Edward Donnelly

Our general topic is Help for Today’s Pastors: Case Studies from Paul. Paul’s value for pastors has always been recognized. Three of his epistles are called pastoral epistles. Passages such as his address to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20 are packed with advice and counsel for pastors, and there are many other passages of his writing that are of the utmost value regarding the work of the pastoral ministry. These are an absolute treasure house of information and guidance.

It seems to me that one aspect of Paul has been somewhat neglected; that is to look at his epistles as case studies in applied pastoral theology. It’s rather like listening to a medical lecture on one hand as a student, and on other hand, going round the wards with the physician and watching him at each bed dealing with each individual case, learning from his approach with individuals. That’s what we want to attempt this morning.

Paul’s epistles are what are called occasional documents. That simply means that they’re not abstract theological treatises. Paul doesn’t say, “I think I’ll write a treatise of justification by faith.” He has a specific group of people in mind. His epistles are shaped by the occasion for a particular set of circumstances. One writer says, “Paul’s epistles were spoken rather than written, poured out by someone striding up and down the room as he dictated, seeing in his mind’s eye the people to whom they were to be sent.” That last sentence is helpful, “Seeing in his mind’s eye,” as he dictated, “the people to whom they were to be sent.” We want to see those people too and to see how Paul pastored that specific group of people by the letter which he wrote to them. In each letter he was confronted by a particular pastoral situation. How does he approach it? How can we learn from it as we are faced with similar situations in our own ministries?

I want to look at two epistles. I’m not, of course, going to attempt an exposition of each epistle. I’m not going to pretend that we’re dealing with all the pastoral emphases, but we’re going to look at a pastoral problem and we’re going to see how Paul approaches it and seeks to deal with it. I would like you first of all to turn with me to Paul’s letter to the Romans. We’ll be making many references. Perhaps you will be able to follow through with your Bible.

In many of our churches we are being faced more and more with a pleasant problem. It is pleasant, but it is also a problem; that is, that our membership is becoming increasingly diverse. So it is becoming harder to hold our people together and to preserve the unity of the church. We’ve seen it for example in our denomination¹. For two-hundred and fifty years our people were not diverse. They were homogeneous. They were all from the one race, the one background, the one culture, mostly from the same social status. They all had the same religious heritage and background. We were very like each other; that was our strength and our weakness. Now we’re moving into a new situation. In the congregation where I serve we’re seeing new converts, but they’re not like the rest of us at all. They have no biblical background. Some of them have come from deep sin. They have serious ongoing problems. Some of them are scarred by their past. They’re just very different people.

Believers are coming to us from other denominations, and they bring with them a different ethos, sometimes a different doctrinal understanding. It’s thrilling, but it’s also challenging and exhausting at times. I’m sure that in the United States the mix is even more varied. Now, how are we to hold these people together? How are we to keep them united to prevent the church splintering? How can we maintain a close fellowship? The church growth movement would say, “Don’t even try, that’s a foolish attempt. The way to grow is to develop homogeneous churches, to gather people of the same age and culture and background and interests, target them as your key audience, and have a church of like-minded people.” We repudiate that of course. It’s a denial of the supernatural diversity of the body of Christ. Evangelical pragmatism says that we have to work at our people skills, our man-management, our group dynamics. We, I hope, see that as mostly shallow and unsuccessful.

Brethren, it’s encouraging to remember that this is not a new problem, but it is precisely the problem which the New Testament church faces as Jews and Gentiles were brought together into one body. We can hardly imagine a more disparate two sectors of people. The contrasts between them were immense. The Jews had centuries of rich tradition. They had a thorough knowledge of Scripture. Many of them were people who were morally upright and pure. These were the Jews who believed in Jesus, and they find sitting beside them in their churches not only intelligent God-fearers, but as Paul tells us: those who had been fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, drunkards, and extortionists. They sat beside people who had come out of magic and out of mystery religions and out of the worship of the Greek and Roman gods. How do you hold these people together, these conservative, morally pure, upright, Bible-educated Jews and these raw, scarred, diverse pagans? How can you keep them together in one audience? I believe that’s the problem confronted by Paul in the epistle to the Romans, and I am more and more convinced, although it has been overlooked, that it is a key strand in the background to this epistle. This will help us to understand Romans as well as help us in our pastorate.

