2. The
Points for Reflection.
a) The Treasure committed to their Charge.
Have always, therefore, printed in your remembrance, how
great a treasure is committed to your charge.
For they are the sheep of Christ,
which
He bought with His death, and for whom He shed His blood.
The Church and
Congregation whom you must serve, is His spouse and His body.
And if it shall happen that the same Church,
or any member of it,
takes any hurt or hindrance by reason of
your negligence,
you know the greatness of the fault,
and also the horrible punishment that
will ensue.
"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock that the Holy Spirit has
appointed you to as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He
purchased with His own blood." Acts 20.28
"Let us be glad, rejoice, and give Him
glory,
because the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and His wife has prepared herself." Revelation 19.7
because the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and His wife has prepared herself." Revelation 19.7
“Come,
I will show you the bride, the wife of
the Lamb.” Revelation 21.9
All
of the teaching on marriage in Ephesians which of Paul says "This mystery is profound, but I am talking about
Christ and the church." Ephesians 5.32
"For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, because
I have promised you in marriage to one husband—to present a pure virgin to Christ." 2 Corinthians 11.12
" In the same way we who
are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one
another." Romans 12.5
Paul
extensively teaches on the church being the 'body of Christ' in 1 Corinthians 12
"The
Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same
body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the
gospel." Ephesians 3.6
"He
is also the head of the body, the church"
Colossians 1.18
"Now I rejoice in my
sufferings for you, and I am
completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body, that
is, the church." Colossians 1.24
"Not many
should become teachers, my
brothers, knowing that we will receive a
stricter judgment," James 3.1
Ezekiel 33 and the judgement on the watchmen who fail
to do their duty is also relevant (see previous section).
"And that slave who
knew his master’s will and didn’t prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten." Luke 12.47
"Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give
an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that
would be unprofitable for you."
Hebrews 12.17
"But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me--it
would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he
were thrown into the sea" Mark
9.42
"My sons, don’t be negligent now,
for the Lord has chosen you to stand in His presence, to serve Him, and to be
His ministers and burners of incense.” 2 Chronicles 29.11
Many of the prophetic books, especially
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah speak of the punishment of shepherds
of God's people who fail to do their duty and are negligent.
Whilst the ministry
is most certainly a solemn, dignified, and heavy office, it is also a joy and a
treasure of unimaginable value. Anyone
who has been in ministry will likely testify that almost everything in ministry
is both, paradoxically, a joy and a difficulty, a privilege and yet a pain,
life giving yet energy draining or even soul destroying. At the heart of this paradox is that we have
been chosen and authorised to shepherd the most valuable of things — so
expensive it could only be purchased in the currency of great drops of God's
blood.
As ministers we
should treat our congregation as if they were our own spouse, with amazing and
never ending love through good and bad, health and illness, wealth and
poverty. We should also love and care
for them as we would our own body, not allowing it to be poisoned or at greater
risk of disease but rather training it for its greatest health and longevity. We are not just to be professional and
dedicated in the way a top lawyer will do all he can to protect and argue and
case of their most important client but we are to go beyond even this, we are
to take our 'case' to a whole new level of dedication and care. Being in ministry is like being as lawyer or
who is given a case which is not only the most valuable and profitable in the
history of the world but also a case upon which winning means the eternal life
or death of hundreds of claimants — the stakes really are that high.
Ministers should
always have in remembrance the warning of James that not many should desire to
be ministers because they will face greater judgement. Whilst the exact meaning of this phrase is
debated among godly scholars it is clear that our reformers believed that
ministers would be greatly punished for being negligent and doing anything
which could cause hurt or hindrance in other's walk of faith. This encompasses not only our teaching and
preaching but our very lives and manners.
Paul calls on Christians to live in such a way as not to cause those who
are weaker to stumble of struggle — for example if someone is alcoholic we
should not drink alcohol near them, or if they struggle with certain matters of
holiness their conscience convicts them of we, in a freedom given by Christ,
should not cause unnecessary offence.
