Holy Self-Suspicion

One final quote from Thomas Manton’s Farewell Sermon. There is something in a man’s words that should cause us to pause and listen when that man is a persecuted minister of the gospel and is legally preaching his last sermon before being ejected from his pulpit. Manton’s Farewell Sermon is precious because in these final words he speaks of watching over themselves that they may safeguard against sin. His final words from his pulpit are words of exhortation, encouragement, caution…as if he were saying to them, “Be careful over yourselves dear ones, though the earthly shepherd be removed from you, be found all the more diligent in your obedience to The Good Shepherd from Heaven, and so keep yourselves from sin.” The sweetness of his concern is because it is not a self-concern. No, he has concern for these people, and that they may slip, so he says,

“Watch over thyself with a holy self-suspicion, because thou hast sin within thee that doth easily beset thee; therefore consider thy ways, Ps. 119:59; guard thy senses, Job 33:1; but, above all, keep thy heart, Prov. 4:23. Conscience must stand porter at the door, and examine what comes in and what goes out. Watch over the stratagems of Satan, and seducing motions of thy own heart.”

- Thomas Manton, from his Farewell Sermon, in volume 2 of Works, page 419

To read this sermon in its entirety, we have a page here to go to.

A Pastoral Reproof

Up front, I would like to be clear on my position. I believe a pastor should be paid for his work, within reason. The Scriptures are clear on this. I would also like to be clear that there is a difference between teaching/preaching and pastoring. Let not that man who would only instruct from the pulpit, consider himself a pastor. Preaching and teaching are done at the desk of God, but pastoring is completed when the man of God comes to the people of God to tend to their wounds while he prunes their branches. The pastor cares for the flock, he loves them, and he longs to make them beautiful for the Good Shepherd. With that said….

How many pastors are Christ-called rather than career-concerned?

The pastorate is the greatest calling that a man can receive. But I wonder,

How many men would still be “called” to the pastorate if they had to produce their living through means of a secondary source of income?

Pastoring is a calling, not a career. A called pastor cannot help but minister to the people around him, it is the work of God through the man of God. A career pastor is first concerned about his income and whether or not it is sufficient, then comes his purchased concern for the flock he has been so-called to. How many pastors have abused this call? How many pastors are abusing this call? I have met many men who held the title, the position, the ordination, and of that number, sadly, a very very few of them were truly pastors. How do we tell the difference? The difference is in the ministering, the serving, loving, sacrificing, laboring, working, striving, yes the painful laboring! Many just clock-in and then clock-out. That is not pastoral, that is occupational.

Either Christ has owned the man or the man is owned by money.

Perhaps, if more ministers struggled financially, they might depend more on Christ and thereby live by faith. And what might be gained for the flock of God if the pastor is the example of a man who lives daily through faith in Christ? The career pastor depends on his salary, but the called pastor depends on Christ. Which pastor would you want? Which pastor would want to be?