The German theologian Helmut Thielicke wrote an appreciation of Charles Haddon Spurgeon in Encounter With Spurgeon (English translation1964). I have made a habit of reading one of Spurgeon’s sermons every Saturday night to inspire me as I prepare for my own preaching on Sundays. The following are a few quotations from
Thielicke’s book.

“In the midst of a theologically discredited nineteenth century there was a preacher who had at least six thousand people in his congregation every Sunday, whose sermons for many years were cabled to New York every Monday and reprinted in the leading newspapers of the country, and who occupied the same pulpit for forty years without any diminishment in the flowing abundance of his preaching and without every repeating himself or preaching himself dry. The fire he thus kindled, and turned into a beacon that shone across the seas and down through the generations, was no mere brush of sensationalism, but an inexhaustible blaze that glowed and burned on solid hearths and was fed by the wells of the eternal Word. Here was the miracle of a bush that burned with fire and yet was not consumed (Exodus 3:2).”

Spurgeon (1834-1892) began preaching at the age of seventeen. He was a self-taught man. He did not exhaust himself in an indiscriminate, chaotic, book-devouring hunger for education, but rather gave evidence even at that time of a disciplined and purposeful system of study, which, undergirded by intellectual power and determination and an astonishing memory, also disclosed itself later in his ability to organize his literary work on a large and well planned scale.

“When Spurgeon speaks, it is as if the figures of the patriarchs and prophets and apostles were in the auditorium – sitting upon a raised tribune! – looking down upon the listeners. You hear the rush of the Jordan and the murmuring of the brooks of Siloam; you see the cedars of Lebanon swaying in the wind, hear the clash and tumult of battle between the children of Israel and the Philistines, sense the safety and security of Noah’s ark, suffer the agonies of soul endured by Job and Jeremiah, hear the creak of oars as the disciples strain against the contrary winds, and feel the dread of the terrors of the apocalypse. The Bible is so close to you not only to hear its messages but breathe its very atmosphere. The heart is so full of Scripture, that it leavens the consciousness, peoples the imagination with its images, and determines the landscape of the soul by its climate. And because it has what might be called a total presence. The Bible as the Word of God is really concentrated life that enters every pore and teaches us not only to see and hear but also to taste and smell the wealth of reality that is spread out before us here.”

His instructions to preachers are based upon the faith “that the arm of the Lord is stretched out over the earth without any help on our part, and therefore that it is not we activists who have to take him by the hand and drag him over the continents and the farthest islands of the sea. God is Lord even apart from the instrumentality that we put at his disposal with our talents. His kingdom comes even without our efforts.

Therefore the disciple can take the long view and persevere. He who is coordinated with eternity dare not allow himself to be harassed and hounded by time…..Nervousness is sinful. It is, so to speak, the psychopathological form of unbelief, which takes over too much responsibility itself and to the same degree loses its confidence that God reigns and is looking after his cause.”

There is much here for us to ponder in our hearts.

Churches need to face fact of clergy burnout: Pastors often juggle too many duties, with unrealistic goals. So runs the headlines of Ron Orozco’s article in the Florida Times-Union, January 14, 2011.

Andrew Purves, Professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, in his book, The Crucifixion of Ministry, maintains that about 40 percent of clergy suffer from mild to severe burnout. National figures show that around one-third of ordained persons leave the ministry after five years, never to return. He believes that liberal theology, which dilutes the belief that Jesus is God in the flesh, is the resurrected and ascended Lord of all, has produced generations of ministers with a theology that fails at the congregational level.

He claims that ministers spend 90 percent of their time on congregational administration. There is little emphasis on developing their own spiritual life. They need a new basis for ministry. He teaches that the ministry can be found, not in our own efforts to take care of people, but where Jesus has already shown up. Jesus has to carry the load and do the job of saving people. We are not capable of doing so. The minister is not the Messiah, Jesus is.

If there is salvation in no other name than Jesus (Acts 4:12), then ministers must preach Christ, quit playing office manager and program director, quit staffing committees, and recommit themselves to the ministry of Word and sacraments. “Study, let most of what you do be dominated by the demands of the sermon as if you whole life and reason is to preach Christ, because it is. Claim a new authority for the pulpit, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, over you and your people. Don’t preach to grow your congregation; preach to bear witness to what the Lord is doing, and let him grow your church. Dwell in him, abide in him, come to know him ever more deeply. Tell the people what he has to say to them, what he is doing among them and within them, and what it is he wants them to share in. He is up to something in your neighborhood, if you have eyes to see and the ears to hear.”

Ministry is not something we do, but something Jesus does. Who is Jesus Christ for us today and what is Jesus doing here and now is what is important.

“Friends, come back to your prayer desks and absent yourselves for a while from your office desks. Recommit yourselves again to seasons of prayer and biblical and theological study. Train your heart and mind in the ways of God. Practice Sabbath rest.”

