This article is about how the church should regard the minister, and how the minister should regard the congregation.

Source: The Banner of Truth, 1989. 5 pages.

The Minister and the Church – Biblical Attitudes

In recent times there has been considerable disparagement of the pastoral and preaching office. The tendency has been to suggest that this is something anyone in the church can do. This low view of the Christian ministry reflects a loss of confidence in preaching and it is doing serious damage to our churches. The preaching and pastoral office as a distinct calling is one which has been clearly ordained by God.

Scriptural testimony provides the greatest evidence for this. It is not my purpose on this occasion to take you through all the biblical passages which support this, but no one can read through the New Testament without being impressed by the weight of evidence which marks out the preaching office as one specially set aside by God. In the passage found in Acts 20:17-38, to which we shall be specifically referring, where Paul sent for the elders or ministers of the church in Ephesus, he speaks of his own preaching and teaching ministry, of which almost three years were spent in that city, as 'the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God' (v. 24). He was far more than just a preacher of the Word, he was the great apostle to the Gentiles, but his apostleship also included this preaching and teaching ministry to which our brother is being inducted this afternoon.

In addition to the biblical evidence there is also the testimony of history to the way of God has honoured and used this special calling of the preaching and pastoral office. Great churches are always associated with great preachers and ministries. God has always used this ministry to establish and build up churches. Throughout the centuries, God's work has prospered as the result of preachers. Some of you here this afternoon may be wondering about lay-preachers. All I can say is that John Wesley, who instituted a highly organised system of lay-preaching within Methodism, would have agreed entirely with everything I am saying about the unique position and office of men who have a special call to the preaching office. He made a very clear distinction between such men and lay-preachers.

But there is another argument for this greatest of all callings, and we have him sitting here this afternoon, Mr. John Harris himself. Why is he here? The answer is that over the years the people of God have come increasingly to recognise that this man has been given special gifts and an anointing from God which have set him apart for such a ministry. This is why you friends at Mirfield have prevailed upon him to accept your call to this important work. You have recognised God's call in his life. He has expressed some doubt whether he should have entered the ministry earlier. I am sure this is the right time, though he is what one might call 'middle-aged'. The right time is always God's time, and this is undeniably God's time. That Methodist preacher, Charles Richardson — the 'Lincolnshire Thrasher' — did not enter a pulpit until he was almost forty and then he had to be tricked into it, so reluctant was he to assume so high a calling. But God's time was obviously right and that humble man became one of the greatest Methodist preachers of his day.

I am quite clear as to the God-ordained character of this preaching ministry; but when it comes to explaining how a particular minister and a particular church come together I have to confess this is always something of a mystery to me. It is a mystery of God's providence, I have no doubt, but very much a mystery nonetheless. It generally seems to happen rather like a romance and a marriage. In this particular case the romance has already run its course, and we are here to witness the marriage. One has to work at a marriage, and the success or otherwise will depend to a great extent upon the relationship and attitudes adopted and nurtured by the partners. This is also true of ministers and churches, and there is much material in the New Testament on the attitude of churches to their ministers and vice versa. So we shall consider this aspect first.

How the Church Should Regard its Minister🔗

First and foremost he should be regarded as a gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have some important verses in Ephesians 4 on this. Paul writes: when Christ 'ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men ... And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers' (v. 8 and 11). Pastors and teachers are called and appointed by the risen and ascended Lord, and given to his church. Think of it. The Lord in heaven is so aware of the special needs of his people that his heart is moved in tender love to give pastors to his churches. This man is an expression of the Saviour's love toward you. He has been given to you by your exalted Lord to care for your souls. He is a love-gift from the Man of love in heaven. No greater earthly gift from the Lord of Glory can possibly be conceived or envisaged, on account of its tremendous potential for your spiritual good. Paul describes the potential in Ephesians 4:12-13: 'For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ'. Think of it. Christ has given you this man to bring you 'unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ'! Is not this, therefore, an immensely precious gift? Should you not regard him in that light and esteem him highly for Christ's sake? There are many believers in our land without this gift. They live in places where the Word of God is not preached and their souls are not fed, and apart from provisions of unusual grace I do not know how they survive spiritually. So this gift is a great privilege. Make sure you value it.

But secondly, a church should regard its minister as a servant of God. He is not your servant. He is God's servant; or, as James puts it, 'a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ'. This man has been sent by God to minister and to serve you. He is only your servant because he is God's servant. 'Ah', says someone, 'but don't we pay him?'! Yes, you do; and that is your privilege. But he is not answerable to you. He is answerable to God. There are fine but very important distinctions here. He is accountable to the church in terms of his divine calling, but it is not the business of the church to tell him what to do, or what to preach. Of course, everyone knows what the minister should be doing! No one would think of telling the doctor or the accountant or the engineer how to do his job, but everyone is an expert in what the minister ought to be doing! But he should obtain his instructions from his Master. His eye must be upon God, who has called him and given him to the church. Notice how Paul, in his address to the Ephesian elders, explains how he had discharged his responsibility towards the Ephesian church in terms of the commission God had given him: 'I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly and from house to house' (v. 20) ... 'For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel to God' (v. 27). Pray for your minister that he may not fear men but God, for it is to God that he will have to give an account.

