Category Archives: Pastoral Ministry

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7 Requirements of the Sermon

0875526632A forgotten contribution to the modern conversation on preaching is Robert Lewis Dabney’s Evangelical Eloquence: A Course of Lectures on Preaching.

The legendary Southern Presbyterian minister originally published the work as Sacred Rhetoric (a quite lovely title) in 1870 as the fruit his seventeen years at Union Theological Seminary. Contemporary preachers would be well served by the whole book, but lectures 7-8 are particularly helpful. These two lectures offer the following seven “cardinal requisites of the sermon”:

  1. Textual Fidelity. This means “sticking to one’s text.” The preacher’s very nature as a herald demands such fidelity, for the first quality of a good herald is the faithful delivery of the very mind of his king. God’s thoughts, not ours, are to occupy a primary place in the sermon.
  2. Unity. The sermon, like every work of art, needs unity. Dabney says rhetorical unity requires two things: 1) a main subject for the discourse, and 2) a main impression for the hearer. Singleness in exposition and application are unity’s best friends.
  3. Evangelical Tone. The proclamation of the gospel requires a gracious character; it is the place “where mercy and truth meet each other, and righteousness and peace kiss each other.” This requirement assumes that the sermon will be predominately evangelical. Or in contemporary jargon, “gospel-centered.”
  4. Instructive. This does not mean a sermon should be accused of “odious intellectualism.” An instructive sermon instead means food for feeding. The instructive sermon will have an important point, rich in substance, faithfully delivered to the congregation’s life.
  5. Movement. Movement, said Vinet, is the royal virtue of style. Dabney says movement is what will make a discourse eloquent. What’s movement? “It is, in short, that force thrown from the soul of the preaching into his sermon, by which the soul of the hearer is urged, with a constant and accelerated progress, toward that practical impression which is designed for the result.” Preaching needs passion.
  6. Pointedness. There must be a main point to the sermon, clearly understood by the hearer, intended to excite the soul. From there the preacher must have a clear idea of where his is going and his congregation must understand, once he gets to the end, how and why he got there.
  7. Order. The sermon needs to be properly ordered and divided along expositional lines. “Each thing should be said in its right place.” Dabney has little time for the wandering discourse and aimless exposition, for “disarray is displeasing.” If a church member is able to recall the sermon’s contents a few day’s after the preaching event, the sermon likely had order. If the church member can’t remember anything from the sermon other than the preacher did a good job, the sermon like had no order. Order brings benefit to the hearer.

Once you get used to the late-19th century prose, I predict you’ll be amazed at how profitable this book is.

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10 Priorities of a Faithful Pastor

Pastoral Ministry

Every pastor needs a few trusted friends. Friends that help him stay focused on the glorious task of ministry; friends that protect him from the myriad responsibilities sucking away his attention to that which is of first importance. These friends show up at just the right time and know how to offer just the right encouragement.

Biblical priorities play this kind of role in the life of a pastor. They are some of the most trustworthy friends a pastor can have.

Just yesterday I found myself nine hours into my workday and thought, “Wow, I have done a lot today.” And then I thought, “Wow, I haven’t done anything today.” I managed to complete a large number of administrative tasks, but had spent little time in the word and prayer. I don’t wish to erect a false dichotomy for I know that administration is necessary to faithful ministry. Nevertheless, I am sure you know what I am getting at.

I wish these days weren’t as common as they are, but they are. Maybe you are like me.

So at the end of the day I decided to have a brief meeting with the pastoral priorities revealed 1 Timothy 4, some of my best friends in ministry. These friends help put flesh on the skeleton of faithful ministry. I am sure you can break up the passage differently than I do, but my study of 4:6-16 reveals ten priorities of a faithful pastor:

  1. He trains himself in sound doctrine (4:6).
  2. He has nothing to do with useless and vain discussion (4:7).
  3. He trains himself for godliness (4:7).
  4. He sets his attention on the things of eternity (4:8).
  5. He fixes his hope on the living God (4:9).
  6. He sets an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity (4:12).
  7. He devotes himself to preaching and public reading Scripture (4:13).
  8. He employs his Christ-given gifts (4:14).
  9. His makes tangible progress in sanctification (4:15).
  10. He persists in watching his life and doctrine (4:16).

