The Pastor as Leader (Foreword by Sinclair B. Ferguson) E-Book

John Currie

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 314

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Practical, Biblical Advice for Effective Pastoral Leadership Many pastors feel torn between preaching and leading, but both responsibilities are essential. Without faithful exposition of Scripture, churches risk straying theologically. Without strong leadership, teaching lacks spiritual zeal. How can pastors find balance and steward their calling effectively? In The Pastor as Leader, John Currie equips pastors to be men of God who competently carry out their purpose: leading God's people through the preaching of God's word. Recognizing a common disconnect between the roles of preaching and leadership, Currie offers foundational principles for pastoring "under Christ's appointment, conformed to Christ's character, which exemplifies and implements Christ's wisdom, preached from Christ's word." By integrating two primary roles of the pastorate, readers will learn how to faithfully and confidently proclaim the Scriptures as they communicate biblical vision and strategy for the church's mission. - Encouragement and Instruction for Pastors: Biblical advice for leading the church through preaching the gospel - Biblical and Theological: Explores the role of a pastor by looking at the life of Jesus, the early church in Acts, and leaders throughout church history - Practical: Takes pastors from principles to practice, with helpful advice and reflection questions - A Thoughtful Gift for Working and Aspiring Pastors

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“The Pastor as Leader recovers the greatest need for our day and our churches—the pastor as a man of God who leads through preaching God’s word as God’s ambassador. Every page is convicting, and not a few times I was sent to my knees in prayer, ‘O Lord, raise up a generation of men of God who, filled with your Spirit and leading from their knees, faithfully preach your word.’”

Alfred J. Poirier, Professor of Pastoral Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary; author, The Peacemaking Pastor

“Good pastors lead and feed—all week long and especially in the pulpit. These two central tasks go together. In his church, Christ means for the rulers to teach and the teachers to rule. Separating one from the other would harm them both. By connecting principles and practices, John Currie helps preacher-leaders realize the ancient, enduring vision. I encourage not only individuals but leadership teams to read this book.”

David Mathis, Senior Teacher and Executive Editor, desiringGod.org; Pastor, Cities Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota; author, Habits of Grace

“The Pastor as Leader is clear, deeply scriptural, and cogently written. While it reflects the best of the Reformed tradition and its pastoral riches, it is remarkably relevant for all pastors, regardless of denominational tradition or theological connection. This is because John Currie’s commitment to and exposition of the Scriptures engage the heart and mind of one called to serve Christ in ministry. This book will inspire both pastoral students and pastors who have served in ministry for many years. I highly recommend it.”

Peter A. Lillback, President, Westminster Theological Seminary

“This book fills a void in the pastoral-leadership literature and has quickly become one of my favorite books on the pastorate. It is filled with robust biblical exegesis, sound theology, affection for Christ, and helpful real-life application. Currie’s experience and expertise as a pastor and mentor to pastors shows on every page. Come sit at the feet of this pastor of pastors to be refreshed and renewed in ministry.”

Jason Helopoulos, Senior Pastor, University Reformed Church, East Lansing, Michigan; author, The New Pastor’s Handbook and Covenantal Baptism

“Often when pastors think about leadership in the church, they fail to take into account the strategic place of preaching. With biblical and theological depth, John Currie describes the many facets necessary for the man of God, in the power of God, to effectively lead the flock of God through the ministry of the word of God. This is a book that preachers and aspiring preachers need to read and digest.”

Timothy Z. Witmer, author, The Shepherd Leader; Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary

“Rather than relying on the latest secular leadership strategies, Currie has written a book that is rich in biblical exposition, careful in the application of theological categories, and informed by noteworthy pastors and theologians throughout the church’s history. According to Currie, leadership is an expression of a biblical ecclesiology, requiring clear convictions concerning the church’s mission, the purpose of preaching, and an appreciation of the varied gifts the ascended and reigning Christ has distributed within his church. Throughout this book, you will find encouragement to lead, starting with your preaching, with greater conviction and clarity.”

Rob Edwards, Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Dean of Students, Westminster Theological Seminary

“A pastor is a leader. But where will he lead those who follow him? The Pastor as Leader isn’t just another book on leadership or preaching but a Scripture-saturated plea to lead God’s people by God’s word. This refreshing vision of pastoral ministry was helpful and humbling for me. I trust it’ll serve you as well.”

