THE NECESSITY AND URGENCY OF MAINTAINING SOUND DOCTRINE...the prototypical test for the local church in evangelicalism today

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." -2 Timothy 2:15

"Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you." -2 Timothy 1:13-14

"He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it." -Titus 1:9

by A.W. Tozer
It would be impossible to overemphasize the importance of sound doctrine in the life of a Christian. Right thinking about all spiritual matters is imperative if we would have right living. As men do not gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles, so sound character does not grow out of unsound teaching.

The word doctrine means simply religious beliefs held and taught. It is the sacred task of all Christians, first as believers and then as teachers of religious beliefs, to be certain that these beliefs correspond exactly to truth. A precise agreement between belief and fact constitutes soundness in doctrine. We cannot afford to have less.

Contend for the Faith
The apostles not only taught truth but contended for its purity against any who would corrupt it. The Pauline epistles resist every effort of false teachers to introduce doctrinal vagaries. john's epistles are sharp with condemnation of those teachers who harassed the young church by denying the incarnation and throwing doubts upon the doctrine of the Trinity; and Jude in his brief but powerful epistle rises to heights of burning eloquence as he pours scorn upon evil teachers who would mislead the saints.

Each generation of Christians must look to its beliefs. While truth itself is unchanging, the minds of men are porous vessels out of which truth can leak and into which error may seep to dilute the truth they contain. The human heart is heretical by nature and runs to error as naturally as a garden to weeds. All a man, a church or a denomination needs to guarantee deterioration of doctrine is to take everything for granted and do nothing. The unattended garden will soon be overrun with weeds; the heart that fails to cultivate truth and root out error will shortly be a theological wilderness; the church or denomination that grows careless on the highway of truth will before long find itself astray, bogged down in some mud flat from which there is no escape.

Faithfulness to Truth
In every field of human thought and activity accuracy is considered a virtue. To err ever so slightly is to invite serious loss, if not death itself. Only in religious thought is faithfulness to truth looked upon as a fault. When men deal with things earthly and temporal they demand truth; when they come to the consideration of things heavenly and eternal they hedge and hesitate as if truth either could not be discovered or didn't matter anyway.

Montaigne said, "that a liar is one who is brave toward God and a coward toward men; for a liar faces God and shrinks from men." Is this not simply a proof of unbelief? Is it not to say that the liar believes in men but is not convinced of the existence of God, and is willing to risk the displeasure of a God who may not exist rather than that of man who obviously does?

Carelessness in Religion
I think also that deep, basic unbelief is back of human carelessness in religion. The scientist, the physician, the navigator deals with matters he knows are real; and because these things are real the world demands that both teacher and practitioner be skilled in the knowledge of them. The teacher of spiritual things only is required to be unsure in his beliefs, ambiguous in his remarks and tolerant of every religious opinion expressed by anyone, even by the man least qualified to hold an opinion.

Haziness of doctrine has always been the mark of the liberal. When the Holy Scriptures are rejected as the final authority on religious belief something must be found to take their place. Historically that something has been either reason or sentiment: if sentiment, it has been humanism. Sometimes there has been an admixture of the two, as may be seen in liberal churches today. These will not quite give up the Bible, neither will they quite believe it; the result is an unclear body of beliefs more like a fog than a mountain, where anything may be true but nothing may be trusted as being certainly true.

We have gotten accustomed to the blurred puffs of gray fog that pass for doctrine in modernistic churches and expect nothing better, but it is a cause for real alarm that the fog has begun of late to creep into many evangelical churches. From some previously unimpeachable sources are now coming vague statements consisting of a milky admixture of Scripture, science and human sentiment that is true to none of its ingredients because each one works to cancel the others out.

Brainwashed Evangelicals
Certain of our evangelical brethren appear to be laboring under the impression that they are advanced thinkers because they are rethinking evolution and re-evaluating various Bible doctrines or even divine inspiration itself; but so far are they from being advanced thinkers that they are merely timid followers of modemism-fifty years behind the parade.

Little by little evangelical Christians these days are being brainwashed. One evidence is that increasing numbers of them are becoming ashamed to be found unequivocally on the side of truth. They say they believe but their beliefs have been so diluted as to be impossible of clear definition.

Moral power has always accompanied definitive beliefs. Great saints have always been dogmatic. We need right now a return to a gentle dogmatism that smiles while it stands stubborn and firm on the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever."

by A.W. Tozer, The Best Of A.W. Tozer, pg. 174-176,
taken from Man, The Dwelling Place Of God

LIE OF THE DAY...from the Florida Healing Outpouring "Revival"

This is not the anointing; this is an abomination.

This is not renewal by the Holy Spirit; this is reprobation by irreverent showmen.

This is not the sacred fire of God; this is the strange fire of men.

This is not blessing; this is blasphemy.

This is not revival... this is rebellion.

The Lie:

The Truth:

"Look carefully then how you walk,

not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time,

because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish,

but understand what the will of the Lord is.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery,

but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another

in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing

and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

giving thanks always and for everything

to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,"

-Ephesians 5:15-20

The Lie:

The Truth:

"Now many signs and wonders were regularly done

among the people by the hands of the apostles.

And they were all together in Solomon's Portico.

None of the rest dared join them,

but the people held them in high esteem.

And more than ever believers were added to the Lord,

multitudes of both men and women, so that they even

carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on

cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow

might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from

the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those

afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed."

-Acts 5:12-16

"The signs of a true apostle were performed among you

with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works."

-2 Cor. 12:12

The Lie: 
"The consciousness of lack is the root of all evil. "
-Eli Miller, Fresh Fire Ministries Apostolic Team member

over the ministry of Todd "Bam-Bam" Bentley

The Truth:

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.

It is through this craving that some have wandered

away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs."

-1 Tinothy 6:10, the Apostle Paul

"I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret

of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

-Phil. 4:12-13, the Apostle Paul

JOHN OWEN CONCERNING SPIRITUAL GIFTS...a quest for godliness; not tongues

Today's post is a gem that someone had anonymously emailed me off forum on the theme spiritual gifts. I read this entire book years ago and it is still insightful, powerful, biblical, and edifying. This is not casual fair, but rich nourishment for the soul. In this discussion on spiritual gifts, John Owen offers biblical clarity and a theological practicality that cuts through the dense fog surrounding this issue with the laser light of God's Word (Heb. 4:12-16).

This will take some time to read. It will require dedication, some serious study, a Bible, and a willingness to lay aside personal bias's and subjective experience in order to be a faithful hearer and doer of the Word. If all you want to do is sound off on this issue of spiritual gifts (cessationism/continuationsism) never having to dig into the Scriptures as to what they teach about these things... there are plenty of other blogs willing to accommodate you. Not here. We live in difficult days beloved, and this is a time for sober thinking that is constrained, compelled, and conducted by the Word of God--not reactive rabbit trails.