These priorities are friends to have around at all times. They will help fix your attention on gospel ministry and lift your gaze from earthly things to heavenly things. Simply put, they will point you to Christ.

Trustworthy friends indeed.

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3 Ingredients for a Faithful Church

church_coverI am well acquainted with Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper; some people would call me an addict, I call myself an enthusiast.  My familiarity with this heavenly nectar means I am all too aware when an establishment tries to pass of a fake as the real thing.

Because our church does not have an office at the moment, I spend much of my week working at two different locations of a local BBQ joint. One of these locations regularly has a delicious mix of the heavenly nectar, and the other location . . . well, not so much. The real thing comes from a proper mix of ingredients and, to an enthusiast, can easily be distinguished from imitation.

The same thing is true about a church. I noticed this truth earlier this year as I preached through 1 Timothy. Paul sent a letter along to his young protege so that if he delayed Timothy “may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.” In the short span of six chapters Paul manages to cover an astonishing amount of material related to the church’s faithfulness, and one realizes that three themes prove to be emblematic of a faithful church. Three themes I like to think about as three necessary ingredients for a faithful church:

#1 – Sound doctrine. Paul left Timothy in Ephesus and charged him to deal with the false teachers that had infiltrated the church. Refuting the false teachers meant calling them to repentance (and excommunicating if necessary) and publishing sound doctrine.

#2 – Sound leadership. Sound doctrine must be proclaimed and taught, so who is to do this? Elders. These men must be “able to teach,” thereby ensuring the church’s doctrine is protected and propagated. Chapter three famously delineates the qualifications for elders and deacons, and chapter four is taken up – almost entirely – with pointed instructing on healthy pastoral ministry.

#3 – Sound living. This is, after all, the purpose for Paul’s writing, that the church would “know how they ought to live together.” Sound living flows from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith. It manifests itself in praise to God, modest dress, contentment, honor, and focused holiness.

Sound doctrine, sound leadership, sound living. A three-strand chord of faithfulness hard to separate and hard to break. It’s not easily broken because all three ingredients are only found in Christ, the Unassailable One. He is the Truth, the Good Shepherd, and the Holy One – He is Faithfulness. Therefore, what I think Paul drives at in this letter is the realization that a faithful church is focused on the exaltation of Christ through the empowerment of His Spirit. Christ-centeredness in the church need not be an esoteric idea and pursuit. 1 Timothy bring this glorious aim down to the ground floor of daily practice; Christ-centered faithfulness concentrates on sound doctrine, sound leadership, and sound living. These are the three ingredients of a faithful church.

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Work at Your Public Prayer

Clarus-Carson
“If you are in any form of spiritual leadership, work at your public prayers. It does not matter whether the form of spiritual leadership you exercise is the teaching of a Sunday school class, pastoral ministry, small-group evangelism, or anything else: if at any point you pray in public as a leader, then work at your public prayers.

Some people think this advice distinctly corrupt.  It smells too much of public relations, of concern for public image.  After all, whether we are praying in private or in public, we are praying to God: Surely he is the one we should be thinking about, no one else.

This objection misses the point.  Certainly if we must choose between trying to please God in prayer, and trying to please our fellow creatures, we must unhesitatingly opt for the former.  But that is not the issue.  It is not a question of pleasing our human hearers, but of instructing them and edifying them.

The ultimate sanction for this approach is none less than Jesus himself.  At the tomb of Lazarus, after the stone has been removed, Jesus looks to heaven and prays, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me” (John 11:41-42).  Here, then, is a prayer of Jesus himself that is shaped in part by his awareness of what his human hearers need to hear.

