The Ministry of Melancthon Jacobus

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After commenting on Jacobus yesterday I discovered a book (at Google books) containing memorial addresses upon his death .  The addresses are powerful and moving, evidence of a significant life of ministry.  Two key things mentioned of Jacobus were his vast knowledge of Scripture and his care for people- 2 essential elements for a pastor.  Here are two excerpts on these points:

One unfailing resource with him in all emergencies was his thorough knowledge of the English Bible. This prince among scholars and ecclesiastics rose above all his peers in other departments of learning by his familiar acquaintance with the Word of God. The facility and aptness of his Scripture quotations were as surprising as they were edifying. Who can forget the rich and beautiful recitations of Bible sentences beside the sick-bed and at the burial of the dead. How we miss his voice and his Scripture citations to day!

Another source of his appropriateness in his addresses and speeches was his quick sympathy with others He took their measure entered into their minds and felt with them as well as for them In his sermons he bridged over the distance between the pulpit and the pews… He would anticipate objections that they might make or questions they might ask and put them into words for them or he would ask them questions and answer in their place…”

The book is well worth reading, considering our own labors and what their result will be.  May we give ourselves to the Word of God and the people of God.

Spurgeon on the Fear of God

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The fear of God is the corner stone of all blessedness. Let us cultivate that holy filial fear of Jehovah which is the essence of all true religion; the fear of reverence, of dread to offend, of anxiety to please, and of entire submission and obedience. This fear of the Lord is the fit fountain of holy living: we look in vain for holiness apart from it: none but those who fear the Lord will ever walk in his ways.

– Exposition of Psalm 128, Treasury of David

Melancthon Jacobus on Acts

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Today I have been studying a portion of Acts 10 and have been particularly delighted with Melancthon Jacobus’ Notes, Critical and Explanatory, on the Acts of the Apostles reprinted by Solid Ground Christian Books.  I have commended this work but could not help doing so again.  Jacobus, a 19th century author, makes theological comments as well as close textual ones.  Today I found much of what is mentioned in more technical, recent commentaries already stated in Jacobus.  I heartily commend this volume to you for preaching and teaching.

Whitefield to Those Studying for Ministry

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Dear Gentlemen,

A dead ministry will always make a dead people. Whereas, if ministers are warmed with the love of God themselves, they cannot but be instruments of diffusing that love among others. This, this is the best preparation for the work whereunto you are to be called. Learning without piety, will only make you more capable of promoting the kingdom of Satan. Henceforward, therefore, I hope you will enter into your studies not to get a parish, nor to be polite preachers, but to be great saints. This, indeed, is the most compendious way to true learning; for an understanding enlightened by the Spirit of God is more susceptible of divine truths, and I am certain will prove most useful to mankind. The more holy you are, the more will God delight to honour you. He loves to make use of instruments, which are like himself.

– in Michael A. G. Haykin, The revived Puritan: the spirituality of George Whitefield  (Dundas, Ontario: Joshua Press, 2000), 143.

HT: (Adam Embry)

Doug Baker, “McDonaldization” and Pastoral Ministry

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Doug Baker, editor of The Baptist Messenger, has written a helpful article on how programs have come to dominate church life and ministry titled “Against the McDonaldization of the SBC.”

Drawing from Richard Baxter, Doug hits some key points on how program efficiency too easily becomes the goal rather than community and ministry.  Here is a key quote:

Pastoral ministry, therefore, has easily become in many congregations more the management of a religious franchise rather than personal ministry to people the Bible calls the bride of Jesus Christ. Doctrinal rediscovery (even though deepening among denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention) has not yet overcome decades of franchise-like programs which often produced “results” with little long-term roots for genuine spiritual growth and lasting effects on the culture of both the church and society.

This is a key concern of this blog.  I commend the article to you and let us continue to labor for personal ministry to the Bride of Christ.

Read Broadly

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“God did not intend that we study our Bibles in a mental vacuum.  John Nelson Darby and G. Campbell Morgan both decided that for an extended time they would read only the Bible.  They soon discovered that this plan was a mistake.  The danger of reading only the Bible is that we do not then really read the Bible.  The Bible comes out of an ancient cultural setting.  We need the bridges to our own culture that reading more broadly can supply. . . . Our thesis in this study is that all Christians – especially Christian leaders and communicators – need to read broadly, deeply, and copiously.”

David L Larsen, The Company of the Creative: A Christian Reader’s Guide to Great Literature and Its Themes, 11-12

Shaping our Feelings

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Today as I ran an errand I caught a portion of a popular old song. It had a drawing power to it, and it brought to mind some things I had been thinking about, pondering the work of Jack Collins (see his masterful notes on the Psalms in the ESV Study Bible).
Songs by their nature are designed to connect with our feelings and to help us to express those feelings. People like songs because of how they make us feel or because they express so well what we are feeling. Thus, we latch on to a song that “tells our story”, or “says what I am feeling.” This is simply the nature of song.
The power of song, though, is that in helping to express our emotion they also shape and train our emotion, guiding our affections along certain currents which become the well worn paths of our hearts. These paths will often shape our behavior more than facts we say we believe.
Certainly this is why, when God gave us His Word, he gave us divinely inspired songs- the Psalms. The Psalms, especially as we sing them, give voice to our emotions and train our emotions in paths which honor God whether that is teaching us to lament while still hoping in God, to air our complaints to God while still recognizing His authority, or expressing our joy and reminding us to thank God for every good gift. These songs teach us to find our story in the grand narrative of the people of God. In this story we find our meaning and purpose.
The Psalms are a great gift to us and we ought to make good use of them.