My heartfelt gratitude to Dr. J.I. Packer for navigating us through the deep theological waters of John Owen's teaching. "A Quest for Godliness" is a worthy volume that any Christian home library should have on its shelf. I would encourage you to a purchase this excellent tome today.

I highly commend this article to all who have ears to hear.

by J.I. Packer

The subject of spiritual gifts was not much debated in Puritan theology, and the only full-scale treatment of it by a major writer, so far as I know, is John Owen’s Discourse of Spiritual Gifts. This, the last installment of Owen’s great analysis of biblical teaching on the Holy Spirit, seems to have been written in 1679 or 1680,1 though it was not printed till 1693, ten years after his death. Owen’s Discourse is fully characteristic both of himself and of the general Puritan view of its theme.

It is desirable to delimit explicitly the area within which our study of Owen will move, for there could be false expectations here. To many Christians today, the phrase ‘spiritual gifts’ suggests a wider range of questions and concerns than it did to the Puritans. Throughout the century that separated William Perkins’ pioneer ventures in pastoral theology (The Arte of Prophesying, Latin 1592, English 1600; The Calling of the Ministerie, 1605) from Owen’s Discourse, Puritan attention when discussing gifts was dominated by their interest in the ordained ministry, and hence in those particular gifts which qualify a man for ministerial office, and questions about other gifts to other persons were rarely raised. Preoccupied as they were— and as their times required them to be—with securing high standards in the ministry, and educating layfolk out of superstition and fanaticism, the Puritans had both their minds and their hands full, and modern questions about laymen’s gifts and service were given less of an airing than we might have expected or hoped for. Two such questions in particular may be noted here, since they bulk so large in present-day debate.

First, how should we evaluate ‘Pentecostalism’ (the so-called ‘charismatic movement’) in modern evangelical life?

The Pentecostal movement, in both its denominational and its interdenominational forms, claims to be in essence a renewal of neglected but authentic elements in Christianity—namely, the gifts of tongues, prophecy, and healing. (The details of the claim vary from group to group.) Can the Puritans help us to assess these claims? Only indirectly, for there was no such movement in Puritan times. Seventeenth-century England did not, to my knowledge, produce anyone who claimed the gift of tongues,2 and though claimants to prophetic and healing powers were not
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1In his Inquiry concerning…, written after the publication of Stillingfleet’s sermon On the Mischief of Separation (preached 2 May 1680) and before Stillingfleet’s larger work, The Unreasonableness of Separation, appeared in the following year (Owen, Works, XV:221f, 375). Owen refers to his Discourse of Spiritual Gifts as already written (p 249). In the preface to The Work of the Spirit in Prayer, published in 1682, he mentions a treatise on spiritual gifts as something he proposes to write (IV:246). This indicates that The Work of the Spirit in Prayer, which follows Causes, Ways and Means of Understanding the Mind of God (published 1678) in the sequence of Owen’s treatises on the Holy Spirit, was written perhaps three years before it was published, since by 1680 its promised successor had already been completed. The Discourse of Spiritual Gifts is in IV:420-520.
2The only Protestant tongue-speakers in the seventeenth century appear to have been the Camisards, Huguenot refugees who fled to the Cevennes after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. In other ways the Camisard movement was unquestionably fanatical; see Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (1957), sv, and literature there cited.

unknown, particularly in the wild days of the forties and fifties, the signs of enthusiasm (fanatical delusion) and mental unbalance were all too evident.3

It was partly, no doubt, Owen’s experience with such people that prompted him to write, of the class of ‘gifts which in their own nature exceed the whole power of all our faculties’ (in which class he puts tongues, prophetic disclosure, and power to heal), that ‘that dispensation of the Spirit is long since ceased, and where it is now pretended unto by any, it may justly be suspected as an enthusiastical delusion’.4 But does this mean that, like B.B. Warfield,5 Owen would rule out a priori all possibility of renewal, for any purpose, of the charismata which were given in the apostolic age to authenticate the apostles’ personal ministry and message? Owen nowhere says so much, and it would be rash to ascribe to him this dogmatic a priori negation, which, as has often been pointed out, is not inevitably implied by any biblical passage. Rather, it may be supposed (though this, in the nature of the case, can only be a guess) that were Owen confronted with modern Pentecostal phenomena he would judge each case a posteriori, on its own merit, according to these four principles:

1. Since the presumption against any such renewal is strong, and liability to ‘enthusiasm’ is part of the infirmity of every regenerate man, any extra-rational manifestation like glossolalia needs to be watched and tested most narrowly, over a considerable period of time, before one can, even provisionally, venture to ascribe it to God.

2. Since the use of a person’s gifts is intended by God to further the work of grace in his own soul (we shall see Owen arguing this later), the possibility that (for instance) a man’s glossolalia is from God can only be entertained at all as long as it is accompanied by a discernible ripening of the fruit of the Spirit in his life.

3. To be more interested in extraordinary gifts of lesser worth6 than in ordinary ones of greater value; to be more absorbed in seeking one’s own spiritual enrichment than in seeking the edifying of the church; and to have one’s attention centered on the Holy Spirit, whereas the Spirit himself is concerned to centre our attention on Jesus Christ—these traits are sure signs of ‘enthusiasm’ wherever they are found, even in those whom seem most saintly.

4. Since one can never conclusively prove that any charismatic manifestation is identical with what is claimed as its New Testament counterpart, one can never in any particular case have more than a tentative and provisional opinion, open to constant reconsideration as time and life go on.

Owen was deeply concerned to bring out the supernaturalness of the Christian life, and to do justice to the Spirit’s work in it, but whether he could have felt close sympathy with any form of modern Pentecostalism is a question about which opinions might differ.

The second modern issue that calls for mention is, how should we develop congregational life in our churches so as to secure an ‘every-member ministry’?
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3‘The air was thick with reports of prophecies and miracles, and there were men of all parties who lived on the border land between sanity and insanity’ (R. Barclay, The Inner Life of the Religious Societies of the Commonwealth, Hodder and Stoughton: London, 1876, p 216). Barclay gives a number of instances.
4 Owen, Works, IV:518.
5 See B.B. Warfield, Miracles Yesterday and Today (Banner of Truth: London, 1967), chap I.
6 Matthew Henry calls tongues ‘the most useless and insignificant of all these gifts’ (on 1 Cor 12:28). It is unlikely that Owen would have quarreled with this verdict.

