Summary
John MacArthur has been one of Evangelicalism’s leading Bible teachers for the last half-century. Since 1969, Pastor MacArthur has been preaching through the Bible (mostly the New Testament) verse-by-verse and word-by-word, attempting to help God’s people within the church understand the Bible for what it says—both the clear and easily understood parts and the difficult and seemingly murky parts. Personally, the ministry of John MacArthur has been extremely influential in my spiritual development (and partially in my calling to ministry). Seeing how John MacArthur has faithfully “dug down deep” to mine out the truths of Scripture found in the details of every verse has been a tremendous encouragement to me to mine the depths of Scripture for myself, and to teach others to dig deep into Scripture to see the true worth of God’s Word—and ultimately the worth of the One who wrote the Book. To that end, I am truly indebted to Dr. MacArthur’s ministry, and I pray that God would allow me to be as faithful to Scripture as he has been for the last 40 years.
All personal indebtedness aside, Dr. MacArthur’s purpose in writing this book is not necessarily to encourage the lay-person, but to challenge and encourage the leaders within the Church. On the back cover is summed up very well the reason why this book was necessary.
“Where is ministry in America headed today? Dr. John MacArthur says, ‘I am concerned over a growing trend to produce strong natural leaders who know how to manage a business or enterprise but do not understand the church from Christ’s perspective. Their leadership style and substance is earthly, not biblical or spiritual.’”
MacArthur’s Pastoral Ministry is a guide for both those who are already serving in the ministry, and for those who are training to serve in the ministry to know what it is that God requires of both them and their ministry. This book gives a Biblical definition for what the Pastor’s life and ministry should look like. MacArthur sums up the tri-fold purpose for this book on page 8 of the preface:
“1. To validate the biblical absolutes required by God for pastoral ministry, that is, to answer the question, ‘What is one’s authority for establishing a philosophy of ministry?’ 2. To elucidate the biblical qualifications for church pastors, that is, to answer the question, ‘Whom has God authorized to be undershepherds of Christ’s flock?’ 3. To delineate the biblical priorities for pastoral ministry, that is, to answer the question, ‘What does a scripturally based pastoral ministry involve?’”
This book is broken down into four sections. The first section deals with the “Biblical Perspectives” of Pastoral ministry. These include understanding the Biblical definition of what a Pastor is supposed to be and do, understanding what a truly “Biblical” ministry looks like, and understanding how Scripture says the Pastor should minister to the members of his congregation. The second section of this book deals with the “Preparatory Perspectives” of Pastoral ministry. This includes the character of one who desires to be a Pastor, the “call to ministry,” seminary training, and ordination. The third section of Pastoral Ministry deals with the “Personal Perspectives” of Pastoral ministry. This section deals with the personal life of the Pastor, including the areas of home, prayer life, Scripture study, and personal ministry with members of the congregation. The final section of this book deals with the “Pastoral Perspectives” of ministry. This final section deals with the areas in which the minister will function in the Church, including worship, preaching, leading, and training the members to be ever-growing disciples. With these four sections, Dr. MacArthur and the staff of the Master’s Seminary give a thorough, though definitely not exhaustive, treatment of what the Pastoral ministry should look like according to the example set forth in Scripture.
The first section of MacArthur’s Pastoral Ministry covers the “Biblical Perspectives” of ministry within the Pastorate. This section deals with establishing the Biblical foundation for what a truly Biblical ministry will look like. It deals with the Biblical foundations which must be in place for the ministry of the Pastor to be truly “Biblical.” The reason for this foundation is the health of the Church. The Church is only as healthy as her connection to Christ through His Word. Richard Mayhue notes on page 7 John MacArthur’s reaction to the modern American church:
“John MacArthur sees the church becoming like the world. In a positively provocative fashion, he compares the many similarities between the decline of the church of England during Spurgeon’s day a century ago and the faltering American church in our day. MacArthur notes the parallel path and common distinction of spiritual deadness shared by the liberal modernists of a century ago and evangelical pragmatists today. They both have an unhealthy aversion to doctrine.”
The Bible must be the central guiding force for the Church, or it will die spiritually. The Bible is the life-line of the Church, and MacArthur and his staff make this clear in the first section of this book. The Bible should not only define what the Church is to be, however; it should also define what her leaders look like. The primary keys to knowing what a Pastor is to be is to understand two things—humility and shepherding.
A Pastor is to be a humble under-shepherd who leads the sheep of his congregation to feed in the pastures of the Great Shepherd for as long as God gives him life and health. The reason for this humble shepherding is stated well on page 24, “Sheep can be disagreeable, dirty, stubborn, exasperating animals. Former sheep rancher W. Phillip Keller observed that ‘No other class of livestock requires more careful handling, more detailed direction, than do sheep.’” Christians and particularly lay-persons within the Christian church are described as sheep. Therefore, it is necessary for the shepherds to be humble, and willing to follow the Great Shepherd until He calls them home.
