Gospel-Centered Resources from Midwestern Seminary
In this special episode of The Heart of Pastoring, Becky Wilson and Melissa Martin join their husbands to talk about some important rhythms for healthy marriages and healthy ministry partnerships between pastors and their wives. What should pastors know about their wives’ unique perspectives on ministry? What will bless the heart of the pastor’s wife? And how can the pastoral marriage be a source of joy and endurance in the ongoing wisdom practices of the pastor?
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh. 1 Timothy 3:16
“God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16 KJV). I believe that our version is the correct one, but the fiercest battles have been held over this sentence. It is asserted that the word Theos is a corruption for Os, so that, instead of reading “God was manifest in the flesh,” we should read, “who was manifest in the flesh.”
There is very little occasion for fighting about this matter, for if the text does not say “God was manifest in the flesh,” who does it say was manifest in the flesh? Either a man, or an angel, or a devil. Does it tell us that a man was manifest in the flesh? Assuredly that cannot be its teaching, for every man is manifest in the flesh, and there is no sense whatever in making such a statement concerning any mere man, and then calling it a mystery. Was it an angel, then? But what angel was ever manifest in the flesh? And if he were, would it be at all a mystery that he should be “seen by angels” (1 Timothy 3:16)? Is it a wonder for an angel to see an angel? Can it be that the devil was manifest in the flesh? If so, he has been “taken up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16) which, let us hope, is not the case.
Well, if it was neither a man, nor an angel, nor a devil, who was manifest in the flesh, then surely, he must have been God; and so, if the word be not there, the sense must be there, or else nonsense. We believe that, if criticism should grind the text in a mill, it would get out of it no more and no less than the sense expressed by our grand old version. God himself was manifest in the flesh. What a mystery is this! A mystery of mysteries! God the invisible was manifest; God the spiritual dwelt in flesh; God the infinite, uncontained, boundless, was manifest in the flesh. What infinite leagues our thought must traverse between Godhead self-existent, and, therefore, full of power and self-sufficiency, before we have descended to the far-down level of poor flesh, which is as grass at its best, and dust in its essence! Where find we a greater contrast than between God and flesh, and yet the two are blended in the incarnation of the Savior. God was manifest in the flesh; truly God, not God humanized, but God as God. He was manifest in real flesh; not in manhood deified and made superhuman, but in actual flesh.
Oh joy! there sitteth in our flesh,
Upon a throne of light,
One of a human mother born,
In perfect Godhead bright!
For ever God, for ever man,
My Jesus shall endure;
And fix’d on Him, my hope remains
Eternally secure.
Matchless truth, let the church never fail to set it forth, for it is essential to the world’s salvation that this doctrine of the incarnation be made fully known.
O my brethren, since it is “great indeed,” let us sit down and feed upon it. What a miracle of condescension is here, that God should manifest himself in flesh. It needs not so much to be preached upon as to be pondered in the heart. It needs that you sit down in quiet, and consider how he who made you became like you, he who is your God became your brother man. He who is adored of angels once lay in a manger; he who feeds all living things hungered and was athirst; he who oversees all worlds as God, was, as a man, made to sleep, to suffer, and to die like yourselves. This is a statement not easily to be believed. If he had not been beheld by many witnesses, so that men handled him, looked upon him, and heard him speak, it would be a thing not readily to be accepted, that so divine a person should be manifest in flesh. It is a wonder of condescension!
And it is a marvel, too, of benediction, for God’s manifestation in human flesh conveys a thousand blessings to us. Bethlehem’s star is the morning star of hope to believers. Now man is nearest to God. Never was God manifest in angel nature, but he is manifest in flesh. Now, between poor puny man that is born of a woman, and the infinite God, there is a bond of union of the most wonderful kind. God and man in one person is the Lord Jesus Christ! This brings our manhood near to God, and by so doing it ennobles our nature, it lifts us up from the dunghill and sets us among princes; while at the same time it enriches us by endowing our manhood with all the glory of Christ Jesus in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Lift up your eyes, you down-trodden sons of man! If you be men, you have a brotherhood with Christ, and Christ is God. O you who have begun to despise yourselves and think that you are merely sent to be drudges upon earth, and slaves of sin! Lift up your heads and look for redemption in the Son of Man, who has broken the captives’ bonds. If you be believers in the Christ of God, then are you also the children of God, and if children then heirs—heirs of God—joint heirs with Jesus Christ.
What a fullness of consolation there is in this truth, as well as of benediction; for if the Son of God be man, then he understands me and will have a fellow feeling for me. He knows my unfitness to worship sometimes—he knows my tendencies to grow weary and dull my pains, my trials, and my griefs:
He knows what fierce temptations mean,
For he has felt the same.
Man, truly man, yet sitting at the right hand of the Father, you, O Savior, are the delight of my soul. Is there not the richest comfort in this for you, the people of God?
__________
Editor’s note: Excerpted from A Wondrous Mystery: Daily Advent Devotions by Charles H. Spurgeon © 2024 by editor Geoffrey Chang. Used with permission of New Growth Press. May not be reproduced without prior written permission. Available for purchase at newgrowthpress.com.
On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared visits with Dr. Scotty Smith, one of the spiritual fathers of gospel-centrality, to talk about his early influences and ministry, pastoring early CCM artists, and how to stay focused on grace through decades of shifting cultural distractions.
Why don’t more pastors have friends? Why don’t more enjoy the friendships they do have? In this episode, Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin discuss the promise and the peril of pastoral friendship. What are the risks involved? Why is it worth it? How is the pursuit of and investment in friendships an oft-neglected (or avoided) wisdom practice?
It’s another installment in the Grab Bag feature, where Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson ask each other two surprise questions for off-the-cuff responses. Tune in and find out what we caught each other off guard about this week.