The New Testament pictures the local church as a body in which every member—that is, literally ‘limb’—has its own part to play in advancing the welfare and growth of the whole. But the churches we know today have inherited over-centralized patterns of life, so that most congregations contain passengers, and our institutional rigidity inhibits our impact on local communities. We are coming increasingly to see that small-group patterns of fellowship, prayer, study, and Christian action—meetings, ‘cells’ and the like—need to be developed within our congregations on a much larger scale than we have done hitherto. Again we ask, can the Puritans help us here? Again the reply is, only indirectly; for over-centralization was not a Puritan problem, and the strength and influence of the family as a religious unit in Puritan times made the quest for other small-group structures less pressing.

However, though the Puritans give us no blue-print for modern group meetings, we find them vindicating with emphasis the fact that such meetings are right, desirable, and beneficial. Thus Owen, for one, included in his first book, The Duties of Pastors and People Distinguished (1643),7 a chapter entitled ‘Of the liberty and duty of gifted uncalled Christians in the exercise of divers acts of divine worship’, in which he argued that

for the improving of knowledge, the increasing of Christian charity, for the furtherance of a strict and holy communion of that spiritual love and amity which ought to be among the brethren, they may of their own accord assemble together, to consider one another, to provoke unto love and good works, to stir up the gifts that are in them, yielding and receiving mutual consolation by the fruits of their most holy faith.8

Christians may rightly meet to pray together (cf Acts 12:12), and to minister to each other encouragement (cf Mal 3:16) and spiritual help (cf Is 50:5; Ja 5:16). The only provisos are that they should not become a splinter group, withdrawing from the church’s public worship, or despising and disregarding their pastors, or taking up with doctrinal and expository novelties. Owen ridicules the idea that such gatherings had the nature of ‘schismatic conventicles’, affirming them rather to be lawful and proper means whereby Christians ‘may help each other forward in the knowledge of godliness and the way towards heaven’.9

It is the loss of those spiritual gifts, which hath introduced among many an utter neglect of these duties, so as that they are scarce heard of among the generality of them that are called Christians. But, blessed be God, we have large and full experience of the continuance of this dispensation of the Spirit, in the eminent abilities of a multitude of private Christians . . . some, I confess, they [gifts] have been abused: some have presumed on them beyond the line and measure which they have received; some have been puffed up with them; some have used them disorderly in churches and to their hurt; some have boasted of what they have not received;—all which miscarriages also befell the primitive churches. And I had rather have the order, rule, spirit, and practice of those churches that were planted by the apostles, with all their troubles and disadvantages, than the carnal peace of others in their open degeneracy from all those things.10

The book is dated 1644, but Owen elsewhere states that this was the printer’s deliberate mistake (Works, XIII:222).
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8 Ibid, XIII:44f.
9 Ibid, p 47.
10 Ibid, IV:518.

It is clear that, were Owen with us today, he would be urging us by all means to seek a recovery of ‘every-member ministry’, through a renewed quest for the ‘best gifts’ of the Holy Spirit.

2

What we have cited from Owen has already made plain the nature of his concern about spiritual gifts. It is an aspect of the consuming, comprehensive concern that marked him all his days—his concern, that is, for authenticity of church life. In pursuing this concern, he appears as at once a reforming theologian, opposing false structures, dead formalism, and unspiritual disorder; a pastoral theologian, challenging distortions of the gospel, mechanical religious routines, and barren professions of faith; and a Christ-centered theologian, insisting throughout that the honour of the Saviour was directly bound up with the state of the visible church. (All of which is only to say that Owen appears as a true Reformed theologian, a kindred spirit to Calvin himself.) The relevance of spiritual gifts to this concern, in Owen’s view, was simply that there can be no authentic church life without their exercise. On this he is explicit and emphatic.

Gifts of the Spirit, says Owen at the outset of his Discourse, are ‘that without which the Church cannot subsist in the world, nor can believers be useful unto one another and the rest of mankind, unto the glory of Christ, as they ought to be’.11 Gifts are ‘the powers of the world to come’ referred to in Hebrews 6:5, and ‘the ministration of the Spirit’ mentioned in 2 Corinthians 3:8—for ‘the promises of the plentiful effusion of the Spirit under the New Testament frequently applied to him as he works evangelical gifts extraordinary and ordinary in men’,12 and the use of his gifts is ‘the great means whereby all grace is ingenerated and exercised’.13 Thus gifts are truly ‘the great privilege of the New Testament.’14

Gifts of the Spirit give the church its inward organic life and its outward visible form. ‘This various distribution of gifts [i.e., that referred to in 1 Corinthians 12:16-25] . . . the Church an organical body; and in this composure, with the peculiar uses of the members of the body, consists the harmony, beauty, and safety of the whole.’15 ‘That profession which renders a Church visible according to the mind of Christ, is the orderly exercise of the spiritual gifts bestowed on it, in a conversation evidencing the invisible principle of saving grace.’16
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11 Ibid, p 420f.
12 Ibid, p 432.
13 Ibid, p 421.
14 Loc cit.
15 Ibid, p 428.
16 Loc cit.

Gifts of the Spirit were, and are, Christ’s sole weapons for setting up, extending, and maintaining his kingdom.

It is inquired what power the Lord Christ did employ . . . erecting of that kingdom or church-state, which being promised of old, was called the world to come, or the new world… I say, it was these gifts of the Holy Ghost. . . . them it was, or in their exercise, that the Lord Christ erected His empire over the souls and consciences of men, destroying both the work and kingdom of the devil. It is true, it is the word of the gospel itself that is the rod of his strength which is sent out of Sion to erect and dispense his rule: but that hidden power which made the word effectual in the dispensation of it, consisted in these gifts of the Holy Ghost.17 By these gifts doth the Lord Christ demonstrate His power, and exercise His rule.18

One secret of the abundance of life enjoyed by the early church was that ‘all gospel administrations were in those days avowedly executed by virtue of spiritual gifts’.19 Without gifts, the church is a mere shadow of itself. The round of worship becomes sterile, for ‘gospel ordinances are found to be fruitless and unsatisfactory, without the attaining and exercising of gospel gifts’.20 The church falls into the ditch of formalism and the mire of superstition. Unconcern about gifts, writes Owen,

was that whereby in all ages countenance was given unto apostasy and defection from the power and truth of the gospel. The names of spiritual things were still retained, but applied to outward forms and ceremonies, which thereby were substituted insensibly into their room, to the ruin of the gospel in the minds of men.21 As the neglect of internal saving grace, wherein the power of godliness doth consist, hath been the bane of Christian profession as to obedience . . . the neglect of these gifts hath been the ruin of the same profession as to worship and order, which hath thereon issued in fond superstitions.22

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17 Ibid, p 479f.
18 Ibid, p 426.
19 Ibid, p 471.
20 Ibid, p 421.
21 Ibid,, p 423.
22 Ibid, p 421f.

