2 Corinthians 11:2, 3 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband… How little understood by most believers! What strange notions many form of ministerial experience! To not a few the pastor appears a monarch with a minimum of duties and cares, and whose lot has thus fallen in singularly easy and pleasant places. But what a heavy burden is carried by the most prosperous minister! He who seems to be surrounded by all that can make his ministry cheering and his life happy is agitated by a host of disquieting thoughts and pressed upon by innumerable anxieties. So was it with that amazingly successful minister, the Apostle Paul Following his line of thought, we may gain some knowledge of a true pastor's experience. I. THE PASTOR'S EARNEST DESIRE. 1. That his testimony may not be ineffective. Sorely burdened is that pastor's heart whose words seem to fall to the ground. He has a great object in his earnest appeals; if these fail, his strength has been spent for nought, his life fails. To preach on and on, and yet to see no spiritual result, strains his heartstrings till they threaten to snap. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, and, if the people of his charge are merely interested or amused by his preaching, he cries, "Woe is me!" 2. That those to whom he preaches may be truly converted. He desires that they may be united to Christ as a bride to her husband (ver. 2). He is not satisfied with their thinking or speaking well of Christianity, or with their outward observance of religious duties; his longing is for their real redemption and for their thorough consecration to Christ. If he be faithful, he aims to attach them, not to himself, but to his Master. His joy is full only when they are married to Christ, and live as those who are no longer their own. For this he longs, prays, labours, agonizes. 3. That at last they may appear in holiness before Christ. "That I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ" (ver. 2). The true pastor desires, not only that his people should start in the Christian race, but that they should continue, and at last attain to the "crown of righteousness." Flash-in-the-pan conversions please none but fools. Pastoral anxiety is largely the anxiety of watching development. The man of God has the toil and care of building up spiritual life. He counts that labour lost, so far as the objects of it are concerned, which has no abiding effects. The merest flash of thought will reveal the multitude of disappointments certain to crowd upon his soul. II. THE PASTOR'S CONSTANT DREAD. This dread is lest his converts should fall away. Lest it should be made evident that the good seed has, after all, fallen upon the wayside, or into stony places, or amongst destructive thorns. He remembers: 1. The power of the tempter. Perhaps, like Paul, he calls to mind the fall of Eve, and remembers how much the children are like their mother. He feels the power of temptation in himself; he sees others fall; he wonders whether his own converts will yield. They are his crown of rejoicing when they stand fast; his crown of thorns when they fall. 2. The weakness of the human heart. He remembers the old nature still within them - their infirmities, their tendencies to trust to their own strength. They seem to be easy prey for the devil. 3. The subtlety of false human teachers. So many other gospels besides the true will be preached to them - adroitly contrived, it may be, to pander to the carnality still remaining within them. Called by seductive names - bearing the name of Christ possibly, and yet inimical to his kingdom and person. Philosophies falsely so called, and philosophers as full of confidence and conceit as of emptiness, and yet presenting to shallow judgments the appearance of the fulness of wisdom. III. THE PASTOR'S JEALOUSY. 1. A watchful jealousy. He will have to give account of the souls entrusted to his care, so dares not be careless. He loves his flock, and therefore watches over it. He watches for the approach of peril, if peradventure he may avert it. He jealously scrutinizes all influences affecting his charge. His Master is the shepherd; he is the watch-dog. 2. A warning jealousy. His keen feelings lead to solemn admonitions when needed. He barks, and, when occasion arises, even bites; faithful are the wounds of such a friend. A short shrift is the desert of a pastor who is but a dumb dog. Pity it is if our feelings are so fine that we cannot rebuke men to save them from perdition. Silver bells are all very well for seasons of festivity, but when the fire blazes forth we must swing lustily the rough alarm bell in the turret. He is a poor surgeon who is too tender hearted to use the knife, if we love people very much we shall be willing to hurt them that we may heal them. An unwarning jealousy is not worth a farthing a bushel, it is a poor sham. 3. A godly jealousy. (Ver. 2.) (1) Jealousy which centres in the welfare of others rather than in gratification at their attachment to the minister of Christ. (2) Jealousy which is concerned pre-eminently with the honour of God. The falls of professed Christians bring dishonour upon the cause of Christ. (3) Jealousy wrought in the heart by God himself. A right feeling, since God has given it place in the pastor's heart. (4) Jealousy which allies with God. Leading to prayer, communion with God, dependence upon him in every strait. - H. Parallel Verses KJV: For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. |
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