January 15, 2014

Lectures to my students - Charles Spurgeon - II - Chapter 1 (The minister's self watch)

Required reading
Lectures to my students by Charles Spurgeon (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 1 (The minister's self watch).

My summary
This week Spurgeon teaches us about the minister's 'self-watch'.

Firstly Spurgeon establishes the importance of a minister caring for his own soul.

Then Spurgeon commands us to watch that:
(i) we ourselves are saved men;
(ii) our piety is vigorous;
(iii) our personal character agrees in all respects with our ministry.

What grabbed me
Spurgeon always gives marvelous illustrations: 'For the herald of the gospel to be spiritually out of order in his own proper person is, both to himself and to his work, a most serious calamity; and yet, my brethren, how easily is such an evil produced, and with what watchfulness must it be guarded against! Traveling one day by express from Perth to Edinburgh, on a sudden we came to a dead stop, because a very small screw in one of the engines — every railway locomotive consisting virtually of two engines — had been broken, and when we started again we were obliged to crawl along with one piston-rod at work instead of two. Only a small screw was gone, if that had been right the train would have rushed along its iron road, but the absence of that insignificant piece of iron disarranged the whole. A train is said to have been stopped on one of the United States’ railways by flies in the greaseboxes of the carriage wheels. The analogy is perfect; a man in all other respects fitted to be useful, may by some small defect be exceedingly hindered, or even rendered utterly useless. Such a result is all the more grievous, because it is associated with the gospel, which in the highest sense is adapted to effectthe grandest results. It is a terrible thing when the healing balm loses its efficacy through the blunderer who administers it. You all know the injurious effects frequently produced upon water through flowing along leaden pipes; even so the gospel itself, in flowing through men who are spiritually unhealthy, may be debased until it grows injurious to their hearers.'

A small problem can fast become a major problem if we're not watchful.

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 2 (The call to the ministry).

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

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