The Importance of the Pastor Abiding in Christ
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Ben Kreps:
Welcome to the Mark Prater podcast, where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace Churches with our Executive Director. Mark, I've been preaching to the gospel of John over the past year or so recently, had the privilege of opening up and unfolding John 15 where Jesus instructs us about him being the true vine and we are the branches. Especially struck by verse five: I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Preaching that sermon has really become central in my prayer life. I have been meditating on that verse. We were talking before the podcast. You've been meditating on that verse too. Tell us what you're thinking.
Mark Prater:
I have been, I've been thinking a lot about that verse, meditating on that verse, seeking to apply that verse, feeling my need for that verse. And I think that verse, obviously, is written for all believers, but in this podcast I want to just make application to pastors in particular, because I think that one verse reveals a pastor's necessity to have an intimate relationship with Christ and to do pastoral ministry, to have a dependent relationship upon Christ. And, so let me just speak about that first one, intimately growing in our relationship with Christ. Jesus uses that word abide. I abide in you, you abide in me. That word abide means to remain in. It means to continue, in that we are made in such a way as Christians, that we have to continue to intimately abide in Jesus Christ.
And if you take that word along with the agricultural imagery that's used there in John 15; the, the vine and the branches, even the father pruning those branches, it really brings out this intimate relationship that Christ has with his people and that his people are to have with Christ. And I think that's especially important for pastors. Ministry can get very, very busy. The demands are very, very real. And if we don't take time each and every day to be with Jesus and to abide in Jesus, and to be growing in our intimate love and knowledge and amazement of Jesus, it'll affect all of our ministry--for us to be able to preach Christ passionately in the pulpit. That should be an overflow of our time with Jesus privately. We just desperately need to be with him.
And, if we're not growing in our intimacy with Jesus, I think our people begin to notice it, maybe even before we notice it. And that was what Spurgeon said to his pastor's college students. He said this, and this is in his book, lectures to my students. He says, "when your soul becomes lean, you are hearers without knowing how or why, and will find that your prayers in public have little Savior for them. They will feel your barrenness perhaps before you perceive it yourself. Let a man have his heart weakened in spiritual things, and very soon his entire life will feel the withering influence." And I think that's just a right observation. And it represents the John 15 :5 text. But by abiding in him, we will continue to have life. And when we don't abide in him, we begin to wither spiritually.
And to my brother pastors who listen to this podcast or read it, make sure each and every day you are getting time with Christ and that you are loving him more, and that you are treasuring him above all things, because that is going to affect all the rest of your life. It's going to affect your home, and it's going to affect your church. And, you know, the longer that we're in ministry, we were talking about this, Ben; the longer we're in ministry, we feel this, this need to be with Jesus each and every day. And I think that's a right trajectory for all of us.
Ben Kreps:
Amen. Tell us about how verse 5, when Jesus tells us that we can't do anything apart from him, how that functions as well in your life.
Mark Prater:
Yeah. It's a striking verse, isn't it? It's a striking verse. He's very clear and he is very emphatic. Apart from me, you can do nothing. He doesn't say, apart from you can do some things. We can't do anything apart from Christ. It reveals this dependency that we have upon Christ. And there's a lot of different expressions of that. But I think one that you see in the text actually is in verse 7, where he says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. So you see there in verse 7, one expression of our dependence upon Christ, which is that of prayer. We have to go and we have to ask. And it's a desperate dependence. It's not just okay to pray because I've got these things happening in the church or things in my family so I need to go to God and prayer. No, these things are happening in the church and I need wisdom. I need perspective. It's so interesting he says that my words abide in you.
So a part of where the wisdom that we have as pastors comes from is from God's word, but we need to take all of that in prayer and just cry out to God for wisdom and for help so we know how to apply God's word in whatever we're facing. And one of my favorite quotes as it relates to this, is actually by John Piper. He says this in his book, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. It's a book always worth a reread every so often. And he says this, "A pastor who feels competent in himself to produce eternal fruit, which is the only kind that matters, knows neither God nor himself. A pastor who does not know the rhythm of desperation and deliverance must have his sights on only what man can achieve." And I just think that's so true. We feel our dependence; we pray, and there's that deliverance language, meaning we unburden ourself and we get clarity and help, not only from God's word, but as he answers our prayers. And again, I think that's another aspect of ministry. The longer we're in ministry, it seems like the more we don't know what we're doing and we're just desperate, even more desperate, upon Christ. So brothers, abide in our savior, abide in him intimately and abide in him independently.
Ben Kreps:
That's wonderful encouragement. It is so sweet to read through John 15 and to understand that I bring nothing to the table when I move toward Jesus, except need. And he informs us. It's exactly the position for us to come to him in need, in order to experience The thing is here, a radical experience of God's love as the Father loved me. So I've loved you. I mean that by itself is stunning. That we're loved by Jesus the same way the Father loves the Son. There's joy that's in store for us, fullness of joy, grace-fueled obedience to the commands of Jesus. And all of that is exactly what we need as pastors. I naively thought early on that this would get easier as time went on and I grew in expertise. I was naive, because I feel with every passing day, more and more, that Jesus is exactly right. I can do nothing apart from him and how I need him.
So thank you for that encouragement. Guys may want to go and revisit John 15, along with this podcast, you'll find encouragement and strengthening for your soul there. So thanks Mark, for your encouragement. Thank you all for watching or reading, and we'll see you here, Lord willing, next week. Bye for now.