J. Garrett Kell, Pastor, Del Ray Baptist Church, Alexandria, Virginia; author, Pure in Heart

“What does it mean to be a new covenant minister of the Spirit, a post-Pentecost pastor now that Christ—crucified, resurrected, and ascended—is head over all things to and for the church? With sound handling of Scripture, enriched by his own experience as a seasoned pastor, John Currie explores the answer as he makes the compelling case that the pastor’s calling as a leader takes place primarily in the pulpit.”

Richard B. Gaffin Jr., Professor Emeritus of Biblical and Systematic Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary

The Pastor as Leader

The Pastor as Leader

Principles and Practices for Connecting Preaching and Leadership

John Currie

Foreword by Sinclair B. Ferguson

The Pastor as Leader: Principles and Practices for Connecting Preaching and Leadership

© 2024 by John Currie

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jordan Singer

Cover image: “Joseph Stickney Memorial Church, Bretton Woods, N.H.” New York Public Library Digital Collections

First printing 2024

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

Scripture quotation marked KJV is from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-9015-3 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-9018-4 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-9016-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Currie, John, 1967– author.

Title: The pastor as leader : principles and practices for connecting preaching and leadership / John Currie.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2024. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023026808 (print) | LCCN 2023026809 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433590153 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433590160 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433590184 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Clergy. | Christian leadership. | Leadership.

Classification: LCC BV659 .C76 2024 (print) | LCC BV659 (ebook) | DDC 253—dc23/eng/20231004

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023026808

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023026809

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2024-06-26 03:19:42 PM

In memoriam

Harry L. Reeder III

man of God

Contents

  Foreword by Sinclair B. Ferguson

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction: A Vision for Connecting Preaching and Leadership

Part 1 Principles

1  The Mission of a Man of God

The Greatest of All Causes

2  The Leadership of a Man of God

Appointed by Christ in Union with Christ

3  The Identity of a Man of God

The Preacher-Leader

4  The Power for a Man of God

The Fullness of the Holy Spirit

5  The Example of a Man of God

Christlike Character

Part 2 Practices

6  The Posture of a Man of God

Leading from Your Knees

7  The Priority of a Man of God

Leading by Preaching

8  A Man of God Leads with Vision

Clearly Communicating Biblical Vision

9  A Man of God Leads with Strategy

Defining and Being Dedicated to Biblical Priorities

10  A Man of God Leads the Saints in Service

Developing Graces and Gifts in Ministry on Mission

  Sources of Chapter Epigraphs

  General Index

  Scripture Index

Foreword

Since confession is said to be good for the soul, I should begin with one: John Currie has been both a friend and an encourager to me for many years. I have long appreciated him as a person and admired the quality of his preaching and the fruitfulness of his pastoral ministry in the congregations he has served. He has a spirit that colleagues, students, and pastors alike respond to, graciously combining considerable personal gifts with a deep and genuine appreciation for the gifts of others. In addition to this, I am also grateful for the special kinds of sacrifice he and his wife, Rhonda, have made to enable him to serve as a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, where he invests himself wholeheartedly in preparing others for pastoral ministry. For while seminary teaching is truly a great work, it is a very specific kind of ministry, and for someone who loves the regular, multifaceted life of ministry to a particular church family, it can sometimes feel like a demotion!

In light of this level of affection for the author, readers will understand my necessary element of restraint in commending these pages. But I do commend them enthusiastically, for several reasons. Books on the preaching ministry have become increasingly numerous in recent years. This one, however, has several features that make it distinct. They are almost immediately obvious; but perhaps the most obvious is that—unlike many other contemporary works on ministry and leadership—this one is not driven by the question What works?

A friend who pastored a megachurch once told me of a small, select, and by-invitation-only gathering of megachurch pastors to which he had been invited. At the first meeting the men sat round a large table and “the question” was posed for each to answer in turn: “What’s working in your church?” My friend told me he was very tempted to answer with the single but, alas, unexpected word—“Romans”! For if it is not God’s word that is “working” as the shaper and driver of a ministry, and of the life of a church family, the auguries for our eternity-long fruitfulness are not very hopeful. Sharing that conviction, the practical wisdom Dr. Currie provides for us here is very clearly derived from the pages of sacred Scripture and its sacred theology. We can be grateful that his students are in the safe hands of someone for whom Paul’s words about both the origin of Scripture (“breathed out by God”) and its usefulness (“for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work”—2 Tim. 3:16–17) underpin his own vision for ministry and the foci of his teaching.