We’re not told much about the early days of the Roman church, but without stretching the evidence, I think we can construct a persuasive context. We do know that on the day of Pentecost visitors from Rome (Acts 2:10) heard the wonderful works of God in their own language. These were Jewish people who had come to Jerusalem for Pentecost, and we can presume that they returned to their native city bringing the gospel with them. They may have been believers before then, or shortly afterwards, hardly before, but surely shortly afterwards. At any rate, the church began with a Jewish base.

We know that in 49 AD all Jews were expelled from the city of Rome by the decree of the Emperor Claudius (Acts 18:2). Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome because there had been rioting among the Jews. The Latin writer Suetonius says that the Jews were causing disturbances, and in his words, “impulsore Chrestus,” at the instigation of one Chrestus. It sounds as if there was conflict between Jewish Christians and their fellow Jews. At any rate, the Jews were expelled from Rome, and I think we can imagine then in the intervening years the Roman church would continue to grow and the gentile believers who were left would grow in their faith. They would develop gifts; they would assume leadership; they would introduce new customs; they would bring more Gentiles into the church. So the church would begin as a Jewish church, then for some years the Jews would be removed, and the church would continue to grow, and then a few years after 49 AD the Jews returned, including presumably the Jewish Christians.

I think it’s not unreasonable to expect strains between these two communities. The founding fathers who had begun the church and set its course leave, and when they come back, the church is full of strangers. They really don’t know them, and have never heard of them, and who are you and what are you doing in our church? The church had perhaps developed some new directions, and we can see how the two communities could rub against each other. I’m persuaded that that is part of the subtext of Romans. Paul has never visited the city, and yet he’s obviously aware of tensions in the church. Romans 14, disputes over doubtful things, “Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat. One person esteems one day above another, why do you show contempt for your brother? Let us not judge one another anymore. Let us pursue the things which make for peace. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.” All this looks very like a pastor dealing with a situation of tension in the church between the groups.

I believe that the apostle is writing in part to deal with these tensions, and he is providentially perfectly qualified to deal with them. He has the right to speak with the Jewish Christians, Romans 9:3, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.” On the other hand, in Romans 11:13 he can say, “I speak to you Gentiles. I am the apostle to the Gentiles.” He’s urging Jew and gentile believers to come together. He is writing from Corinth, and what is he about to do? He’s about to take the gifts of the gentile Christians to the poor in the church at Jerusalem. In his own context, in his own person, he is the embodiment of Jew and Gentile coming together. So he writes to promote solidarity in the church at Rome. How does he do so? By the gospel.

My topic this morning is that the gospel of God unites the people of God. Let’s quickly move through Romans and try to trace here and there how Paul develops this emphasis.

Romans 1:1-17, Introduction

We see it in the introduction, in Romans 1:1-17. Verse five, “We have received apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations.” Verse seven, he writes to all, to all who are in Rome, beloved of God. He reminds us in verse sixteen that the gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. The note is struck already, one gospel for all.

Romans 1:18-3:20, Man’s Need of Righteousness

He then moves into the first main section from 1:18 to 3:20; man’s need of righteousness or man’s lack of righteousness. He shows in the second half of chapter one, the unrighteousness of the pagan world. In the first half of chapter two, he shows the unrighteousness of moral, respectable people. Then from 2:17 onwards, he moves to show that the Jews are just as guilty as the Gentiles in the eyes of God, “You are called a Jew, you rest in the Law, you make your boast in God, but if you are a breaker of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” With a tremendous chain of Old Testament references, Paul establishes that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin (Romans 3:9). Verse ten, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Verse nineteen, “The law brings condemnation that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.” Jews and Gentiles are one in their depravity and in their guilt and in their unrighteousness.

Romans 3:21-8:37, God’s Provision of Righteousness

In the second main section of the letter, from 3:21 to the end of chapter eight he deals with God’s provision of righteousness. Again we see how the gospel unifies. There is one way of salvation for all. 3: 22 following, “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, for there is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace.” There is no reason for any group to feel superior, 3:27 following, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded.” He is telling the Jews that boasting is excluded and that they should receive the Gentiles.

What is at the heart of Jewish faith? Monotheism. With superb insight, Paul turns their monotheism into an argument for receiving their gentile brothers. He says, “Is He God of Jews only? Is he not also God of Gentiles? Yes, of Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.” In chapter four he shows how Abraham and David were justified through faith, and in a piece of brilliance once again he shows that Abraham was justified as a Gentile, and that he was a Gentile when he was justified, “That he might be the Father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised” (Romans 4:11). He is not the father of the Jews. He is the father of believing Jews, “The father of the circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision but who also walks in the steps of faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised” (Romans 4:12).

People, he says, to be a true child of Abraham you have to share his gentile faith. Isn’t that powerful argumentation into that situation? You’ve got to share his gentile faith if you want to be a real Jew! What was the promise given to Abraham? That he would be the heir of the world (Romans 4:13). What does that tell you? What was the new name given to Abraham? The very name of the father of your nation, what does it mean? Father of multitudes. Verses sixteen and seventeen, “So that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all. As it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’” Verse eighteen, “He became the father of many nations. According to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be.”

The inclusion of the Gentiles is at the heart and the beginning, and the very essence of the Jewish faith. He was a Gentile before he was a Jew. This is called application of the gospel to this fraught, tense situation. In the second half of chapter five he expounds covenant theology: death in Adam, life in Christ. He shows us that this is the only ultimate division of mankind that matters. Human beings are divided, those in Adam, and those in Christ. Verse nineteen, “Whereas by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” Here again is the basic unity of all believers. He continues the theme in chapter six, union with Christ. What is our basic identity? Verse three, “As many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus.” That is who we are. We’re not Jewish. We’re not Gentiles primarily. We’re those who have been baptized into Christ Jesus. In chapter seven, he reminds the Jewish believers that the law no longer separates them from the Gentiles. Verse four, “Because you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ.” Verse six, “We have been delivered from the law.” This is God’s provision of righteousness.

Romans 9-11, Israel’s Refusal of Righteousness

In chapters nine to eleven, Paul’s topic is Israel’s refusal of righteousness. Here, brethren, is where this theme of Jewish-Gentile tension comes particularly into its own. You will note the commentators have struggled with chapters nine to eleven. They’re not sure why they’re there. They seem to be out of place, to lack continuity, to be of disproportionate length. One commentator says, “These chapters are a kind of postscript to the Gospel.” That is quite wrong. They’re not a parenthesis. They’re at the very heart of the letter and of the pastoral situation in Rome. Paul said in Romans 1:16, “To the Jew first.” At this time there were between forty and sixty thousand Jews living in Rome, and the church in Rome knew perfectly well that the gospel hadn’t been embraced by the Jews, and the Jews hadn’t received the gospel. So what happens to Paul’s statement, “To the Jew first and also the Greek”? I haven’t time to develop it, but I came across a piece of information that one of the Jewish synagogues in Rome was called the Synagogue of the Olive. In the light of Romans 11:17, following where Paul deals with the olive tree and being grafted in and out of the olive tree, it’s fascinating to think what overtones, what resonances there might be to his readers in Rome hearing about God’s olive and God’s bringing in and out of the olive tree. In these chapters Paul deals with these questions directly. He shows in chapter nine that the promise was never made to Israel as a whole, but it was made to the faithful remnant, “They’re not all Israel who are of Israel, in Isaac your seed shall be called” (Romans 9:6,7). From the very beginning, unbelief was a factor among the children of Abraham. This is nothing new.

In chapter eleven he shows how Israel’s rejection has brought the gospel to the Gentiles, “Their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles” (Romans 11:12). He shows that they’re rejection in not final, “They also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again” (Romans 11:23). Professor Murray writes, “These chapters disclose to us the ways in which God’s diverse providences to Jew and Gentile react upon and interact with one another for the promotion of his saving desires.” Reach upon and interact with one another for the promotion of his saving desires! Paul cries out, “Oh the riches!”