It is hard to do this in the modern congregation. You get kudos for visiting homes, visiting the sick, participating in meetings, organizing programs, etc. You do not get them for closing the door of your office, and studying, and preparing, and praying. Church life is measured by how many programs, small groups, classes and events a congregation has scheduled. It is not often measured by the depth of the sermons and the spirituality of the pastor. Yet, despite the culture and expectations of the activists in the congregation, we who are ordained to the ministry of the Word and prayer (see Acts 6:4), must give priority to our spiritual lives, our own relationship with Jesus, to prayer and study, if we are to be of help to others. You can tell if a minister has a depth to his spiritual life, to his abiding in Christ. Shallowness has a way to showing itself. You can see right through it. The minister who hems and haws, who shows no enthusiasm for preaching and teaching the Word of God, will soon burn out, and lose his congregation.

Two of my former congregations had a brass plaque on their pulpits that silently requested the preacher: “Sir, we would see Jesus.” (John 12:21) I need to get one made for my present pulpit! My prayer is that the risen and ascended Jesus may be seen and heard in the power of the Spirit.

I have just hosted the annual meeting of my Covenant Group of pastors. Sixteen of my old and newer friends gather for three nights at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation and the Chapel to share their previous year with all its challenges. I began the group some 23 years ago and it has grown and changed as friends have retired, died or fallen out. They come from all across North America: Toronto, New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Plano, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Hilton Head Island, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Falls Church, Virginia, Darien, Ct., Charleston, SC., Savannah, and Amelia Island.

Each member has an hour to share their lives and ministry. We talk about our families, our reading and learning, and our activities. I always come away with new ideas, new books to read, new resources to explore, and new depths of spirituality. All of us are evangelicals, i.e. we all acknowledge the authority of Scripture, the centrality of the Cross for our salvation, a personal faith-relationship with Jesus, the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, and the missionary task of evangelism. We also are part of the Anglican tradition which stems from the English Reformation of the sixteenth century. Recently, in North America, the mainline denominations of this tradition: the Episcopal Church, USA, and the Anglican Church of Canada, have splintered into new jurisdictions of the worldwide Anglican Communion because of the influence of radical theology which has penetrated the seminaries and spawned a revisionist version of the Gospel. As a result we have representatives of several jurisdictions in our group. It is somewhat like the rise of Methodism in the 18^th century. Alongside the old Church of England, societies of Methodists were formed, and eventually became independent jurisdictions.  Of the three congregations I served in the USA, two of them now have three congregations each, and one has two. That means that there are now eight congregations. All of them are now serving more people than if they had remained as they were.

Our newest member of the group said that his impression of our meetings and our interaction could be summed up in the word, “authenticity.” We can be real with one another about our lives. We can laugh and we can weep with one another over the joys and the pains in our lives. We pray for one another. One participant wrote me, “What a magnificent 3 days in this Spirit-filled place with these beloved friends, colleagues and mentors. I thank God for your generous hearts, for without such a week together Satan would have so many more inroads. So I will add this year’s [group] picture above my desk as a beautiful reminder of our accountability and partnership for the greatest mission known to man.”

My successor in my San Antonio church, Chuck Collins, presented each of us with a copy of his book of poems, written during his recent sabbatical. Another, Chris Leighton, showed us one of his paintings. All had photos of their families. One of John Yates’ daughter’s had just produced quadruplets – he now has 19 grandchildren!  I shared photos of my daughter’s graduation from Texas Woman’s University. Jurgen Liias showed us photos of trips to the Galapagos Islands and Alaska. It is like old home week as we update one another on our lives.

I am always amazed that these men come all the way to Amelia Island each year. They love the location obviously, but there is some deep need that the group uniquely meets which draws them back each January. It takes me some time to process the week. I am sure that the seeds sown will take root and grow, as they have over these many years. May this be true for each of us as we meet in fellowship each Sunday.

A friend gave me special editions of Bruce Wilkinson’s two classics, The Prayer of Jabez and Secrets of the Vine, for Christmas. I have been reading them again after ten years. When they came out in 2000 and 2001 they became bestsellers and swept the evangelical world. Bruce Wilkinson was already famous for his Walk Thru the Bible seminars which I had hosted at my church in San Antonio. His books extended his ministry even further.

The Prayer of Jabez is found in 1 Chronicles 4:9,10. “Jabez called upon the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.’ So God granted him what he requested.”

Wilkinson applied this prayer in this way:

“O God and King, please expand my opportunities and my impact in such a way that I touch more lives for your glory. Let me do more for you! Lord, use me – give me more ministry for you.”

This is a worthy prayer as long as we don’t use it to enrich ourselves and our reputation. God may use us to touch more lives for his glory through our suffering. Are we willing to accept that? Jesus touched more lives than any through the Cross. Be careful what you ask for – you may get it!

His Secrets of the Vine are reflections on John 15:1-11. The theme is Jesus’ desire for us to bear more fruit through abiding in him and being pruned. The fruit is good works. Again, our prayer to bear more fruit may include suffering or being disciplined in some way.

My desire this coming year is to touch more lives for God’s glory and to bear more fruit. I do not know what the future holds, but I am willing to do what I can, even if it involves suffering, to serve the Lord. I may be called to be courageous in witness, to be bold and unashamed of the Gospel at some risk to myself. My prayer includes protection from evil and that I may not cause pain to others. These are worthy prayers for 2011.