what’s a preacher to do?

“Who is able – who has either wisdom or strength for so great a work? What zeal, courage, diligence, faithfulness, tenderness, humility and self-denial are necessary to fill up all the various parts of the ministerial character….And yet when I look back upon what I have written, when I think seriously of what I am desirous to undertake, when I look at home upon what I am, and abroad upon what I am about to rush into, what can I return to the Apostle’s question, Who is sufficient? —John Newton

When I was 5 my dad sold his sign business in south Florida and went to Bible college. His first church was a little chapel with about 30 members on the side of Signal Mountain in East Tennessee.

He was working full time as a sign painter, going to school full time, and pastoring this little chapel. The first thing I learned about the ministry was that people served you food you didn’t like and you ate it without complaining.

These were very poor but gracious people who respected a preacher and served the best they had to offer, although I often wasn’t sure what it was. He made sacrifices to serve them. They loved him. And me.

It was a good beginning for his life’s work. I remember riding up the side of the mountain in the trunk of a little Dodge Rambler, sharing the space with a trombone player from the college, picking up folks for church, 21 of them in that little car.

a godly example

From the beginning I learned that ministry was about doing what ever it takes to bring people to Jesus. Dad believed the grace of God could change people. It had changed him as a young man from a broken home, a drifter without purpose and without hope.

By the time I left home myself at 21, Dad had pastored four churches and started three others. He’d started a Christian school and a couple of radio broadcast. He was evangelistic and entrepreneurial. By the time he died he had pastored another church, preached on five continents and written a dozen books. He’d started another school and a radio station. He was a faithful, tireless preacher of the gospel.

But there was more to it than that. It wasn’t about what he did but about who he was. He was a gracious, compassionate man who loved his congregation and his family, exactly the man in private that he was in the pulpit.

As I try to understand what God requires of those who are called to serve him, I am humbled by this example. It may be why I have waited so long. The standard dad set was beyond my ability.

But dad would have said it was beyond his too. This was his favorite verse: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).” In the King James, of course.

And this, perhaps, is where ministry begins: seeing our gifts, our calling, our opportunity, our success, all as manifestations of the grace of God. It makes sense, doesn’t it? If our salvation is His work, and our sanctification is His work, then our service is His work too. We have this calling in vessels of clay after all (2 Corinthians 4:7).

a biblical responsibility

The work of the ministry is difficult and demanding. The minister himself is as fragile and as fallen as those to whom he ministers. Any pride or power is sheer presumption. Only by approaching the task with this understanding can we begin to do the things we are required to do in a way that brings glory to God.

We are required first to be an example. Paul tells Timothy to “set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity (1 Timothy 4:12).” Peter says the elders are to lead “not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3).”

This is why, I believe, the qualifications for elders focus so much on issues of character and reputation. Peter goes on to warn them to be humble and watchful. We are not examples of trying harder but of resisting the Holy Spirit less, learning to respond instantly and eagerly to his purpose in our life. I still have a lot to learn.

But only as we learn can we instruct. Or rebuke. This too is required.

The hope of eternal life, Paul tells Titus, is “manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior (Titus 1:3).” And an elder, he says, must live exemplary lives and “hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it (Titus 1:9).”

This word, as does the Spirit of God himself, points to Christ, so that Paul said he was “determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” We refer to someone as a minister of the gospel for this reason. In preaching his own ordination sermon in Boston in 1717, Thomas Foxcroft said, “Whatever subject ministers are upon, it must somehow point to Christ.” As he explains,

All sin must be witnessed against and preached down as opposed to the holy nature, the wise and gracious designs, and the just government of Christ. So all duty must be persuaded to and preached up with due regard unto Christ; to His authority commanding and to His Spirit of grace assisting, as well as to the merit of His blood commending — and this to dash the vain presumption that decoys so many into ruin, who will securely hang the weight of their hopes upon the horns of the altar without paying expected homage to the scepter of Christ….

The love of Christ for us is to be held forth as the great constraining motive to religion, and the life of Christ as the bright, engaging pattern of it. Progress and increase in holiness are to be represented under the notion of abiding in Christ and growing up unto Him who is the Head, even Christ. Perfection in grace is the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and eternal life is a being forever with the Lord where He is, beholding His glory and dwelling in our Master’s joy.

By pointing them to Christ, as a thoughtful teacher and as a godly example, we watch over the flock of God, caring for God’s people and exhorting and encouraging them. And we do these things with tenderness and grace, pointing others past ourselves to the power of the cross.

a pastor’s heart

This tenderness is what is often thought of as a “pastor’s heart.” It mourns with those who mourn and rejoices with those who rejoice.

But it is the tenderness of God reflected in our life. Through Jeremiah, God promises Israel “shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding (Jeremiah 3:15). “

It has always been so, that God brings shepherds to his people who reflect his love for them. That’s because God changes the hearts of those who are serving him in the same way he changes the hearts of those he is saving. Because he who has begun a good work in us will perform it until the end (Philippians 1:6).

The ministry of the gospel requires a great deal from us. Mostly obedience. As God enables us we find both our strength and our rest in him. Whatever good comes from it depends on the grace of God and reflects the glory to God.

Frankly, no flesh will glory in his presence (1 Corinthians 1:29). No preacher either.

As Dad knew, the life we now live we live by the faith of Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us.

In the end, “our sufficiency is in Christ (2 Corinthians 3:5).”

That’s my favorite verse, actually.

Dad and I agreed on a lot.