Charge to the Minister
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).
Liam, this is a bit of a challenge to give a charge to you. I have given charges before to ministers, but they were younger than I and none of them were my boss! What do I have to say to a minister more experienced than I? The only area where I have more experience is in serving Tenth Presbyterian Church. And so, keeping the congregation of this church in mind, let me give the following charge.
Continue as you have done to faithfully preach the Word of God. You know what that means here. Scripture is not a starting point for your sermons. Rather, it is the substance which structures and directs what you have to say. I cannot overemphasize this if you are to have peace with this congregation. There are some pulpits that have the sign for the preacher to see, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” That is a good word, but if we had a sign, it would read, “Sir, we wish to hear the Word of God.” All that is being asked of you is to make that Word clear.
Continue as you have also done to shepherd your flock. You will find us no different from your other flocks, well except for an inordinate interest in Philly sports. We have the same fears and hopes; the same troubles, the same joys. And like your other flocks, knowing that you care for us, that you even like us, goes a long way.
And then continue to keep your eye on your Lord. You are well aware of the reputation of this pulpit and of the men who have worn the mantle of Senior Minister. It can be daunting to assume such a position. And yet your calling is not to live up to the men who have gone before you, but to serve your Lord faithfully. It is faithfulness to God’s Word, faithfulness in service to Christ by which your Lord will measure you, the only measure that matters.
This again is what you have already demonstrated through the years of your ministry. And it is what we at Tenth desire of you. It is faithfulness that we admire. We are not impressed with running after new doctrine and new fads of doing ministry. We know that we do need to be wise about the times and to be alert to how to effectively reach out to our culture. We will listen to your ideas and follow you, as long as we see you keeping faithful to God’s Word and focused on serving Christ. And so continue faithfully in the work you began many years ago, carrying it on to completion in Christ Jesus.
Liam, this is a bit of a challenge to give a charge to you. I have given charges before to ministers, but they were younger than I and none of them were my boss! What do I have to say to a minister more experienced than I? The only area where I have more experience is in serving Tenth Presbyterian Church. And so, keeping the congregation of this church in mind, let me give the following charge.
Continue as you have done to faithfully preach the Word of God. You know what that means here. Scripture is not a starting point for your sermons. Rather, it is the substance which structures and directs what you have to say. I cannot overemphasize this if you are to have peace with this congregation. There are some pulpits that have the sign for the preacher to see, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” That is a good word, but if we had a sign, it would read, “Sir, we wish to hear the Word of God.” All that is being asked of you is to make that Word clear.
Continue as you have also done to shepherd your flock. You will find us no different from your other flocks, well except for an inordinate interest in Philly sports. We have the same fears and hopes; the same troubles, the same joys. And like your other flocks, knowing that you care for us, that you even like us, goes a long way.
And then continue to keep your eye on your Lord. You are well aware of the reputation of this pulpit and of the men who have worn the mantle of Senior Minister. It can be daunting to assume such a position. And yet your calling is not to live up to the men who have gone before you, but to serve your Lord faithfully. It is faithfulness to God’s Word, faithfulness in service to Christ by which your Lord will measure you, the only measure that matters.
This again is what you have already demonstrated through the years of your ministry. And it is what we at Tenth desire of you. It is faithfulness that we admire. We are not impressed with running after new doctrine and new fads of doing ministry. We know that we do need to be wise about the times and to be alert to how to effectively reach out to our culture. We will listen to your ideas and follow you, as long as we see you keeping faithful to God’s Word and focused on serving Christ. And so continue faithfully in the work you began many years ago, carrying it on to completion in Christ Jesus.
posted by M Clark at 5/23/2011 01:23:00 PM
2 Comments:
Any chance you can post Phil's charge to the congregation. As he mentioned, he was the only thing left between the children and the cookies, and therefore, I missed it because I was dealing w a cookie deprived child.
Yes, we hope to. He plans to have it transcribed for posting.
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