Romans 12-16, The Outworking of the Life of Righteousness

Then in the final section from chapter twelve to the end there is the outworking of the life of righteousness. Chapter twelve verses one through eight, the theme of unity in diversity. We are diverse, but that is not our weakness, it is our strength. For as we have many members in one body, so we being many are one body in Christ. We’ve already referred to chapter fourteen, mutual tolerance over doubtful things leads in to chapter fifteen from verse one, “We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good leading to edification.” You can hear the pastor pleading with them. “May the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another.” He’s appealing to them, from verse seven onwards, “Therefore receive one another.” Jesus Christ has become a servant for the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy as it is written. Then he powerfully quotes these Jewish psalms. He says to his fellow Jewish Christians, “Brethren, what have we been singing for hundreds of years? I will confess you among the ‘goyim’ among the Gentiles, praise the Lord all you ‘goyim’ praise the Lord all you nations.” We’ve been singing it, we’ve been longing for it, we’ve been praying for it through all these centuries. Every time a Jew praised God he prayed that the Gentiles would come in and now there’s tension because they have come in, and God has done what we have asked him to do. Even in chapter sixteen in the list of names there are Latin names: Aquila, Urbanus. There are Jewish names: Mary. There are Greek names: Philologus, Olympas. Paul greets them all. Paul includes them all, the Romans and the Greeks and the Jews. They’re all his friends, they’re all his brothers and sisters. It says in verse seventeen, “Now I urge you brethren note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them.” His closing note almost in verses twenty-five and twenty-six, “The mystery which has been made known to all nations.” A very brief overview: Paul certainly has other purposes in writing Romans. He wants to set out a full statement of the gospel, he wants to introduce himself to this church, perhaps to gain their support. But I hope I’ve at least made a case for the assertion that he certainly wants to hold these believers together and that is where he is so helpful to us.

The gospel brethren will hold our people together and the gospel alone will hold our people together. We cannot hide, we cannot gather together a little group of nice like-minded people and shut the doors and say to the difficult awkward strange people, “Go away, we don’t want you to come in.” People do come into our churches, and if you’re carnal like me, you’ll talk to this person and your heart will sink and you’ll say, “Oh, oh, twenty years of trouble has just walked in the door.” Now, that’s quite true. Some of these Christians they have been so knocked around and they’re so eccentric and they’re so strange, and at times we think if they would just go away what a wonderful church we would have. We can’t that isn’t an option. We can’t take refuge in a traditional cultural ghetto. The Scott Irish Presbyterian tried it here, the Dutch tried it here, it doesn’t work, it actually becomes deadening eventually and stifling and the gospel dies. We can’t impose tyrannical heavy-handed leadership and crush people into unity; we’re not a cult. We can’t humiliate ourselves by running around trying to be Mr. Nice Guy to everybody all the time and quivering with fear every time there’s a disagreement. Some pastors do that. They’re degrading they’re office; they’re heading for a nervous breakdown. Our unity comes from being in Christ. Our unity comes from the new birth, from the indwelling of the spirit. And I ? to you that that unity is nourished and protected and deepened by the systematic teaching of the gospel.

Let me mention four ways in which the gospel welds together dissimilar people in an astonishing God-glorying harmony. Firstly, it abolishes the barriers, the barriers of race and sex and class and background. Those barriers are there. They are real, let’s not be naive, but in the light of the gospel they are not important. The gospel shows us that they are not important. We are all one in our guilt and in our need and in our lostness. We all have to repent we all have to trust the savior we’re all bound to the same Christ we’re all indwelt by one spirit we’re all guided by one word we’re all living for one goal the glory of God we’re all heading for the same destination the gospel folds us together the gospel batters down the barriers. Black and white kneel together in prayer, men and women look at each other not as predators and prey. And in these days not all the predators come from one side, but they look at each other with respect and love as brothers and sisters in Christ. The white headed old man sits and worships beside the little child. And when they go out for their fellowship meeting the children will come up to the seniors to be embraced by them and the church isn’t split into all these groups; the gospel brings us together. The college professor and the blue-collar worker will enrich each other with their insights into the truth of God and they will minister to each other and be helped by each other. The believer brought up in a Godly home and brought to faith in Christ as a little child will be able to share with the new convert who staggered in from the gutter the serenity and the beauty and the tranquility of a life spent in the service of God. And then that same believer as he or she listens to that new convert will be overwhelmed as never before by the wonder of grace and forgiveness and the change and the thrill and the excitement of it all. And they will help each other. They will not be separated from each other they will profit from each other and learn from each other. It is a glorious unity it is what this lonely world is longing for. The gospel really does abolish barriers.

Secondly, the gospel adjusts secondary differences. We have been created with different temperaments. We have different prejudices. We all have baggage from our past. We have different conclusions about some parts of Scripture. All this could easily divide us but the gospel focuses us the gospel compels our attention to what is central and permanent and unquestioned and common to all. those things most surely believed among us, that has a tremendous unifying force it keeps the other differences in true perspective. It actually does more, the gospel not only diverts our attention away from our differences but itself provides the dynamics to deal with our differences, to restrain our differences to keep them within safe bounds. I don’t like reading Romans from twelve one onwards as practical not doctrinal that isn’t the case. Paul repeatedly uses the gospel to pastor these people that is his tool for pastoring these people. Chapter fourteen verse three, “Let not him who does not eat judge him who does.” I don’t want you judging each other he says” Now what is the basis of that appeal. He says because it spoils the group fellowship it damages our witness it makes my life as a pastor more difficult, no, for God is your savior. For God is your savior. Takes them to the cross. You’re judging your brother. What happened to your brother him with all his sin with all his guilt put his faith with Christ God saved him act in line with the gospel. Verse fifteen do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. You couldn’t have a clearer answer than that of the pastoral application of the gospel that person that you’re injuring your savior loved them in eternity and shed his blood on the cross for them and hung there on their behalf what’s your responsibility chapter fifteen verse one we then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak and not to please ourselves why should we not please ourselves verse three for even Christ did not please himself you see how again and again and again he heals these people with the gospel he brings them together with the gospel he’s not manipulating them this is not psychological counseling he’s bringing them to the cross and at that cross he’s enabling them to adjust their secondary differences. The gospel adjusts barriers, it adjusts secondary differences.

Thirdly, the gospel absorbs hurts and offenses, the gospel absorbs hurts and offenses. We are going to hurt each other in the church there’s absolutely no possibility of that not happening because we are all weak imperfect people and no management in your part and mine is going to prevent our people we can do a great deal but we cannot prevent our people we cannot prevent ourselves from hurting each other but the gospel keeps us low the gospel makes us humble the gospel brings us to the cross and reminds us of our sinfulness and assures us of our forgiveness and the gospel fills us with thankfulness and the gospel makes us contented with our lot and the gospel enables us to forgive others as we have been forgiven. The gospel spreads a spirit of sweetness in our hearts and among our people the gospel encourages us to stay in touch with our deepest emotions the gospel stops us being shallow brittle superficial people the gospel keeps us human the gospel touches the truest part of our renewed self I don’t know whether any of you other men of experience I think some of you have but a very strange thing happens to me when I come over here every year when I come into this place it’s almost as if emotional barriers melt among you men I would be more teary here this week than I normally would I would find myself affected by the preaching of the word emotionally more than I normally would. Some of us were talking about this yesterday. We lay aside our protective shield don’t we when we come in here. We become open, vulnerable, human men. And what does God do then when we do that? He pours the oil of his presence among us. Can you remember an angry quarrel during this week? Can you remember in all the years that some of you have come, men cutting each other and offending each other? Isn’t it the very reserve as the Spirit of God dwells in our midst and we focus on Christ and his work? Paul does this all the time, Romans fifteen seven, “Receive one another just as Christ also received you.” These problems die in the atmosphere of gospel humility and gratitude and love.

