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You’ve probably heard Nate or I refer to our “book club”. We’re always reading through a book together, usually to do with pastoral ministry, spiritual formation, leadership, or something else related to our calling as pastors. A couple of weeks ago, we got ambitious and went old school: “The Reformed Pastor” by Richard Baxter. Baxter was a 17th century English minister who experienced the highs and lows like few have. On the one hand, he preached for kings and royalty, but on the other, he spent years in prison. I get the sense that the tumult of our own times are nothing compared to the upheaval in times like 17th century England.
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You can’t read Baxter as a pastor, or a church leader, and not come away convicted. You can’t come away without a sense of the high calling of pastors and the responsibility we have for souls. But there’s stuff here that’s relevant for anyone who would want to lead others into a relationship with Jesus: parents, friends, co-workers, neighbours, and so on.
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Here’s one image from the section we read this week (excuse the old English): “If one bid you run for your lives, because a bear, or an enemy is at your backs, and yet do not mend his own pace, you will be tempted to think that he is but in jest, and that there is really no such danger as he alleges.”
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Forget for a moment that Baxter apparently was ill-informed about what to do with bears, unlike us wisened North Vancouverites. You get what he’s saying, right? If we say that sin leads to death, and yet we seem quite willing to enter into it ourselves, why would anyone listen to us? If we say that Jesus alone is our hope, and yet we look for comfort in all kinds of secondary things and are filled with anxiety, with no attempt to turn our eyes to him, why would anyone listen? If we actually believe that there is eternal condemnation for those who have not turned from sin and received God’s grace, but we don’t have any urgency in our prayers or in our lives to see people know Jesus, why would people respond to us?
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It is crucial that what we say we believe about the Gospel penetrates and permeates our hearts to the deepest parts. It is crucial that our witness is authentic to what the Lord has actually done in our hearts. And if it’s not, what’s keeping me from getting on my knees in prayer until it is?
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“Prayer Week” may be coming to a close this weekend. But prayer remains as crucial as ever for us at The Bridge, because we remain as desperate as ever for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, so that we can be Jesus’ witnesses in this world.