Committed to Christ
Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he has purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28
We Pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet…the more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake.” John Piper
With this verse, Richard Baxter begins the introduction to his seminal treatise on the work of Pastoring entitled The Reformed Pastor.
Baxter was a Puritan minister who served as the Vicar of Kidderminster from 1647-1661. His was a day when Pastorates were assigned through the established church as patronages and favors. Sadly, in many ways, the personal piety of Pastors was of less concern than were their connections and educational acumen.
Fires of reformation had swept through England following the awakenings that had happened on the mainland of Europe. Men like Luther, Calvin, Beza and Zwingli had led the charge of Reformation against Unbiblical practices that had saturated the established church of the Papists.
Amidst great persecution, these bands of believers had established beachheads of reformed thinking committed to principles articulated in the “Sola’s”: “Sola Scriptura, Sola Cristus, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, and Sola de Gloria”
God raised up Saints in England who traveled to the mainland to study under their tutelage, and then returning to their homes they led the charge to eventually separate themselves from the Roman system. However, the New established Anglican Church was slow to embrace the principles of the reformation and shed the ways of Sacramentalism.
Within the church, God raised up reformed men who slowly confronted the continuing errors of the day and sought to instill true Reformation. Thus they were known as the Puritans.
Committed to the Sufficiency of Scripture they sought to reform the Ministry and through that, the Church’s to the apostolic blueprint as laid out in Scripture.
Although the term was used as a pejorative by their enemies; nevertheless the Puritans began to wear it as a badge of honor because in many ways it fit them nicely.
They were committed to purity of doctrine, practice and lifestyle. They emphasized Bible Preaching in their worship services and stressed a vital Christian experience.
They were not content that men should merely know the truth, they believed that they must have an individual experience of Christ.
They emphasized the reformation of the family by stressing the role of the father and mother in the training of children. The household committed to Christ and his kingdom was central to their program for the purification of the English Church. From them we inherit much of our present understanding of the evangelical faith. As we begin to discuss Church polity and practice we will draw on their pattern and practice to help us understand how the Spirit directs the affairs of His church.
Because of grace,
Tim
Listen to the related message below.
