Richard Baxter’s work, The Reformed Pastor, is a lengthy exposition of Acts 20:28, wherein Paul instructs the Ephesian elders, “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” (51). Following the pattern of this verse, Baxter structures his exposition in three parts.

In the first part, Baxter explores what it means to “take heed, therefore, unto yourselves,” and breaks this into two sections: the nature of this oversight and the motives of this oversight. On the nature of the oversight, Baxter exhorts pastors and overseers in the church to seek assurance of their own state of grace before they begin to work towards the goal of seeing others come into or grow in a state of grace. He stresses the need for ministers to know, and study, and be affected by the truths and beauty of the gospel of Christ as a prerequisite to the work of the ministry. Concerning the motives of ministers taking heed unto themselves, Baxter notes the ministers are much more susceptible to, and often much more plagued by, temptations of Satan than are regular Christians. Knowing this alone ought to be motivation enough for pastors to watch closely how they walk in the Lord.

In the second part of the book, Baxter examines another phrase of Acts 20:28, looking at what it means to take heed to the flock. Again this chapter is broken down into the nature and motives of this oversight, and a third section, the manner of the oversight is added. Under the nature of the oversight, Baxter stresses the vital importance for the minister to care for each individual member of his flock, being mindful of their state and needs and the methods to go about either growing them in grace or winning them to Christ. Also of importance was the great emphasis that Baxter puts on shepherding families and heads of families so that they may assist the minister in keeping watch over the flock. Concerning the manner of the oversight, Baxter’s instructions are best summed up in saying that ministry is only to be done for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The last section of this part of the book concerns motives for the oversight of the flock, and Baxter notes the great privilege it is for a minister to be made overseer of a parish by the Holy Spirit. Again, this ought to be motive enough for the minister to give his all to God and to the ministry in order that those souls under his care might be won for Christ.

In the third and final part of The Reformed Pastor, Baxter gives a guide to applying all that he has discussed in the first two parts of his book. He first discusses the use of humiliation in the pastor’s life, lamenting over many common sins that pastors often fall to. He does this in order for pastors to be humbled for their past negligence in their duties, and to encourage them to be spurned on to greater obedience in their calling. The rest of this section is spent in outlining a program for carrying out the work of special instruction among the flock including personal catechizing and personal instruction on the things of religion.

Overall this book was a helpful treatise on the vital importance of the calling to gospel ministry and was very blunt about the care that must be taken upon entering and living under this calling. However, there are several issues with Baxter’s method that bear mentioning. In the third part of the book, on applying what he had previously discussed, Baxter’s language tends to be quite militant and strict in the steps he outlines to carry out the oversight of the flock, and he often strays into broad-brushed condemnation of certain activities. It is implied that any pastor that does not devote two entire days of each week to making house calls for the purpose of catechizing and instructing his flock is being deficient in his duty, or at the very least is devoted too much to his preaching and study, and not enough to caring for and catechizing his flock. It also seems that he is too harsh on what he calls “unnecessary recreation,” be it socializing or otherwise, stating that the only recreation a minister needs is “an hour, or half an hour’s walk before meat” (216). But perhaps the greatest hindrance of the book is its dogmatic “do” mentality. One might read the book and think that no room has been made for the Holy Spirit to work, and that the success or failure of the ministry is solely based on the performance of the minister.

Though these faults may take away from the overall value of the book, the book is still quite useful to ministers today. Baxter’s insistence on the necessity of true, biblical church discipline is something that every minister needs to take to heart. Discipline, far more in the present day than in Baxter’s, is the one mark of the church that is virtually non-existent. The modern church has lost a sense of what it means to faithfully carry out disciplinary acts of love in the hopes that those disciplined might repent and return to their Lord and their God. In reading the striking words of Baxter on the issue, pastors will hopefully be restored to a correct understanding of the need for discipline and then be motivated to enact discipline in their own churches when the need arises.