The point is that although public prayer is addressed to God, it is addressed to God while others are overhearing it.  Of course, if the one who is praying is more concerned to impress these human hearers than to pray to God, then rank hypocrisy takes over.  That is why Jesus so roundly condemns much of the public praying of his day and insists on the primacy of private prayer (Matt. 6:5-8).  But that does not mean that there is no place at all for public prayer.  Rather, it means that public prayer ought to be the overflow of one’s private praying.  And then, judging by the example of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus, there is ample reason to reflect on just what my prayer, rightly directed to God, is saying to the people who hear me.

In  brief, public praying is a pedagogical opportunity.  It provides the one who is praying with an opportunity to instruct or encourage or edify all who hear the prayer.  In liturgical churches, many of the prayers are well-crafted, but to some ears they lack spontaneity.  In nonliturgical churches, many of the prayers are so predictable that they are scarcely any more spontaneous than written prayers, and most of them are not nearly as well-crafted.  The answer to both situations is to provide more prayers that are carefully and freshly prepared.  That does not necessarily mean writing them out verbatim (though that can be a good thing to do).  At the least, it means thinking through in advance and in some detail just where the prayer is going, preparing, perhaps, some notes, and memorizing them.

Public praying is a responsibility as well as a privilege.  In the last century, the great English preacher Charles Spurgeon did not mind sharing his pulpit: others sometimes preached in his home church even when he was present.  But when he came to the “pastoral prayer,” if he was present, he reserved that part of the service for himself.  This decision did not arise out of any priestly conviction that his prayers were more efficacious than those of others.  Rather, it arose from his love for his people, his high view of prayer, his conviction that public praying should not only intercede with God but also instruct and edify and encourage the saints.

Many facets of Christian discipleship, not least prayer, are rather more effectively passed on by modeling than by formal teaching.  Good praying is more easily caught than taught.  If it is right to say that we should choose models from whom we can learn, then the obverse truth is that we ourselves become responsible to become models for others.  So whether you are leading a service or family prayers, whether you are praying in a small-group Bible study or at a convention, work at your public prayers.”

D. A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Baker, 1992), 34-35.  HT: Brian Hedges

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Pastoral Postcard – Holy Dread

Pastoral PostcardEach week I try to write a “Pastoral Postcard,” a post that aims to encourage pastors in the work of ministry. I take one verse of Scripture and apply it to the blessings and afflictions every gospel minister experiences. The postcards originate from a time when I was preaching through 1 Timothy while reading Thomas Boston’s The Art of Man-Fishing. As a young pastor myself, I tried to channel my inner Boston and write short-ish notes to encourage my labor. Hopefully they can be some encouragement to you.

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” – James 3:1

Pastor, execute your ministry with a sense of awesomeness – a tone of holy dread.

The holy dread of ministry is found in the warning, “Not many of you should become teachers,” for you will be judged with greater strictness. Your words and ways are on display for all to see and will be the fragrance of life or stench of death. You dare not be found a peddler of God’s word, but a faithful trader in eternal things. The apostle reveals his understanding of your awesome calling when he asked, “Who is sufficient for these things?” To answer in a sentence: the pastor soaked with Spirit-wrought sobriety and sincerity.

A SOBER PASTOR

Sobriety in ministry fertilizes holy dread. Sobriety is identified by her children called Earnestness and Reverence. God made you a steward of His Word so that you would publish abroad the good news of His kingdom; what earnestness this calling demands! The sin of your heart and schemes of your enemy will tempt you to complacency in ministry. The Serpent knows that idleness might just be more effective in harming your congregation than disqualifying sin. Idleness fuels lifeless preaching, disconnected oversight, and spiritual isolation. If the Serpent succeeds in rendering you idle he will then attack your congregation and/or elder body to unwise extensions of grace. They will let your sin go unchecked longer than it should and even if they call you to account he will tempt them to keep you in your office. Should he succeed in both ends he has just rendered the congregation faithless and fruitless. The gates of hell snicker at idle pastors and, by extension, idle congregations.

