Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

night."spiritual"alone."moved."sinner,"words abide in us. And then, like a geometrical progression, we can, with increasing power "ask what(we) will and it shall be done unto (us) " (John 15 :.7) The praying pastor is the powerful pastor.3 He should be spiritual. If he believes in Christand the Bible and if he prays regularly and in all sincerity, he will inevitably be on high and ever escendingspiritual ground. But there is constant dangerthat as one ascends the spiritual ladder he lose touchwith reality and thereby fail in the very point wherehe considers himself strongest.One who is truly spiritual will be:a Discriminating without being critical.b Separated without being pharisaical.c Wise without being conceited.A little tract by Harold M. Freligh entitled "Yewhich aretion.Call"is well worth careful considera'The Pastor's Call'The following quotations from "The Pastor'sby Gerberding are very apropos: "He musthave in his own heart an abiding sense of sin, sorrowfor it, hatred of it and longing for victoryover it .It is of the greatest importance for the evangelicalpastor that he be able to bear witness concerning thecertainty of salvation. He must have experiencedjustification by faith (P. 59).. .4 He should feel, unmistakably and irrevokably,that he has been called by God to the ministry.Again quoting from the above author: "There mustbe, in a sense, earnest desire. But his willingness anddesire do not spring from impulse or emotion. Neith. .er are they inspired by any worldly motive. They arerather the outgrowth of a conviction wrought by theHoly Ghost . The aspiring minister is made to feelthat it would endanger his soul's salvation and bedisloyalty to God to refuse . . . How is this convictionbrought about? Not by special revelation, voices,visions or dreams. It is not immediate. It is wroughtby the Holy Spirit through the Word of God." (PP.63-64).II. Secondly,He Must Be a Mana Christian expects his pastorto be a man.The First and the Fifteenth Psalms give usGod's specifications for a man: "Blessed is the manthat walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, norstandeth in the way of sinners, not sitteth in theseat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law ofthe Lord ; and in His law doth he meditate day and(Psalms 1:1-2). "Lord who shall abide inThy tabernacle, who shall dwell in Thy holy hill ? Hethat walketh uprightly and worketh righteousnessand speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbitethnot with his tongue, nor doeth evil to hisneighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against hisneighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is condemned ;but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He thatsweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. He thatputteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth thesethings shall never be (Psalm .15)This business of being a man is a tough enoughjob for anyone, but especially so for anyone constantly in the blaze of the kleig lights of publicity, asa minister, by his very vocation, is bound to be. HeAugust 17, 1955is either looked up to or looked down on. It is his jobto see to it that it is always the former, never thelatter. To do this I have listed a veritable decathalonthe race he must run, the hurdles he must clear,to qualify as a man.1 He must be fearless in the right.The minister, perhaps more than most, will betempted to swerve just a little, or so he reasons,from the straight and narrow path, especially if oneof his rich parishoners is pushing that way. And it isso easy for all of us to rationalize. Many times, ofcourse, he will be warranted in yielding, but it is sovery difficult at times to know when and how much.Christ gives was the perfect example. When it wasa matter that affected Him personally He was perfectly acquiescent when it was a matter of principle He stood like Gibraltar, immovable.2 Although he must be fearless, he also mustbe humble.The one sin which so easily besets all strivingChristians, laymen or pastors, is the sin of spiritualpride. Two prayers, offered persistently and sincerely, will help us all to avoid that pitfall: "Lord, bemerciful to me a and "Not my will but Thinebe done."3 If he would largely succeed, the pastor must beUpright, Honest, Truthful, Sincere.It was the lack of these, especially the last,that brought down on the hypocrites of Christ's daythe scathing denunciations of Matthew 23. And howcan a pastor hope to succeed if his word is not asgood as his bond, if he does not pay his just debts,if he gets into compromising situations?Common Sense4 He should have a very large dose of thatmost uncommon ingredient, Common Sense, andwith it a Tender and Sympathetic Heart.Who can anticipate the situations which will inevitably arise in a pastor's work where all of thesecharacteristics must be employed to the utmost ; andthen he will wonder if he has not failed.5 If he is going to meet fully the challengepresented to him he must be a good Leader, whichmeans that he must also be a good Mixer.He must be able to enter wholeheartedly intothe social life of his congregation and his community,yet he will need to avoid being the Hail Fellow WellMet, or the Life of the Party, and such like.6 Closely related to the above, he should beDignified and Cheerful, in short, a Christian Gentleman.Again our Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest example the most gracious gentleman who ever trodthis earth.7 He will need to be Temperate in his personalhabits, Chaste in his amusements, and Circumspectin his politics.Some things which he might do with impunitymay be a stumbling block to some of his weakerbrethren. Like Paul, he may have to eschew perfectly good meat if thereby he makes his brother to offend. (1 Cor. 8:13).A Good Physique8 He must have a good Physique, a Strong andVigorous Mind, and a Dynamic Personality.Tlie physical load of leading a congregation isnothing for a weakling to attempt. The minister and103