Thirdly, you should regard him as a preacher of the Word. This comes out repeatedly in Paul's address to the Ephesian elders: 'I ... have taught you publicly, and from house to house ... So that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God ... For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God ... And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified' (Acts 29:20, 24, 27, 32). The Word is the great instrument through which God designs to sanctify his people and save the lost. This man is not here to deliver lectures, but to declare and apply the Word of God to your hearts and consciences. Some of the old Puritans were appointed to what were called 'lectureships' in the Church of England. It was really a device to get them into positions of influence, but the name was a bad one. The preacher is not like a lecturer or a teacher whose task is mainly to impart information and knowledge and to give instruction.

The preacher has a prophetic capacity. He is to declare and apply the Word of God so that men's lives are changed. His function is like that of an ambassador who delivers a message. Paul describes preachers as 'ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God' (2 Corinthians 5:20). That is the measure of this calling. Never forget that when he brings you the Word of God he does it as one standing in God's place. That is how awesome is this ministry, both in terms of the preacher's responsibility and of those who hear him. We must recover this sense of the majesty of preaching, and of the privilege of being under it. What does Paul say? 'I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God' (Acts 20:27).

Finally, under this heading, the church should regard the minister as a pastor of their souls. Paul exhorts the elders of the church of Ephesus to 'take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood' (Acts 20:28). Now this gives some idea of the work of the ministry. There is a notion abroad today that a minister should act as a sort of wet-nurse to the community, as though his chief work is to go around with the milk of human kindness to cheer people up. Is that what John the Baptist did? Did he cheer people up? Nor is the minister to be regarded as the church's 'teddy bear' to be treated as a sort of cuddly comfort by everyone.

The Christian ministry has been demeaned by these attitudes, and become the object of scorn in the world. The preacher is here to be a pastor of your souls. His greatest pastoral work will be done in the pulpit, because that is where he takes the Word of God and applies it to your condition. The true pastor should know how to apply the Word as a holy balm to the soul. At this point let me refer to the false antithesis frequently drawn between good pastors and good preachers. Sometimes it is said by people that their minister is a poor preacher but a good pastor; or that he is a good preacher but a bad pastor. I have always held the view that if a man is a poor preacher he cannot be a good pastor. Good preaching is not just a display of eloquence; it is a sensitive and understanding application of the Word of God to the souls of men. To be a pastor, the preacher must be in love with people, he must like people and be interested in people. He must be approachable, and not defensive in his attitudes. He must welcome and not resent people who want to ask him questions about his preaching. But this brings me to the next point.

How the Minister Should Regard the Church🔗

First, he should think of himself as one with them. There must be a complete identification of the minister with the people of God. He is not a professional, like a doctor or a lawyer. Nor is his wife. Her calling is to be his wife. She is not the church's wife! She has got her work cut out to uphold and encourage her husband in his calling. That is her task, and a very important one too. One of the great dangers in the ministry is for the minister to develop a 'them' and 'us' mentality. I remember once calling upon a minister who had recently become the pastor of a church, and I could not help noticing that he kept speaking of the church as 'them' and himself and his wife as 'us'. I thought, 'this man will not last long here'. And I was not surprised to hear of his resignation about six months later. He had never identified with his people. The preacher and his wife are just like any other couple within the church, except for his calling. That is the only respect in which he is separate from others. Notice how Paul calls the Ephesian elders, 'brethren', in Acts 20:32: 'And now, brethren, I commend you to God...' He felt himself a part of them.

Secondly, the minister should think of the church as the flock of Christ purchased at great price. Paul exhorts the elders of the Ephesian church to, 'take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood' (Acts 20:28). How precious must each believer be to God in heaven and to the Lord Jesus Christ who shed his own blood for their salvation! And since God has loved his people with such love, ought not every pastor to love the flock of Christ? The minister must learn to 'eye' the flock. My wife and I know a Christian Welsh sheep farmer who at the end of the day would often be found looking over the sheep within his pens with a discerning and caring eye. We could not tell one sheep from another, but he could. He knew the differences and the problems which existed in the flock. The minister must be like that. He should learn to evaluate his people and to understand their spiritual and mental, and even their physical, state. Man is a whole, and the good pastor will learn to watch over his people in this way. He must be tender and patient with them.

