A Pastor Before the Judgment Seat of Christ

On July 1, 1750, after being voted out as pastor, Jonathan Edwards stood in the pulpit of the First Church of Northampton, Massachusetts and delivered a farewell sermon to his congregation. He reminded his hearers the day when they will all meet again at the Judgment seat of Christ to be judged according to their works toward one another. He said in regard to this, “The minister may be removed to a distant place, and they may never have any more to do one with another in this world. But if it be so, there is one meeting more that they must have, and that is in the last great day of accounts.”Whether big or small, each church is made up of sinners saved by grace – from the pulpit to the pew.

So whether in 1750 or in 2007 the pastorate, in many aspects has not changed. Big church, little church – it doesn’t matter.  Every pastor should consider their life well spent if they could preach and live and die like the apostle Paul. He wrote to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that you faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Let me give you a quote from Edwards Farewell Sermon,

“I have found the work of the ministry among you to be a great work indeed, a work of exceeding care, labor and difficulty. Many have been the heavy burdens that I have borne in it, to which my strength has been very unequal. God called me to bear these burdens; and I bless his name that he has so supported me as to keep me from sinking under them, and that his power herein has been manifested in my weakness. So that although I have often been troubled on every side, yet I have not been distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; cast down, but not destroyed. – But now I have reason to think my work is finished which I had to do as your minister.”

I think Edwards was grieved in his heart at the prospect of leaving the flock to whom he was shepherd for so many years. Edwards knew his biblical mandate as a pastor. He knew his responsibility as a pastor. He knew his duty as a pastor. He knew so well, in his Farewell Sermon, he put himself at the Judgment seat of Christ giving an account for every action among the congregation and in the pulpit.

I can’t help but think of Paul’s words to young Timothy, “This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work” (1 Timothy 3:1). The pastorate is a “good work.” I know, from experience, there are some terrible times that cause the man of God to lie prostrate before the throne of grace asking why the Lord put him in such a position. Yet, it is a “good work.” Iain Murray once wrote to me, “The pastorate is the hardest work, but the most blessed.” Pastors are called by God, ordained by God, and set apart by God to be the under-shepherd of the Bride of Christ – this is a great and mighty privilege not to be taken lightly.

Let us approach this great work of – PASTOR – with the same vigor, zeal and passion as Edwards; all, for the glory of our most excellent and merciful Heavenly Father.

Filed under: Jonathan Edwards, Pastors, Preaching, The Church