Over the long haul, ministry that builds with materials that will last for eternity cannot afford to be shaped by the latest fad. Fad-driven ministry tends to create doctrinal light-headedness rather than lasting substance. So (to paraphrase some words the great John Owen used to introduce one of his own works) “if you have picked up this book looking for a quick fix, farewell! You have had your entertainment!” These pages demand that you put on your thinking cap. This is a book for long-haul ministry. Its wisdom is based on the principle that the extent to which our minds are soaked in, and our lives shaped by, Scripture will determine the quality of our ministry. Sir Francis Bacon’s famous words are applicable here: “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” The Pastor as Leader belongs to this last category, and there will be no other way to absorb and benefit from it than by chewing on what Currie writes and slowly and carefully digesting it. This is practical theology as well as theology that is practical.

Different readers will come to these pages from different contexts of ministry, needing or looking for different kinds of help, whether instruction, challenge, encouragement, or stimulation. All of these can be found here. But whatever our specific reasons for placing ourselves under Professor Currie’s tutelage, he strikes notes that should refresh and benefit us all. One is the way in which he sees the organic relationship between leadership and preaching; others are his emphases on union with Christ, on prayer, and on the ministry of the Spirit.

John Currie has mined deeply in Scripture, as will be obvious from the way in which, on some pages, biblical references seem to be as numerous as punctuation marks. He has also dug deeply in the quarry of the best exponents of pastoral theology, both in theory and in practice, and in doing so reminds us that gold and precious stones are still to be found in the literature to which today’s pastors are privileged heirs.

The Pastor as Leader is not a quick read, although it is worth reading through once quickly in order to be prepared to read it again slowly, page by page, reflecting on the helpful and probing questions with which each chapter ends. I very much hope that as you read, you will find that John Currie is a pastor’s Barnabas, and that he will be as much of a son of encouragement to you as he has been to me.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

Acknowledgments

I am grateful, beyond words, to God, who has allowed me to serve as a pastor and a professor for pastors. The stewardship of the word in both capacities is a sacred trust. That this has now been extended to offering a book in the service of pastors is a privilege of indescribable grace.

In his providence God has used many to teach, mentor, and support me in order to bring this book to its readers. I am thankful for the faculty who taught me at Westminster Theological Seminary, some of whom have become my colleagues, for training me in the sufficiency of Scripture and the centrality of Christ for pastoral leadership and all of life. I am particularly indebted to Richard B. Gaffin Jr., my teacher and exemplar, who gave of his time to review this manuscript and provide his insights and opinions on its biblical and theological argumentation. Any weaknesses that remain in this regard are, of course, my own. Harry Reeder, my friend and mentor to whose memory this book is dedicated, was taken into the presence of the Lord before he had opportunity to review it, but his instruction, inspiration, and influence are stamped throughout its pages, as well as my life and ministry.

I would be remiss, in a book such as this, if I did not express my thanks to the many elders and pastors with whom I have had the privilege of serving over the years. Their patience, encouragement, and iron-sharpening partnership have allowed the theory in these pages to be tried, tested, and improved in the context of pastoral ministry, I trust, to the edification of the congregations we have served together.

Thanks are also due to the trustees and administration of Westminster for providing me with a study leave to complete this book, and especially to Dr. and Mrs. Gregory Poland for their generous provision of the research grant to support the study leave in which this book was written.

I thank Crossway for believing this book was worthy of their investment, for their excellence of execution in bringing it to publication, and for providing the expert editorial skill of Thom Notaro. Uriah Renzetti also invested a great deal of time and skill in editing the manuscript prior to its submission, for which his former professor is deeply grateful.

Finally, I cannot adequately express my gratitude for and to “the redhead,” my wife, Rhonda. How does one say thank you in a few short lines for a lifetime of selfless love, humble and courageous wisdom, and unwavering support through the valleys and victories in service of Christ’s cause? The Lord has used you, more than anyone else on earth, and your trust in Christ, commitment to his word, integrity of life, and timely counsel to inspire and hold me accountable to be God’s man for God’s glory. I and this book would not be here without you.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. . . . Preach the word.

2 Timothy 3:16–17; 4:2

The pastor by definition is a shepherd, the under-shepherd of the flock of God. His primary task is to feed the flock by leading them to green pastures.