The book’s biggest value is in the first part which gives instruction on the minister watching over himself. Baxter’s words are so vital and so relevant to ministers throughout the ages that they would be doing themselves harm not to heed the warnings and encouragements that Baxter gives, particularly in the need for ministers to “preach to yourselves the sermons which you study, before you preach them to others” (61). As Baxter notes, too many ministers neglect their own souls and carry out their ministry as they would any other vocation, with no sense of urgency of the things of the gospel. However, not only is this doing violence to the calling of God in the pastor’s life, but this does little to assist the flock in taking the gospel seriously. Thus it is vital for the pastor to be gripped and affected by that which he preaches and teaches his people, so much so that he is outwardly and publicly affected. Only then will those in the flock begin to have a sense of wonder towards the gospel and take seriously the calls of the pastor to faith and repentance.

i’ve been reading through Richard Baxter’s The Reformed Pastor, and i was convicted by the passage quoted below. with all the theological battles raging today, particularly in Reformed circles, Baxter’s words here offer striking counsel.

The Scripture sufficiency must be maintained, and nothing beyond it imposed on others; and if papists, or others, call to us for the standard and rule of our religion, it is the Bible that we must show them, rather than any confessions of churches, or writings of men. We must learn to distinguish between certainties and uncertainties, necessaries and unnecessaries, catholic verities and private opinions; and to lay the stress of the Church’s peace upon the former, not upon the latter. We must avoid the common confusion of speaking of those who make no difference between verbal and real errors, and hate that ‘madness formerly among theologians,’ who tear their brethren as heretics, before they understand them. And we must learn to see the true state of controversies, and reduce them to the very point where the difference lieth, and not make them seem greater than they are.

i don’t usually put much stock into these kind of quizzes, but i’d say this one was pretty dead-on!

You scored as Reformed Evangelical. You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God’s Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die.

Reformed Evangelical		89%
Fundamentalist		79%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan		71%
Neo orthodox		68%
Roman Catholic		39%
Emergent/Postmodern		39%
Classical Liberal		36%
Charismatic/Pentecostal		25%
Modern Liberal		4%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

so i’ve never been one to make new year’s resolutions because i think they’re silly. but i’ve been thinking a lot about what and how much i read (and what and how much i don’t read). several friends of mine keep running lists of what they read each year, and i think this is a good idea. i didn’t keep one for this year, but as i thought back on what i had read (from what i could remember, at least), i found that i pretty much only read non-fiction. i probably knew this all along, but i had never stopped to think about it.

so not only am i going to keep a list for 2007 of what i read month by month, but i guess you could say that i’m resolving to read more fiction. this was a difficult thing to decide to do. looking at the fiction section of the bookstore, i found myself staring stupidly at book after book, author after author, and thinking, “where the heck would i start?” so i decided to be a fiction snob and only stick to classic fiction. i plan to read at least one fiction book per month and will be starting with My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. i’ve read this book before, but not in a very long time and i really want to read it again.

i’ve also started to plan out the other fiction books i will be reading, because if i don’t then this “resolution” will most likely end up where 99% of the world’s resolutions end up: unfulfilled and forgotten. so here is the list i have so far (not in any order):

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Iliad by Homer
The Odyssey by Homer

any other suggestions?

How unsuitable it is for us, who live only by kindness, to be unkind!

have you ever had a moment when you’ve been reading when you’re so struck by a sentence or paragraph that you just can’t read anymore and feel driven to put your book down and meditate on that sentence or paragraph? that happened to me tonight as i read these words from Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, “Much in Deeds of Charity.”

this sentence struck me because it’s so true. how ridiculous it is for us who live only by the sheer kindness of our Creator, who sustains us day after day, to be unkind or uncharitable to those who are just as much the image of God, and just as much sustained by Him, as we are. i think this sentence struck me so much because of the time of year it is. at a time when we should all be the most joyful, preparing to celebrate the birth of our Savior and the great hope that came into the world because of that birth, there’s probably no other time of year in which people are more unkind, more uncharitable, more everything bad. just watching the news or going to any kind of store is enough to support the claim. people fighting over parking spots, people being incredibly impatient with understaffed retail stores, people being beaten up or even killed over a popular toy — it’s madness.

so perhaps there is no better time of year to pay attention to these words of Edwards’, and no better time of year to put a little more effort in to loving our neighbors as ourselves.

this is a Lutheran Advent Calendar. i think the Lutherans are on to something here…..