This is a difficult
and careful balancing act, sometimes people need to be confronted by the power
of grace or their deeply held but misguided piety needs to be challenged. In most cases though it would be fair to say
that ministers should simply live in such a way that the only offensive and
hurtful thing about them is their pure and unadulterated Gospel preaching and
not their living, their witty comebacks, or their love of crude language. We will touch on this more in a few
moments.
Do I grasp and
repeatedly remind myself of what an amazing privilege and treasure it is to be
entrusted with ministry? Does this truth
lead me to resolutely and joyfully be about my work?
When I am leading
services, meeting people, or even praying for them, does the enormity of the
fact that they are Christ's sheep, children, bride, and body fill me with an
appropriate awe over my calling and commitment concerning my duty?
How have I caused
hurt or hindrance to those I care for?
Are there aspects of my personality or life, times or places, which are
more likely to lead me to cause such hurt and stumbling?
Am I negligent in
any aspect of my ministry and life and has this led to issues among my
congregation? How can I ensure I stop neglecting this?
Do I appropriately
hold the seriousness and consequences of my actions as a minister in the
forefront of my mind as I prepare myself each day and go about my ministry?
b) The Consequent Call to
Diligence.
Wherefore consider with yourselves the end of your ministry
towards the
children of God, towards the spouse and body of Christ;
and see that you never cease your labour, your care and
diligence,
until you have done all that lies in you,
according to your bounden duty,
to
bring all such as are or shall be committed to your charge,
into that
agreement in the faith and knowledge of God,
and to
that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ,
that
there is no place left among you,
either for error in religion, or for viciousness in life.
"You are to labour six
days and do all your work," Exodus 20.9
"The labourers who
carried the loads worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other." Nehemiah 4.17
"In every way I’ve shown you that by labouring like
this, it is necessary to help the weak and to keep in mind the words of the
Lord Jesus, for He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20.35
"Now the one planting and the one
watering are one in purpose, and each will receive his own reward according to
his own labour." 1 Corinthians 3.8
"Therefore, my dear brothers, be
steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, knowing that your
labour in the Lord is not
in vain." 1 Corinthians 15.58
"I labour for this, striving with His strength
that works powerfully in me."
Colossians 1.29
"Now we ask you, brothers, to give
recognition to those who labour among you and lead you in the Lord and
admonish you," 1 Thessalonians 5.12
"if exhorting, in
exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing
mercy, with cheerfulness." Romans 12.8
"Do not lack diligence; be
fervent in spirit; serve the Lord." 12.11
"Now we want each of you to
demonstrate the same diligence for the final realization of your
hope," Hebrews 6.11
"In the same way, when
you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are
good-for-nothing slaves; we’ve only done our duty.’”
Luke 17.10
"Who then is a faithful and sensible
slave, whom his master has put in charge of
his household, to give them food at the proper time?" Matthew 24.45
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good
and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s
joy!’" Matthew 25.21
"But the one sown on the good
ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does bear fruit and yields: some 100, some
60, some 30 times what was sown.”
Matthew 1.23
"But thanks be to God, who always puts
us on display in Christ and through us
spreads the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place." 2 Corinthians 2.14
"Since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the
demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded
thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every
thought captive to obey Christ. And we are ready to
punish any disobedience, once your obedience has been confirmed." 2 Corinthians 10.4-6
"I pray that the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would
give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." Ephesians 1.17
"for the training of the saints in the work of
ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until
we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s
fullness. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by
every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in
the techniques of deceit." Ephesians 4.12-14
"so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and
growing in the knowledge of God."