Yet, the gates of hell crumble in terror before a man of God distinguished by the peculiar grace of reverence. Reverence, fear and awe at God’s majesty, slays the sin of complacency and promotes sobriety. The age in which you live celebrates levity and frivolity in the pulpit, while your God celebrates men who tremble at His Word. Many congregations come to corporate worship hoping for a chance to laugh rather than a chance to repent. The Serpent will use the atmosphere of the age to tempt you to be an entertainer more than a gospel minister, but you must stand your ground. You are standing in the gap of the ages calling people to repent of their sin and believe in their Savior. Such proclamation cannot be done with flippant shallowness, it must be done with sober reverence.

Understand that the Serpent will tempt you away from reverence by presenting it as unapproachable austerity. But no, this is deception and confusion. Your God reigns in awesome splendor that strikes men with fear, but compelling fear. Awesomeness compels nearness; holy dread fuels sobriety.

A SINCERE PASTOR

Sincerity is a friend to the fear of God and is thus a friend to holy dread. No one, not even you, can stand in front of the Glorious God covered in deceptive masks. He knows your prayers before they are offered, your words before they are spoken, your actions before they appear; You cannot hide from Him and His Spirit searches you inner being. Do you see how this calls for sincerity? This coming week you will stand behind the sacred desk and the awesomeness of God demands sincere proclamation. The Serpent will tempt you to subtle deception in preaching; he will scheme for you to soften the reality of sin, the greatness of Christ, and the demands of discipleship. Sincerity slays soft preaching and prepares a feast that your people may not want, but they still need.

Pastoral ministry runs on the twin rails of patient plodding and pleading, and this long-suffering needs sincerity. The oracles of God you carry into the pulpit and around town each week are blessed burdens. The Serpent intends to burn you with these burdens by tempting you to bear them alone. Yet, sincerity drives out this deception by linking arms with a band of brothers to join you in plodding and pleading. After all, you are not the only one that will give an account for those God entrusted to you. Holy dread promotes and enables sincerity.

Finally, remind yourself often that this ministry is not be played at nor trifled with. Your Lord will not suffer His sheep to be shepherded with buffoonery; rather, His glorious majesty assume a disposition of sobriety and sincerity. Pastor your people with holy dread.

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Cultivating Gravity and Gladness in Preaching

Preaching Header

In The Supremacy of God in Preaching John Piper calls preachers to “gravity and gladness” in their work. For those wondering what the phrase means, Piper writes,

Gravity and gladness should be woven together in the life and preaching of a pastor in such a way as to sober the careless soul and sweeten the burdens of the saints. Love for people cannot treat awesome realities lightly (hence, gravity!), and love for people cannot load people with the burden of joyless obedience (hence, gladness!).

He then gives seven suggestions for cultivating gravity and gladness in preaching, suggestions that will challenge and encourage.

  1. Strive for practical, earnest, glad-hearted holiness in every area of your life.
  2. Make your life – especially the life of your study – a life of constant communion with God in prayer.
  3. Read books that were written by men or women who bleed Bible while you prick them and who are blood-earnest about the truths they discuss.
  4. Direct your mind often to the contemplation of death.
  5. Consider the biblical teaching that as a preacher you will be judged with greater strictness.
  6. Consider the example of Jesus.
  7. Finally, strive will all the strength you have to know God and to humble yourself under his mighty hand.

Here’s to preaching whose primary aim is repentance and faith wrought by a stupendous vision of our glorious God.

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A Teacher of Preachers

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Every pastor should be a preacher (2 Tim. 4:2) and a teacher of preachers (2 Tim. 2:2). Mike Bullmore, for me, is the consummate example of this biblical balance in pastoral ministry.

Bullmore currently is the Senior Pastor of CrossWay Community Church in Bristol, Wisconsin, a church he planted in 1998. Prior to planting CrossWay, he served for 15 years as an Associate Professor of Homiletics (preaching) and Pastoral Theology, as well as chairman of the Practical Theology Department at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill.