William Still

Introduction

A Vision for Connecting Preaching and Leadership

Preaching is leadership in Christ’s cause. This book has been written to train pastors who will lead the church on its mission in the next generation to connect their preaching with leadership. I have become convinced, through the study and practice of pastoral ministry for over thirty years in a variety of denominational contexts, that an unbiblical divorce often occurs between the pastoral priorities of preaching and leadership more generally. When this happens, the church suffers from either stagnation on its mission or a downgrade in the pulpit. The Pastor as Leader seeks to equip pastors to effectively steward their responsibilities as leaders in Christ’s cause while being unashamedly committed to preaching as the primary means by which Christ extends his church’s mission in the world.

The Problem: An Unnecessary Disconnect

Many pastors feel an irreconcilable disconnect between the priority of preaching and the pressing responsibilities of leadership, and conclude that they must choose between the two. One end of the disconnect was illustrated for me by a pastoral candidate who was asked by a search committee considering recommending him for the leadership of a congregation, “What was the last book you read on leadership?” His answer was “Oh, I would never do something like that!” He assumed that being conversant in the principles and practices of leadership would necessarily compromise his commitment to biblical methods of ministry. The other end can be poignantly illustrated by the well-publicized case of a pastor who had, for many years, been using the sermons of others and passing them off as his own. When exposed, he responded that his church required so much investment from him as a leader that he could not afford the time to study the Scriptures to prepare sermons. Illustrations on each side could be multiplied.

Albert Mohler summarizes the division between what he terms “the Believers” and “the Leaders” this way: The Believers are driven by their beliefs and dedicated to learning, teaching, and defending truth but are not equipped to lead; they “are afraid that thinking too much about it will turn them into mere pragmatists.” The Leaders are “masters of change and organizational transformation” who are tired of seeing churches decline and “want to change things for the better” but “lack a center of gravity in truth.” Mohler observes that “the evangelical Christian world is increasingly divided” between these groups.1

This book addresses this problem where it manifests itself in the pastorate, between “the Preachers” and “the Leaders,” because this unnecessary division harms the church and hinders its mission. A congregation needs leadership to be faithful and fruitful in its Christ-appointed mission, and in Christ’s kingdom that leadership must come through his word preached. If a pastor doesn’t understand his identity and calling as a leader, that will disable not only his leadership but also his preaching, because he will lack holy zeal to take anyone anywhere with what he says. If he assumes the responsibility to lead without an immovable conviction of the primacy of biblical preaching, he will put the church at risk of being driven by voices other than the chief shepherd’s. When the two essential pastoral functions of preaching and leadership become disintegrated from each other, the church suffers from either inertia on its mission or a decline in quality from its pulpit. When leadership is neglected, preaching can devolve into a mere intellectual and informational exercise, which lacks power to transform a congregation. When preaching is deprioritized, God’s word becomes functionally subordinated to the authority of leadership trends and techniques, and faithful interpretation is negotiated or manipulated in deference to worldly leadership aspirations.

The unnecessary disconnect between these two essential pastoral responsibilities has multiple causes. One prominent cause is extrabiblical organizational theory undiscerningly imposed upon the church. Pastoral leadership is held captive by pragmatism.2 The values and methods marketed as successful for organizations outside of the church are uncritically appropriated by leaders of the church in the pursuit of a ministry model that “works,” as defined by the culture. The preacher assumes the role of ecclesiastical CEO, and little of his time is devoted to the earnest study and preparation of God’s word as his main service to the church.

A second cause is a particular kind of theologizing about the status quo in the health of a church and its mission. A congregation’s stagnation (or regress) in biblical indicators of ministry maturity is rationalized to insulate the pastor’s or the congregation’s comfort zone. In this system, leaders can repeat misapplications of doctrine to mask their loss of zeal for the extension of Christ’s kingdom. The observable atrophy of Christ’s body, the church, does not burden the preacher’s heart or influence the disciplines of his stewardship, since he aspires to nothing more than the transfer of accurate textual and doctrinal information week to week.

A third cause is the sinful and harmful behavior by once seemingly effective preacher-leaders. Confusion and deep distrust can result from preachers’ abuse of the authority that comes with leadership, and this erodes confidence that those who fill pulpits can be trusted with hearts, lives, and families. For some of God’s people, the corruption of a trusted pastor has confirmed their fear that leadership is inherently “toxic,” especially if that leadership wields God’s word as its primary instrument. Disillusioned members are tempted to insulate themselves, spiritually and emotionally, from allowing the stewards of God’s word to exercise the leadership influence and carry out the mission for which God has ordained them.

