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The sufficiency of
Scripture is one of the most
important and yet neglected
doctrines of the 20th century.
Dr. John Murray wrote,
It
is
because we have not esteemed
and prized the perfection
of
Scripture and its fmality, that
we have resorted to other
techniques, expedients, and
methods of dealing with ..the
needs ofthe hour .. We must
bring forth from its (the Holy
Scriptures)
inexhaustible treasures,
in exposition,
proClamation, and
application -
application to every
sphere of life - what is
the wisdom and power
of God for man iiI this
age in all the
particularity of his need,
as
for man in every age,"
Collected Writings, Vol. I pp.
21-22.
The Westminster
Confession of Faith, I-6, also
declares the sufficiency of
Scripture: "The whole counsel
of God, concerning all things
necessary for his own glory,
man's salvation, faith and life
is either expressly set down in
Scripture, or by good and
necessary consequence may
be deduced from Scripture:
unto which nothing at any
time is to be added, whether
by new revelations of the
Spirit, or traditions
of
men .."
Dr. O. Palmer Robertson
wrote, "The Reformers did
not
declare simply that no
new writings were to be
added to the Bible. They
stated instead that all those
former ways by which God
made his will known to his
people now have ceased," and
"The Bible embodies God's
personal selection of the
special revelations he
determined that the church
would need through all the
ages. n this written revelation
from God is contained all that
is needed for life and
godliness.," The
Final
Word
(Banner of Truth), pp. 88, 60.
The God who knows all
things has told us all we need
to know
We must however, not only
thankfully embrace the
sufficiency of Scripture but
Preachers must be sufficient
ministers of the sufficient
Word. It is one thing to
believe in the sufficiency of
Scripture and quite another to
be sufficient ministers,
sufficient preachers, of the
sufficient Word of God.
Thomas Becan wrote in the
1500's, "As there cannot by a
greater jewel in a Christian \
commonwealth; than an .
earnest, faithful, and constartt ..
preacher of the Lord s Word,
so can there not be a greater
plague among any people than
when they have reigning over
them blind guides, dumb
dogs, wicked wolves,
hypocritical hirelings, popish
prophets, which feed them
not
with with the pure wheat of
God's word, but with
the
wormwood of men s trifling
traditions.
Acts 20:17-35 is an
account which
exemplifies and
demonstrates
not
only
the sufficiency
of
Scripture but serves as
an example, a model,
for a sufficient rninister
of the sufficient Word.
I. The Conduct
o
a
SlIfficient Minister
o
the Sufficient Word o God
The Apostle
Paul
could
address the Ephesian Elders
and say that his conduct from
the first day and the whole
time
he
was with them, vs. 18,
was such that he was innocent
of the blood of all men. What
kind of conduct warrants such
an assertion??
A
t was
sufficient in
extent. He preached in public
and private, vs. 20, to
both
Jews and Greeks, vs. 21. He
did not cease
to
admonish
night and day for three years,
vs. 31. He was concerned to
complete his apostolic
ministry
as
a whole, vs. 24.
B. t was sufficient in
intensity. Beside these
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I
I
I
I
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extensive expressions
of
his
ministry, we see the intensity
ofhis ministry as well. His
ministry was with tears and
severe testing, vs. 19, 23, and
with tears
he
c9ntinued night
and day, vs. 31-
f you are a Preacher
of the
Word, is your ministry
sufficiently extensive and
intensive? Is the conduct
of
your ministry sufficient or
deficient?
I I The Content ofa
Sufficient Minister
of
he .
Sufficient Word ofGod.
A. Paul preached the whole
counsel
of
God. Paul
characterized his preaching
content as the whole counsel
of
God." The whole counsel
of
God means the revelation
ofGod's
entire eternal and
sovereign purpose, plan, and
will made known to him, Eph.
1:5,9,
11, 3:5ff.
It
is not
enough to merely preach
"books"
of
the Bible or texts
of
Scripture. All preaching
must be proclaimed in the
context of the eternal purpose
and
plan
of
God. We must
preach out
of
a Systematic,
Biblical, Covenantal, and
Reformed theology.
B. Paul preached that
which was profitable,
I
did
not shrink from declaring
everything profitable," vs.
20.
While we must preach the
whole counsel
of
God, not
every portion of the whole _
content is as edifying or as
important as another at the
same time. Paul often
distinguished words and acts
that are
of
first importance, I
Cor 15:3, I Cor. 2:2, Acts
17:2, 3,26:22;23.
. "All (O.T. and N.T.)
Scripture is inspired
of
God
and is profitable for teaching,
reproof, correction, for
training in righteousness," 2
Tim. 3:16. A sufficient
ministry is and ought to be a
profitable ministry. And while
a profitable ministry not only
preaches the whole counsel of
God it also recognizes and
preaches to the particular and
specific needs
of
the flock,
even
as
the O.T. prophets and
the N.T. epistles indicate
Profitability not only requires
the whole counsel
of
God but
requires spiritual priority and
other theological pastoral
considerations. Preachers are
to "feed My sheep." Preachers
sometimes insist on preaching
on the differences between
supralapsarianism and
infralapsarianism while
families in their chUrch are
disintegrating before their
eyes. We must not simply use
the pulpit to support us while
we pursue our theological pet
interests. We must, as Richard
Gaffin says, know how to
make distinctions in priorities
and peripheries without
relegating the periphery to the
disposable or non-essential.