(HT: Kim Riddlebarger)

this notice was posted in America in the late 17th and early 18th centuries (Christmas was on its way back to being celebrated in the colonies by the time of the Revolution, though not fully celebrated until the 19th century, and not made a government holiday until 1870). in case you find it hard to read, it says:

PUBLICK NOTICE

The Observation of CHRISTMAS having been deemed a Sacrilege, the exchanging of Gifts and Greetings, dressing in Fine Clothing, Feasting, and similar Satanical Practices are hereby

FORBIDDEN

with the Offender liable to a Fine of FIVE SHILLINGS

do you ever wonder if we, in America, are again reaching a point where the celebration of Christmas will be outlawed? of course it wouldn’t be outlawed for the same reasons as it was in the 17th century. in fact, if it were to be banned today, the reasons for doing so would be on the completely opposite side of the spectrum from “Sacrilege.”

here’s my line of thinking. first, “Merry Christmas” was reduced to “Merry X-mas,” because of the offensiveness and intolerance of the name “Christ” to those who campaign for a more “politically correct” society. in recent years, “Merry X-mas” has been replaced by “Happy Holidays” in order to completely remove any indication that it is “Christmas,” a nearly four-letter word by now, that is being celebrated. some schools are no longer allowed to have Christmas parties and are to instead have “winter festivals.” even Santa is being outlawed from schools and businesses because he is deemed “too religious.” so it would seem that the next logical step is to completely ban Christmas. or at least remove anything and everything having to do with the Christian religion from the last 6 or so weeks of every year.

so why is this happening? because people are too worried about offending others. and deeper than that, people are too worried about frivolous lawsuits being brought against those who accidentally might let a “Merry Christmas” slip from their lips. most will probably say that they are making these new rules out of respect for other faiths. but i don’t think that’s quite accurate. i think it’s done out of nothing more than fear. fear of not being liked. fear of being gossiped about by others. fear of being called things like “intolerant” or something equivalent. maybe even fear of being harmed by those who are hostile to Christianity.

doesn’t this seem a bit ridiculous, though? especially if we remember what it is we’re supposed to be celebrating and the great hope that was not only begun but fulfilled by the birth of a child in Bethlehem so many years ago? our celebration and remembrance of Christ’s miraculous birth should not be filled with fear or anxiety over what others may think of us or do to us. it should fill us with joy. it should fill us with peace. it should fill us with hope.

so let us not be filled with fear in celebrating the birth of our Savior. let us boldly cling to Christ and let us remember what Christmas is truly about. in the immortal words of Linus Van Pelt:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

my last post on the book Suffering and the Sovereignty of God has had me thinking for the last couple of days about what helps me in times of strife. i won’t pretend that i’ve suffered in the ways that the contributors of the book have, praise God, and i pray that i never will. but the truth is that i might, someday.

what i’ve found is that i’m often driven to music when i’m down or going through some sort of hardship, and in particular i’ve found that i’m often driven to hymns. in a sense this makes sense. what better way to turn suffering and strife to worship than by crying out to God in song with words that have stood the test of time and have helped so many others in similar struggles. it’s in those times especially that we need to be reminded of God’s goodness, His strength, His love for His people, and the surety of His promises to those who love Him.

perhaps there is no better example of this than Martin Luther’s great hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” (the German title being the title of this post). this hymn is such an encouragement to me. it’s such an encouragement to sing that God is a mighty fortress, a fortress that never fails though the evil powers of this world “doth seek to work us woe” and suffering. it’s an encouragement that Christ is on our side and that He will win the battle, “one little word” felling Satan and all his craftiness and deceit. and it’s an encouragement to know that the sufferings we may experience in these days and in these bodies are not forever. an eternal Kingdom awaits those who love the Lord, a Kingdom in which “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

these words have helped me tremendously in recent years and months, and i hope that they will help others who experience tough times as well.

a mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper He, amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing:
for still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and, armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing;
were not the right Man on our side,
the Man of God’s own choosing:
dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name,
from age to age the same,
and He must win the battle.

and though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us:
the Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure,
one little word shall fell him.

that word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them, abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours
through Him Who with us sideth:
let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill
God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

This moment of tragedy and evil [referring to 9/11] shone its own light on the Church and what we came to see was not a happy sight. For what has become conspicuous by its scarcity, and not least in the evan­gelical corner of it, is a spiritual gravitas, one which could match the depth of horrendous evil and address issues of such seriousness. Evangelicalism, now much absorbed by the arts and tricks of market­ing, is simply not very serious anymore (David Wells, Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World, 4).

these are the words that John Piper chooses to open up the first chapter of this volume with. not his words, but the words of David Wells, and Wells could not have put it any better. the church is simply not very serious anymore. at least not when it comes to suffering and evil. sure there are rallies and money drives and things like that, but there is often no love, no ministering, no truly getting one’s hands dirty in order to “love one’s neighbor as himself.” this has resulted, in Wells’ words, in a lack of a spiritual gravitas, or a lack of spiritual weightiness, in matters of suffering and hardship. rather than deal with suffering, the church is content with increased programming. rather than deal with the incredible depth of sin, the church, by and large, would rather call for boycotts against companies like Disney and Wal-Mart. but this is nothing more than a band-aid mentality. worse yet, it’s like trying to put a band-aid on cancer. it just doesn’t do any good.

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God is the latest volume to result from the annual national conference put on by Desiring God Ministries, edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor. the book is divided into three sections, these being “the sovereignty of God in suffering,” “the purposes of God in suffering,” and “the grace of God in suffering.” the most helpful thing about this book is that, as Justin Taylor says in the introduction, this is a book on applied theology, rather than a book dealing with abstract ideas. each of the contributors of this book has dealt with their fair of suffering. two contributors are paralyzed and deal with chronic pain, two experienced the death of a parent when they were young, two have had children die in the past few years, and two are currently battling prostate cancer. through all these trials, each tells how they have found comfort and hope in the sovereign God, the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3).

the greatest thing the American church can take away from this book is that God is sovereign over all suffering, all evil, all schemes and devices of Satan. this is the subject of Piper’s first chapter in the book. Piper issues ten calls to celebrate the fact that God is more powerful than Satan and the evil powers. Piper calls us to celebrate that God is sovereign over Satan’s delegated rule, over Satan’s angels, and over Satan’s hand in persecuting the church. we are to celebrate that God is sovereign over Satan’s life-taking power, over Satan’s hand in natural disasters, and over his sickness-causing power. we are to celebrate that God is sovereign over Satan’s use of plants and animals, over his tempting us to sin, and over his mind-blinding power. finally, we are to celebrate that God is sovereign over Satan’s spiritual bondage. even though he may bind us through either misery and suffering or through pleasure and prosperity, we are to rejoice that Satan is not sovereign over his captives. only God is. and God is merciful in setting free those whom are His from this bondage through the gift of repentance and faith. what joy there is in this. what grace, and what mercy.

not only should we rejoice at this, but we should hasten to share this joy and this comfort with others in hopes that they too may be set free from their bondage to sin. that is what the church should take away from this book. not to run from suffering. not to ignore it or suppress it, but to look to God for comfort and freedom in facing our sufferings head on. not only for our sake, but for the sake of others as well, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians,

for as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

may this book serve to comfort those who are suffering, may it serve to deepen their love and awe of God, the sovereign Lord of all things, including evil and suffering. and may they, through their comfort, be better equipped to comfort others who suffer, sharing the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them, and calling them to rejoice in the God of all comfort.