Whatever the reasons, the disconnect between preaching and leadership is both biblically unnecessary and unhealthy for the mission of Christ’s church.

The Solution: A Biblical Connection

This book will present what I believe is a biblical and therefore better model: pastoral leadership by appointment of Christ and in union with Christ that prioritizes preaching the word of Christ on the mission of Christ. There is a better way to lead Christ’s church on its mission than atheological, pragmatic adoption of corporate culture; self-preserving complacency regarding the status quo; or self-serving, unloving lording over God’s people. That better way is pastoral leadership stewarded under Christ’s appointment, conformed to Christ’s character, exemplifying and implementing Christ’s wisdom as preached from Christ’s word. As we will see, because Christ leads his kingdom through his word preached, preaching is leadership and preachers are leaders in Christ’s cause. The question the gospel preacher must answer is not whether he will be a leader but how he will steward the leadership entrusted to him. The chapters that follow aim to equip pastors to steward this calling intentionally, earnestly, and competently.

What to Expect

The Pastor as Leader is an apologetic for pastoral leadership through preaching. It presents biblical and theological arguments to persuade pastors that on Christ’s mission they are called to lead and that they must lead as preachers. For this reason, the book is not primarily a how-to manual. Though it is practical and intentionally moves from principles to practices (most chapters include suggested steps for application), the goal is to show pastors why they must engage in leadership and how that engagement connects with their preaching. This does not mean multiplying leadership tasks that compete for time with the preacher’s stewardship of Scripture. It means, on Christ’s mission, that preaching is leadership, and the best leadership practices should flow organically from a faithful stewardship of the Scriptures. The goal is to equip preachers to lead as a matter of conviction and from a sense of calling, rather than to bear leadership as a burden born of mere expediency, an adjunct to true ministry—or a substitute for it.

Given this book’s brevity, I try to be concise with biblical and theological arguments and to provide further explanation or readings in the notes, where needed. I trust that readers will understand that, given the focus of the book, I have not addressed every issue (some important) that might be relevant to the arguments made.

How to Get There

The first half of the book (chaps. 1–5) will address principles of pastoral leadership that are essential to the practices addressed in the second half (chaps. 6–10). Each chapter seeks to provide encouraging examples of pastoral leadership and succinct but substantive biblical foundations for the practical takeaways that follow. Because Christ leads his kingdom through his word preached, chapters 7–10 are dedicated to demonstrating and defending the functional priority of preaching (i.e., the Christ-centered exposition of the Scriptures) in core elements of pastoral leadership. But this is not another book on Christ-centered hermeneutics and homiletics. The focus here will be on how such preaching functions to lead Christ’s church into his purposes. Nor will I directly address some of the vital leadership functions fulfilled by pastors, such as the private ministry of the word in pastoral care and counseling. This book proceeds from the conviction that the pastor’s leadership through preaching will fuel and form other necessary expressions of his leadership for the church. In other words, there is a lot of other vital ministry downstream from preaching. In fact, it is all downstream from preaching.

Early on I’ll seek to establish that man of God is an important motif for understanding the pastor’s role in leading God’s people into God’s purpose by preaching God’s word. Not only was man of God used by Paul, at the end of his apostolic ministry, to orient Timothy to his identity and duty in pastoral leadership at Ephesus, but it reached back to Moses, the prophet God sent to lead his people out of slavery and into his service. In the Scriptures a man of God was God’s man sent to proclaim God’s word to lead God’s people into God’s purposes. He was a preacher-leader! However, this focus on the preacher as a leader does not imply a single-elder model of church leadership. A pastor is not an Old Testament prophet or a New Testament apostle, and he has not been entrusted with the unique, singular authority of either. The conviction throughout this book is that pastors steward their particular leadership functions as one among a plurality of elders, who together govern and lead Christ’s church. The principles and practices advocated in these chapters are all designed to be practiced in a context where the pastor serves as one on par with other elders of the church.3

Nonetheless, because our focus will be on the pastor as leader, I will not directly address leadership roles exercised by others in the church or the leadership exercised by Christians in spheres beyond the church. These are high callings for Christ’s people and are worthy of entire books dedicated to them. My hope is that this book will be useful to those who lead the church alongside their pastor or who lead for Christ’s sake in other spheres. As I have said and we shall further see, all leadership in Christ’s cause flows downstream from his word preached. When pastoral leadership is not stewarded competently (or not done at all), other leaders in kingdom stewardship carry the added burden of swimming upstream. When preachers are equipped to lead competently, the Christians they serve will be encouraged and better equipped for leadership in their own God-appointed callings.

