The Gospel Ministry

As the Person, work, and glory of Christ are the main object, so the grand distinctive truths of the gospel are, or should be, the main subject of the Christian ministry; for as He who is the Bread of Life is their sum and substance, they only are the real, solid, substantial food of every believing heart. You will observe my expression—"are or should be"; for what the Christian ministry is, and what the Christian ministry should be, are not exactly the same thing.

It is not for me, who am less than the least of all saints and the chief of sinners, to cast any reflection upon my brethren in the ministry; and yet I cannot help making this observation: that the grand discriminating truths of the glorious gospel of the grace of God are not brought forward so prominently as they should be by some gracious men of God of whose spirituality, ability, and usefulness we cannot doubt. Many good men in the exercise of their ministry confine themselves almost wholly to the tracing out of the first work of grace upon the heart, and to confirm and strengthen it by bringing forward the chief scriptural evidences of divine life in the soul, so as to encourage those who are full of doubt and fear as to the reality of what they would gladly hope has been wrought in them by the mighty power of God. This is good. It is an important part of the work of the ministry to comfort those who are cast down, to strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees, and to say to those who are of feeble heart, Be strong, fear not (Isaiah 35:4). Nor can there be any doubt that one gracious means of doing this is by tracing out every mark of divine life, even the feeblest and smallest that is in harmony with the word of truth and will bear strict scrutiny, as given by God Himself for the comfort of His doubting, fearing family.

But it is a great mistake to think that this is the whole, or even the most important part, of the ministry of the gospel. We certainly find something beyond this in the sermons recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and still more so in the epistles of the New Testament, which, though not sermons, we may well consider to be the rullest and most complete instruction which could be furnished by the Holy Ghost for the church of God. May we not also ask whether in furnishing the gospel table, meat should not be provided for men as well as milk for babes? Are there in the congregation none but little children? Surely there are (or should be) fathers who know Him that is from the beginning, and young men who are strong, in whom the Word of God abides, and who have overcome the wicked one. Are these to be passed by, and none spoken unto but the little children, the babes in grace, the youngest and weakest of the family? Our gracious Lord, in His farewell charge to Peter, said, "Feed My lambs," but He also twice said to him, "Feed My sheep." He would not be thought a good shepherd naturally who devoted all his attention to the lambs and neglected the ewes and wethers. So should the gospel shepherd feed the whole of the flock, whether young or old, for much of his business lies among the lost, the driven away, the broken, and the sick (Ezekiel 34:4,16). It is therefore a great mistake, and what the apostle strongly condemns, to be always "laying the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God." We should leave the principles, or first elements, of the doctrine of Christ and go on unto perfection—that is, to some maturity in the divine life; for otherwise that reproof is suitable to us: "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong drink" (Hebrews 5:12).

The Christian ministry therefore must go beyond describing the first work of grace and tracing out the signs and evidences of divine life, for this part of the ministry should be considered merely as the elements, its lowest and weakest portion, and that there is something far beyond this to make the preaching of the gospel what the Holy Ghost declares it was intended to be: "for the perfecting of the saints, and the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." A good foundation is necessary; but we want the building to be reared as well as the good foundation to be laid.

Now this can only be done by holding forth to the church the Person and work of Christ in all their bearing and relationships, and by bringing before the people the grand, distinguishing truths of our most holy faith. Nay, in my judgment, such preaching, if it spring out of a sweet and gracious experience of the truth of God, and drop from the lips of the preacher with that unction and savour which the Lord only can bestow, is much more likely to bring doubting souls out of fear and bondage than the tracing out of evidences of the life of God within; for often in looking for those evidences, the more they look, the less they find; and thus instead of looking out of themselves to the Lord of life and glory to receive of His fulness grace for grace, they are ever occupied with self-examination— good in its way, but which often leads only to self-condemnation.

There is also another disadvantage, not to say evil, in so continually dweiling upon the first work—that it leads people to rest upon evidences instead of blessings. Now these two things are widely distinct and should ever be kept separate. Evidences I compare to milestones or direction posts, or if you like the figure better, to stiles or gates, all which are good and needful to point out the road and securely fence it; to show how far we have come; and a stile or gate by the wayside is useful and convenient sometimes to sit down upon and rest when we are tired. But one would not like to sleep all night under a milestone or by the side of a gate, or to think, gypsy-like, that even a tent by the roadside with a little broken victuals was all that was necessary to give us food and lodging for the night. It certainly would not be the same thing as a warm, comfortable resting-place, were it but a roadside inn, where we might get food, warmth, and shelter, and go on our way the next morning with recruited strength. Evidences then, as evidences, be it ever borne in mind, are not and were not intended to be rest, food, and shelter. They are excellent waymarks; but try to feed upon or rest for any time in them, and you will soon find them crying out, "No feed, no rest here! You must go further on for food and lodging. These are only to be had in the house of blessing where Jesus Himself makes the bed, spreads the table, and entertains the guests." While then we do not despise or overlook evidences, for they are most useful in their place, let it ever be our main object and desire to obtain blessings, such as some application of the Word of truth with power to our heart, some manifestation of Jesus to our soul.

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