Wednesday 22 February 2012
The Escondido Theology by John Frame
A weighty service
According to The Directory for the Public Worship of God, the spoken ministry is a ‘weighty service’. In the words of the Lager Catechism it is to be undertaken painfully, plainly, faithfully, wisely, gravely, with loving affection and as taught of God; never in a spirit of self-confidence.[1] Dabney, in his lectures on sacred rhetoric, states that ‘rhetorical discourse should deal not only with the intellect (to produce mental conviction) but also with the affections to direct the motives’,[2] which is to say that ministerial discourse is a ‘hearts and mind’ enterprise demanding clear proclamation and persuasive application. This adds up not only to a weighty task but also to a demand that we appraise our office and function as preachers appropriately. I suppose none of us escapes ‘the morning after the night before’ experience when it comes to reflecting on how well are badly we fared in the pulpit on the Lord’s Day. At the very least, as I’m sure we will agree, our written report from the school of Christ will invariably include 'could do better’.
It is no bad thing to feel that weight. Properly estimated, ministers have no intrinsic value. What distinguishes them from other church members are the gift and call of God and the growth in grace and knowledge requisite in those who preach. But at the end of the day, we are but clay pots in which God has deposited his gospel treasure that the excellence of the power might be of him, not us. Calvin writes ‘Those that intrude themselves confidently [into the ministry], and in a spirit much elated, or who discharge the ministry of the word with an easy mind, as though they were equal to the task, are ignorant at once of themselves and of the task.’[3]The Directory recognizes that ‘the minister of Christ is in some good measure gifted’, which is what sets him apart from his fellows but never so much that there is no room for improvement. In fact, it recommends that a minister ‘improve [his gift] in his private preparations before he deliver in public what he hath provided’, which accords with the aim of this paper. Improvement is always desirable, even necessary but always within the bounds of what Scripture means by preaching. We are not showmen, just preachers, not authority figures, just ministers, not out to serve ourselves but to be the church’s servants for Christ’s sake.
A humble and grave approach is what Paul advocated. In 2 Cor. 4:1 he writes ‘men ought to regard us Christ’s servants’ and in 4:5, he adds ‘we are your servants for Christ’s sake. It is a ‘servant ministry’, though today, even that expression has been high-jacked by men with a much wider agenda. Actually, throughout its history, the church has been plagued by men and women more committed to making a name for themselves than lifting up Christ. Paul’s warning to the Ephesian elders has always been timely,[4] not least in our own time when we are assailed by self-appointed preachers & teachers, many without training and accountable to no one. Some even, who went through a training and appointment process, manage to turn the ministry to their own advantage, which brings me back to weightiness of the ministry and the need to improve.
Paul, it is clear, had not the remotest interest in ‘performance’ despite his reported discourses being delivered ‘off the cuff’ so to speak and his being ‘ready’. Although he never attended seminary and never learned homiletics, he was well trained. He met the risen Christ, from whom he received certain truths which he passed on, he made early contact other disciples and the apostles, spent time in Arabia and was part of the ‘ministry team’ of the church at Syrian Antioch. My point is that, even as an inspired preacher, one taught by the Spirit, he had ‘studied’ the disciplines, gained a thorough acquaintance with the Scriptures, learned how to divide them correctly and apply them passionately. In the forms in which we have them, Paul’s discourses are coherent, spiritual insightful, existentially sensitive, penetratingly logical and passionately persuasive. If anyone can help us, he can!
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