This, he says, calls for a
balance that is not easy to
maintain,
The Book
of
Books,
10 I THE
COUNSEL of
Chalcedon
I February/March,
1998
John White, Ed., pg. 27-28
C. Paul proclaimed
the
Gospel
of
the grace
of
God
vs. 24. The message he
preached was the good new
concerning the
accomplishment
of
God's
eternal purposes
of
redemption through grace.
God's purpose
of
righteousness, reconciliatio
and redemption has now be
realized in Christ. In vs.
21
Paul said I
testified to bot
Jews and Greeks repentanc
toward God and faith in ou
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul
preached for true conversio
not temporary decisions. H
preached repentance, faith,
and Lordship
D. Paul preached the
Kingdom of God. Paul
summarizes his message in
vs. 25 by saying he had gon
among them preaching the
"Kingdom." The "Kingdom
for Paul was not a sermon
series on eschatology, the
"Second Coming" of Chris
that he preached but is the
theme that encompassed al
that he preached. The good
news of the Gospel was tha
the kingdom of God had
arrived in Christ's first
appearance and that people
through faith in Him were
entering that kingdom.
Richard Gaffin says, "We m
say that the scope and cont
of the whole counsel
of
Go
declared by Paul is the
kingdom of God as the
comprehensive reality
of
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eschatological fulfillment and
salvation - the fulfillment
of
God s sovereign eternal
purposes, and gracious
covenant promises as that
fuII:tllment centers in the
Person and work
of
Jesus
Christ," op:cit., pg. 24-25.
For
Paul, for Jesus, for us,
the Gospel is the Gospel of
the Kingdom
of
God (Mark
1:15)
The
Kingdom of God was
the Apostolic message, Acts
8:12; 19:8,20:25,28:30, 3l.
The preaching
of
the
Kingdom was the same
as
going into all the world to
make disciples
of
all the
nations, fulfilling the Great
Commission, Mat. 28:19, 20.
Paul is in effect saying as I
preach the Kingdom
of
God I
am fulfilling my ministry with
reference to the Great
Commission. That which God
had promised has arrived, has
been inaugurated, and will be
consummated at the final and
physical coming
of
Jesus
Christ.
We must preach the whole.
counsel of God. We must
proclairil the "Gospel" in
terms
of
the whole counsel
of
God who purposed to redeem
a people unto Himself, who
commands us to go into all
the world and make disciples
of
all the nations, baptizing
them to observe all that He
has commanded.
III. The Character
o
a
Sufficient Minister
o
he
Sufficient Word o God
A. A Sufficient Minister
must be called
of
God, 20:28:
The Holy Spirit made the
. Elders, pastors and teachers,
overseers, shepherds. Jesus
gives some to be Pastors and
Teachers, Eph. 4:12. Have
you been called
of
God? Have
you been called to the
ministry or have you merely
"pursued the mimstry"?
B. A Sufficient Minister
must be
a
servant
of
God. The
church is God's church, not
his. Jesus is the Head
of
the
church. Ministers are but
undershepherds, stewards, and
overseers
of
God's flock, vs.
28. We must feed His sheep.
We must treat the church as
God's flock, the Bride
of
. Christ. Some of the greatest
condemnations.in Scripture
were reserved for those
leaders who abused and
neglected God's flock, Ezek.
34, Mat. 24:45ff.
C. A Sufficient Minister
must keep watch over himself
and the flock, vs. 28-31. We
must not only keep watch
over the flock, but over
ourselves. Paul wamed that
wolves would arise out
of
their own number, i.e., not
simply from the flock, but
from the number
of
men who
were elders. We must guard
ourselves from false doctrine.
We must guard the flock from
"wolves" who would destroy
the flock by their error, those
who would mislead the flock
and cause them to miss the
blessings
of
God in Christ,
Acts 18:26.
Error threatens the very
essence and existence
of
the
church.
D. A Sufficient Minister is
dependent upon God and His
Word, vs. 32. He is committed
to the sufficiency of the Word
of
God inscripturated. Paul
commends the Elders to
God
and to the Word
of
God which
is able to build them up, and
to give them an inheritance
among those who have been
sanctified (set apart) to God.
Paul commended Timothy, a
pastor-evangelist, to the
sufficiency
of
the Word
of
God, 2 Tim. 3:16-17.
E. A Sufficient Minister
must also train and eqnip
other Elders to be sufficient
shepherds and overseers of
the flock, Acts 20: 17, 27, 32.
F.
A Sufficient Minister
must be an example to the
flock, 33-35. A sufficient
minister is not covetous, cares
for the weak, considers
it
more blessed to give than to
receive, prays with and for the
flock, vs. 36. He does not stay
cloistered away behind a desk
and remote from his people.
A faithful, sufficient
minister w ll
be
loved and
embraced by the flock as a
faithful shepherd who is
willing
to
lay down his life for
the sheep, 31.
Are
you a .
sufficient minister
of
the
sufficient
Word of God?
Febl1iary/March 1998 ' THE
COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon '
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