Owen judged the Church of Rome to be a case in point:

We have an instance in the Church of Rome, what various, extravagant, and endless inventions the minds of men will put them upon to keep up a show of worship, when by the loss of spiritual gifts spiritual administrations are lost also. This is that which their innumerable forms, modes, sets of rites and ceremonies, seasons of worship are invented to supply, but to no purpose at all; but only the aggravation of their sin and folly.23

Owen’s further generalization, a ministry
devoid of spiritual gifts is sufficient evidence
of a Church under a degenerating apostasy’,
suggests thoughts that might well disturb
Protestants, too, at the present time.

The overall thrust of Owen’s thinking, and the theological and practical importance for him of the question of gifts, is now clear. In the light of this, we may profitably go on to focus attention on four specific subjects: the nature of spiritual gifts; their place in church life; the different kinds of gifts, ordinary and extraordinary; and the place of gifts in the economy of grace. These themes will occupy the rest of our study.

1. The Nature of Spiritual Gifts
Spiritual gifts are abilities bestowed and exercised by the power of God; not natural, therefore, but supernatural; not human but divine. Owen starts the argument of his Discourse by reviewing the New Testament phraseology for spiritual gifts, observing that this of itself tells us a good deal about their nature. The words may be arranged in four groups (Owen arranges them in three, lumping together the last two). Group one points to the thought that the gifts are free and undeserved bestowals. The words here are dorea and domata, ‘present’ and ‘presents’, and charismata, from charis (grace), on which Owen comments: ‘It is absolute freedom in the bestower of them that is principally intended in this name.’25 Group two highlights the thought that the author of these abilities is the Holy Spirit. Key words here are pneumatika, literally ‘spirituals’, in 1 Corinthians 12:1, and the phrases ‘manifestation of the Spirit’ in verse 7 and ‘distributions of the Holy Ghost’ in Hebrews 2:4 (KJV and RV margin). Group three expresses the idea that a gift is actually God’s work in a man, not the actualizing of a human capacity but a dynamic divine operation. This thought is focused in the word energemata, ‘operations’, literally ‘effectual workings’ (1 Cor 12:6). Group four pinpoints the function which gifts fulfill: they are ‘ministrations’, ‘activities of service’ (1 Cor 12:5), ‘powers and abilities whereby some are enabled to administer spiritual things unto the benefit, advantage, and edification of others’.26

A one-sentence definition of a gift, in line with Owen’s analysis, would be this: a spiritual gift is an ability, divinely bestowed and sustained, to grasp and express the realities of the spiritual world, and the knowledge of God in Christ, for the edifying both of others and of oneself. This definition appears to be entirely scriptural. However, it must be noted that whereas Paul, in directing Christians to use their gifts, speaks of expressing one’s knowledge of God’s mercy in Christ by the way one gives, rules, loves one’s brethren, and shows hospitality, as well as by prophesying, teaching, and exhorting (Rom 12:4-13), Owen conceives of ordinary gifts (as distinct from those, like miracles and tongues, which ‘consisted only in a transient operation of an extraordinary power’) solely in terms of having thoughts of divine things, with power to voice them in words. He does not treat any other capacity for service as a ‘gift’ at all. This intellectualism comes out in his assertion that ‘spiritual gifts are placed and seated in the mind or
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23 Ibid, p 507.
24 Ibid, p 482.
25 Ibid, p 423.
26 Ibid, p 242.

understanding only . . . they are in the mind as it is notional and theoretical, rather than as it is practical. They are intellectual abilities and no more.’27 This appears to have been the general Puritan view; it rested on the assumption that 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 is a complete enumeration of all the gifts there are, or ever were—an assumption which Chapter IV of the Discourse shows that Owen shared. But the assumption is improvable, and Owen’s view is surely at this point incomplete. Has Paul only intellectual abilities in view when he says that God has set in the church ‘helps’ and ‘governments’ (1 Cor 12:28)? Significantly, perhaps, Owen makes no reference to these either in the Discourse or, so far as I can find, in any of his writings on the local church; probably, like other Puritan expositors, he did not suppose that the functions to which these names referred were manifestations of a distinct spiritual gift at all.28 But it seems clear that the category of spiritual gifts, as Paul views it, includes graces of character and practical wisdom, as well as powers of theoretical reasoning and discourse about divine truths.

Gifts are bestowed by the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 4:8) through shedding forth on men the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:23). Owen equates the ‘power’ of the Spirit in Acts 1:4, 1 Corinthians 2:4 with the bestowal and exercise of gifts. Though gifts are often given through sanctification of natural abilities, they are not natural abilities, and sometimes this is marked by non-development in Christians of the gifts that their natural abilities would lead one to expect, and the manifesting in them of gifts for which their natural powers gave no foundation at all. But all gifts alike are increased by use of the means of grace—prayer, meditation, constant self-abasement, and active service in God’s cause.

2. Spiritual Gifts and Ecclesiastical Office
Though, as we saw, Owen recognizes that Christ gives gifts to all, and that the local church should accordingly display a pattern of ‘every member ministry’ in its regular life, the official ministry is central in Owen’s interest, and it is in terms of the relation and distinction between gifts and ecclesiastical office that he expounds (in Chapters III to VIII of the Discourse) the place of the gifts in the church. He begins by analyzing the notion of ‘office’ in terms of power plus duty (in the sense of defined responsibility). He declares that ‘ecclesiastical office is an especial power given by Christ unto any person or persons for the performance of especial duties belonging unto the edification of the Church in an especial manner’.29 He affirms the standard Reformed view of ordination as an act of Christ conferring office through the action of the church, rather than as an act of the church delegating to the ordained its own inherent powers. He also sets forth exactly the standard Reformed distinction between the offices of apostle, evangelist, and prophet, which were temporary and extraordinary, ceasing with the apostolic age, and the office of presbyter, which is permanent and ordinary, and is to last till the Lord returns. Laying down the principle that ‘all office-power depends on the communication of gifts, whether extraordinary or
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27 Ibid, p 437.
28 ‘Helps’ and ‘governments’ were not identified with certainty by any Puritan exegete. Matthew Pool (Annotations, 1685 ad loc) confessed it ‘very hard to determine’ who they were—‘whether he meaneth deacons, or widows . . . as helpful in the case of the poor, or some that assisted the pastors in the government of the church, or some that were extraordinary helps to the apostles in the first plantation of the church.’ Matthew Henry thought ‘helps’ were sick visitors, and ‘governments’ were, in effect, deacons, or ‘poor stewards’ in the old Methodist sense, distributing the church’s charitable gifts to the needy. Richard Baxter thought ‘helps’ were ‘eminent Helpers of the Churches by Charity and special Care, especially for Ministers and the Poor; Governments to arbitrate Differences and keep Order’ (Paraphrase of the New Testament, ad loc). None of these writers, however, nor any other Puritan so far as I know, thought of a gift of helping and governing.
29 Owen, Works, IV:438. ordinary’,

ordinary30, he argues that extraordinary gifts presupposed both an extraordinary call and extraordinary gifts, and that in the absence of the latter, no less than of the former, it is impossible that the apostles, the evangelists (whom he understands to have been the apostles’ personally appointed assistants), and the prophets could have successors today.31 All this is familiar ground to those who have read Calvin’s Institutes IV:iii, and therefore we need not stay on it. Owen’s adoption of Independent principles of polity did not affect in the least his adherence to Presbyterian principles regarding ministerial order, character, and authority.