I first discovered Bullmore through lectures he delivered at a couple Sovereign Grace Pastors Conferences. There is unusual winsomeness in Bullmore’s teaching, and his warmth and wisdom will encourage any man who ascends to the sacred desk. Here are the seven lectures that, I think, will serve every pastor in a special way. So pull up a chair and feast!

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Pastoral Postcard – Holy Delight

Pastoral Postcard

“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” – 1 Timothy 3

Pastor, you are Christ’s gift to His church. Let this truth flood your soul with holy delight.

The holy delight of pastoral ministry is found in the apostle’s trustworthy saying to young Timothy, “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” Remind yourself often of the ministry’s nobility. It is a grand scheme of the Serpent to tempt you unto thoughts of boredom and purposelessness in your charge. Away with such evil! You are God’s steward and banality has no place in a ministry filled with nobility.

THE NOBILITY OF MINISTRY

First, the message is noble. You have been entrusted with the gospel of Jesus Christ and a more noble message cannot be found on earth. Your eternal, creative, and powerful Father created this world to reflect His glory . He spoke everything into existence by the word of His power and He breathed life into man. Man was created in His image; he was to be a small icon of glory extending God’s lordship in the earth by ruling and subduing. But man wanted to rule as Lord, not just as vice-regent. He ate of the forbidden fruit and brought upon himself – and all his children – the promised curse of death. Yet, the curse was not without promise, for God promised woman that her seed would one day crush the head of the serpent.

This seed is none other than the God-man, Jesus Christ. In His love for sinners God sent His son to fulfill where man failed and slay the Serpent. Where man broke God’s law, Jesus obeyed. Where man succumbed to the serpent’s temptation, Jesus cast him out. After thirty-three years of perfection His people turned on him, because unrighteousness is never a friend to righteousness – let alone the Righteous One. He carried a log up a hill, laid Himself on it, and suffered the agony of crucifixion. Yet, while all His enemies gloated under the gleaming prospects of victory, the Serpent’s head was about to be smashed. In the greatest cosmic collision the world has ever seen God’s justice and mercy, simultaneously, fell on Jesus. He took our sin so that we might become righteous through Him, and He died because of it.  God’s pleasure in His Son’s perfect sacrifice rolled the stone away and made Him alive in the tomb. He was raised for our justification, ascended to the right hand of God, and is now enthroned in glory. He cries out to the sons of Adam and call them to repent of their sins and place their faith in Him for salvation.

This is the message that you steward; the cosmic collision of a Serpent being smashed and sinners being saved. And a noble message demands a noble method.

Second, the method is noble. The apostle sums up your message with the command, “Preach the word.” Do not cower under the demands of the age to be a visionary leader, innovator, or movement maker. You are first and foremost a preacher. Your method is ascend each week to the sacred desk and herald the good news of Jesus Christ. Like the town criers of old you to look at the sheep and announce, “Hear ye, hear ye! This is the day of your salvation.” Your enemy has an arrow in his quiver marked for preachers and it flies on a path that goes something like this, “You think preaching is the method for this age? You are in trouble then, for no one will listen to you.” The Serpent is not a master of deception without good reason, because he’s right – no one will listen to you. But he forgets, and you are prone to forget, that the power of preaching does not rest in your cool rhetorical charisma. No, the power of preaching is found in the power of God’s word. His word is living, active, and able to bring the dead to life. His word is sweeter than honey, food for the soul, and more valuable than silver or gold.

Give yourself then to this work of preaching. Sweat yourself in preparation because treasure comes to those who search. Exhaust yourself in prayer because light comes for those who beg. Empty yourself in delivery because heat comes through those who plead. When you stand in front of Gods’ people you must shine and burn before them, just like that old voice who cried out in the desert, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” Should you do all of this in the Spirit’s power you will step down from the sermon with a weariness few can fathom. The Serpent knows your weakness and that’s why his arrows appear to blot out the sky after each sermon. If you are not watchful he will load your soul with crippling condemnation, “You failed. You didn’t get through. You were not engaging. You were not clear. Why did you ever think you could preach?” But oh! the Spirit knows your weakness as well. Look through the devil’s dark darts to truth that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. The Spirit is powerful to take your feeble offering and bring from it a bountiful harvest.

