As I mentioned, I’ve really enjoyed William Still’s book, The Work of the Pastor. Still’s ability to focus on the main task of the pastor–feeding the sheep the word of God–and to sketch in color the outworkings of that task is simply masterful. I’ve been meaning to post a couple other quotes from Still, but I’ve been thoroughly engaged with the preaching, teaching, and fellowship of the New Life Bible Conference. This year’s theme is the supremacy of Christ in the book of Hebrews. It’s been an outstanding time in the word!
Without further delay, a few more tidbits from Still.
Problem People
One of the great sorrows of my work is that through the years a certain number of persons have collapsed under my ministry, because, thinking I was stronger than they, they clung to me in the hope that by climbing on to my back they could become more than it was in them to be, and, therefore, in God’s will for them to be. In the end the Word preached, which they came ultimately to hate, broke them; and knowing it was breaking them, they demanded it be changed and turned into a soothing syrup to heal them. It could not be, of course, for even the gentlest word rent them, and when the fantastic beanstalk of unwitting presumption was felled to the ground by the axe-blows of the Word of God, down came the poor Jacks with it; I was blamed for doing irreparable harm to delicate and sensitive personalities. I do not deny my agency in that to some extent and it breaks my heart. But it was the Word that broke them, because they became attached to a personality which had become attractive to them, and which they believed to be fruitful through the livingness of the Word itself. They did not want the Word itself. My greatest heartbreaks have been with people, who, failing to see that it is the Word that brings out the true flavour of personality, wanted to absorb the preacher’s personality but not the Word–wanted the fruit but not the root, like people want the ethic without the Cross (p. 34).
Early Fruits
There will soon be evidence that God is at work–and the devil will rouse himself too! The first sign may be that believing folk who may have grown cold and worldly, will begin to loosen their purse-strings out of thankfulness to God for His living Word, and the finances will improve. This is the least of the signs, but it is almost always the first to appear in the reviving of a church.
Then this becomes a witness to the nominal in the midst, the materially minded, that a faithful ministry pays financial as well as spiritual dividends. There will be opposition, and you may be quite surprised at where it comes from–notably those who have been ‘running the church’ and who have turned the church of Jesus Christ into their private preserve and hobby. Those whose daily lives do not match up to their profession will begin to be disturbed. Those who maintain class distinctions, social or intellectual, in the congregation, and all who put up with the fulminations of a young minister as long as he does not seriously interfere with their status quo, will begin to panic. Amidst all this, consciences will be stirred and lives will be searched, home life, business, church activities examined. People will begin to take sides, objections to you and to what you preach, and how you preach it, will become increasingly plausible (but quite irrational when you consider them). Your manner, length and style of preaching, etc. will all be torn to pieces.
Withal, there will appear a nucleus of responsible souls all very imperfect; some perhaps quite objectionable, and possibly, alas, without a good witness in the church and community; some toadying to the new man and to the new-found livingness of his message in the hope that, siding with you, they may escape the searchingness of the Word, and put themselves in your good books. But a nucleus will appear, of whom several will be seen to be truly devoted to God, and bound together by ties of holy love. These will honour you for your faithfulness to God. God will even provide you with a suitable comforter, someone to care for you in the upheaval, and you will begin to see the church taking apostolic shape before your eyes. You will see the Word changing and exposing lives, and you will marvel and tremble and rejoice and fear all in one. You will be bowed in profoundest humility before God when you see that He has called you to follow in the train, however far behind, of the first apostles, and the prophets, teachers and martyrs of the centuries.
In this work we must not be afraid of upset. We must not go out of our way to create it; we don’t look for trouble, but seek peace. But if we are going to be faithful to God and to men, there will be upset. The great thing to know is that God is at work creatively, through His word, in answer to the prayers of His people. There is not a greater task a man can perform in the whole world than this, that he is being used to release the all-searching Word of God upon a company of needy souls. it is the most amazing thing. It works! God works. His Word works. Prayer works. The Spirit works. (pp. 25-27)
Midrash
Just a word of commentary on these two quotes. I remember, just before taking up the pastorate at FBC, listening to a 9Marks interview with Eric Redmond, then faithfully teaching the word at a Baptist church in Temple Hills, Maryland. Redmond was reflecting on his seminary training when he remarked, “I wish someone had told me how hard it is to pastor. In all my training, no one ever told me how hard this would be. How much courage would be needed.” A couple years later, some prominent men in that church, who chafed under the faithful preaching of the word, led some few others in the congregation to oppose Redmond’s ministry. Redmond eventually left that pastoral charge, but not before the enemy had effectively spoiled a very fruitful work. Redmond now pastors Reformation Alive Baptist Church, a growing and thriving church plant in Maryland.
When one pastor friend recommended this book to me, it was in the context of his describing his heart pains and fears in his early ministry. He found comfort in Still’s distillation of the pastor’s experience of opposition and difficulty. It was this quote he had in mind. He read and re-read passages like this several times, feeling like someone understood.
Not every pastor’s experience follows this course. But Still’s quotes and the experiences of faithful men like Redmond do help to disabuse us of the notion that faithfulness and fruitfulness are always happily received. They remind us that heartbreak and opposition are real in the pastor’s life. Sometimes deep pain happens in the life of the shepherd and the sheep. Sometimes there is misunderstanding. Sometimes people are close to the pastor for the wrong reasons, depending upon him for the wrong things. Sometimes people are hurt by the pastor, even when the pastor is trying to be gentle and loving. Sometimes nothing seems “to work.” All these things make us to cry out “Who is sufficient for these things?” or they make us to cry in despair.
But then we’re reminded that it’s not upon our backs that the Lord’s people enter into their reward, but only upon the bleeding back of the Savior Himself.
Redmond and Still do much to instruct the new and young pastor, full of optimism, gleam in their eyes, endeavoring to do “a great work for God.” They remind us that hardship and heartbreak are not uncommon. They help keep the pastor from being unreasonably discouraged by suffering, “as though some strange thing were happening to them,” to use the apostle Peter’s words. Does any pastor deserve or rightly expect an easier time at it than our Lord? In reminding the pastor of the mixed fruit of the early harvest, Still teaches the pastor not to quit too soon, not to throw in the towel before the latter harvest, and not to develop unreasonable expectations which compound our struggles. He reminds the pastor who teaches the word that he will reap if he does not faint. When the road gets hard, it’s good to remember Still’s exhortation:
In this work we must not be afraid of upset. We must not go out of our way to create it; we don’t look for trouble, but seek peace. But if we are going to be faithful to God and to men, there will be upset. The great thing to know is that God is at work creatively, through His word, in answer to the prayers of His people. There is not a greater task a man can perform in the whole world than this, that he is being used to release the all-searching Word of God upon a company of needy souls. it is the most amazing thing. It works! God works. His Word works. Prayer works. The Spirit works.