions for Personal Revival

Our sixth child, Boston Stone, is named after the great Scottish theologian Thomas Boston. His work, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, was the bestselling Scottish book of the 18th century. But my favorite volume from Boston is one he wrote at the age of twenty-two. It was first published after he died and has remained in print for almost three hundred years.

Not long before he entered into glory, he wrote something of the book’s background in his journal. He recorded on January 6, 1699:

Reading in secret, my heart was touched with Matt. 4:19, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” My soul cried out for the accomplishing of that to me, and I was very desirous to know how I might follow Christ, so as to become a fisher of men; and for my own instruction in that point, I addressed myself to the consideration of it in that manner. . . . That scribble gives an idea of the then temper of my spirit.

That “scribble” was A Soliloquy on the Art of Man-Fishing.

8 Resolutions for Personal Revival

I believe one of the most significant needs in our time is a revival of Christ-centered, sinner-saving, and saint-sanctifying piety in the ministry. Perhaps the decline we continue to see in the Church’s spirituality is a direct result of declining pastoral piety. May we not be rash to point the finger outward, however. Let us first deal with ourselves, falling upon Christ’s mercy and grace. Revival in the church begins with a reformation of the ministry.

Thomas Boston knew this to be the case. And so, from the outset of his ministry, he resolved to follow an eight-fold plan for personal renewal, all laid out in The Art of Manfishing. May his purpose stir us to similar schemes and hopes.

  1. “In imitation of Christ and His apostles, and to get good done, I purpose to rise timely every morning.”
  2. “To prepare as soon as I am up some work to be, and how and when to do it; to engage my heart to it; and even to call myself to account and to mourn over my failings.”
  3. “To spend a sufficient portion of time every day in prayer; reading, meditating, spiritual exercises: morning, midday, evening, and ere I go to bed.”
  4. “Once in the month, either at the end or middle of it, I keep a day of humiliation for the public condition, for the Lord’s people and their sad condition, for raising up the work and people of God.”
  5. “I spend, besides this, one day for my own private condition, in fighting against spiritual evils and to get my heart more holy, or to get some spiritual exercise accomplished, once in six months.”
  6. “I spend once every week four hours over and above my daily portion in private, for some special causes either relating to myself or others.”
  7. “To spend some time on Saturday, towards night, for preparation for the Lord’s Day.”
  8. “To spend six or seven days together, once a year, when most convenient, wholly and only on spiritual accounts.”
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The Necessary Ingredients

“It is living fellowship with a living Savior which, transforming us into his image, fits us for being able and successful ministers of the gospel. Without this nothing else will avail. Neither orthodoxy, nor learning, nor eloquence, nor power of argument, nor zeal, nor fervor, will accomplish naught without this. It is this that gives power to our words and persuasiveness to our arguments, making them either as the balm of Gilead to the wounded spirit or as sharp arrows of the might to the conscience of the stouthearted rebel . . . Nearness to Christ, intimacy with him, assimilation to his character—these are the elements of a minsitry with power.” — Horatius Bonar, Words to Winners of Souls

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Eminent Piety

Gospel ministers are meant to be models of holiness. Paul commands us to “set an example” (1 Tim. 4:12). One commentator says on this passage, “The word picture it paints is not so much Timothy is an example that others can emulate but that he is a mold that should be pressed into the lives of others so that they attain the same shape.” Just like a cookie cutter molds the dough into its shape, so is the pastor’s character to shape the lives of his people.

But where can we find encouragement when we realize our mold is not as sharp as it should be?

Noticeable Progress Please

For a variety of different reasons, I’ve been in a three-month-long process of introspection to start 2018. Many things are coming to an end in my life. The dissertation is done. After having our sixth child in December, we are likely done having children. I’m in the midst of a new pastorate and so have reflected on past ministerial experiences in an attempt to discover where I must grow. I’m asking questions about trajectory in pastoral labor, seeking to find areas that need attention.

The self-examination has brought several points of encouragement. But, on the whole, I’ve found myself dissatisfied with my progress in godliness. My life has no small number of places in which I have to grow to be faithful in the gospel ministry: prayer, kindness, trust, and hope for eternity. As M’Cheyne said, “I earnestly long for more grace and personal holiness, and more usefulness.”

My convictions on these matters only increased as I reread a section from W. G. T. Shedd’s Homiletics and Pastoral Ministry.

Eminent Spirituality Demanded

I discovered Shedd’s volume in 2016. Rarely does a week go by without something from his work popping into my mind. Most often, it is his three fundamental properties of sermon style—plainness, force, and beauty. I also remember regularly his chapter titled, “Religious Character and Habits of the Clergyman.”

Let me see if I can encapsulate his argument for you.

Shedd begins with a declaration: “The foundation of influence in parochial life is in the clergyman’s character, and the root of clerical character is piety.” A congregation’s maturity rarely, if ever, exceeds that of its minister(s). Therefore, the pastor’s primary preoccupation is enlarging his soul’s love for Christ. As Shedd says,

The calling and profession of the clergyman demand eminent spirituality. An ordinary excellence is not sufficient. The Christian minister, by his very vocation, is the sacred man in society.

Shedd is careful to tell that a minister is not a member of a sacred caste, but he nonetheless belongs to a sacred profession. His character must reflect his calling:

He is the marked and peculiarly religious man, in the community. His very position and vocation, therefore, make it incumbent upon him to be eminently spiritual.

I’ve found that many pastors today find such demands for holiness grating or even unreasonable. To contemporary minds, Shedd’s assertions may sound inauthentic or sacerdotal. One brother told me that such a view of pastoral godliness tends to promote legalism. Another said it creates a yoke that pastors cannot possibly bear.

Eminent Spirituality Produced

Shedd, however, is more optimistic. My bother pastor, read the following paragraph slowly and be edified:

Not only does the ministerial calling and profession require eminent piety, but it tends to produce it. By his very position, the clergyman is greatly assisted in attaining to a superior grade of Christian character, and if, therefore, he is a worldly and unspiritual man, he is deeply culpable. For, so far as his active life is concerned, his proper professional business is religious. The daily labor of the clergyman is as truly and exclusively religious, as that of the farmer is agricultural, or that of the merchant is mercantile. This is highly favorable to spirituality. Ought not one to grow in grace, whose daily avocations bring him into communication with the anxious, the thoughtful, the convicted soul, the rejoicing heart, the bereaved, the sick, and the dying? Ought not that man to advance in the love and knowledge of God, whose regular occupation from day to day it is, to become acquainted with the strictly Religious wants, and condition of the community, and to minister to them? If the daily avocations of the mechanic have a natural tendency to make him ingenious, and inventive, if the daily avocations of the merchant tend to make him enterprising, and adventurous, do not the daily avocations of the clergyman tend to make him devout? The influence of active life upon character is, in its own place and manner, as great as that of contemplative life. A man is unconsciously moulded and formed by his daily routine of duties, as really as by the books he reads, or the sciences he studies. Hence, a faithful performance of clerical duties contributes directly to spirituality.

Surely Shedd is right to say the gospel ministry is uniquely conducive to noticeable growth in grace. Faithful ministers trade in and thrive on the means of grace. Should grace not tend to flourish in our lives? As the professor also says, “The studies of the theologian and preacher work directly towards the growth of piety.”

The Progress Will Come

Maybe you’re like me; you examine your growth in godliness and find it wanting. Find hope today! Christ has commissioned you as a servant in his house (1 Tim. 4:6). He indwells you through the Spirit—the Spirit of holiness (Rom. 1:4). He’s handed you a job description that requires you to immerse yourself in the means of grace “so that all may see your progress” (1 Tim. 4:15).

Steadfast service for the King will bring increasing conformity to His image (Col. 3:9–10). Let us repent of our failings and rise assured that the grace which forgives is the grace that empowers.

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The Dissertation is Done

March 16, 2018 was a most momentous day. I turned thirty-four years old. I also received the best birthday present I could’ve hoped for—a “passed” dissertation. My thirty or so years of non-stop education has (finally) reached its conclusion. People tell me I’m supposed to be an expert, seeing that I’ve completed four degrees. I’m learning, however, that the title of “novice” is much more appropriate than “Doctor.”

Reading, Researching, and Writing

I began my Ph.D. studies at The Institution in January of 2015. From the start, my research interest was Robert Murray M’Cheyne. I initially planned to study “The M’Cheyne School” of ministers in the Free Church of Scotland. But the more I read and researched the more I realized how a thorough study of M’Cheyne’s piety was needed. His brief life has left a long legacy. His story continues to influence countless people over two hundred years after his birth. His pithy quotes on doctrine and spirituality saturate books on all manner of subjects from all kinds of Protestant traditions.