The Pastor as Leader is written to equip pastors in their God-given identity as preacher-leaders with some best practices for leading the church through preaching in Christ’s mission. If you have a heart for that mission, and you want to refresh and retool for the role Christ has entrusted to you in his church, I invite you to read on. We’ll start by regaining clarity of vision for the mission on which Christ has sent us.

1  Albert Mohler, The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters (Minneapolis: Bethany, 2012), 20.

2Pragmatism as a philosophy, which says “the ends justify the means,” must be carefully distinguished from the ability to be practical (put right precepts and principles into practice). The latter, as we shall see, is integral to pastoral leadership.

3  Consider John Murray’s comments in his exposition of Rom. 12:8, “the one who leads, with zeal,” where he disabuses the interpretation that singular reference to leadership suggests a single elder model. Murray writes: “It would be absurd to suppose that there is any allusion here to government as exercised by one man. The other passages imply a plurality of elders (cf. also Acts 15:2, 4, 6, 22, 23; 16:4; 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5; Heb. 13:7, 17). The apostle uses the singular in this case after the pattern followed in the other four instances without any reference to the number of those who might possess and exercise the several gifts. Hence no support could be derived from this text for the idea of one man as president in the government of the church nor of one man as chief over those who rule.” And “every infraction upon or neglect of government directly prejudices the witness to the truth of which the church is the pillar.” John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans (Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 2022), 449. Readers should keep Murray’s conviction in mind as they read the rest of this book and attempt to apply its principles and practices in their ecclesiastical contexts.

Part 1

Principles

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples.

Matthew 28:18–19

Our plans and efforts for promoting this object ought . . . to be large, liberal, and ever expanding. . . . When we direct our attention to the spread of the Gospel, our views, our prayers, our efforts are all too stinted and narrow. We scarcely ever lift our eyes to the real grandeur and claims of the enterprise in which we profess to be engaged. . . . We are too apt to be satisfied with small and occasional contributions of service to this greatest of all causes instead of devoting to it hearts truly enlarged; instead of desiring great things; expecting great things; praying for great things; and nurturing in our spirits that holy elevation of sentiment and affection, which embraces in its desires and prayers the entire kingdom of God.

Samuel Miller

1

The Mission of a Man of God

The Greatest of All Causes

Alexander Duff served as a missionary to India from the Church of Scotland. When he returned on furlough in 1836, he saw that the theological winds of modernism were beginning to drive the church, bringing an apathy toward the missionary task Christ committed to his church. So, Duff preached! In 1836 he preached for two hours before the General Assembly, and in 1839 he traveled from one congregation to another, preaching a sermon that Hughes Oliphant Old identifies as “one of the most significant sermons ever preached.”1 The sermon was taken from Psalm 67 and titled “Missions the Chief End of the Christian Church.” Duff applied the gospel-promising logic of the psalm to the church’s commitment to missions, saying, “When a Church ceases to be evangelistic, it must cease to be evangelical; and when it ceases to be evangelical, it must cease to exist as a true Church of God, however primitive or apostolic it may be in its outward form and constitution!”2 He concluded with a sobering historical analysis:

What is the whole history of the Christian church but one perpetual proof and illustration of the grand position,—that an evangelistic or missionary Church is a spiritually flourishing Church, and, that a church which drops the evangelistic or missionary character, speedily lapses into superannuation [obsolescence] and decay!3

Duff connected the church’s commitment to its Christ-entrusted mission with its ability to remain faithful to its apostolic foundations and spiritually vital. He saw that no matter how right its outward forms might be, when a church loses its sense of mission (in that case, through the sepsis of liberalism), it atrophies and eventually fails to be what Christ commissioned it to be in the world. So, he preached.

