The Ohio Independent Baptist, February 1973

CHARACTER he \\ ork. that the pa~tor doe can– n )t he scr>aratcd f ro111 the life that he It\ c. . n1an n1a , be a ucce ful ur– ge n anJ. at the an1e time, a com– pul ·1,·e gan1bler : or he may teach alocbra "ith great ucce , and ge t <.ir:nk. e er)' ,veekend. But the ma.n in the n1ini.. tr reproduce after. ht kind. Thi. i \,\,hy Paul warned T1mo– th)' . "Take heed unto thysel~, and unto the doctrine . . .'' ( I T1mo~hy 4 : 16) . Bad character can never live \\ ith oood doct rine. Unl ess the truth i. \\ ritten on the pa tor's heart and re\ ealed in hi life, he can never write it on the hea rt of other . It i for thi rea on th at maturity i, e ential in the work of the mini - try. A the pa tor mature , hi people mature: fo r the work that we do flow out of the life that we li ve. Paul wa conce rned that young Timothy' "profiti ng ' ' be een by al l men ( I Timothy 4 : 15) , and that word "profit– ing'' wa an apt . choice. It !11ean~ " pioneer advance into new territory. Paul wa nted to see Timothy mature– move into new areas of spiritual un– der tanding and growth - because then hi s chu rch would al o mature to the glory of God. Of course, there is a great differ– ence between age and maturity. Age i a quantity of time : maturity i a quantity of expe ri ence. Unfortuna te– ly. not everyone who grows old grows up! The man who says, "I 've been pa toring for twenty years!" has no gua rantee that he is ministering in a mature manner, because age and ex– perience are no guarantees o~ !1'1atur– ity. They are only opportun1t1es for maturity. There are several ways to measure maturity: I want to focus on one : the ability to make di st inctions. In his prayer fo r the Philippians, Paul de– sires that they ". . . may approve things that are excellent" ( Philippians I: 10); or , that they " . .. may distin- guish the things that differ." A lit tl.e child thinks that al l fou r-footed an i– mals are dogs, until he discovers the existence of cats, mice, hamsters, and a multitude of other crea tures. The ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~ ......~aau<auuu.nuxaMUAUAU.UNal_.Y_x__ From Pastor's Manual Baptist Publications, Denver, Colorado 4 FEBRUARY, 1973 A DISCRIMINATING MAN SOME MARKS OF • • in by W a rren W . W iersbe abi lity to make d.i tinctions that are importa nt i one mark of the mat~re man. With thi s in mind I would like to ugge t several di ti ncti?n that ,. to me, mark the man who rs maturing in the ministry. ACTIVITY OR MIN ISTRY To begin with the maturing p ~st.or know the difference between act1v1ty and mini try. He knows that not all activity i mini try-in fact, it might . . I be a detour around real m1n1 try.- and th at some mini try require very little activ ity but a great deal of in– ten ity. A Sunday bulletin ~hat looks like an a irline timetable is not al – way an indication th at God's people are ervi ng the Lord . It could mean they are Ji ving on ub .titutes . . 1:"he mature pastor is not aga inst act 1v1 ty. because he know th at Spirit-filled peopl e will be involved erving other ; but he does not make acti vi ty the ole te t of the spiritual leve l of the church. Activity can impl y mean doing a job and ge tting it over with: mini stry means haring a life. In I Thes alon– ians 2: 7 8, Paul compares the faithful pa tor to a nur ing mother who im– part her very life to t~e chil?ren! Jt may be pre sing the tllustrat1.on roo far but mini try mean nursing the ' . . children, while activity mean m1x1ng a formula and turning the family ove r to a baby itter! The man who trul y mini ster is fulfilling a calling to the glory of God, not er vi ng a ca lendar for the praise of men. Multipl ying ac ti vitie is not alway the way to God's ble sing. I know a church that prided itself in its busy sched ule; there was something every ni gh t of the week . Some of the people asked that the church board make Monday into a "famil y night" so that the people could stay home and en– joy each other. The boa rd agreed and the members were given the pri vilege of staying home o~ Monday evenings. Unbelievable as 1t sounds, after a few weeks of this privilege, the members were asking to have the regular Monday eveni ng program re– stored again. They explained: "We just sit home and look at each other • and don't know what to do!'' Wha a tragedy tha t a "busy church., ha, robbed them of the job of buildin1 beautiful human relationship a home! After living for years on sub titute , the people did not know th rea l thing when it came their way. Every pa tor owes it to him e)f an, hi church to examine carefully th church program as \.\'ell as hi s ow, chedule. Each committee, organiza tion, activity and office should b, tested. Ha ome of the temporar~ scaffolding become part of the per manent tructure? Or , to change the figure, i a growing body being force( to wear baby clothes? We don't per form urgery on the baby to mak1 him fit the garment : we get new gar ment ! A breath of fre h air woul, blow through the local church tha ha the courage to separate act ivit~ from ministry. Now we mu t face the fact tha some pastor act uall y enjoy endles ac ti vity and full schedules. Perh.ap it gives them a feeling of accomplish. ment . What may be closer to th1 truth, perhaps it give them an ex cu e not to get too clo e to the peo~h where they may have to pay a. P~}c' to erve the Lord . When a man 1s 01 the run." people with brok~n hea.rt will not eek him out. Keeping act1v1 on the organizational and denomina ti onal treadmill ca n ea e a pastor' con cience a he neglect prayer an< meditation and a clo e confrontatior \vith the need that hi s people face Every man know the pl ague of hi own heart, and so I must not judge but I cannot help feeling· that Heaver ha a pec ial reward for th at pa to1 who will have the courage to sa) wi th Jeremi ah , "Take away her battl: ment : for they are not the Lord ' ( Jeremiah 5 : 10) . PRINCIPLES OR METHODS The mature pa tor also knows tht difference between principles anc methods. The old couplet puts it per· fectly: M etl1ods are 111an)' , princ iples are few; • • M e thods always change, pr1nc1- ples never d o. THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST