Reformed Pastoral Ministry, Preaching, and Missions — Unit 10: Finishing Well in Ministry

Key Verse

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain how the Reformed doctrine of perseverance gives a minister both comfort and a call to watchfulness.

2. Name the chief dangers to a minister's finishing well, using Scripture's own warnings.

3. Describe practices that protect a minister: the Word and prayer, Sabbath rest, accountability under elders and presbytery, family and friendship, and sound doctrine.

4. State fairly the debates over overwork and over retirement, and give the Reformed answer to each.

5. Explain how a minister prepares his successor and leaves a church strong.

The Voice of This Unit

This unit is written from inside the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition for Reformed pastors and students. It is the last unit of the course. We have studied the minister's call (Unit 1), preaching (Unit 2), catechizing (Unit 3), pastoral care (Unit 4), the home (Unit 5), evangelism (Unit 6), missions (Unit 7), church planting (Unit 8) and the church's life in the world (Unit 9). Now we ask a plain question: how does a minister remain faithful to the end? The answer begins with grace, and it includes real duties.

Grace Keeps Us, and We Watch

The Reformed tradition teaches the perseverance of the saints: those whom God has called and made new will be kept by His power and will not fall away finally. Course 2, Unit 8, "The Perseverance of the Saints," teaches the doctrine. Paul wrote, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). Jude ends his letter by pointing to the One who is able to keep believers from stumbling (Jude 24). Jesus said of His sheep that no one will snatch them from His hand (John 10:28).

This is the first comfort of a minister who is tired. He did not begin his ministry by his own strength, and he will not finish it by his own strength. The same Lord who called him will carry him.

But the Reformed doctrine is not a license for carelessness. The Westminster Confession, chapter 17, section 3, says honestly that believers may, through temptation and neglect, fall into grievous sins for a time, and may suffer for them, yet they will be renewed to repentance. Paul told Timothy, "Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you" (1 Timothy 4:16). He also said of himself that he disciplined his body "lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:27).

How can both be true? Some people ask: if God keeps His saints, why warn a pastor to take heed? The Canons of Dort answer in the Fifth Main Point, Article 14. God preserves His people through means, including His Word, with its exhortations, threats and promises, and the sacraments. The warnings of Scripture are the tools God uses to keep His people. A minister who hears the warnings and takes heed is being kept by God. So we rest in grace, and we watch.

The Dangers Scripture Names

Scripture does not hide the dangers of ministry. Paul warned the Ephesian elders: "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God" (Acts 20:28). He told them that wolves would come in, and that some from among their own number would speak twisted things.

We list the dangers below as Scripture does, without ranking one above another. All of them have ended ministries.

Pride. Paul says an overseer must not be a novice, "lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil" (1 Timothy 3:6). Success, praise and a loyal congregation can feed pride. So can a long record of right doctrine.

Love of money. "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). Peter tells elders to shepherd the flock "not for dishonest gain but eagerly" (1 Peter 5:2). A minister must be honest in every account.

Sexual sin. Paul writes, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality" (1 Thessalonians 4:3). A minister's faithfulness to his own marriage is a matter of his witness and his holiness. The Lord's design for marriage is the lifelong union of one husband and one wife, and an overseer must be faithful in it (1 Timothy 3:2).

Domineering. Peter warns elders against ruling harshly over those entrusted to them and tells them to be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3).

Doctrinal drift. Paul foresees a time when people "will not endure sound doctrine" but will heap up teachers who please them (2 Timothy 4:3-4). A minister may be tempted to soften the teaching to be liked, or to follow every new fashion.

Discouragement and weariness. These are the quieter dangers, and often the commonest.

Weariness and the Need for Rest

Elijah, after a great victory on Mount Carmel, ran into the wilderness and asked the Lord to take his life. The Lord's first answer was not a sermon. An angel touched him and said, "Arise and eat," and gave him food and sleep (1 Kings 19:3-8). Servants of God are made of flesh. Paul wrote of "the care of all the churches" pressing on him (2 Corinthians 11:28), and he also wrote, "we do not lose heart" (2 Corinthians 4:16).

The Reformed tradition has known weary pastors. John Calvin suffered many illnesses in his later years and still taught and wrote. The English Puritan Richard Baxter, author of The Reformed Pastor (Unit 4), also suffered poor health for much of his life. C. H. Spurgeon, the Reformed Baptist preacher of London, suffered seasons of deep sadness, and he wrote a chapter on "The Minister's Fainting Fits" in his Lectures to My Students. We note him as a Reformed Baptist voice. These men teach us that faithful ministers can be cast down, and that being cast down is not a proof of unbelief.

A debate about overwork. Many historians admire the Puritan ideal of diligence, in which ministers rose early, studied long and visited constantly. Some of them worked themselves into illness. Some modern writers say that this kind of devotion is not virtue but pride, a belief that the church depends on us. Others reply that rest can become an excuse for laziness, and they note that Paul labored hard, saying that he worked harder than all the other apostles, though by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Our answer. Both are partly right. Diligence is a duty. Scripture condemns the idle servant. But the Lord also made rest part of obedience. The fourth commandment calls for a day of rest (Exodus 20:8-11), and Jesus taught that "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). When the apostles returned from their labors, Jesus said, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while" (Mark 6:31). The psalmist teaches that it is vain to rise early and stay up late eating the bread of anxious toil, for the Lord gives sleep to His beloved (Psalm 127:2). A pastor who never rests proclaims by his life that the church depends on him. A pastor who rests proclaims that the church depends on Christ. A regular day of rest, an annual holiday, and, where the church can arrange it, a time of study or renewal are acts of faith.

Accountability: Elders and Presbytery

Presbyterian government guards the pastor as well as the people. A minister is not a lone ruler. He serves with a session of elders, and he belongs to a presbytery that examined his call and watches over his doctrine and life. Course 4, Unit 2, "Government by Elders," and Unit 5, "Church Discipline and Membership," teach this.

Some ministers resent this. They say that oversight shows distrust, or that a pastor needs freedom to lead boldly. We answer that the oversight of elders is the Lord's provision for the minister himself. Many pastors who fell had no one with the right to ask them hard questions. Elders who love their pastor will ask about his marriage, his time with the Word, his finances and his weariness. A pastor who welcomes this has chosen a fence at the edge of a cliff. Church discipline, rightly used, is mercy for the one who has fallen as well as protection for the flock.

Accountability also means a few close friends who may speak plainly. "As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend" (Proverbs 27:17). A minister needs friends beyond his own congregation, such as fellow pastors who know him well.

Home and Doctrine

Paul says an overseer must be one who rules his own house well, "for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?" (1 Timothy 3:5). A minister's first congregation is his own family. Spend time with a wife and children. Pray with them. Keep the Lord's Day as a family. A pastor who gives the church his whole self and leaves his household with the dregs has not finished well, whatever the church thinks.

A minister also keeps his own soul. He should read the Bible for his own sake, not only for his sermons, and pray for himself as for his flock. The Reformed tradition provides help in the confessions and the catechisms, which anchor teaching in the whole counsel of God and guard against drift. Paul commands, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

Succession and Retirement

Finishing well includes leaving a church that can continue without us. Moses laid hands on Joshua (Deuteronomy 34:9). Paul told Timothy to commit the things he had heard to faithful men who would teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2). A wise pastor trains elders from the beginning. He shares the pulpit with others, teaches the congregation to love the Word and not only the preacher, and keeps records and plans in order. When the time comes, he helps the church and the session seek a successor, then steps aside in a way that supports the new pastor.

A debate about retirement. Some Christians say that a minister never retires, because the call is for life and Scripture shows no pension. Others say that a minister should step down at a set age, and make room for younger men. Both points have some support in Scripture. The Levites, in Numbers 8:24-26, were to cease the heavy work of service at the age of fifty and then assist their brothers, though they did not abandon the service. The psalmist prays, "Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation" (Psalm 71:18).

Our answer. The calling is for life, but the form of service changes. A minister may lay down the heavy duties of a pastor and still teach, counsel, pray and mentor. Presbyterian churches commonly recognize this by giving retired ministers an emeritus status, though the details vary by denomination. What matters is that the church not be left without a shepherd, and that the older man not cling to power.

Finishing: Faithful, Not Famous

In his last weeks, ill and weak, John Calvin met the council and the pastors of Geneva to say farewell. He died in May 1564. His life shows what the Reformed tradition prizes: a ministry measured by faithfulness to the Word.

Paul wrote his last letter from prison, knowing the time of his departure was at hand. He did not boast of results. He said that he had fought, finished and kept, and that a crown of righteousness awaited, "not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing" (2 Timothy 4:6-8). The test of a minister is whether he is found faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2). Many faithful ministers served in obscure villages and were never known beyond them. Their reward is with the Lord.

Pastoral Application

A pastor of fifty-eight has served the same congregation of ninety people for thirty years. He is tired, his preaching has become dry, and he sometimes lies awake wondering whether he should resign. He has told no one.

At last he speaks with the senior elder. The elder does not rebuke him. The session meets with him and listens. They grant him a month of rest and study away from the pulpit, and they share the preaching among themselves and a neighboring pastor. They ask him to take his wife on a short retreat. Together they decide that the pastor will begin teaching two younger men, one a deacon and one a schoolteacher, in a weekly class on preaching and the catechism, and that in two years the session will review whether to call an associate pastor. The pastor comes back rested, and he sees that the Lord has been preparing his successor.

Summary

A Reformed minister finishes well by grace, not by his own strength. The doctrine of perseverance comforts him, and the warnings of Scripture are the means by which God keeps him (Dort, Fifth Main Point, Article 14; Westminster Confession 17.3). Scripture names the dangers: pride, love of money, sexual sin, domineering, doctrinal drift and discouragement. Weariness is met with rest, since both diligence and Sabbath are duties, and the tradition's weary pastors, Calvin, Baxter and Spurgeon, teach us not to be ashamed of weakness. Accountability to elders and presbytery, friends beyond the congregation, care for one's own home, and attention to one's own soul and doctrine protect the minister. Finishing well also means preparing a successor, and the calling lasts for life even when the form of service changes. The goal is to be found faithful.

Further Reading

• Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656).

• William Perkins, The Art of Prophesying (1592).

• C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, including "The Minister's Fainting Fits" (a Reformed Baptist voice).

• The Canons of Dort (1619), Fifth Main Point.

• The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), chapter 17.

• John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress (1678).

• Course 2, Unit 8: "The Perseverance of the Saints."

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