This book grows out of the conviction that Christ leads his church through his word preached; therefore, preaching is leadership in Christ’s cause. And if the church is to be led on its Christ-commissioned mission, pastors must be clear about that mission, committed to it, and preach in a way that leads God’s people into God’s purposes for them. Pastors must, as J. W. Alexander put it, be “yielded up to the cause of the Lord Jesus, in the spirit of sacrifice, with no limitation or evasion of his bonds.”4 Otherwise, preaching loses its leadership impetus, and the goal of preaching, Sunday after Sunday, can become merely to transmit accurate information or simply “not get it wrong” (the minimum threshold for faithful stewardship, cf. 2 Tim. 2:15). When weary, war-torn pastors stop longing and laboring to see the message they preach mature the saints in God’s purposes for them and to see sinners won by God’s grace, preaching becomes “all too stinted and narrow” and loses its sense of place and purpose in God’s glorious plan. Heralds of the greatest message in all the world must steward their task with hearts and eyes fixed on the greatest cause in all of history, extending the redeeming righteous rule of God, through Christ their King, to the hearts and lives of multitudes of disciples, to the end of the earth until the end of the age.

Christ the King leads his church on his mission through his word preached. This is the foundation for the vital connection between preaching and leadership. In chapter 7 we’ll see that Christ gave preaching pride of place during his earthly ministry and now still does from heaven. In this chapter we’ll see that he did that as the leader of God’s people on mission to establish God’s rule in their hearts and lives. A survey of Luke’s introduction to Jesus and his mission-defining sermon in Nazareth (Luke 4:16–27) will show us that Christ prioritized preaching as Christ the King, the leader God sent to establish his promised kingdom.

The Leader and His Mission

From the beginning of his Gospel, Luke is concerned to convince his readers that Jesus is the promised messianic King (1:4). Luke’s account of Jesus’s birth emphasizes that he was descended from “the house of David” (1:27) and was to be given “the throne of his father David,” from which he was to “reign” over a “kingdom” that will have no end (1:32–33). Jesus was also revealed to be the holy Son of God, because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit as the “power of the Most High” (1:35). His royal identity is then emphasized once again in Zechariah’s hymn of praise (1:69–70) and the place of Jesus’s birth, “in the city of David” (2:11). Luke then recounts Jesus’s baptism, when—according to his human nature—he was anointed with the Holy Spirit for his public ministry as the Christ, and the heavenly voice declared him to be God’s beloved and well-pleasing Son (3:22). Jesus’s genealogy then identifies him as the “son of Joseph” (3:30), a “son of David” (3:31), descended from Adam as “the son of God” (3:38), directly before Jesus’s temptation, which has as its central issue Jesus’s identity as the Son of God (4:3, 9) and the attainment of a kingdom and authority (4:5–6).

This background is foundational to our topic because “Son of God” was used by biblical writers not only to refer to Jesus as the second person of the Trinity, in his divine nature as God the Son (John 1:1, 18; 3:16; 17:5; Rom. 8:3; Col. 1:15–17, 19; Gal. 4:4; Phil. 2:6; Heb.1:2–3)5 but also to identify Jesus from the perspective of his singularly determinative place in redemptive history as the now incarnate Son, in terms of his messianic office (Luke 4:3, 9; Acts 9:20, 22; Rom. 1:4; Heb. 1:2, 4).6 “Son of God” had been used previously of Adam (Luke 3:38), Israel (Hos. 11:1; cf. Matt. 2:15), and Israel’s Davidic king (2 Sam. 7:14; Pss. 2:6–7; 89:27), not because they were divine but because they were appointed by God to bear his image and to serve as God’s royal representatives on earth. These fallen and fallible representatives pointed forward to the Son, who would be the perfectly obedient and infallibly wise last-days ruler, the Spirit-anointed Christ (Isa. 9:6; 11:1–5). Precisely because Jesus is uniquely qualified by virtue of his divine nature to fulfill the office, “Son of God” is used of Jesus in this messianic sense in Scripture.7Through his narrative of Jesus’s birth, baptism, and temptation Luke introduces Jesus as the promised divine and Davidic ruler, who has come to defeat God’s and his people’s enemies and establish God’s promised eternal kingdom, Christ the King.8

This is important for understanding the connection between preaching and leadership in Christ’s cause. When, in Luke 4, Christ delivered his mission-defining sermon in Nazareth (4:16–27) and disclosed his messianic identity (4:17, 21) and method (4:16–30, 43–44), we see him delivering his mandate as the King, the promised leader of God’s people.9 We also begin to see the grandeur of the mission Christ came to lead through the response, tragic as it was, of the people who heard him (4:22, 28–29) and through Christ’s open declaration of the purpose of his preaching (