Ours is the care of service – His is the care of success. “The Lord of the harvest “must determine, when, and what, and where the harvest shall be.
~Charles Bridges~
The Christian Ministry (Edinburgh, Scotland; The Banner of Truth Trust; 1958) Part 2; Chapter 1; Point 2.
THE PASTORAL WORK OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.
LET US not think, that all our work is done in the study and in the pulpit. Preaching—the grand lever of the Ministry— derives much of its power from connexion with the Pastoral work; and its too frequent disjunction from it is a main cause of our inefficiency. The Pastor and Preacher combine to form the completeness of the sacred office, as expounded in our Ordination services and in Scriptural illustrations. How little can a stated appearance in public answer to the lowest sense of such terms as Shepherd, Watchman, Overseer, Steward!— terms, which import not a mere general superintendence over the flock, charge, or household, but an acquaintance with their individual wants, and a distribution suitable to the occasion; without which, instead of ” taking heed to the flock, over which the Holy Ghost |hath made us overseers” we can scarcely be said to ” take the oversight of it” at all.
~Charles Bridges~
The Christian Ministry (Edinburgh, Scotland; The Banner of Truth Trust; 1958)
Love is the life, power, soul, and spirit of pulpit eloquence; entreating rather than denouncing the character of our office; and it is the delivery of our Master’s message with the looks and language of his own manifested tenderness, that attracts and triumphs over the hearts of a willing people. We wonder not at the Apostle’s success, when we read, that at Ephesus (which doubtless was an instance of his general course of Ministry) he “ceased not for three years to warn every one of them night and day with tears.” The most honoured Ministers have been men, distinguished, not for the brightest talents, but for an humble and affectionate spirit. Some eminent servants of God, from the want of this spirit, alarm rather than persuade; confirm prejudice rather than remove it; and consequently the effectiveness of their labours falls below many of their brethren, of far inferior gifts. ‘ The Christian Pastor, of all men in world, should have an affectionate heart. When he preaches, it is the Shepherd in search of the strayed sheep; the father in pursuit of his lost child.
~Charles Bridges~
The Christian Ministry (Edinburgh, Scotland; The Banner of Truth Trust; 1958) p. 337-338.
To enlighten the mind and affect the heart are the two main ends of the Christian ministry. The first demands wisdom and plainness, the second fervency, as the spirit of scriptural preaching. This combination exhibits the minister as ‘a burning and a shining light’… ‘imparting the spiritual light of divine truth, as well as the spiritual heat of divine fervour.’ As to fervency–if it be natural to express ourselves with earnestness upon subjects of deep and acknowledged interest–much more in the delivery of our great commission. Nothing, says, Baxter, is more indecent than a dead preacher speaking to dead sinners the living truth of the living God.
~Charles Bridges~
The Christian Ministry (Edinburgh, Scotland; The Banner of Truth Trust; 1958) p. 318.
Unbelief looks at the difficulty. Faith regards the promise. Unbelief therefore makes our work a service of bondage. Faith realizes it as a “labour of love.” Unbelief drags on in sullen despondency. Faith makes the patience, with which it content to wait for success, “the patience of hope.” As every difficulty (as we have hinted,) is the fruit of unbelief; so will they all ultimately be overcome by the perseverance of faith. To gain therefore an active and powerful spring of renewed exertion, we must strike our roots deeper into the soil of faith. For the work will ever prosper or decline, as we depend upon an Almighty arm, or an arm of flesh. Few, probably, even of the most devoted servants of God, had duly counted the cost before they put their hand to the plough; and from the want of these preparatory exercises of faith, arises that oppressive faintness which gives the enemy such an advantage in distressing our peace, and enfeebling our exertions. But after all, the grand secret is habitually to have eye upon Christ. Peter–looking at the waves instead of the Saviour–“began to sink.” We too–if we look at the difficulties of our work, and forget the upholding arm of our ever-present Head–shall sink in despondency. Believe–wait–work–are the watchwords of the Ministry. Believing the promise, gives the power to wait. Waiting supplies strength for work, and such working “is not in vain in the Lord.
~Charles Bridges~
The Christian Ministry (Edinburgh, Scotland; The Banner of Truth Trust; 1958) p. 166-167.
The Old Guys 