Then lastly, the gospel affords us a common direction. The gospel affords us a common direction. The gospel church is kept from charging about in all directions, being at the mercy of fads and fashions, majoring on slick publicity and what the latest issue should be for Christians. We have a simple task: to pursue holiness and to take the message of salvation out to this world, both to the glory of God. And that’s what we’re about if we’re a gospel church. It’s growing into the likeness of Christ and bringing others too, and that’s our focus and that’s our direction. And we don’t need to spend time creating fancy mission statements or saying what is our reason for being here, or going off on this crusade or that crusade, some of them very worthwhile no doubt. We have a great task to do, and once our people are taught and energized that this is what we are about then we have a common direction and unity. The gospel unites people. But what are you saying, the gospel unites people? John three sixteen every service? What about the whole counsel of God? Well, there must always be a place for direct targeted gospel preaching, preaching which aims at conversions. We must never neglect that. But Romans brethren surely shows us that the gospel is an enormous thing. In our own province there is among some folk the idea of what they call the simple gospel and they’re very suspicious of anything that strays outside three or four central truths and sometimes in their halls they just go over and over and over these truths for year after year after year anything else is not preaching the gospel and that can become so limiting and deadening. Romans gives us an understanding of the gospel which is altogether broader and deeper. The theme of Romans is the gospel, there is no doubt about that. In a major new commentary Douglas Moo, that is his argument and he makes an excellent case that Romans is about the gospel, but think of the theology Paul brings into Romans, think of the range of doctrines he covers, the whole scope of God’s revelation. Paul doesn’t see the gospel as a separate element; he doesn’t see it as one department of sacred truth. We could preach the gospel or we could preach sanctification or we could preach something else…no! He sees the gospel as pervasive. It’s the foundation for everything; it is the context of all our teaching. It is the source from which all other truth flows, and it is the destination to which all other truth leads. Paul’s understanding of the gospel is so wide that it almost embraces everything. I came across a fine quotation in a book to which Pastor Martin directed me to many years ago and for which I’ve been thankful for since. W.M. Taylor, The Ministry of the Word and on page one-hundred and two Taylor uses a naval or a military illustration. Let me read you what he says. “The gospel as Paul preached it was far-reaching enough in its application to touch at every point the conduct and experiences of men, to touch at every point the conduct and experiences of men. When therefore I insist that you like Paul should preach the gospel I do not mean to make the pulpit for you a battery of such a nature that the guns upon it can strike only such vessels as happen to pass immediately in front of its openings. On the contrary, I turn the pulpit for you into a tower whereon is mounted a swivel cannon which can sweep the whole horizon of human life.” Isn’t that a great illustration? He says it’s not just a fixed gun and every time an unbeliever passes in front of the gun, fire the gun. It’s a machine gun on a swivel that can go 360 degrees. Taylor says get up there with the swivel gun of the gospel and the whole of human life is embraced in your arc of fire. That’s a thrilling concept of gospel preaching; it keeps our preaching from sameness, from monotony; it’s fresh, it’s new, it’s challenging. We’ll never exhaust the gospel; we’ll never come to the end of it. There’ll always be something different. It’s simple, but yes, it’s awesomely profound and it will claim our best forever. Spurgeon says in his All-round Ministry, “Preach the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in all its length and breadth of doctrine, precept, spirit, example and power.” That’s page one hundred and four. The gospel is so divinely compounded as to meet all the needs of humanity, to meet all the needs of humanity. Brethren, I realize that I have been stating the obvious, but we need to hear the obvious again sometimes. Paul calls us in Romans to be gospel-preachers, to be gospel-preachers, first and foremost and always. Not only is it our duty to the lost, to the world outside, but men you can do nothing better for your people, you can do nothing better for your church, you can do nothing better for your own sanity and peace of mind than preach the gospel to your people. Spurgeon again, page one o seven of an All-Round Ministry, “As to disintegration, I know of no way of keeping God’s people together like giving them plenty of spiritual meat. The simple shepherd said that he tied his sheep by their teeth. He gave them such good pasture that they were never going to wander. And we are to tie our sheep by their teeth, and the gospel is a food of which they will never tire.”

Notes:

1. Pastor Donnelly is referring to the Reformed Presbyterian Church. “The Reformed Presbyterian Church traces its roots directly to the Scottish Covenanters; Christians who were persecuted for their faith in the 1600s. Some of them, our spiritual ancestors, settled in Ireland. There are also Reformed Presbyterian Churches in Scotland, USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and Cyprus,” from the website of Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church in Northern Ireland.

This sermon was delivered on Wednesday, October 17th, 2001, during the annual Pastor’s Conference held at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. The preacher is Pastor Edward Donnelly from the Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church in Northern Ireland. This is the first sermon in a series entitled Help for Today’s Pastors: Case Studies from Paul. Posted with Permission. All Rights Reserved.