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The Minister's Self Watch | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking, the deep dive.
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Today we're opening up some particularly challenging source
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material that really focuses in on the calling, the sacred,
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vocation, and maybe even more so the necessary character of a
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Christian minister. And it draws heavily from, well,
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from historical Reformed instruction.
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These aren't light suggestions. They demand a level of spiritual
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self examination that's frankly quite striking.
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Yes, they do. And they force us, I think, to
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face a spiritual reality that maybe gets overlooked sometimes
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in, you know, discussions about professional religious life.
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Yeah. Our sources today, they're
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completely direct on their main point, a minister's
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effectiveness, his actual usefulness in ministry.
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It depends entirely on his personal spiritual condition,
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the state of the man in the pulpit.
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So we're dealing with a calling that demands more than just
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service. It demands, well, the offering
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of a sanctified instrument. OK, so that sets up our mission
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for this deep dive. Pretty clearly.
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There's a tension here, isn't there?
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How does a man whose daily work involves speaking to people's
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souls, often about salvation, about growing in faith, how does
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he make sure his own soul is not just safe, but is, you know,
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constantly being sharpened, maintained for the job?
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These sources, they just refused to treat the minister like some
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detached professional. They see him as the core
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instrument. He is the tool.
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That's exactly right. So we're going to systematically
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breakdown what's required the the unique dangers and frankly,
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the potentially catastrophic results tied to this holy
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calling, all based on this material.
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And it starts, interestingly enough, with a very practical,
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almost physical analogy. It comes from the world of
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manual labor about tool maintenance.
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We really need to grasp why the minister has to see himself as
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his own primary piece of equipment.
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All right, let's get into that then.
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The workmen in his edge. The idea is the minister's own
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person is a main instrument for sacred service, and it needs
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constant, careful upkeep. It kicks off with this universal
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rule of work with a source is called the Principle of the
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Whetstone. And this principle, it captures
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something basic about labor. Any Workman doesn't matter if
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he's a Carpenter, a blacksmith, a farmer.
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He has to wet his edge, sharpen his duel.
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Why? Because the condition of that
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tool directly impacts how well he works, how efficiently, and
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the quality of what he produces. If you neglect the instrument,
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well, you have to put in more effort yourself.
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And the sources, they paint a really clear picture of this.
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If the iron is blunt, say you've got a dull axe or a chip chisel,
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and the Workman doesn't stop to sharpen it, one of two things
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happens. Either he has to put two more
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strength, just brute force it, or the work itself will be badly
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done. Probably both, really.
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Think about the physical toll of that.
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If you're constantly hitting something with a blunt tool,
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it's not the metal that gives out first.
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It's your arm, your back, your energy.
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The source material mentions if the edge is lost from an ADS,
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that's a shaping tool. The Workman knows immediately.
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This means a greater draft upon his energies.
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The work becomes harder, slower, and the end result isn't as
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good. All because of neglect right at
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the source, the tool itself. OK, I can see the immediate
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parallel there. When a minister's heart, or
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maybe his mind gets dull when his own piety is neglected, he
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ends up having to compensate with just sheer human effort.
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More flowery language, more complex programs, maybe just
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frantic activity, all trying to get some kind of spiritual
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result. But he's putting more strength
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into the sermon because the spiritual edge isn't there.
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That's the spiritual application exactly.
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Neglect in the inner life means huge inefficiency and eventually
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spiritual exhaustion. Burnout.
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This principle is so fundamental, the sources even
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draw comparison to the Fine Arts.
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They tell this story about Michelangelo, described as the
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elect of the Fine Arts. Apparently he always made his
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own brushes with his own hands. That's a great detail.
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It wasn't about just buying the best brushes off the shelf, it
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was about making sure the tool perfectly matched with the
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genius using it needed. He got how critical it was for
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his tools to be like extensions of his own skill, his own will.
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Exactly. And the source material then
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connects this kind of meticulous attention to God's own design.
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It observes that the God of grace, with special care,
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fashions for himself all true ministers.
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God himself is concerned about the quality, the purity of the
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instrument he chooses for His most important work.
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Yeah, this is where your analysis comes in.
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And I think this is really key. The sources do acknowledge that
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God can work with quote, the faulty is kind of
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instrumentality or even with no human agent at all, He's
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sovereign. So why then should the minister
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be so intensely focused on his own condition if God can
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override it anyway? Because those instances are
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exceptions, they're acts of sovereign freedom that go
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against the usual pattern. They show us God isn't limited
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by our failures. But, and this is the crucial
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part for our practical guidance, the source is for us that the
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Lord usually adapts means to ends.
