Reformed Pastor - Baxter - VII - Chapter 3 continued

Required reading
Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter (we'll be reading from the 1862 edition available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) -  Continue Chapter 3 by concluding Section 1 (The use of humiliation).

My summary
Now we finish the section on humility which we began last week.  Baxter confronts us with three more sins that ministers often commit.

The first sin is a prevailing regard to our worldly interests, in opposition to the interests of Christ.  The minister commits this by:
(1) temporizing;
(2) too much minding worldly things;
(3) barrenness in works of charity.

The second sin is an undervaluing of the unity and peace of the Church - particularly along denominational lines.

The third sin is our negligence in exercising Church discipline.

What grabbed me
Baxter supplied us with some excellent advice on how to get along with Christians of different denominations:
'(1) Lay not too great a stress upon controverted opinions, which have godly men, and, especially, whole churches, on both sides.
(2) Lay not too great a stress on those controversies that are ultimately resolvable into philosophical uncertainties, as are some unprofitable controversies about freewill, the manner of the Spirit's operations and the Divine decrees.
(3) Lay not too great a stress on those controversies that are merely verbal, and which if they were anatomized, would appear to be no more. Of this sort are far more (I speak it confidently upon certain knowledge) that make a great noise in the world, and tear the Church, than almost any of the eager contenders that ever I spoke with do seem to discern, or are like to believe.
(4) Lay not too much stress on any point of faith which was disowned by or unknown to the whole Church of Christ, in any age, since the Scriptures were delivered to us.
(5) Much less should you lay great stress on those of which any of the more pure or judicious ages were wholly ignorant.
(6) And least of all should you lay much stress on any point which no one age since the apostles did ever receive, but all commonly held the contrary.'

We need to recognise what are the important differences that we hold as Christians, but be careful not to place undue emphasis upon them.

The best example of ministers who do this today that I can think of are the 'Together for the Gospel' guys: Mark Dever (Baptist), Albert Mohler (Baptist), Ligon Duncan (Presbyterian) and CJ Mahaney (Charismatic).  Check them out at http://www.t4g.org/

Next week's reading       
Continue Chapter 3 by commencing Section 2, Part by reading Article 1 (Motives from the benefits of the work).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.