By the late Rev. John Colquhoun, Glendale.
When a faithful minister of the gospel is removed it is a great loss. Such a one is an ambassador of Christ in this world, and when an ambassador is withdrawn who can tell what will happen next. Christ puts a great honour on a congregation or a community where He has an ambassador, for by this He reveals that His delight is in the welfare of
that congregation or community. The ambassador has his instructions from Christ and must not speak his own words or do what seems right in his own eyes, and, therefore, he must endeavour to be in constant communication with Christ through His Word. He must also look after the interests of his Master in the situation where he is placed, and to the utmost of his ability preserve and protect that which has been entrusted to him.
He has his commission from Heaven and that commission is, “Say unto them, ‘As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?'” In fulfilling his commission he must be able to give clearly from Scripture marks on those who have grace, and his duty is to give instruction, counsel and guidance to such in their troubles and trials. Those who are weak and halting must have his special care, and he must administer consolation to them in their trials. Those who are living in sin and rejecting Christ’s overtures of mercy must be firmly rebuked, tenderly warned, and diligently followed with counsel and exhortation, showing them that Christ has no pleasure in their death. He must continually declare to them what his commission is. “We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Cor.: 20.
In terms of his commission as an ambassador of Christ, he must labour in season and out of season. Not only must he preach the whole counsel of God in the ordinary services of the sanctuary, but he must admonish them in their homes, on the road when he meets them, or wherever he may be able to communicate with them. Not only must he prosecute his labours when there are signs of the message taking effect but he must do so also when there are no signs of fruit. “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” Eccles. 11: 6. Whether men will hear or whether they will forbear, there is no respite for him in the execution of his commission, neither does a faithful ambassador wish for a respite for it is the joy of his life to serve his Master.
Such a faithful servant of Christ is a great boon to a congregation, for he has their highest interests at heart. He casts his eye about him in his allotted sphere of labour and views with sorrow of heart the great many souls who are careless and indifferent. His message is listened to with a cold indifference as if the subject of it was none of their concern. Particular truths are emphasised again and again with apparently no effect
but he does not give up. He still continues, presenting old truths from new points of view in the hope that an arrow of God’s Word, driven by the power of the Holy Spirit, may find a joint in the harness and wound them so that they might be brought to value the Balm of Gilead. The claims of the holy law of God, and its fearful curse of those who do not satisfy its claims, the total depravity of man and his utter inability to obtain life by the works of the law, and Christ as “the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” are presented to their view with all the fervour of which he is capable, but alas! with how little effect as far as can be seen.
It is not merely the careless that he is concerned about. There are those who have passed from death unto life and in connection with whom the Apostolic injunction is given, “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.” 1 Peter: 2. They need the Scriptures explained to them, light thrown on the path of duty, strange and trying experiences shown to be the real experiences of the Christian, and things new and old brought out of the treasuries of the Christian, and things new and old brought out of the treasuries of God’s Word in order to feed their famishing souls, and they look to their faithful undershepherd for these things, and they will not look in vain. He does not give them what cost him nothing. The Lord often causes faithful ministers to experience much of the terrors of the Law, the sweet consolations of the Gospel and a large measure of the temptations of the devil, in order that they may be able to enter into the trials of the Lord’s people and thus be able to comfort and encourage them, and feed them with food that is suitable for them.
A faithful minister of the gospel is eminently a man of prayer, and his flock have a large place in his prayers. He knows the sick and the afflicted in his congregation, the sorrowing and the bereaved, the careless and the indifferent, the anxious enquirer, the weak and those easily overcome by temptations, and petitions suitable to the case of each are often set up at a Throne of Grace, but few in a congregation realise how much they are indebted to these petitions on their behalf by a pastor anxiously desiring their spiritual and eternal welfare, yet the Great Day will reveal it all. Such ambassadors can say of their flock with the Apostle, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.”
When such a faithful minister is removed by death it is a solemn call to his congregation. A great privilege is withdrawn for they will hear his voice no more in this world; that voice which rebuked and exhorted with
all authority and long-suffering is now silent, except, perhaps in the consciences of some in the congregation. His prayers are for ever ended and particular mention of the names of individuals at a Throne of Grace has ceased. Alas now! for those who do not frequent a Throne of Grace themselves. The man with the large heart and wise counsel is laid low in the dust and his congregation is left as a flock without a shepherd, in danger of being scattered by the destroyer. He who directed them to the Saviour whom he himself found in this world has now gone to be for ever with that Saviour, and he who was a burning and a shining light, in whose light the poor of the flock has rejoiced for a season, has his light put out in this world, but lit before the Throne on high where it shall never be put out. The loss caused by the withdrawal of such a privilege is incalculable.
The withdrawal of such a privilege is a token of God’s displeasure. The privilege has been great but the fruit has not been correspondingly great. God could say, “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” Under such circumstances God is just in withdrawing His gift of a gospel ministry because men did not value it, and thus showing His displeasure with the congregation, yea, one may read in it a threat, on the part of God, to remove His candlestick from their midst. A congregation that had gospel privileges for many years and that did not bring forth fruit are in danger that God will say of them, “And now, go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard; I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.”
This makes the removal of a gospel minister a matter for self-examination on the part of his congregation. This was their own minister to whom they gave a call to take charge of their souls. How have they dealt with his message? He faithfully set life and death before them and many of them has he left even in a worse condition than he found them. For if the preaching of the gospel is not blessed it has a hardening effect on those who hear it. While he was setting before them a crucified, risen and exalted Redeemer, as God’s only remedy to meet with their lost and ruined condition, they were taken up with other things and refusing to receive the gospel message. They promised to give him all due obedience in the Lord, but of many of them, especially among the young, it could be said that they broke his heart by going, in the face of oft-repeated warnings, after the vanities of the world. Did they try to help or hinder him in his work? This is a question, in the answering of which, in spite of
themselves, their very conscience will testify against them, for it will testify concerning the many unkind words said, behind his back, of the best earthly friend they ever had, and concerning the many ways in which they endeavoured to undermine his influence in the congregation, and thus with might and main they rendered evil for good.
There is no doubt but there are many in the congregation of a godly and faithful minister who imagine, that when he is taken away, they have seen the last of him, and will be congratulating themselves that he will no longer alarm their consciences, but such are altogether forgetful of the fact that he shall meet them at the Judgment Seat of Christ. This ought to be solemnly considered by the careless sinners in a congregation, as they are also forgetful of the fact that a faithful minister shall be clear of the blood of his congregation when all shall appear before Christ at the Great Day, but the blood of the unregenerate shall then be on their own heads. “Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.” On the other hand, there shall be many who heard him in this world as the messenger of God to their souls, who shall, on that day, be his joy and his crown. Many of these he never heard of in this world, but who heard him preach and the good seed found a place in their souls and sprung up after many days.