Nor is he anything other than typical of the whole Reformed tradition when he declares that ‘spiritual gifts of themselves make no man actually a minister, yet no man can be made a minister according to the mind of Christ, who is not partaker of them’.32 His point is that a minister is Christ’s gift to the church (Eph 4:8) only because, and in so far as, he is gifted by Christ for ministry in his Master’s name, and the church has no right to call and send into the Lord’s vineyard men whose gifts do not warrant the confidence that the Lord himself has called them to this service.

The Church hath no power to call any unto the office of the ministry, where the Lord Christ hath not gone before it in the designation of him by an endowment of spiritual gifts; for if the whole authority of the ministry be from Christ, and if he never give it but where he bestows these gifts with it for its discharge, as in Ephesians 4:7, 8, etc., then to call any to the ministry whom he hath not so previously gifted is to set him aside, and act in our own name and authority.33

The main application of our Lord’s parable of the talents, in Owen’s view, is to the ordained ministry, and its main lesson is that ‘wherever there is a ministry in the Church that Christ owneth or regardeth as used and employed by him, there persons are furnished with spiritual gifts from Christ by the Spirit, enabling them unto the discharge of that ministry; and
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30 Ibid, p 442.
31 Owen’s remarks on prophets in the New Testament are worth noticing:

The names of prophet and prophecy are used variously in the New Testament: for, 1. Sometimes an extraordinary office and extraordinary gifts are signified by them; and, 2. Sometimes extraordinary gifts only; and, 3. Sometimes an ordinary office with ordinary gifts, and sometimes ordinary gifts only. And unto one of these heads may the use of the word be everywhere reduced.

1. In the places mentioned (Eph 4:11; 1 Cor 12:28) extraordinary officers endued with extraordinary gifts are intended. . . . And two things are ascribed unto them: (1) that they received immediate revelations and directions for the Holy Ghost’ [Owen cites Acts 13:2]; (2) They foretold things to come (Acts 11:28ff; 21:10f.
2. Sometimes an extraordinary gift without office is intended (Acts 21:9; 19:6; 1 Cor 14:29-33).
3. Again, an ordinary office with ordinary gifts is intended by this expression (Romans 12:6 — prophecy here can intend nothing but teaching or preaching, in the exposition and application of the word; for the external rule is given unto it, that it must be done according to the ‘proportion of faith’, or the sound doctrine of faith revealed in the Scriptures). Hence also those who are not called unto office, who have yet received a gift enabling them to declare the mind of God in the Scripture unto the edification of others, may be said to ‘prophesy’ (Works, 451f).

32 Ibid, p 494.
33 Ibid, p 495.

where there are no such spiritual gifts dispensed by him, there is no ministry that he either accepteth or approveth’.34

3. Ordinary and Extraordinary Gifts
The last point leads on to the question, what gifts are required for the ordinary presbyteral ministry? Owen’s answer is, not the extraordinary gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:5-11 (faith that works miracles, healing powers, immediate discernment of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues), but the ordinary ones, wisdom and knowledge at an extraordinary pitch. Ministers must be able ‘in an eminent degree’ (Owen’s constant phrase) to preach the word with application, to pray with unction, and to rule with wisdom. To speak to men for, and from, God, and to speak to God for, and as the mouthpiece of, God’s flock, is no small undertaking. For it, says Owen, men need three gifts in particular.

The first gift is ‘wisdom, or knowledge, or understanding’:

such a comprehension of the scope of the Scripture and of the revelation of God therein; such an acquaintance with the systems of particular doctrinal truths, in their rise, tendency, and use; such a habit of mind in judging of spiritual things, and comparing them one with another; such a distinct insight into the springs and course of the mystery of the love, grace, and will of God in Christ, as enables them in whom it is to declare the counsel of God, to make known the way of life, of faith and obedience, unto others, and to instruct them in their whole duty to God and man therein.35

Then, secondly, ‘with respect unto the doctrine of the gospel . . . is required . . . to divide the word aright, which is also a peculiar gift of the Holy Ghost, (2 Tim 2:15).’36 This gift of ‘right dividing’ Owen understands, not in the exotic latter-day sense of distinguishing dispensations, but in the standard Puritan sense of making appropriate application of God’s truth to the condition of individuals. Whether, as Owen, with Calvin, believed, the picture here is of discriminating distribution of food to the family, rather than, as most modern expositors hold, cutting a straight furrow, is not the main issue; the central question is rather, will a minister be approved by God as a good workman, handling the word of truth in a manner appropriate to its nature and purpose, and winning the praise of the God whose word it is, if he misapplies it, or fails to apply it at all? One of the most valuable elements in Puritan teaching on the ministry is the constant stress laid on the need for discerning and discriminating application. Owen lays out in detail what this requires of a man:
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34 Ibid, p 505.
35 Ibid, p 509.
36 Ibid, p 510.

(1) A sound judgment in general concerning the state and condition of those unto whom any one is so dispensing the word. It is the duty of a shepherd to know the state of his flock; and unless he do so, he will never feed them profitably. He must know whether they are babes, or young men, or old; whether they need milk or strong meat . . . in the judgment of charity they are converted unto God, or are yet in an unregenerate condition; what probably are their principal temptations, their hindrances and furtherances; what is their growth or decay. (2) An acquaintance with the ways and methods of the work of God’s grace on the minds and hearts of men, that he may pursue and comply with its design in the ministry of the word . . . is unacquainted with the ordinary methods of the operation of grace fights uncertainly in his preaching of the word like a man beating of the air. It is true, God can, and often doth, direct a word of truth, spoken as it were at random, unto a proper effect of grace, on some or other, as it was when the man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness. But ordinarily a man is not likely to hit a joint, who knows not how to take his aim. (3) An acquaintance with the nature of temptation . . . things might be added on this head. (4) A right understanding of the nature of spiritual diseases, distempers, and sicknesses, with their proper cures and remedies, belongeth hereunto. For the want hereof the hearts of the wicked are oftentimes made glad in the preaching of the word, and those of the righteous filled with sorrow; the hands of sinners are strengthened, and those who are looking towards God are discouraged or turned out of the way.37

The question of the best syllabus of study for ministerial candidates is often discussed today. Would it not be in our interest to reconsider this syllabus of Owen’s? How dare we, in this or any age, contemplate ordaining men who have not first mastered it?