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The normal way grace operates is through means through
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instruments. OK, so the message isn't don't
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worry about it, God will fix it. It's more like, don't presume on
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the miraculous exception. The practical truth for the
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minister is, as the sources say, the Lord's work is usually done
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best when our gifts and graces are in good order, and we shall
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do worst when they are most out of trim.
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It puts the responsibility for readiness squarely back on the
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minister. The way they apply the metaphor
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is startlingly direct. The Minister is, quote in a
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certain sense, our own tools and therefore must keep ourselves in
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order. That reframes everything,
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doesn't it? Every act of self-care, whether
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it's spiritual discipline or even physical rest, comes
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directly linked to your duty in ministry and the sources
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specifically contrast this internal tool with all the
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external leads we use. Yes, they do.
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They really stress that things like books and agencies and
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systems are only remotely the instruments of the holy calling
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their supports. They're helpful, maybe necessary
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sometimes, but the real instrument, the thing that
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actually transmits the truth and the spiritual fire, that's the
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minister's own renewed personality, his own soul.
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OK, this leads us directly to the first indispensable,
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exquisite personal piety. Before we even talk about the
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sharpness of the tool, we have to be sure it's made of the
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right stuff, that it's actually set apart for God's use.
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Precisely. The source material calls true
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and genuine piety, and by that it means regeneration, real
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spiritual life, the first indispensable requisite.
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The teaching couldn't be clearer.
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Conversion is a sine qua non. It's an absolutely essential
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condition for a minister. Without it, nothing else counts.
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I appreciate that the instruction goes way beyond
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just, you know, checking a box. It says if a man hasn't been
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called to holiness personally, then he certainly has not been
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called to the ministry. He has to 1st be a partaker of
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the gospel himself before he even tries to hand it out to
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others. And because the stakes are so
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incredibly high, if this is missing, this qualification can
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never just be assumed. It can't be taken for granted.
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The minister is told to search ourselves very anxiously and
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very thoroughly. Why?
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Because of the very great possibility of our being
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mistaken as to whether we are converted or not.
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That level of anxiety, it speaks volumes about the reformed view
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of the human heart, doesn't it? Its capacity for self deception,
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especially when wrapped up in religious activity.
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How could a minister be mistaken about something so fundamental?
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Well, the danger is that the daily job looks so much like
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spiritual life. He studies the Bible, he prays
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in public, he preaches about the need for conversion.
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He's so immersed in the language, the forms, the
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performance of grace, that he might easily mistake familiarity
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with the language for actual possession of the life.
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He assumes the office itself is proof of the calling instead of
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seeing that the spiritual life must come before the office and
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validate it. So he substitutes maybe the
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study of theology for the actual wrestling of his own soul before
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God. Therefore, the minister
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absolutely must settle this first matter of true religion
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completely. If he doesn't, the consequences
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for his ministry are both total catastrophic.
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They are total. Without that spiritual life.
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It doesn't matter what academic degrees he has, how silver
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tongued he is, or his mental powers.
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The sources say he is totally holy and altogether unqualified
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for spiritual work. His lack of spiritual life just
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cancels out every other potential strength.
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He's trying to mediate a life he doesn't actually possess
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himself. That's a pretty staggering
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thought. A man could be a brilliant
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scholar, a gifted speaker, but if he lacks that core piety, he
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is by definition utterly useless in spiritual work.
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That seems like a good place to transition then.
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Let's define exactly what this tool, this personal instrument,
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actually is. Let's talk about the minister's
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nearest machinery and spiritual armament.
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Right when the sources talk about the minister's nearest
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machinery for sacred service, they're very specific.
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It's his own spirit, soul and body.
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That's the immediate mechanism. It's the direct channel through
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which divine truth is supposed to flow in this internal
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machinery. It covers so much of what a
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minister does day-to-day thinking with his own brains to
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understand and explain truth, feeling with his own heart to
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have genuine empathy, preaching with his own voice, and
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crucially, using his own renewed nature to actually weep and
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agonize for souls. Notice how that list builds up
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and culminates in the renewed nature weeping for souls, the
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thinking, the feeling, the speaking, their vessels for that
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spiritual drive, that inner life, that piety we just talked
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about being essential. That's the minister's real
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armament. His spiritual faculties are his
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battle axe and weapons of war. And the condition of that
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machinery, how clean it is, how sharp it is, that determines
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everything. The source is explicitly link
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effectiveness not to intellect, but to spiritual character.
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They say it is not great talents.
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God bless us so much as likeness to Jesus.
