Alistair Begg- Steady as you go.

Today's article extract is from Alistair Begg entitled 'Steady as you Go' posted at Reformation21. It speaks a clear message into our contemporary church context. Read teh entire article here.

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine." As generations come and go, you will find that when people turn from the truth, they don't turn to nothing - they turn to everything and to anything. They will seek out what is pleasing and gratifying. They will look for someone who will deal gently with their vices and tolerate their foibles. The pressing issue of our time is surely "self-ism". Those of you who are going into counseling, expect to be confronted by all the alienations, psychological and relational in the lives of your clients. If you're going to be a "Gospel counselor", you must always tell them that the source of all of their alienations is found in the fact of their great alienation. They are alienated from God on account of sin. This will be the distinguishing feature of a Gospel-oriented approach to peoples' needs. David Wells, in his latest book, The Courage to Be Protestant, writes of what he refers to as "the spirituality from below". A spirituality that comes from within by way of intuition, rather than that which comes from above, by way of revelation, where God comes and meets with us. He observes, "Today the evangelical church is in a life and death struggle with this spiritual alternative, even as the apostles in the New Testament period. Today this pagan spirituality comes in sophisticated psychological language. It sounds plausible, compelling, and even commendable. But let us make no mistake about it - it is lethal to biblical Christianity. That is why the biggest enigma we face today is the fact that its chief enablers are evangelical churches."

One final question: "So what?" As preachers we must make sure that we keep this question before us because it will be in the minds of our listeners. When we've done the work of exegesis; when we've tried to unpack the Bible; when we've explained as articulately as we can, our people are still sitting there wanting to understand why it matters. Notice how clever and careful Paul is in answering the "so what?" He tells Timothy why this is so important. And then in light of that what he must do. It's there in verse 5. First, "Keep your head." Pastoral ministry has all the potential for spinning your head off your shoulders. Beware the danger of becoming a fat head; so fat that you can't get in your bedroom door at night, because you're taking yourself too seriously. And there's not a pillow manufacturer to fit your head. Balloon heads are useless for the gospel. The devil's strategy is either to give you a balloon head and inflate your ego, or to give you a pinhead by telling you that you're absolutely useless and you'll never do anything at all. "Let no one among you think of himself more highly than he ought. But each with sober judgment according to the grace that has been given to us." Don't become a bobble head. Many a fellow or girl has stepped out from here with their head clearly on their shoulders, with the Gospel firmly in their sights, determined to be steady. Sadly for some they became ineffectual because their head grew fat, or became a pin dot, or it just bobbled around intrigued by every idea and fad. They lost sight of the plumb line of the Gospel itself.

Secondly, "endure hardship." Pastoral ministry is no place for the weak-kneed and the feeble-hearted. Loudoun Parish Church in Ayrshire Scotland has been the scene of many famous ministers. The last Gaelic speaking minister at Loudoun Parish Church was a fellow by the name of Macleod. I think he only wrote one hymn. The opening line from his hymn is, "Courage Brother, do not stumble." He wrote it to his fellow pastors. And listen to what he said in verse 2. "Some will love thee, some will hate thee, some will praise thee, some will slight. Cease from man and look above thee, trust in God and do what's right."

Thirdly, "Do the work of an evangelist." "The cross," said Augustine, "is the pulpit of God's love, drawing people again and again to the cross, keeping evangelism at the very heart of all we're doing." Finally, "Discharge all the duties of our ministry." Those duties are many - counseling one couple that is about to marry, and then a couple on the brink of separation. Attending the bedside of a youngster with stage 4 cancer, sharing the joys of the successful in the world of business, teaching parents, loving teenagers and being tender and compassionate to children. Who is sufficient for all these things? We shrink from the task to which we aspire as others before us. Murray M'Cheyne, February 15, 1835, "Tomorrow I undergo my trials before the presbytery. May God give me courage in the hour of need. What should I fear? If God see fit to put me in the ministry, who shall keep me back? If I be not fit, why should I go forward? To your service I desire to dedicate myself over and over again."In conclusion, two personal observations and a quote. I am a week away from my 56th birthday and I wish I could start in pastoral ministry all over again. I am jealous for you, and in some measure, I am rightfully jealous of your opportunity. My fear for you all is not that you will fail, but that you may actually succeed at the wrong things. If you leave here a Gospel man and a Gospel woman, bind yourself to a cross-centred ministry.'