Thirdly, with knowledge of God’s truth and skill to apply it must go the gift of utterance, which, says Owen, ‘is particularly reckoned by the apostle among the gifts of the Spirit’ (1 Cor 1:5; 2 Cor 8:4; cf Eph 6:19; Col 4:3).38 This is not the same as rhetorical skill, or a pretty wit, or ‘a natural volubility of speech, which . . . so far from being a gift of the Spirit . it is usually a snare to them that have it, and a trouble to them that hear them’; it consists of naturalness appropriate to the subject-matter, plus ‘boldness and holy confidence’, plus gravity and ‘that authority which accompanieth the delivery of the word when preached in demonstration of these spiritual abilities.’39 ‘All these things are necessary,’ Owen concludes, ‘that the hearers may receive the word, not as the word of man, but as it is indeed the word of God.’

This rather shattering list of qualifications needed for acceptable ministry prompts the cry, ‘who is sufficient for these things?’ This leads us straight to our final topic:

4. Gifts and Grace
Owen’s concern for authenticity and reality in the life of the church and of Christians prompts him, when discussing the relation of gifts and grace in Chapter II of the Discourse, to lay stress on the negative point that a man can have gifts without grace—that is, one can be skilled in Christian comprehension and communication without having been born again. Owen insists that here are two distinct types of operation by the Spirit of God, and that only the work of grace, producing ‘the fruit of the Spirit’ in a renewed heart and a transformed character, is saving. Gifts belong to the outward administration of the covenant of grace only; it does not follow that a man with spiritual abilities is therefore in the inward saving relationship with God at which the covenant aims. The thrust of this is that none may presume on his gifts, and conclude from his having theological interests and abilities that therefore he has eternal life; it does not follow. Only the man who has come to know his sin and has been led in repentance
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37 Ibid, p 510f.
38 Ibid, p 512.
39 Ibid, p 512f.

and faith to the cross of Christ is in grace; a merely gifted man, however theologically articulate, may be under wrath still. The need to make this point, in our day as in Owen’s, is too obvious to require emphasis from me. We should thank Owen for reminding us of it—and examine ourselves.

But there is another side to the picture, a word of encouragement and incentive to balance the word of warning. Where ‘saving graces and spiritual gifts . . . bestowed on the same persons,’ writes Owen,

they are exceedingly helpful unto each other. A soul sanctified by saving grace, is the only proper soil for gifts to flourish in. Grace influenceth gifts unto a due exercise, prevents their abuse, stirs them up unto proper occasions, keeps them from being a matter of pride or contention, and subordinates them in all things unto the glory of God. When the actings of grace and gifts are inseparable, as when in prayer the Spirit is a spirit of grace and supplication, the grace and gift of it working together, when utterance in other duties is always accompanied with faith and love, then is God glorified, and our own salvation promoted. Then have edifying gifts a beauty and lustre upon them, and generally are most successful, when they are clothed and adorned with humility, meekness, a reverence of God, and compassion for the souls of men.40

Do we deplore that so little of the life of God appears in our souls? Is it our complaint that our gifts are so small? Use your gifts and graces, such as they are, to stir each other up to exercise, Owen is saying, and you will have more of both. Do we seek to grow in grace through the exercise of our gifts? When we speak to others of the things of God, do we seek to feed our own souls on the same truths? Equally, do we seek to increase our gifts through stirring up our hearts to seek God? When we speak of divine things to others, and lead them in prayer, do we seek to feel the reality of the things we speak of? Small gifts may have great usefulness when backed by honest, sincere feeling and unaffected holiness. Are we depressed about our Christian service, finding it largely barren and ourselves largely impotent? Let us go back to our God for wisdom to learn how his grace and gifts in us may help each other. Covet earnestly the best gifts — and with them a humble, loving heart. This is the way of growth and fruitfulness.
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40 Ibid, p 438.

Stephen Hesselman has out done himself once again with another
of his most excellent drawings: this one being of Dr. John Owen.
We are blessed on this blog to be able to feature some of Stephen's great talent.

A Quest for Godliness by J. I. Packer, © 1990.
Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, Crossway

EMERGENTCY: The Dire Need for Biblical Ministry...an urgent plea for emergent/emerging leaders

Updated

"but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." -1 Corinthians 1:23-25

About John Knox:
The text was Isaiah 26:13-21 and it was preached on August 19, 1565, in St Giles. The previous month Lord Darnley had married Queen Mary and was declared King. Darnley has been described as a man who could be either Catholic or Protestant as it suited him, sometimes he went 'to mass with the Queen and sometimes attended the reformed sermons'. On this particular Sunday he sat listening on a throne in St Giles and, while he was not directly mentioned in the sermon, it so infuriated him that Knox was instantly summoned before the Privy Council and forbidden to preach while the King and Queen were in town. Part of Knox's response was to write down the sermon as fully as he could remember it. It is the only Knox sermon that has survived, and in its conclusion he has these memorable sentences:

'Let us now humble ourselves in the presence of our God, and, from the bottom of our hearts, let us desire him to assist us with the power of his Holy Spirit . . . that albeit we see his Church so diminished, that it shall appear to be brought, as it were, to utter extermination, that yet we may be assured that in our God there is power and will to increase the number of his chosen, even while they be enlarged to the uttermost coasts of the earth.' -John Knox

When addressing this text of 2 Corinthians 4, I thought of no one else to illustrate authentic biblical ministry than John Knox.

Oh for men like him once again. Men that aren't for sale; men that reverence the Lord and not treat Him as a cartoon figure on a t-shirt; men that will stand against the world and for Christ; men who consider their lives small and the glory of God great; men who are not concerned with trivial cultural trends, but keep the eternal work in clear view; men who are more consumed with proclaiming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ than promoting themselves; men who weep for the lost, champion sound doctrine, plead with the church to be holy, confront political leadership, and herald God's Word uncompromised. Knox was not stifled by fear, motivated by fame, nor swayed by flattery. He was God's man and belonged to no other.

This dedication to biblical ministry the Apostle Paul gives us in what I consider to be the wheelhouse text of the foundations for ministry in 2 Corinthians chapter four. I am going to briefly comment on it for you below - but only briefly; for I mostly want you to just read and hear the text of Scripture itself and not be needlessly distracted by my comments.

