Pastoral Ministry and Boasting in Weakness
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Benjamin Kreps:
Hey everyone, and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace Churches with our executive director. Mark, as we record this, you just got back within the last couple of hours from the retreat that we talked about in the last podcast with the leadership team and the regional leaders. And at that retreat you were telling me about how you shared some encouragement from the scriptures with the regional leaders and you wanted to share that with the rest of us.
Mark Prater:
Yeah, I do. Thank you, Ben. And if you're listening to this podcast or read it and you prayed for that retreat, thank you for praying. It was an amazing retreat. God did more than we could think to ask in prayer. He was just very, very good. Came away thanking God for our nine US regional leaders, these men who labor to serve our pastors and churches, those in their geographic region. They are remarkable men that I was actually writing about in my journal this morning, how I thanked God for them and just am stunned that I get to labor alongside of them to serve a small family of churches that we dearly love. So that's one of the effects. I'm walking away with gratitude for the regional leaders. I shared with them some encouragement from 2 Corinthians 11 verses 28 and 29, which I'll read here in a moment.
We had each of the regional leaders just give updates and as they gave updates about their region, just walking through the churches they care for, what was clear is that these are men who carry those churches and those pastors and wives on their heart. They do. They love the churches and they love the pastors. And it made me think about 2 Corinthians 11 verses 28 and 29, where Paul writes, "And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I'm not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?" And let me just read verse 30. "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness." And so it's interesting to me that that's what he boasts in because just before writing among other things verses 23 through 27, he just lists a number of ways that he specifically suffered for the gospel.
He was beaten with rods, he was stoned. He received the 40 lashes a number of times he was shipwrecked. He was in a number of different specific kind of dangers that he lists. He went days without sleep and without food. And I just thought, boy, if that was my ministry experience, I might boast in those things. Hey, remember that time when we got shipwrecked? He doesn't boast about that. Yeah, got bit by a snake, viper grabbed me, is not what he boasts about and not the thing that he's carrying on his heart. The thing that he is kind of burdened by or certainly carrying on his heart is this daily anxiety he has for all the churches. It reflects his love for the churches he served. And you see that in our regional leaders. But I think this has local pastoral implications as well because local pastors are shepherds, meaning that they not only know their folks, the members of their church, they carry them on their heart.
And when they're going through suffering and they're going through trial and they're going through difficulty, they're right there with 'em. There is that daily anxiety in that sense, in the right sense of anxiety, of carrying people on your heart. And that's the mark of a true pastor. And it's that he calls a weakness because those things reveal his weakness and therefore he boasts in his weakness and as a result, that's what he wants the Corinthians to know. I mean, this is a world-class scholar, Paul. This is a very gifted man. This is a man who suffered for the gospel, but the thing he's talking about here is his weakness. And I think we as pastors need to adopt that mindset, the boasting of our weakness. And I think there's some good reasons why. So, I was just sharing that with our regional leaders this week, just encouraging them for their heart, for the churches they serve. And I want to encourage our pastors, you men do a remarkable job of this. You carry the people in your churches on your heart, and it's one of the reasons I can't believe I get to serve alongside each of the pastors in Sovereign Grace.
Benjamin Kreps:
Well, we appreciate that encouragement. Every pastor who's checking out the podcast right now is nodding their head, knowing this experience of carrying around the weight of care for the people that we love in our churches. But you have a couple thoughts specifically on implications; application for us coming out of that text.
Mark Prater:
Yeah, I do. I mean, I think boasting in our weakness, being aware of our weakness, it has many implications in our lives. I just wanted to mention two. The first one is that that weakness frees us from the illusion of omnicompetency. Omnicompetency, because we are men who want to serve well, we want to lead our church as well, we want to pastor our church as well. And we want our people to have trust in us and confidence in us. We want them to know that we are competent, if you can say it that way. But we are not omnicompetent. And so God allows weakness in our life to free us from this illusion of being omnicompetent. And in so doing the weakness deepens our dependence upon God. As a result, Paul boasts in his weakness to identify with the weaknesses of those he serves. He can identify with them, he has compassion for them, but also it's Christ-like leadership to boast in your weakness. Because when he boast in his weakness, when pastors boast in our weakness, we identify with the weakness of Christ, which is most prominently seen at the cross, which he writes in the first letter to the Corinthians in the first chapter, that weakness is greater than man's strength.