Gregory of Nazianzus on Pastoral Ministry

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This week Matt Crawford, who is doing doctoral work in patristics, pointed me to Gregory of Nazianzus’ (c. 329-390) second theological oration which he preached after having initially fled from his ordination as bishop.  Reading this oration, its influence on Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care was obvious.

The writing is tedious at times and the way works are referred to is concerning as in others at the time.  However, it is fascinating to see what these early leaders saw as central to pastoral ministry.  It is clear that Gregory saw this task as focused on “watching over” and “guiding” souls.

Much of the oration is focused on the need for holiness in pastors.  Here are two quotes (references are to paragraphs):

But in the case of man, hard as it is for him to learn how to submit to rule, it seems far harder to know how to rule over men, and hardest of all, with this rule of ours, which leads them by the divine law, and to God, for its risk is, in the eyes of a thoughtful man, proportionate to its height and dignity.  For, first of all, he must, like silver or gold, though in general circulation in all kinds of seasons and affairs, never ring false or alloyed, or give token of any inferior matter, needing further refinement in the fire; or else, the wider his rule, the greater evil he will be.  Since the injury which extends to many is greater than that which is confined to a single individual. (10)

nothing is so easy as to become evil, even without any one to lead us on to it; while the attainment of virtue is rare and difficult, even where there is much to attract and encourage us (11)

These two quotes illustrate what Gregory saw as the central aim of pastoral ministry:

But the scope of our art is to provide the soul with wings, to rescue it from the world and give it to God, and to watch over that which is in His image, if it abides, to take it by the hand, if it is in danger, or restore it, if ruined, to make Christ to dwell in the heartby the Spirit (22)

One branch of philosophy is, however, too high for me, the commission to guide and govern souls – and before I have rightly learned to submit to a shepherd, or have had my soul duly cleansed, the charge of caring for a flock… (78)

Gregory rebuked those who fought within the church for slight causes.  He prized unity and noted the importance of the church’s public witness in this way.  However, he also noted that there is a time to contend for the sake of truth.

“…to say the truth, I go so far as to praise and congratulate them.  Yea! would that I were one of those who contend and incur hatred for the truth’s sake –  or rather, I can boast of being one of them.  For better is a laudable war than a peace which severs a man from God –  and therefore it is that the Spirit arms the gentle warrior, as one who is able to wage war in a good cause.” (82)

The witness of the church across the ages is clear- pastors are not called to “run churches”, manage programs, or amass crowds. We are called to watch over and nourish souls.  May we be faithful to this task so that we might please the Great Shepherd to whom we must give account (Heb 13:17, 20-21).

First Century Celebrity Culture

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Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars, written about 120 AD, provides interesting historical information.  His description of Nero resembles some of celebrity culture today- egotistical, pursuit of applause, self-centered, exaggerated sense of self-importance.

“He [Nero] also chose a few young equites and more than 5,000 ordinary youths, whom he divided into claques to learn the various Alexandrian methods of applause – they were known respectively as ‘Bees’, ‘Roof tiles’ and ‘Brickbats’ – and to provide it liberally whenever he sang.  It was easy to recognize them by their pomaded hair, splendid dress and absence of rings on their left hands.  The equites who led them earned 400,000 sesterces a performance.” 217

 “…[he] would attend no entertainment or official business unless he had a voice trainer standing by, telling him when to spare his vocal cords and when to protect his mouth with a handkerchief.  Whether he offered people his friendship or plainly indicated his dislike for them often depended on how generously or how feebly they had applauded.” 221

“Nero never wore the same clothes twice…” 223

“When the palace had been decorated throughout in this lavish style, Nero dedicated it, and condescended to remark, ‘Good, now I can at least begin to live like a human being!’” 224

“[as his end approached] he muttered through his tears, ‘Dead! And so great an artist!’238

This sounds all too familiar today.  Yet, it was during this time that Paul wrote the following to Christians:

Phil 2:3f- Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus …

1 Cor 3:5-7- What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

1 Cor 3:21– let no one boast in men.

2 Cor 10:17-18- “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

(Nero had visited the Isthmian games in Corinth and declared his own glory)

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Let us truly have the mind of Christ, demonstrating gospel humility rather than pagan self-centeredness.  Fellow pastors, we are often encouraged to exalt ourselves and this is too much in vogue. Remember, in the first century there were prima donnas, but they were pagans, not preachers.

PR Instead of Proclamation

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In 1990 Saul Bellow, Pulitzer and Noble Prize winning author made this observation:

“In today’s Chicago Tribune I learn that the American Catholic bishops have hired, at a fee of five million dollars, a public relations firm to direct their anti-abortion campaign… to ‘practice paid persuasion,’ says the writer of this Tribune article.  Evidently the Church itself is unable to preach against mortal sin and is forced to turn to experts who better understand mass culture and the mind of the public.  The company hired by the American bishops successfully conducted one of Ronald Regan’s campaigns for the presidency.  So the doctrines on which the Church stands are apparently considered intransmissible.  You must persuade or hypnotize the public, or influence it by symbolic manipulations, by magical substitutes for fact and thought.  Obviously – to turn again to George Orwell and the duty of civilized men to restate the obvious – the Church, too, must bow to the power of television” ( It All Adds Up,159; emphasis added)

 

Bellow’s criticism is correct for too much of the church today.  Let it not be true of us.  Let us speak clearly and confidently the Word of God, knowing that it is transmissible and powerful.

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants  for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor 4:1-6)