Reviving Ministerial Integrity Through Prayer and Dependence

Now, what do you think is the greatest main challenge threatening ministers today? Of course, the danger of moral disgrace is the one that's occupied the headlines for the last few years. And there is the danger of pandering to itching ears. There's the danger of becoming a false teacher, or to use Jude's haunting words, "shepherds feeding themselves," "waterless clouds," "fruitless trees." [00:00:05]

And this is when we see all around us, too many in ministry today, over the years, feel the burden of responsibility snowball until they feel trapped in exhaustion and helplessness. And so, they feel deep down there's no escape. And you know how it is; the more stressed you get, the more you feel, "It's all down on me, and it's too much. Get me out of here!" [00:01:18]

For we've aimed at becoming successes in Christian life and ministry and found ourselves a busy bunch of Marthas with a spiritual hollowness when it comes to actual communion with God. We are too self-dependent, and not dependent on God, and the weight of it crushes us. Unlike with those business meeting quiet times, it's not always obvious that there's a problem because ministry requires us, at least outwardly, to be praying. [00:04:00]

John Calvin, in his excellent little section on prayer in the Institutes, famously called "Prayer: The Chief Exercise of Faith." In other words, prayer is the primary way in which true faith expresses itself. It is dependence upon God, and not self made flesh. When you depend on God, you pray. It's when you don't feel needy that private prayer dries up, and then public prayer becomes a sham. [00:05:35]

True prayer is the antithesis of self-dependence. It is enjoying the care of a powerful Father. Prayer is our "no" to independence. It is our "no" to the idea that it is all down to me. Prayer is the exercise of faith that we need God. So, prayer then is the battleground on which faith wars with unbelief. [00:06:29]

Prayer is the breath of heavenly life. And so, where there is heavenly life, there will be prayer. Where there is much life, there will be much prayer and pleasure in prayer. And that is why prayer is the gauge of spiritual and ministerial health. You know, a man's voice gets weaker as he gets sicker, until when he is so sick, he can no longer even call out for help. [00:08:44]

Because of what prayer is, dear brother pastors, no amount of talent or education, wonderful gifts though they may be to the church, none can substitute for prayer. Talents and education are good, but they don't contain the spiritual life that prayer has. And the fact that prayer is the gauge of health should also shape our public prayer. [00:11:16]

Charles Spurgeon was extremely cautious about who he would allow to pray for the people publicly. He said, "It is my solemn conviction that prayer is one of the most weighty, useful, and honourable parts of the service, and therefore, ought to be even more considered than the sermon." There must be no putting up of anybody's and nobody's to pray, and then the selection of the abler man to preach. [00:12:22]

So, our public prayer, friends, is the overflow of our private prayer life, and the one will reveal the other, even if we don't spot it ourselves. Now, we can camouflage it by laboring to seem earnest. Then we're just placarding hypocrisy before the people. Or, we can cover it by, you know this one, using public prayer really as a chance to preach to the people; not really addressing God, but the people. [00:14:44]

If prayer is the chief exercise of faith, if prayer is faith in action, what generates faith? The Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, Romans 10. Faith comes from hearing the message. So, faith is birthed by the gospel, which is why Scripture and prayer is are commonly put together. Why, in Daniel 9, Daniel is prompted to pray by reading Jeremiah. [00:19:16]

And so, true prayer in the Spirit always has something of delight in God in it, even if it's faint and cold, because that is the Spirit's aim in conforming us to Christ, that we might share the joy of our Master. To be more heavenly like the angels, we must enjoy God; be cheerful, enthusiastic in our praise. And so, Charnock says, "Delight in God leads to delight in prayer." [00:24:13]

In other words, dear friends, if you would be more permanent in prayer, delight yourself in the Lord. Bring yourself to gaze afresh on the beauty, the majesty of God, because it is in the face of Christ that we see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. And it is the gospel of the glory of Christ that shines light in our hearts, and so awakens faith, and so prayer. [00:26:22]