Pastoral Principles
Humility and Tears

[I had the blessing and privilege of giving the “Pastoral Charge” to my good friend Dan Ledford on Friday, 06 March 2008, when he was installed as Pastor at Westminster PCA, Butler, PA. The next few entries will be from the outline from which I made my comments.]

Serve the Lord with humility and tears. Humility and tears…we all know what tears are, but what about humility? This is a lost character trait in our culture. I think it all started with Cassius Clay…”I am the greatest!” he crowed. We all sort of smiled at the time, but the scene was changing. It was becoming more about us than others, the overall society, our families, and certainly God, whatever or whoever that is. But, Paul tells us this is not a new problem. A simple definition of humility is “freedom from pride or arrogance.” Paul certainly had that as an issue in his life…we all do.

Paul set out for us a test for humility in 1 Cor. 4:7:
1] How are you different from anyone else?
2] What do you have that you did not receive?
3] If you did receive it why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
One of the great results of the Reformation was the recapture of the priesthood of all believers. The magisterial Reformers dispatched the “special priesthood” as non-Biblical. You are the teaching elder here, but you are still and always a sinner saved by grace alone through faith alone on account of Christ alone. Do not ever forget that!

Tears is used twice by Paul in this passage [v. 19 and 31]. No one would call Paul a touchy, feely guy. In fact femi-nazis in the mainline church criticize Paul as being an insensitive hater of women and therefore dismiss him as misguided by his culture. Paul is speaking here of empathy, identity with those to whom he ministered. Francis Schaeffer, although he dressed in a funny manner, was another who was not a “girlie man”. Yet, he maintained that tears were always appropriate in speaking truth that hurts, exercising the sanctions of church discipline and in separating from the brethren. And, the latter is demonstrated by Paul when he left the Ephesian elders for the last time. Never forget to struggle with the struggles and grieve with the grief of those you minister to with tears.