And finally, the pastor and preacher must see his people as the key to evangelism. It is a great fallacy to think in terms of methods and special efforts when we consider the unreached multitudes. The important question to ask is, 'Why are we not influencing the world?' The answer to that question will point to the problem of the church and not to the world. If the church were what it should be, then the unreached people would begin to be reached. So the key to evangelising the world is the church. Peter brings this out in his first epistle, Chapter 2, and verse 9: 'But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light'.

So the minister should see his opportunity of reaching the unsaved in those who already attend his preaching. Instead of fretting about those who do not attend, he should be considering how to influence those who do attend, in such a way that they will begin to influence the lives of unsaved members of their families, their neighbours, and those with whom they work day by day. This was Paul's 'technique' in evangelism. He always started in the synagogues and not in the market places of the cities he visited. He began where he knew he would get some interest and hearing and it was his influence with these people which had repercussions reaching out to the unsaved masses.

Ephesus was an illustration of this (Acts 19). Those who were first affected by the message brought members of their families, their friends and neighbours and others to hear the message. When the gospel has spread and large numbers have been converted this is how it has always happened. This is what happens in days of revival. So the church is the key to the evangelisation of the lost. The minister must see within his own people the potential for the spread of the gospel; and when he does this, he will seek so to preach that his own people will want to tell others about this great message. This vision will give him hope even though his congregation is small, and it will preserve him from despair despite the days in which we now live.

These are days of great discouragement for both pastors and churches. We make so little progress with the gospel, and are hardly scratching the surface of things. And this situation frequently creates tensions and divisions within the churches. The people blame their pastors and each other and the pastors blame their people. But this is the devil's work. In a marriage, when there are strong external pressures and anxieties the relationship between the partners is frequently put under strain. It is so within churches, and we must guard against this. What are we to do? We must do what the scriptures constantly exhort us to do: 'Remember the former days'.

Encouragements from the Past🔗

I want to remind you of the former days in this part of Yorkshire. First, of Benjamin Ingham, born in Ossett on June 11th, 1712, and a member of the Holy Club in Oxford. He went out to Georgia with the Wesley brothers in 1735 to seek the conversion of the Red Indians. He returned to England and seems to have entered into spiritual liberty through the gospel before either John or Charles Wesley. In October 1737 he began to preach with great effect in the West Riding, especially in Wakefield. In the summer of 1739 and using Ossett, just five miles from here, as the centre of his endeavours, he preached the gospel to groups of interested people in many different places in this part of the North of England. The numbers grew, and people were brought under conviction and converted. He wrote in 1740: 'There are now upwards of fifty societies where the people meet for edification; and of two thousand hearers of the gospel, I know at least three hundred on whose heart the Spirit of God works powerfully; and one hundred who have found grace in the blood and atonement of Jesus'.1

The places where these societies were gathered included Ossett, Dewsbury — down the road — and Mirfield itself. Let us believe that the same great God can repeat his mighty acts in this place.

Then, my next example from 'the former days' is of a great revival which took place in Dewsbury, where the founding church of this new work is situated, just three miles away. It broke out in 1792 under the preaching of William Bramwell, one of the greatest of the Methodist preachers. He was a man of prayer whose life and work is a challenge to any minister of the gospel. He had been frequently praying for revival, when a remarkable assurance was given him. He records in his journal:

As I was praying in my room, I received an answer from God in a particular way, and had the revival discovered to me in its manner and effects. I had no more doubt. All my grief was gone; I could say, The Lord will come; I know he will come, and that suddenly.2

And come He did. Soon afterwards Bramwell describes how a remarkable spirit of prayer fell upon the people. He put it like this:

Several who were the most prejudiced were suddenly struck, and in agonies groaned for deliverance.... The work continued in almost every meeting ... Our love-feasts began to be crowded, and people from every neighbouring circuit visited us. Great numbers found pardon ... They went home and declared what God had done for them. 3

In one period of twelve weeks almost a hundred new members were added to the society, and the effect of this work of God spread throughout the area. The revival continued throughout 1793 and 1794. In the Birstall area the society membership was doubled. Many were brought under deep conviction of sin. In Gomersal, just four miles north of here, a Methodist class teacher by the name of Thomas Pearson wrote:

My class soon increased to sixty members; and all ranks and degrees of men began to attend the preaching. Every place of worship in the neighbourhood was crowded. Young persons of only ten years of age were clearly awakened and savingly converted.4

These were mighty days in Yorkshire, but Bramwell's God is our God; so as we commit Mr. John Harris and the small church here in Mirfield to our covenant God, let us pray that the power of 'the former days' may return to us and that we may witness mighty things wrought in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Word of his grace.

Endnotes🔗

  1. ^ The oxford Methodists, L. Tyerman, 1873, p.99 
  2. ^ Memoirs of the Life and Ministry of William Branwell, James Sigston, 1820, P.65
  3. ^ Ibid, p. 67. 
  4. ^ Ibid, p. 76.

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