The message is noble, the method is noble, and . . .

Third, the mission is noble. Every steward is summoned to the front lines in His mission to redeem people from every tribe, language, people, and nation. The light of Christ has broken in and is shining to the ends of the earth. It shines on the dead and brings them life. It shines on the reborn and is making them new. Call your people to stare at the Son:

“Awake oh sleeper,rise from dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

The mission shines then on the sands of the soul, and the soul is the noblest thing in a man. These sands represent the mission’s battleground and, like every battle, these sands are littered with the blood and bodies of God’s stewards. This mission is costly, for you it might even be deadly. But fear not! If you are slain on the sand a crown awaits and a glorified body is on its way. If the mission doesn’t kill you, it will probably cost you more than any person can see: scorn, slander, misunderstanding, and misrepresentation. For these reasons and more the Serpent will tempt you to stay in the ship and not wade your way toward the shore. Take courage! You have the armor of Christ and the power of the Spirit, what can mortal man do to you? The light you carry terrifies the darkness, so hide it not in your life nor your ministry.

The noble message carried by the noble method is the substance of your noble mission, a mission that aims at the noblest part of men. This is a noble ministry indeed.

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3 Encouragements for Pastors

Pastoral Ministry

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” – Mark 1:35-38

In 2010 The Museum of Modern Art hosted artist Marina Abramovic’s performance entitled “The Artist is Present.” For 736 hours she sat immobile in the museum’s atrium while spectators were invited to sit across the table from her. It really was little more than an artistic staring context. Yet, photographers were present to capture the spectators response(s) while sitting underneath the Serbian’s stare. Many responded with laughter and excitement, while others saw sadness and were thus pictured with tears streaming onto the table. Abramovic’s performance highlighted a fact of life that many know, staring evokes a response.

Mark 1:35-38 is a scene pastors need to stare at and I believe the staring will produce a response. Three insights from the text are of particular value:

First, see the priority of prayer. The start of His ministry had been a resounding success; His authority captivated the crowds in Capernaum. They clamored for His presence and power, and what is His immediate response? He withdrew to a desolate place in order to pray. Let’s briefly consider Jesus’ practice of prayer as presented in the gospels. When He was baptized we are told he was praying (Luke 3:21). When he was transfigured, we are told that His face was transformed as he prayed (Luke 9:29). Before He appointed the twelve disciples, Luke tells us He tells us He continued all night in prayer (Luke 6:12). After feeding the five thousand all the people want to crown Him as king, but He leaves them in order to pray (Mark 9:23). In the moments leading up to His betrayal, arrest, and eventually crucifixion we find Him crying out in prayer (Mark 14:32-42). Prayer was clearly a priority that fueled His mission.

Pastors would be wise here to be challenged by the Savior’s devoted to prayer. In commenting on this passage the great Bishop Ryle said, “Here is the pulse of our Christianity, here is the true test of our state before God.” 1 Pastor, how is the pulse of your ministry? I’d encourage you to consider what your practice of prayer reveals about your soul. The prayers of Christ are expressions of his dependence on God for strength, wisdom, and assurance. If prayer reveals dependence, what then does prayerlessness reveal? In a word, independence. Might our small progress in prayer be the rooted in a heart that finds greater joy in independence from God than dependence on God? Without prayer, pastoral ministry has no power. Charles Bridges famously quipped, “Prayer is one half of our ministry; and it gives to the other half all its power and success.” 2

Second, see the pitfall of preoccupation. The disciples cried out, “Where have you been, Jesus? You do not have time to seclude Yourself in prayer. You have ministry to perform. Your fame is spreading everywhere, and the place is filled with seekers. You need to be there not here.” We observe here, and find similar occasions all over the gospels, that a recurring pitfall for Jesus’ mission on earth was preoccupation with earthly concerns. The people’s – and disciples’ – concern was with health and happiness, not with the King’s demand for repentance and faith. The disciples’ preoccupation with secondary issues not only interrupted Jesus’ communion with God, but also threatened His mission for God. Pastor, what earthly preoccupations might be interrupting your communion with God and threatening your mission for God? We see in Mark 1 that no one makes progress in communion with God or mission for God who is not schooled in self-denial. There were compelling reasons for Jesus to stay and minister in Capernaum, but more compelling was leaving to fulfill the mission for which He was sent.

