A Sermon to Ministers of the Gospel
C. F. Deems, D. D. Titus 2:15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise you. It is impossible for any man to keep himself from being hated. Hatred may exist without cause. There is another strange trait in human nature. Whenever injury has been done it is usually the injurer who hates. In general the ignorant hate the wise and the intelligent. This superior knowledge in others is like the sun's light to bats and owls and moles, painfully blinding — and they hate at once the knowledge and the man who knows. In general the bad hate the good, because goodness is always a most impressive and powerful rebuke of badness, even when good men are silent. But a man can keep himself from being despised. The rule is that only the despicable are despised. The exception is when a man, not in himself despicable, is despised by some one who does not know him. In that case it is not the real individual who is despised, but some ideal person. It is a greater misfortune to be despised than to be hated. A man may hate you now who, when his own character is changed, may come to love you with a passion strong and ardent as his former hatred. But if one despise you, even when he comes to know you better he will find it difficult to discriminate between you and the idea he has had of you. "Let no man despise thee." The plain meaning is — live in the ministry so that no man can despise you, however much he may hate and oppose your person and your ministry. A minister of the gospel makes himself despicable whenever he does anything which is proof that he himself does not believe the message he proclaims to others. No lie is noble. I. In the first place IT MAY APPEAR IN A MINISTER'S ASSUMING WHAT DOES NOT OF RIGHT BELONG TO HIM. To hold a position for which one is evidently not capacitated by nature or grace or education, is to make one appear badly in the eyes of one's fellows. A man who undertakes small things and does them well, appears much better than a larger and stronger man who undertakes what he is obviously not able to accomplish, and what he should have done was beyond his depth. A minister of the gospel ought to know just what it is his position demands of him, and assume nothing beyond. He is a servant of the souls of men, to wait on those souls, bringing all spiritual help from the gospel to those souls. He is no more. II. Another cause of contempt for some ministers may be found IN THEIR CLAIMING CERTAIN IMMUNITIES WHICH DO NOT IN RIGHT REASON BELONG TO THEE SO FAR AS OTHER MEN CAN SEE. Age, position, attainments, usefulness, are claims to respect, but the minister should share them with men of other professions. He should expect to be honoured simply in proportion to his abilities and his usefulness. A man who really is not respectable in his character cannot be rendered honourable by any office or position. III. Again: a minister may render himself despicable BY RELYING UPON WORLDLY MEANS ALONE IN ORDER TO SECURE SPIRITUAL ENDS. When men detect that in a minister, it seems at once to convince them that the man never had a true faith in the existence of a spiritual world, and in the existence and offices of that Holy Ghost of whom the Bible speaks and of whom he must sometimes preach. When a minister makes his Church a mere secular establishment, which shall gratify and even in some sense educate the people in architecture, ecclesiastical decoration, classic music, oratory, liberal views, and polite manners — when he shall work as if the aim were simply to crowd the house with a large select audience, who should generate the necessary animal and mental magnetism to make all things pleasant, and whose pew rents should produce a large financial exhibit — when he shall have even succeeded in all that, as a lyceum manager he is splendid, but as a minister of Jesus he is despicable. The obverse fault is the use of one's position as a spiritual teacher to gain worldly ends, whether personal or partisan. A fair use of secular instrumentalities for the accumulation of money or fame perhaps no reasonable mind would censure. But when a man who professes to have devoted himself to the spiritual improvement of mankind clearly employs his place to enrich himself, he is despicable. IV. Again: a minister may make himself disreputable BY NEGLECTING TO PREPARE HIMSELF FOR THE PROPER DISCHARGE OF THE FUNCTIONS OF HIS OFFICE. He has to deal with the most complex and profound questions of life and destiny; and he has to conduct these discussions not so as to merely entertain or even satisfy the intellects of his hearers. He is an utter failure if he do not make all those discussions profitable to their souls. A lawyer is a failure if he never carries a case, however much he may entertain the court and the jury. The world makes rapid progress in all science. No chemist expects a minister to be up in chemistry as he is; no political economist expects him to be "posted" on all the minutiae which go to solve the great problems of civil and social advancement. But they do expect him to know something beyond a few dry theological propositions and a few dry jokes. They do expect him to be a worker. They work. V. Again: there is much to be learned from what Paul teaches Timothy in connection with the precept, "Let no man despise thy youth," when he adds, "BE THOU AN EXAMPLE OF THE BELIEVERS, IN WORD, IN CONVERSATION, IN CHARITY, IN SPIRIT, IN FAITH, IN PURITY." What will save a minister from loss of respect in his youth will keep him in honour through all his ministry. 1. If other men spoil their reputation by loose tongues and careless and corrupt speech, how very careful of his speech must be a minister of the gospel, who is supposed to be always holding close to his own heart and conscience and to his fellow men the realities of a world which fleshly eyes do not behold. Nor do sensible men like canting parsons. Words are things. To him who uses them they may be empty things, and he is despicable who employs the divine gift of speech to scatter emptiness over the world. 2. Then the apostle holds that a minister's intercourse with society may make him despicable. A grasping, stingy, mean minister is contemptible. And so is a minister who allows others to cheat him just because he is "a parson." He ought to know his rights and dare maintain them. He who is not aiming to be a gentleman is not fit to be a minister. 3. The apostle instances charity also. He who preaches the gospel of love cannot be respected if men perceive that he is not animated by a real and deep love for God, and an earnest brotherly affection for all the race for which Christ died. And this temper must pervade his intercourse with society. 4. The apostle next instances spiritual mindedness; which does not mean a neglect of the things which are seen and a contempt for them, a voluntary humiliation and castigation of one's self. 5. The apostle enjoins fidelity, entire faithfulness to every trust, faithfulness toward God and man, faithfulness in allowing no evil to spread in the Church because it is the besetment of his special friends. He must deal honestly in the preaching of the Word and in the administration of the discipline of his Church. He must not be drawn from the discharge of any duty by fear, favour, affection, reward, or the hope of reward. 6. The last thing mentioned by the apostle is purity; and no one can confine this to mere chastity, a perfectly apparent indispensable to the ministerial position; it must cover his whole life. (C. F. Deems, D. D.). Parallel Verses KJV: These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. WEB: Say these things and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no man despise you.