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This is such a vital corrective, isn't it?
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Especially against human pride. Success in ministry isn't
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measured by eloquence or degrees or book sales.
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It's measured by the degree to which the minister actually
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reflects Christ. A minister who is wholly pure in
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motive, consistent in life, is described as an awful weapon in
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the hand of God. That phrase awful weapon really
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conveys the sheer spherical force that comes from genuine
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holiness. It's not just about what he
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says, it's about who he is. Precisely.
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Think back to the tool analogy. If the tool is perfect, sharp,
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well maintained, it does the maximum work with the least
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effort. But if it's flawed, if it's
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tainted by worldliness or maybe secret sin, the work itself will
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be compromised, no matter how skilled the man is at trying to
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hide that flaw. So once that foundational issue
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of salvation is settled, that first requisite, the next thing
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needed is that the ministers piety must be vigorous.
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This isn't just aiming for the average Christian experience, is
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it? No, not at all.
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This is where the officers, the leaders of the church, are
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called to something more than the general congregation.
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Ministers are called to extraordinary laborers.
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They stand in a place of unique visibility, unique pressure,
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unique spiritual attack. Therefore, they must possess
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superior strength, the sources say.
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The pulse of vital godliness must be strongly and regularly
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within them. That sounds like an incredibly
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high standard. If God calls someone to a
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difficult role, wouldn't you know, common grace be enough?
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Why do the sources insist on an extraordinary level of piety
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here? Because of the sheer demands of
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the role. Think about it.
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A man in the pulpit is constantly giving out teaching,
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exhorting, counseling, praying for others.
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If his own piety is only at the level of an average church
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member, he's draining his spiritual reserves faster than
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he can possibly refill them. He needs that superior strength
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to stand firm against temptations unique to his
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position, to endure spiritual loneliness sometimes, and to
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keep finding freshness in the truth he has to speak about week
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after week. The sources demand He must be a
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man of God, someone set apart, not living after the common
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manner of men. And part of keeping that vigor
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up involves watching what the source is called the tenderness
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which was in Christ Jesus. That emotional sensitivity, that
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spiritual empathy, that's what allows him to actually weep and
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agonize for souls, not just talk about it.
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Yes. If he loses that tenderness, his
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preaching can easily become cold, just academic, or merely
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professional going through the motions.
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Vigorous piety is what keeps him personally connected to the
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weight and wonder of the truths he teaches.
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It stops spiritual dryness from setting in.
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He's meant to be among the pick of all the Christian hosts,
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spiritually speaking. OK, that need for superior
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strength, for constant vigilance and upkeep, it leads us right
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into the dangers of the job itself.
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This constant demand for spiritual output and personal
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purity creates what the source is called the unique peril,
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ministerialism and self watch. Indeed, the ministry is
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explicitly identified as a place of unusual peril.
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It's described as being most assailed with temptation.
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The material states very plainly that the great enemy of souls
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directs his first and sharpest onset upon the minister.
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Why? Because if he can smite the
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shepherds, take out the leaders he knows, he can effectively
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scatter the flock. It's strategic.
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In this enemy, he's not portrayed as just some brute
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force attacker. He's intelligent.
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He customizes his attacks. He's called a greater scholar
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and a nimbler disputant. He creates specific baits
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designed to fit the minister's own particular temper and
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disposition. So if a minister leans towards
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pride, the devil attacks with flattery or opportunities for
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status. If he struggles with sensuality,
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the temptations are tailored differently.
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Exactly. The enemy knows the man's
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natural weaknesses and exports them.
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But the sources say the worst snare, the most secret and
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insidious 1 is something called ministerialism or officialism.
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This is a subtle kind of corruption that grows precisely
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because the minister's work is inherently spiritual.
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Define that for us more clearly. How does doing religious duties
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as your job become a spiritual problem?
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OK, ministerialism is this tendency to do the whole of our
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religion only in an official capacity, as part of the job
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description. So the minister reads his Bible,
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but not primarily as a seeking soul looking for God's voice for
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himself. He reads it as ministers do,
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looking for next Sunday's sermon text or an illustration for his
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point. He prays publicly and maybe even
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privately, but again as ministers pray, focusing on the
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congregation's needs or maybe even the structure and eloquence
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of the prayer itself. And in doing so, he loses the
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personality of repentance and faith.
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His own personal engagement with God gets sidelined by the
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professional function. Wow, so the very activities that
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should feed his soul, reading scripture, praying they become
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mechanized part of the job and they end up numbing his own
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heart. How does that?
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How does that actually work psychologically?