Third, see the primacy of preaching. This was Christ’s mission, to preach the gospel of the kingdom (Mark 1:38). The people wanted His healing and casting out of demons, but our Lord says He has come to preach.

We see that the spirit of the 1st century is just like the spirit of the 21st century. It’s a spirit that says, “This isn’t the time for preaching, this is the time for power. Signs and wonders will make people believe, but preaching will not.” Yet Jesus is telling us that in His kingdom, preaching is the highway to faith. We live by faith, not by sight. A kingdom built on signs and wonders is a kingdom built on sight, but a kingdom built on the Word is a kingdom built by faith. Preaching was the God-ordained means to extend the kingdom of grace, and preaching remains the God-ordained means to extend the kingdom of grace.

Pastor, God gave you to His church so that you would feed them with His word. This is the sum and substance of your work. Preaching builds, comforts, challenges, motivates, and sends the church.

A new week begins today. Let me encourage you to see the priority of prayer, the pitfall of preoccupation, and the primacy of preaching.

 

  1. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Mark, 18. ↩
  2. Bridges, The Christian Minsitry, 148. ↩
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3 Books Every Pastor Should Read: On Pastoral Ministry

Books are some of the best friends a pastor can have. How to know which friends to have is quite difficult, for as the inspired Preacher said, “Of making many books there is no end” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). In an effort to serve time-strapped and budget-strapped brothers in ministry I am starting a, somewhat weekly, series called, “3 Books Every Pastor Should Read.” Here are my offerings for pastoral ministry:

512DYED3F0L._SY346_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_The Christian Ministry by Charles Bridges. For me, this is the best book ever written on pastoral ministry. Bridges’ dates (1794-1869) are too late to label him a Puritan in the historically defined sense of the term, but he is cut from the Puritan cloth in his view of pastoral ministry. The breadth of his work is astonishing as he leaves few stones unturned in relation the pastor and his ministry. Of particular help are his sections on “General Causes of the Want of Success in the Christian Ministry” and “Causes of Ministerial Inefficiency Connected with our Personal Character.” His wisdom on applying Scripture to various cases in pastoral ministry is timeless.

51utElkT1IL._SY346_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_Lectures to My Students by Charles Spurgeon. Every Friday afternoon Spurgeon would address the students of his Pastors’ College and this book collects the cream of the crop. In it you’ll find the Prince of Preachers riffing on everything from watchfulness to prayer to preaching to gesturing in sermons. Spurgeon had the rare balance of gravity and levity, and Lectures will challenge any pastor to greater reverence and joy in his ministry.

41hsuMz9d6L._SY346_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_The Shepherd Leader by Tim Witmer. When P&R published this book in 2010 I doubt the power at be could have known how well it would sell. It was Westminster Bookstore’s top-seller for 2010 (selling 6,000 copies in the first two days of availability) and ended up being P&R’s second most popular book of that year. This tells me that Witmer’s work filled a gap lacking in modern conversations on shepherding. The book is helpfully broken down into three parts, giving valuable teaching the principals and practices of biblical shepherding. His four-part matrix of shepherds “knowing, feeding, leading, and protecting” the sheep is the stuff on which faithful shepherding can grow.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

The Cross and Christian Ministry by DA Carson. Kevin DeYoung said this book is destined to become a classic, and I couldn’t agree more.

Brothers We are Not Professionals by John Piper. This is Piper doing what he does best, biblical meditation that causes the soul to search.