The second section of Pastoral Ministry deals with the “Preparatory Perspectives” of ministry. This section deals with the preparation of a man who feels “called” to ministry to be a Pastor. This section begins with a discernment of the qualifications of the one who feels called. The standard for Pastors is not ambiguous—it is also not an easy standard to match up against. Above all, the Pastor is to be “above reproach.” John MacArthur explains what this means on page 68, “It is God’s demand that His steward live in such a holy manner that his preaching would never be in contradiction of his lifestyle, that the pastor’s indiscretion never bring shame on the ministry, and that the shepherd’s hypocrisy not undermine the flock’s confidence in the ministry of God.” All of the qualifications in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1 flow from this qualification, and sum up what it means to be a Pastor who is qualified according to God’s Word. This is also what a man should base his “call” on. Does he have an intense desire to minister? Does he have the ability to shepherd? Does he meet the qualifications for a minister Biblically? Then he should pursue the desire that God has put into his heart.
Following the discernment of qualification and call to ministry, it is necessary for a man to pursue training in the field of Pastoral ministry. It is important that he pursue a Bible-centered education, because many men have had a desire to minister to others and been ship-wrecked either by a lack of knowledge or a pursuit of “knowledge falsely so-called” which led to perversion of the Word of God and the Gospel. When the elders of the church feel that the “called” man is sufficiently knowledgeable and qualified to be a minister, they should proceed with the ordination process, according to Richard Mayhue. This process weeds out those who are pursuing ministry for wrong motives, if done Biblically, and leaves only those who have a true desire to serve the Lord with their entire life and ministry. This is what the Bible makes clear should be the goal of an “ordained” Pastor.
The third section of Pastoral Ministry deals with the area of “Personal Perspectives”. This area deals with the personal life of the minister and his personal ministry within the church to individuals. The personal spiritual life of the Pastor is vital to his ability to personally minister to others. He can only give them what he has received himself. This is why it is important that the Pastor have a vibrant spiritual life, and he should be constantly striving and growing toward Christ-likeness. His prayer life should be one of “praying without ceasing”—in constant communion with the Father because of a realization of his need for dependence upon God for the ability to minister effectively. His study should be rich and deep, so that he may mine out from the depths the important nuances and implications to be found in every text of Scripture. He should also be sharing and teaching his family to follow Christ with their whole being. They should be his first and primary area of ministry, and they should never be replaced with ministry to anyone else. This health both personally and in the family will enable the minister to serve effectively within the church. The Pastor will be most effective and successful in ministry when he is first connected personally and within his home with the Savior every day. This leads to a better knowledge of how to compassionately minister to others within the church.
The final section of Pastoral Ministry deals with the “Pastoral Perspectives” of ministry within the local church. This section deals with the duties of the Pastor within the Church. The main role of the Pastor, according to MacArthur on page 204, is his role as Preacher:
“The God-ordained means to save, sanctify, and strengthen His church is preaching. The proclamation of the Gospel is what elicits saving faith in those whom God has chosen (Rom. 10:14). Through the preaching of the Word comes the knowledge of the truth that results in godliness (John 17:17, Rom. 16:25, Eph. 5:26). Preaching also encourages believers to live in the hope of eternal life, enabling them to endure suffering (Acts 14:21-22). The faithful preaching of the Word is the most important element of pastoral ministry.”
The role of preaching within the Church, however, is one of many different roles which the Pastor must take a leading role in. The Pastor is also responsible to lead in worship (by example), training disciples, leading the direction of the church, and keeping careful watch over the sheep and warning them of danger. These roles make up what it is that a Pastor is to do while leading the church, and he must remain faithful to these duties if he desires to see his ministry sustained for the length of his lifetime. This is the primary function of the final section of Pastoral Ministry.
Evaluation/Critique
On the whole, there is not much that I disagree with MacArthur on. I have found that the bulk of teaching that I have heard from him is explained with such rich, Biblical support that it is hard to disagree with him on the Biblical basis for anything he says. I understand he is not infallible (he’s not the “Protestant Pope”), but on the whole, I had to search for something that I disagreed with. The only possibility that I disagree with is the teaching that MacArthur did on Titus 1. I would disagree with him on the salvation of one’s children as a pre-requisite for ministry preparation. I would indeed say that this is the most important ministry that the Pastor has—within his own home. However, I am not sure that I would make salvation of one’s children a qualification for ministry. I think that God could call a man to ministry who has unsaved children, and then use that man’s ministry to save the children. I also think that it is hard to tell sometimes whether a Pastor’s child is simply in a “rebellious season” of life, or if this stage is showing itself to be the true state of an unregenerate heart. I think these, along with many other situations might make a good case against the salvation of the Pastor’s children as a pre-requisite qualification for Pastoral ministry. Other than this detail, there was not anything that I found that I disagreed with.
Application
I found this book to be intensely practical, despite the fact that this was not its primary purpose. I think MacArthur and his staff did an excellent job of encouraging and admonishing young men (and older ones as well) to be what God has called them to be—and who He has called them to be. The sections which impacted me the most were first of all the section on the qualifications of the minister. I have read Titus 1 countless times, but to read over the details of the passage with explanation by MacArthur helped to flesh out what God truly calls His ministers to be. I appreciated his attention to detail and his unwillingness to back down from the high standard which God has called His ministers to.
I also found the areas on the Pastor’s personal spiritual life and home life to be intensely practical personally. These are areas in which I have struggled to maintain correct perspectives. I have noticed a proclivity toward putting outside ministry to others before ministry to my family, and sometimes even over ministry within myself through meditation on the Word of God and prayer. I found this section to be a clear call to reorder my priorities Biblically if I desire to be a truly Biblical minister. I pray that God would allow me to be faithful in personal and family ministry for as long as He gives me the privilege of ministering publicly within the local church.
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