Abandon the Soul-Murdering Way

This week I’ve been reading Thomas Boston’s classic, The Art of Man-Fishing. 

Boston was a Scottish Puritan in the late 17^th and early 18^th centuries. The book is basically his own meditations and personal exhortations to himself (he often addresses himself as, “O my soul”) on ministry. Particularly, Boston was concerned that he, as a preacher, would not forget our charge to be consistently preaching the Gospel even in our Sunday morning sermons. Boston understood that the Sunday gathering is not an evangelistic rally, but rather a time for the worship of God by the assembly of the redeemed and the edification of the saints for the work of the ministry. Nevertheless, he saw it as the preacher’s responsibility to not assume that all who come to church are already saved, and so he preached repentance from sin and faith in Christ every chance he had.

 

In Part Two of the book, Boston delineates the ways in which we are to “follow Christ” if we are to become “fishers of men” (Matt 4:19; Mark 1:17).  In one section that was particularly poignant for me, Boston insists on ministers aiming at God’s glory and not our own. Now of course we all know that, but we all ought also know that we need to keep a constant watch over our hearts so that we might not be foolishly lifted up by pride. Boston’s words were helpful to me, and I’d like to share that benefit with you. And though it’s primarily aimed at those in a regular preaching ministry, it has application to all Christians who are obediently involved in the ministry to the saints.    Continue at Mike Riccardi