Our Lord has given the commission to the church to make disciples. Yet too many pastors spend more time settling for drawing a crowd or “keeping the customers satisfied.” In this episode, Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin explain the obedience of disciple-making in pastoral ministry and how this practice reflects the wisdom of God, even if not always the concerns of modern religious sensibilities.
Jesus said, “The one who perseveres to the end will be saved.” Obviously perseverance is a necessary component of the Christian life! On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson talk about the doctrine of the “perseverance of the saints,” how perseverance is treated in Scripture, and how Christians might cultivate it in their lives.
Being a pastor is difficult.
I remember my mentor in ministry telling me when I was in my early twenties that if I could do anything else, I should do that. He warned me there would be days that I wished I was working in any other sort of job. He was right. But I couldn’t do anything else–or rather—I couldn’t without feeling I was running from God, and he agreed that was a sign that God was calling me to be a pastor.
I can tend towards dwelling on the difficult and the negative some days because they are what so often are calling for our attention: solving problems, considering the next step in loosening or tightening COVID restrictions, wondering how this next phone call or meeting will go, remembering that I forgot to check in with somebody undergoing a trial. The list goes on.
But there are so many blessings in being a pastor, so many reasons I count it one of the greatest privileges of my life, so many reasons to thank God for being a pastor, and so many reasons I love being a pastor.
In keeping with Paul’s admonition to think about “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things,” (Phil. 4:8), I want to list five of the many reasons I love being a pastor.
#1 – I get to teach and study God’s Word as part of my job.
For all of the stresses that being a pastor entails, and the pressure of the Sunday morning sermon deadline, and all of the spiritual battles that come my way, every week I get to—and am expected to—spend hours studying God’s Word and preparing to teach it. This is an inestimable privilege.
I once heard an older pastor say that he couldn’t believe that he gets paid to study God’s Word. That is a perspective that I need to keep in mind and thank God for weekly. It is a joy to spend time in God’s Word and be filled up with it and challenged by it so that I can have the joy of equipping, encouraging, and stretching God’s people with it. May I never take this for granted.
#2 – I get to be there for people’s highs and lows in life.
Some of my favorite moments in pastoring are being right there for the highs and lows of people’s lives and being used by God in those situations to “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15). It is a joy to pray with new parents while holding a newborn baby, and it is a joy to see the radiance in the eyes of a couple getting married while standing right behind them. It is also a different, somber kind of joy to be able to help a couple apply God’s Word to their marriage struggles when the need for counseling comes. It is something I would never trade to have the privilege of praying with a newly bereaved relative thanking God for the life of their loved one, sometimes while the body is still in the room.
These intense times of ministry bond me with God’s people and remind me each time of some of the unique reasons I love being God’s hands and feet. It is also special to be able to often minister during these highs and lows in people’s lives with my wife as she uses her gifts with me. May I never take this for granted.
#3 – I get a front-row seat to God’s work.
Another benefit to being a pastor that I love is getting a front-row seat to God’s work. The average church member does not have the joy of seeing some of the mercy ministry that goes on in secret in the life of a church. It is a holy privilege to know about an act of love in Jesus’ name that only God, me, and the other person involved know about due to confidentiality. It is a distinctive joy to not only ache at marriage problems but also to rejoice with a couple who is now reaping the benefits of following God’s ways in their relationship. I alone get to “see the light bulb come on” in the middle of a sermon for that person who has been trying to figure out what they believe about Jesus. I alone sometimes get to see tears of repentance over sin or tears of hope due to longing for Heaven and being reunited with a beloved spouse or child.
I know that God is always doing a million things and that we are usually only aware of a few of them at any given moment, but as a pastor, I literally get to see God’s invisible hand working out His plan for His glory and His people’s good every week, if I have the eyes to see it. May I never take this for granted.
#4 – I get to see people come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord and then baptize them.
“I wasn’t sure before, but I know that I know Jesus now,” the 16-year old boy told me in the car as we drove from Subway after getting his monthly favorite sub (ham with black olives–lots of black olives!) and catching up on high school life.
“What’s the change?” I asked, excited as I had been praying for him for years as he had been coming to youth group ever since I became a youth pastor.
“I didn’t care about sin before, but now I don’t want to sin anymore because I love Jesus,” he replied.
I never would have been part of that conversation if God had not called me to be a pastor. Baptisms—whether the believer going public grew up in the church or recently began to attend—are some of the most joyous Sundays on the calendar. When you get to talk about the gospel, make disciples, and baptize as part of your job, you are blessed. May I never take this for granted.
#5 – I get the privilege of serving Jesus as His errand boy.
Harold Senkbeil, in his book The Care of Souls, says that a sheepdog always has his tail wagging when he is working, and one eye always on his master. Too often my tail is not wagging, but those are the moments or days that I have my eyes off of my master. But some days, as I look to the day ahead and ask Jesus for strength and wisdom to serve His church that He has promised to build, it will hit me with a wave of joy: I get the privilege to serve Jesus as His errand boy today—wherever and in whatever way He may choose to take me for that day or that season. May I never take this for granted.
I don’t say it often enough—I love being a pastor.
Editor’s note: This piece originally appeared at the Baptist Convention of New England blog and is used with permission. It was republished at For the Church on July 1, 2021.
Most pastors fall into a pattern of overwork. Why is that? And how does sabbath set us free from worldly metrics of productivity? In this episode, Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin explore the wisdom practice of guilt-free rest and “fasting” from being needed.
It’s a perennial question among many evangelicals. How should Christians think about Halloween? Avoid it? Embrace it? Reform it? On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson discuss the spotty history of Halloween and survey the contemporary perspectives, challenges, and opportunities related to the Christian’s consideration of the “holiday.”