In the spring of 2016, I recognized how the prevailing narrative around M’Cheyne’s life is somewhat miscast. He’s commonly portrayed as a model of personal holiness. Said another way, his devotion to the means of grace is what most captivates Christians. Therefore, the existing studies on M’Cheyne focus on how he pursued the means of grace. I believed a more foundational question needed asking and answering: “Why did M’Cheyne pursue holiness with such singular passion?”

So, I got to work.

The fruit of my research is a dissertation titled “A Communion of Love: The Animating Principle Behind the Christocentric Spirituality of Robert Murray M’Cheyne.” The title encapsulates my thesis, which states, “The primary objective of this dissertation is to demonstrate the crucial place that love for Christ occupies in M’Cheyne’s spirituality.” Over the course of ten chapters, I argue that M’Cheyne’s theology centered on knowing God’s love in Christ and that his piety was little more than the return of love to Christ. His holiness shined brightly because he loved Christ so deeply.

Nervous and Anxious

I began writing the dissertation in July of 2017. I submitted it to my examining committee seven months later on Valentine’s Day. The readers were all men whom I’ve looked up to for many years: Drs. Stephen Yuille, Tom Nettles, Michael Haykin, and Sinclair Ferguson. Each man has proved himself an eminent scholar throughout the process and, even more importantly, a model of godliness.

When I left for Louisville on March 15th to defend the dissertation, I went with a feeling I’ve rarely experienced—nervousness. Outside of being in situations with heights (we are not close friends), I don’t know if I’ve ever been nervous about something. But I was a bundle of nerves as I entered the Haldeman Room at 8:00 a.m. on the 16th. Gratefully, the committee was quite encouraging, and the defense went better than I’d anticipated. It was one of the happiest days of my life (which my family says you can see in my smile below).

Mastered By, Not Mastering

Someone told me last week, “You’re the M’Cheyne expert now!” I’m not even close. My studies have only proved how far I have to go to be even a small reflection of M’Cheyne’s faithfulness.

I believe M’Cheyne is an unusually compelling example for pastors. I long to see a revival of his ministerial model, one built on an adoration of Christ that promotes humble piety and zealous soul-winning. In the coming years, I hope to publish a few different works on M’Cheyne, all aimed at retrieving his simple, yet powerful pattern for gospel ministers.

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7 Implications from Puritan Preaching

In his latest book, Some Pastors and Teachers: Reflecting a Biblical Vision of What Every Minister is Called to Be, Sinclair Ferguson has a wonderful chapter on the Puritans and ministers of God’s word. Near the end, he offers seven implications for preaching from their example.

  1. A commitment to the hard work of studying, meditating on, and appyling to oneself the truth of Scritpure.
  2. A concern to speak God’s truth to all of God’s people, however simply they may be. The great Puritans were well-educated and highly intelligent ministers; but they knew that the concealment of art is also an art.
  3. Preaching the whole counsel of God, for the conversion of men and women, for the glory of God alone in whose presence both great and obscure must be exposed as sinners.
  4. Manifesting wisdom in teaching and applying the word of God, as well as the grace of God, in the very spiritof the preaching without “passion or bitterness.”
  5. Doing so with a sense of the gravitas which ought to characterize a servant of God. This influenced the minister’s physical demeanor and even the use of his voice. The preacher is neither joker nor trifler. He is not sent by God to entertain and amuse, for life is more of a tragedy than a comedy. Message and manner must harmonize or the message itself will be trivialized. Emotions and affections in preaching must be consistent with and expressive of the very substance of the text which is being expounded.
  6. Neither is the minister to be lugubrious and censorious, but rather filled with a loving affection for those to whom he ministers and preaches. Nothing is better calculated to win hearers than their knowledge that their minister has “a hearty desire to do them good.” The Puritans recognized that people will take a great deal from such a man.
  7. All this is to be backed up by a life which is consistent both in private and public with the message that is preached.
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10 Marks of a Grace-Alone Church

Zondervan wants to help us celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. So, they’ve published the “5 Solas Series,” edited by Michael Barrett. “We need these solas just as much today as the Reformers needed them in the sixteenth century,” Barret argues. He is undoubtedly right.

My favorite entry in the series is Carl Trueman’s Grace Alone: Salvation as a Gift of God. Trueman begins by surveying the Bible’s teaching on grace. He critiques modern conceptions of grace as something like a divine sentiment, showing that God’s word consistently connects grace to Christ. Ever the consummate church historian, Trueman then ably traces the doctrine through the ages before coming to the Reformers central arguments on sola gratia (his primary discussion partners are Augustine, Thomas, Luther, and Calvin).

