missio

Just finished up The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter. I’ve really been pouring into over the past couple of weeks, and it has rocked my world. I’m going to read it again early next year. Here’s two main thoughts I brought out of it (I’ve already blogged about them, but it’s worth re-posting):

• The purpose of ministry: We are seeking to uphold the world, to save it from the curse of God, to perfect the creation, to attain the ends of Christ’s death, to save ourselves and others from damnation, to overcome the devil, and demolish his Kingdom, to set up the Kingdom of Christ, and to attain and help others to the Kingdom of Glory. This is amazing to think about, and once we realize what we are really doing, our actions will no longer be mundane, but will take on true meaning, and we will, as Baxter points out, endure and not be lazy in our works.
• The necessity of repentance and passion: I am confident, brethren, that none of you do judgment approve of the libertine doctrine, that crieth down the necessity of confession, contrition, and humiliation, yea, and in order to the pardon of sin! Is it not a pity, then, that our hearts our not as orthodox as our heads?…..It is a sad thing that so many of us preach our hearers asleep; but it is sadder still, if we have studied and preached ourselves asleep, and have talked so long against hardness of heart, till our own has grown hardened under the noise of our own reproofs. Wow! That’s great stuff: let us not fall into the very hardening of the heart that we preach against.

Good stuff from the dead white guy.