Aspiring Means You're Still in Process - 05
Build with brick while you wait, not cardboard
John M. Frame, is a longtime Reformed seminary teacher. He is an astute theological writer. He regretfully concedes to God’s will for him and calls himself an academic, because his heart has always been geared to be a proclaimer of God’s name! He didn’t want to be an academic.
You’ve got to read his books. Some are books you can easily tackle. Others are complete volumes that you will take down from your shelf only to read, as needed, a chapter here and a section there.
In the book, The Academic Captivity of Theology,1 Dr. Frame divides the requirements for ministry into three categories: character, skills, and knowledge.2 He points out that most of the requirements have to do with character: husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, not conceited, thought of well by outsiders, etc.
In the category of skills, he puts management abilities, and the ability to teach. Both are mentioned by the Apostle Paul, “He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household well, how will he care for God’s church?”3 Also, “Therefore an overseer must be…able to teach.”4
For the category of knowledge, Frame writes, “Knowledge is mainly a knowledge of the Gospel, the prerequisite of teaching…One must know enough to be able to preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2)”
Don't be distracted by this note, but you’ll find it interesting. Frame attaches a footnote to this last point about knowledge. He says, “We may be surprised that Scripture never imposes on ministers “educational requirements” of college or university-level knowledge, the kinds of knowledge considered necessary to ministry by many present-day churches. (This does not mean Frame takes thinking lightly, but he does think that we give the wrong amount of respect and power to academia.)
I say all this to make the point that while you are aspiring, while you are waiting, you have much to do. Most of what God wants you to do is to become a better man on the inside. He wants you to grow in character. God intends to sanctify and transform you into His office-bearer. So, of first order, you should invest your time and effort and heart to love God and others.
The skills of managing your household and teaching will come somewhat naturally. You get to begin on a small scale. An apartment with one wife. One job. Maybe one child. You’d do well to be the proud owner of a used car. Get a carseat. Manage that.
Then, also, learn how to teach them. If you can teach a child, you are being an effective teacher. As they grow, so will your teaching skills. Eventually, your kids will be adults. Teaching your wife is likely going to be more difficult. She’s smarter. The subject matter is weightier. And the interaction can be filled with sin and emotion sometimes. So marry a kind, patient and forgiving woman. And don’t be too proud to learn from her.
Here is some important advice: Don’t get a dog right away.
That’s a joke. If you like dog hair and can afford dog food and don’t mind picking up after it,5 then get a dog if you want. I remember a mentor of mine. I was in college. He had a wife, a dog, and a house. No children yet. He told me the reason he liked having a dog was because, from it, he was learning how it would be to teach and discipline a child.
He was grilling hamburgers in his driveway as he was telling me this and the dog began to bark so loudly and obnoxiously, that he yelled the dog’s name with great authority and threw a large stick at it. I asked him if that was going to be his technique as a dad. The humor was not lost on him. It was pretty funny.
If you aspire to be an elder, but then bide your time and simply build carefully from smaller to larger over the course of your life, the skills will come along with it. Don't take short cuts; build with brick not cardboard. It takes longer, but it’s better. Learn to take responsibility for all the things God has entrusted to you. And find pleasure in the fact that there is so much you are NOT responsible for, yet.
God watches. He supervises. He advances His kingdom and builds His Church. And He often says to this person and that one, “You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.”6
As for knowledge, yes, this takes time too. So why not increase it little-by-little, line upon line. Each day you can learn. Read the Bible and books and listen to podcasts and audiobooks and sermons; live life and worship and experience sweat and trials and celebrations, etc. Also, know this, many don’t want to learn the truth of things.7
If you do, then you’re on your way! Your greatest learning and all the increase of our knowledge have this goal: You should want to think God’s thoughts after Him.8 (In other words, you should want to see and understand God and His creation as He made it to be.)
John Frame writes, “The only kind of knowledge of Scripture that really counts is heart-knowledge. That is a knowledge of Scripture that includes understanding how to apply it to oneself. Through that, the student can teach by example as well as by word.”9
Knowledge is most sweet when you internalize it, when you know it in your heart and not just your head. It is also more readily received by the one you are trying to share it with, because they see it is meaningful to you. They know your’e not faking it, or regurgitating someone else’s words, or going through the motions. When you have taken truth into your soul as the teacher it gives your students assurance. You are teaching them because you want what is best for them.
And I should not have to tell you, neither knowledge nor wisdom can exist apart from the fear of the LORD.
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." Proverbs 1:7
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." Proverbs 9:10
It is too easy common for a person to make foolish short-sighted decisions. Strive to play the long game.
John M. Frame, The Academic Captivity of the Church: A Reformed Response to the "New Perspective" on Paul (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2003). I am excited to be able to review this book in the coming weeks.
Frame, The Academic Captivity of the Church, p. 22.
1 Timothy 3:4-5
1 Timothy 3:2
I refuse to go behind a dog with a rubber glove. (My dad would turn over in his grave.) There I said it. Now it is only a matter of time. God has a way of making people do things when they’ve stated, “I refuse.”
Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 16:10
Romans 1:18-32
Cornelius Van Til is known for this quote. See his book, The Defense of the Faith.
Frame, The Academic Captivity of the Church, p. 28.