The whole work is valuable and would be useful for small group discussion. The conclusion itself is well worth your money. There Trueman offers ten “hints as to the identity of a sola-gratia church.” Let me try to whet your literary appetite by giving you those hints with a choice quote or two.

What Marks a Grace-Alone Church?

  1. A grace-alone church takes sin seriously. “A proper understanding of grace depends on a prior, proper understanding of sin and the human predicament.”
  2. A grace-alone church takes Christ seriously. “If we speak of grace without speaking in the name of Christ, we are not speaking biblically of grace. In the Bible, grace is so intimately connected with Christ that Christless talk is graceless talk.”
  3. A grace-alone church takes God’s priority in personal salvation seriously. “A grace-alone church will be one that unashamedly declares God’s sovereign priority over all of creation and his sovereign priority over the church and her people.”
  4. A grace-alone church takes assurance seriously. “The church which takes grace seriously will constantly point her people to [the truth of God’s sovereign in Christ] with the aim of reassuring them that, whatever comes to pass, God is both sovereign and gracious.”
  5. A grace-alone church takes the corporate gathering of the visible church seriously. “A church which takes grace alone seriously knows that . . . the primary reason we go to church is to receive God’s grace through the word and sacraments.”
  6. A grace-alone church takes the Bible seriously. “The Bible is God’s revelation of the history and identity of his people and supremely of his purposes for them as they culminate in Jesus Christ. Given this, we may need to spend time reflecting on how the Bible functions in our churches.”
  7. A grace-alone church takes preaching seriously. “Preaching was central to the Reformation because of how the Reformers understood grace . . . The word brings grace.”
  8. A grace-alone church takes baptism seriously. “Baptism is part of God’s gracious economy, to be taken seriously by all Christians . . . As Paul would point people back to the fact that they were baptized as the basis for pressing home their new identity in Christ and the great imperatives of the Christian life, so we should do the same.”
  9. A grace-alone church takes the Lord’s Supper seriously. “The Lord’s Supper gives us Christ—in a different form from the word, but gives us Christ nonetheless, and a church that believes in grace alone will be a church where the Lord’s Supper is considered to be important.”
  10. A grace-alone church takes prayer seriously. “A church that takes grace seriously knows that she exists only in complete and total dependence on the Lord who bought her. Such a church will know that it is vitally important to call out to the Lord for all things, that conversions, Christian growth, discipleship, and worship all depend on God himself.”
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What Every New Pastor Needs

I’ve been tinkering away at a book project on how to pray for your pastor for most of this year. Whenever I come across the, I stash away useful quotes from old saints on the importance of praying for your pastor. A new favorite came this morning from Horatius Bonar.

Bonar’s first sermon to his congregation at Kelso was on Mark 9:29—”And he said unto them, ‘This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.'” He went on to tell the church,

In coming amongst you here, the first thing I ask of you is your prayers. Not your customary, your general, your formal prayers. Keep these idle compliments,—these regular, it may be, but too often unmeaning pieces of courtesy, to yourselves. These I ask not. If these are all you have to give, I shall be poor indeed. What I ask is your unwearied, your believing, wrestling prayers. Nothing else will do.

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Ferguson on Ministry

I cannot begin to adequately describe how Sinclair Ferguson has ministered to me over the years. I find him to be the epitome of a Christ-exalting preacher and winsome churchman, who also happens to be as able a theologian as you’ll find in the pulpit.

Whenever I sense my ministerial soul needs reviving, I do three things: 1) read the pastoral epistles—along with 2 Corinthians, 2) read an old manual on ministry such as Bonar’s Words to Winners of Souls, and 3) listen to Ferguson messages. I think every pastor needs a preacher who uniquely ministers to his heart. He needs someone who can challenge, comfort, and convict. Dr. Ferguson does that for me.

Earlier this week, I came across an old series of lectures Ferguson gave on “the ministry” to a group of pastors in Northern Ireland. What a feast! He covers all the essentials in depth, and he rambles through valuable rabbit trails in each message. If your soul needs encouragement in preparation for this Lord’s Day, download the lectures below and listen away.

7 Messages on Ministry

  1. “Called to the Ministry“
  2. “Preaching the Word“
  3. “The Minister’s Prayer“
  4. “The Minister’s Unction“
  5. “The Minister as a Man of God“
  6. “The Minister as Pastor of the Flock“
  7. “The Minister as Preacher of the Word“

HT: Monergism.com