This text sums up my plea and prayer for myself for I fall woefully short in all that I do for the Lord Jesus Christ. It is also my plea and prayer for national leaders within The Emergent Church (t.e. McLaren, Pagitt, Bell, etc.) who have given themselves over to unorthodox beliefs (Inclusivism [A Generous Orthodoxy], Pelagianism [denies imputation of original sin and that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone], Syncretism [the blending of opposing belief systems - the virgin birth is questioned and not held as essential]) which we could include under the umbrella of what the Apostle Paul called, "deceitful doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1). I say these things with tears, a heavy heart, out of deep concern for their souls, and realizing the sinfulness and wretchedness of my own depraved heart; if these men are truly my brothers in the Lord Jesus may they repent from these aberrant doctrines and return to Christ, His truth, and His gospel.  And if they are not, may God grant them repentance and the faith to believe Jesus Christ as Lord unto salvation by embracing the true gospel of sola fide and forsaking the dead idols of their own imaginations.  When anyone denies substitutionary atonement; the inerrancy, infallibility, and authority of Scripture; the existence of hell and eternal judgment of all who deny Christ and His gospel; the Virgin Birth; the doctrine of original sin; etc. then there is justified reason for us all to be concerned. 

I want to be clear here: I am not making an eternal judgment against these men; I am simply examining what these men teach and comparing their assertions through the grid of God's Word - and when analyzed in the light of Scripture, the comparison is frightening.  I am not anyone's Holy Spirit beloved; I am just another brother in Christ trying to be a faithful Berean to examine all things in light of the Word of God. As Paul admonishes us to do: "test all things and cling to that which is good." 

Again, please pray for these men that the Lord would bring others into their lives that would care to speak the truth in love to them and the Lord would open their eyes as to the error they are even unwittingly believing and teaching to others. Theology matters; doctrine matters; truth matters; Scripture matters. 

Let's look at this important seciton of God's holy Word.

The Foundations of Genuine Biblical Ministry
2 Corinthians 4 (NASB)

Comfort in Ministry
1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

Ministry belongs to the Lord; it is His. It is solely from Him and by His mercy He enlists us the privilege of serving Him. It is not the product of ourselves in any manner whatsoever (cp, Gal. 1:10-13; 2 Tim. 1:10-12). It is because of this truth that we do not faint or lose heart - literally, we do not abandon ourselves to cowardly surrender under the vicious attacks of others. Though sometimes we can become discouraged, "our labor and toil is not in vain" (cf, 1 Cor. 15:58). We press on amidst grave circumstances, persecutions, insults, onslaughts, privation and ridicule (cp, 2 Cor. 11) for the proclamation of the gospel; God's New Covenant for us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

May we be like those who can say,

“But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God." -Acts 20:24

Conduct in Ministry
2 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.

This is at the heart of biblical ministry; a conduct befitting Christlikeness that does not capitulate to the fads, trends, and transient means of the spirit of this age. Paul is saying here that we do not resort to shameful things; or gimmicks, tricks (cultural contextualizations of the message, audience marketeering, demographic research, seeker friendly pragmatism) etc. or to wresting the Word of God.

Paul mentions three sweeping categories of conduct unbecoming to those in biblical ministry:

1. disgraceful, underhanded ways (disgraceful conduct; clandestine and secret arts; all dishonest artifices and plans,);

2. cunning (craftily; or behaving in a crafty manner. The word here used denotes shrewdness, cunning, and craft. This was common; and this was probably practiced by the false teachers in Corinth);

and 3. tamper with God's word (handling it deceitfully, corrupting its truth, adulterating its meaning, not peddling it for financial gain (2 Cor. 2:17); not falsifying or misrepresenting its truths).

What should be our response to such things? "We have renounced those things"; literally "bid farewell to" those things. That word means to disown; to spurn, or scorn with aversion. It occurs nowhere else in the New Testament; and the sense here is that the Apostles had such a high view of the truth of Scripture and the glory of Christian ministry, that it led them to discard everything that was disguised and crafty; everything deceitful in the methods of ministry.

What's the antedote? "...by the open statement of truth commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God." Truth does not hide or cloak itself; it is "open" - unashamed. And the result is the straightforward commendation to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. Notice, that He is the object of all our endeavors; and therefore, we can speak it plainly to all without reservation, without hidden agenda, without the shroud of trickery, deceit, cunning or adulterating the Word of God.

As one of the great divines, Pastor John Gill, so rightly says:

"that is, they with all plainness and evidence clearly preached the truth as it is in Jesus, presenting it to, and pressing it upon the consciences of men; where they left it, and to which they could appeal; and all this they did, in the sight and presence of the omniscient God, to whom they knew they must give an account of themselves and their ministry."

Conflict in Ministry
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. 4 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.

Why is this vitally important?

Because we fight not against flesh and blood (Eph. 6:10-18); it is spiritual battle we face is it not? And we cannot fight with carnal weaponry (2 Cor. 10:1-4) as the emergents and pragmatic emergings want to. We must resort to the spiritual weapons of prayer, the Word of God, the means of grace, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Anythng else is child's play and may have the appearance of being equipped for battle, but their culturally-relevant-contextualized armor is not tempered with the steel of righteousness and truth; therefore, it is not profitable to wear for effective service in God's war. The battle is the Lord's beloved and we must engage His way, according to His Word, and for His glory or all our efforts are efforts in futility. "No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier" (2 Tim. 2:4).

This is the Achilles heal of the emergent/emerging movement. It is so focused and obsessed with the pragmatics on being identified with culture and target marketing a constituency in their neighborhoods, that they actually think that their methods have something to do with people becoming saved and the church growing through evangelism.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Why? Because it is a spiritual battle we are about.

Paul reminds us that Satan has blinded the minds of those who reject Christ and His truth. And there is one thing that is greater than the deceitful blinding darkness of the enemy, and that is the glorious light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan may be mighty, but Jesus Christ is Almighty and the gates of Hades cannot ever prevail against His church! Amen? Amen!

Confidence in Ministry
5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 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.

So what is our confidence in ministry? Is it the size of our annual offerings or size of our congregations? Is it technology? Is it the amount of downloads and listeners we enjoy on radio, podcasts, TV? Is it the number of readers on our blogs or websites? Not a chance. Our confidence is one thing: "we preach not ourselves... and we preach Christ Jesus as Lord." Did you hear that beloved? Those words should be branded upon the doors of every seminary, every church sanctuary and every pastors study. We do not preach ourselves; we don't preach anything to do with ourselves. We must forsake ourselves, our agendas, our methods, our techniques, our practices, etc. And we faithfully proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

We call Him Jesus because He is the Savior; we call Him Christ, because He is the sufficient Messiah; and we call Him Lord, because He is the One True Sovereign over all. We preach Jesus Christ as Lord!

Could it be anymore clear? "I sought to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). That was Paul's all consuming passion. Preach Christ Jesus as Lord! Only if men of God each week did so in our churches with humility, with power, with the unction of the Holy Spirit, and in the truth of His Word. How refreshing it would be. Oh to see emergents not only ask some right questions about doing church in our day, but more importantly to give the right answers of God's Word -- to preach Jesus Christ the Lord and not themselves!