Colossians 1.10
"I want their hearts to be encouraged
and joined together in love, so that
they may have all the riches of assured
understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ." Colossians 2.2
"Paul, a slave of God and
an apostle of Jesus
Christ, to build up the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the
truth that leads to godliness"
Titus 1.1
"let him know that whoever turns a
sinner from the error of his way will save his life from
death and cover a multitude of sins." James 5.20
"Therefore, dear friends, since you
know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of
lawless people and fall from your own stability." 2 Peter 3.17
"Now I urge you,
brothers, to watch out for those who
cause dissensions and obstacles contrary to the doctrine you have learned. Avoid them,"
Romans 16.17
"remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach different
doctrine or
to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty
speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith." 1 Timothy 1.3-4
"Teach and encourage these things. If
anyone teaches other doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our
Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness, he
is conceited, understanding nothing, but has a sick interest in disputes and arguments over
words. From these come envy, quarrelling, slander, evil suspicions,"
1 Timothy 6.2-4
The enormity of the treasure
entrusted to us means that we must be ever so diligent in our life and
ministry. We must each day think about
the very purpose of our ministry, why we were called, to what end we go about
our joyful and weighty work. Ministers
must not get so stuck in the ministry trees they face each day that they lose
sight of the grand picture of the forest-garden we are called to steward. Again we are reminded that the church we are
to care for are the children of God, the bride and body of Christ. That these images are used yet again so soon
after their first use should doubly imprint the importance of them in our minds
— we should wear them as lenses in our glasses as we minister to those
entrusted to us. Without keeping in mind
who we minister to and for we risk pride on the one hand and laziness on the
other.
As God's ministers we are peculiarly
called to labour without ceasing, to do all the work before us that we have the
strength to fulfil and to even at the end of that remark that we are still "good
for nothing slaves who have only done our duty." When the enormity of this task falls upon us
and breaks our backs we must recall the words of Paul who insisted that humans
cannot fulfil such a calling in human effort alone but rather the strength
through which we are to minister is God's own strength graciously given to us
when we pray fervently with diligence each day.
This call to do all that lies within
us is arguably a higher call than any other profession. Each day we must ask if we have done all we
could, all that lies within our God given power and energy. This makes the task of finding rest and Sabbath
time difficult; but no-one said that ministry would be easy. Ultimately, ministers must recognise the
simple truth that if we rest well and steward our time well between ministry
work and personal time with friends, family, the things we enjoy, we will be
better equipped to give more out, have larger resources of energy, and a
greater bulwark built up against burnout and depression — things which impale
the heart of ministers with a poison dagger and destroy all the Lord has been
doing.
The basic undercurrent of what we
pour out our life into and which we minister with the dedicated duty of a royal
guardsman is the building up of the saints and the securing of the church
against error. We are to bring people to
the fullest knowledge of God we can, to true faith without error which is fully
in agreement with the revealed truths of Scripture and our creeds which
exemplify such faith. We are to not only
give out head knowledge but minister in such a way that people grow, that they
bear abundantly the fruit of the Spirit at all times, that they grow in
maturity and stature as children of Christ and representations of Him to the
world around.
The dual ministry of doctrine and
morals — of 'banishing error of religion' and 'viciousness of life' is a 'both
and' kind of ministry. We cannot neglect
teaching doctrinal truth and rebuking error whilst we focus on exhortation to a
holy life, nor can we neglect exhorting people to live in holiness and peace
when we teach on the truths of Gospel and dangerous errors of the enemy. The reality is that grasping true doctrine should
lead to good and holy living, and holy living should encourage a dedication to
true doctrine. Bad teaching poisons
morals, and bad morals taints the teaching of good doctrine.
Do I often
get lost in the minutiae of ministry and lose sight of the grand vista we are
called to witness?
Do I labour
without ceasing and would people think my work is embodies virtues such as
diligence, care, and bounden duty?
How do I
steward my time that is may be most effective for ministry? What could I change in my day or week to
allow for the most fruitful ministry?
How do I
steward my body and soul, do I feed myself well enough — both in terms of
physical nutrition and spiritual nourishment — and do I train the body as well
as the spirit? What practical changes
could I make in my life to ensure I have the most healthy ministry possible?
When I
awaken each day and I think of why I am here, how would I describe my duty?
Who has
been committed to my charge? Have I been
neglecting any of them?
In my life
and teaching do I present a Biblical balance between good doctrine and good
morals or do I tend to be lopsided in my focus?
Am I
willing to cause controversy and contention in my proclaiming of Biblical
truths both theological and moral?
There is to
be 'no place among you' for error in religion or wickedness in living, how can
I work towards such an outcome each day, week, month, year?
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