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Well, the heart sort of builds up.
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A professional callous, you could say.
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He becomes an expert on Christian experience without
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necessarily having me experience himself right then and there
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when he preaches repentance. It's a doctrine he explains very
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well, perhaps, but it might not be a gut wrenching reality he's
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practicing daily in his own life.
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So this officialism, this ministerialism, instead of
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helping his piety, the sources say it is through the evil of
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our nature, has turned into one of its most serious hindrances.
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The sources use a really striking image for this, don't
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they? They do.
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Ministerialism acts like a long garment which twists around the
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racers feet. Think about that.
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The garment represents the robes, the duties, the
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professional obligations of the office.
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They're needed for the role, but if they're worn carelessly, or
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if there isn't genuine spiritual life and energy underneath, they
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become a tripping hazard. They tangle him up and drag him
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down the spiritual race he's supposed to be running.
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And because this danger is so inherent to the job, it makes
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constant vigilance, what the sources call self watch,
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absolutely imperative. Vigilance is crucial because
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even a small defect, maybe a minor inconsistency in character
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or a secret coldness in the heart, can severely hamper his
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ministry. It can even render a man utterly
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useless spiritually. And this spiritual decline, it
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isn't always hidden. It often becomes visible in the
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work itself. When that spiritual edge gets
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dull, there's a perceptible loss of spiritual force.
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Right. The sermons might still be
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doctrinally sound, but they lose their their savour, their
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impact. The public prayers might sound
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OK, but they feel rote or abstract.
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The lack of fire inside means no fire gets communicated to the
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people listening. And this vigilance, the self
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watch it has to go beyond just avoiding major obvious moral
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scandals that the sources push it right down into the details
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of life. They say the minister must watch
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even the minutia of your character, actively avoiding
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things like little debts, unpunctuality, gossiping and
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general inconsistency. Why focus on those seemingly
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small everyday things? What's the reason for putting,
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say, unpunctuality in the same list as potentially more serious
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issues? Because a minister's whole life
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is teaching, whether he's in the pulpit or not, Inconsistent
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behavior in those small areas, being late, not managing money
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well, careless talk, It eats away at his credibility.
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People see that. The sources insist that a
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minister must be always ministers, not just turning on
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the piety for Sunday mornings and then living like everyone
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else the rest of the week. An inconsistent I'll ordered
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life will effectually drown the voice of the most eloquent
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ministry. And the analogy they use here is
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just brutal. Ministers who teach well but
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live badly build with their doctrine and with their lives.
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They destroy. The example of their life
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completely contradicts the words coming out of their mouth.
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Absolutely. The congregation sees the life
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lived much more clearly, much more consistently than they
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grasp all the fine points of theology.
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If the foundation of the man's own conduct is shaky or rotten,
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then the whole theological structure he's trying to build
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in their minds just collapses under the weight of his own
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hypocrisy. Wow, that really sets the stage
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for the truly catastrophic consequences when a minister
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fails this test of personal piety and vigilance.
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Let's brace ourselves and confront the dreadful
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accountability of the ungraceless minister, which the
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source material lays out with, well, terrifying clarity.
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Yeah, the sources use these powerful, almost painful
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analogies to describe the minister, who isn't actually
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converted. He's like a blind man elected to
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a professorship of optics, lecturing about light and vision
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while living in total darkness himself.
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Or maybe a deaf man, fluent upon harmonies, talking about music
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he can't hear. The position itself becomes
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fundamentally unnatural. It's a living contradiction.
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And it's described as being intensely miserable for the man
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himself, too. His job becomes a kind of
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perpetual slavery. He's forced to guide travelers
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along the road. He's never actually walked on
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himself. He's trying to manufacture
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feelings he doesn't have, forcing himself to sound sincere
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when he isn't. The sources say he comes to hate
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the sight of the pulpit as much as a galley sleeve hates the
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ore. That image, it speaks of deep,
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ongoing spiritual suffering. He's trapped.
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He's constantly performing this unwelcome task, compelled by
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duty or reputation, and ultimately he's unserviceable
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spiritually. Like a cloud without rain, a
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tree with leaves only offering the appearance of life but no
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actual substance. And crucially, he finds himself
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quite at a loss when real spiritual life, genuine
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Christian experience shows up in his congregation, when he has to
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deal with subtle spiritual struggles or the deep joys of
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fellowship where the peace believers find on their
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deathbeds, He has no personal experience to draw on.
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He can only give textbook answers to life and death
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spiritual questions. And this profound inadequacy
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leads directly to an enormous weight of accountability, not
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just for himself, but for the entire flock under his care.