And to do so as servants of the Lord--literally as slaves. Proclaim the Savior - Jesus Christ the Lord; and serve His people as slaves. We have no rights, no reputations to boast of, no merits in ourselves worthy of emulating or following except that which Christ has done through us by His grace.

"1 Cor. 3:5 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men? 1Cor. 3:5

¶ What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. 1Cor. 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 1Cor. 3:7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 1Cor. 3:8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 1Cor. 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

1Cor. 4:1 ¶ Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 1Cor. 4:2 In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

That's the right motive of ministry beloved. In Christ alone is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God! He is God incarnate--the Word become flesh. We exalt Him above all things--especially ourselves. We are nothing - He is everything! Are we content to preach Christ and exalt Him even if it means our own demise?Will we preach Jesus Christ as Lord even if no one listens? Will we preach Jesus Christ as Lord if no one responds? May we never shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God.

Commonness of Ministry
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Again, the Lord has insured that all pride in ministry and the fruit of salvation of another is never the cause for boasting in and of ourselves. The great work of evangelism belongs to the Lord. It is He who adds to the church daily; it is God who has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. The gospel itself is the power of God unto salvation.

Is there room for any boasting of our own accomplishments in biblical ministry? None whatsoever -- no room at all. Our methods do not add one thing to God's sovereign work of redemption (cp, Titus 3:4-7). Even some who want to announce their pursuit of humility reveals nothing more than a prideful heart boasting to attract the attention and praise of men.

"Riches I heed not nor man's empty praise..." the godly hymn writer pens.

We hold this treasure beloved (the treasure of the gospel) in jars of clay (not a bad name for a Christian band). The clay pots were used sometimes to hold valuables within a house. But mostly they were used for mundane purposes as recepticles for discarded menstral rags or human excrement. Paul says this is us; this is us. We are called by God "clay pots" - so the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. It is all about Him and His glory and not about us.

Any fruit from genuine ministry is not the result of human initiative or means. Ministry is not about expanding ones brand; selling CDs, books and study Bibles; it is not about increasing our market share of our radio programs and TV stations or building up shelf space at Target or Wal-Mart. It is about promoting the greatness of our God through Jesus Christ the Lord in proclaiming His gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit according to His Word. And knowing we do so as people of clay. Anything attribution of spiritual growth to man is nothing but vanity and a selfish pride. Anything less is all about us and not about Him.

We are jars of clay; common receptacles. By God's grace He uses us for His eternal purposes and for His glory. What a joy and privilege...

Cost of Ministry
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 death is at work in us, but life in you.

Are you prepared for this? Have you come to grips with giving up all things for the sake of Christ and His kingdom? To suffer the loss of all things so that we may gain Christ and know Him? (cp, Phil. 3:1-8) Are you resolved that you have no claim upon your own life and that you will not love it even unto death? Paul was perplexed, homeless, persecuted, afflicted, without worldly means, considered to be "the scum of the earth and the dregs of all things." He had nothing of worldly goods; he was destitute and was suffering greatly for the gospel. He was by his own admission "an ambassador in chains." But he was not without hope. He was not crushed, nor left in despair, never forsaken, and not destroyed.

Could you embrace those same chains so that "the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies?" Can you "count it all joy" the trials of ministry and the turbulence of serving His church with thankfulness in your heart knowing God is sovereign and in control of it all? Will you count it all joy to bear the insults of others for following and serving Jesus? Are you willing to risk it all, even die if necessary, for the sake of the glory of Christ Jesus the Lord? Will we be willing to be whittled down to size, as Gideon was. so that we will not say that our own hand has delivered us and that He receives all the glory?

Culmination of Ministry
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

Again, what is the chief end of man? What is his sole delight? The glory of God.

We believe so we speak; we are utterly convinced of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and so we are also convinced of God's power to raise us up with Him and bring us to completion in our glorification with Him (Jude 24-25). And in seeing more and more increase in thanksgiving to Him by His grace, culminating in His further glory. This is the capstone of all ministry; this is at the root of all biblical worship; this is service to God unfettered, unfeigned and worthy of Him--for it results in His glory.

Every week any local church or itinerate ministry should be as a matter of priority asking this one key question: what can we do to bring further glory to God this week? All staff meetings should begin and end with that question and goal on their lips. Every worship service should begin and end with the awesome expression of glory to God.

Commitment of Ministry
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

This is our conviction and therefore our commitment this day; we "do not lose heart." Paul ends this chapter where he began--encouragement in the Lord to keep on faithfully for Him regardless of the circumstances we may face each day.

We can be wasting away, but in what is eternal we are renewed. Even Paul's severe persecution, he considered a momentary "light affliction" compared to "the eternal weight of glory..." This is a key conviction to endurance in ministry: keeping the eternal in view; keeping the preeminence of Christ in view; making the most of Him in all we do for Him. We may suffer greatly for His gospel in this life, but we will never have to face the wrath to come. And so we may say with Paul, this is a light momentary weight we bare when compared to the eternal glory with Jesus Christ that awaits those who are in Him. The things which are seen are temporal; but the things not seen are eternal.

We may pray in dark moments through tears of doubt and sorrow: "Give us spiritual eyes Lord that we may see clearly, by faith, all that You have designed for those to whom You love and that love You faithfully. May we not be possessed by what is temporary; but be utterly convinced of what is eternal; and therefore, keep on until the end with an undivided heart, a single mind, an unwavering soul, with a firm resolve that this world is not my home--I'm just a passing through. It is for Your name's sake... Amen."

Conclusion
May I encourage you again to pray for these men I mentioned earlier in this article. Pray for their repentance and for their return to biblical ministry. And pray for me too. Pray that we all would guard our own hearts; that we would all watch our lives and doctrine closely (1 Tim. 4:12-16). Pray the Lord would keep us from a saracstic mocking spirit of others who believe differently, who might be aberrant stiff-necked in their doctrine, or who don't line up with every jot and tittle of the faith as we would see it. May we contend for the once for all delivered to the saints faith; but may we do so with reverence and respect as those who have sanctified Jesus Christ as Lord in our hearts (1 Peter 3:15-16).

May we treat error with the sober-minded seriousness it deserves; may we be bold against the skewed theology of false teachers; may we call them to repentance; and quickly repent ourselves. And may we embrace the whole truth of God's Word and encourage others to do the same with the soberness it deserves as well. May we stay teachable, broken, ready to serve, and steadfast in the gospel.

Is there joy in ministry? YES! There is great rejoicing in seeing the Lord work and to be used by Him for His glory. But it is not a celebration in what we have done, but only in what He has accomplished through us and in spite of us.

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all." -2 Corinthians 13:14