And so it is a Christ-like leadership to be pastors who boast in our weakness and D.A. Carson has book entitled The Gospel and the Modern World, A Theological Vision for the Church. It's a book that contains all of his essays or many of his essays I should say all. And it's a book that was sort of just written in honor of him. And one of the essays that he wrote, it's about pastoral leadership in the church. And this is what he says. This is D.A. Carson. While most of us go through life afraid that people will think too little of us, one cannot help but notice that Paul goes through life afraid that people will think too much of him. And he specifically says that in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 6. So weakness, it frees us from this illusion that we have to be omnicompetent. We want to be like Paul. We want to go through life concerned that those we serve might think too much of us. And that's important because we don't want them to think too much of us. We want them to think too much of Christ, a lot of Christ. We want to be shepherds who point them to the one who is truly omnicompetent. So that's the first thing.
The second thing is that weakness frees us from relying upon our own strength. I think that's pretty obvious by the words he's using there. But as you know in the next chapter, he talks about the thorn in the flesh and that's a weakness for him. And Jesus says to him, my grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness. And Paul says, well, great. I'm going to boast in my weakness. I'm going to live content with weakness for when I am weak, then the power of God is strong in my life. So for any Christian I think, but certainly for us as pastors, weakness is the arena in which the power of God works best. It operates. And I think what that means actually is that a good leader isn't afraid to say, I have no idea what to do in this situation. I don't know what to do. Let's pray. Let's go to the one who does know. Let's go to the one who is all powerful. And we want to be men like that because again, it points people to Christ. And I think it's a reminder that at least for pastoral ministry, as pastors, we are called to do things daily, which man alone cannot do. We need the power of God.
In one of his lectures to my students, Charles Spurgeon, he writes, this miracles of grace must be the seals of our ministry; who can bestow them, but the spirit of God convert a soul without the spirit of God? Why you cannot even make a fly. That's a great sentence. Why you cannot even make a fly much less create a new heart and a right spirit, lead the children of God to a higher thing, he means by that holy life. Without the Holy Ghost, you are more likely to conduct them into carnal security. If you attempt their salvation or their elevation, by any method on your own, it won't work. Our ends can never be gained if we missed the cooperation of the Holy Spirit. And so we are men in pastoring our churches and in leading our churches who need the Holy Ghost. We need the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, that the spirit of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ fills us and gives us power to do things we can't do, that man can't do, and to do things, when we have no idea what to do in the situation. And so weakness is a very freeing thing. And I want us to be pastors who do boast in our weakness, believing and having faith that the power of God, will mark our ministry, may miracles of grace, be seals of the ministry of Sovereign Grace pastors.
Benjamin Kreps:
Amen. Last Sunday I began preaching through the book of 1 John. And John talks about how he wants his joy and the people he loves and serves and pastors and their joy together to be complete. And I told my church, I'm unlike John in almost every single way; gifting, theological depth. But I can resonate with John and with Paul's heart as a pastor, as Howard Marshall wrote, that "he is the heart of a pastor which cannot be completely happy, so long as some of those for whom he feels responsible are not experiencing the full blessing of the gospel." And we want our people to experience the full blessings of the gospel, exactly what you've been saying, we need the Holy Spirit's help. We are insufficient for that task, but with God's help, he makes us sufficient. So thank you, Mark. So grateful that you lead us not just as a denominational executive, but as a pastor who cares for us. And so thank you for your care and your encouragement. Thank you everyone for checking out the podcast. We'll see you here next week, Lord willing. Bye for now.