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The minister is compared to the parish clock.
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Think about that. If the main clock in the town
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square is wrong, what happens? Then everyone else's time is off
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too, right? They all go wrongly, more or
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less. If the public standard, the
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spiritual example set by the leader, is flawed, the whole
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community spiritual rhythm gets distorted.
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And this isn't just a minor inconvenience.
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This error carries immense consequences.
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The source of state, the minister, is in a great measure
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accountable for all the sin which he occasions in his
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hearers. If he downplays the demands of
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holiness, if he preaches a cheap grace, if his life shows that
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faith doesn't really change things, he enables and excuses
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the spiritual laziness of potentially hundreds of people.
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It's feared that unconverted preachers might have whole towns
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to answer for. The sources paint this truly
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chilling, almost apocalyptic picture.
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Lost members of his congregation meeting him in hell and crying
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out an accusation, O cursed Wretch, has to also let us
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thither with thee. Imagine that the weight of
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having guided people, however unintentionally, to the very
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place he was supposed to be warning them against.
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That's his unique burden, and the personal ruin for the man
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himself is just as devastating. It's described as a horrible and
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dreadful thing to be an unconverted preacher.
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But even more dreadful, they say, is to perish from the
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pulpit itself. Rather than just sitting under a
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shadow, he faces the unbearable knowledge of having neglected
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and abused the very truths he offered to others.
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He held the medicine in his hand, offered it freely to
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strangers, but refused to take it himself.
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And this leads to, well, the ultimate humiliation.
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The ultimate scorn. Yes, the sources picture the
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imprisoned spirits in hell rising up as he arrives,
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greeting him not with sympathy but with sarcasm.
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Art thou also become as we are? He's ridiculed not just for
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being lost like them, but for his profound hypocrisy for
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having preached about the light only to be thrown into the same
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darkness with those he feel to genuinely lead or help.
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And this kind of spiritual failure makes the unregenerate
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pastor terribly mischievous In the world.
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They're seen as actively contributing to unbelief.
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Absolutely. The sources rank them among the
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primary causes that create infidelity.
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When ordinary people see a man whose life is cold, formal,
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maybe even immoral, yet whose job demands intense spiritual
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reality, what do they conclude? They assume the spiritual
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reality itself must be a sham. These ministers lead people into
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mere formalism. They preside over a system that
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looks religious on the outside but lacks any internal power.
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They cause thousands to believe they're good Christians when
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they are actually in an unregenerate Chrysler state,
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having the form of godliness but denying the reality thereof.
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And in that specific role, the unconverted minister is
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considered far more a servant of the devil than a minister of
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God. There's no middle ground in
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these sources, is there? He's either that awful weapon in
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the hand of God, or he becomes effectively an instrument for
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the enemy's purposes. The severity is there because
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the calling itself is so sensitive, so spiritually
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charged. The minister's personal state
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simply cannot be disentangled from the outcome of his work.
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If his life doesn't match his message, he dishonors God's
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name, he deceives people, and he guarantees his own terrible
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judgement. So this whole deep dive seems to
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circle back relentlessly to two main takeaways. 2 unavoidable
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points. First, the minister's nearest
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machinery, his primary tool, is his own person, spirit, soul and
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body, and the condition of that machinery dictates the quality,
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the spiritual force of his service.
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Yes. And second, the necessary
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duality of his spiritual upkeep. There's the absolute need for
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genuine conversion. That's the first non negotiable
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step. Without it, he's totally
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disqualified. And then there's the ongoing
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need for vigorous piety. That's the next continuous
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requirement. If that vigor fades, the work
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immediately suffers. You see that perceptible loss of
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spiritual force, and the effort becomes that greater draft upon
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his energies. And the sources really push the
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listener, the person in the Pew, to consider the visible life of
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their pastor as part of the evidence of his calling.
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His life needs to be a kind of magnet to draw men to Christ.
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But if his work and his life send conflicting signals, he
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actually uses his life to destroy what he's trying to
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build with his doctrine. The congregation won't be drawn
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to the Savior he talks about if his life points somewhere else.
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So given this incredibly high accountability the minister
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carries, being the parish clock that sets the spiritual time for
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the whole community, the seriousness of this calling,
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when you really think about it, should drive every Christian to
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pray very specifically for their leaders, for their pastors,
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playing for that superior strength, that deep godliness
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they need. It demands a level of prayerful
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support from the congregation that matches the level of peril
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the minister faces and matches the potential for widespread
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spiritual harm if that shepherd fails the test.
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It's something for all of us, I think, to really consider.