I have a theory about why God seems to use pastor/theologians in the ways in which He does in the world. I have come to believe that God blesses the labors of pastor/theologians who give themselves to him and the work of the church in a way that He often does not do so with other believers actively engaged in helpful para-church ministries.
我有一個理論，為什麼上帝似乎用牧師/神學家中，他確實是世界的方式。我開始相信，上帝保佑的牧師/神學家誰給他和教會的方式，他經常不與積極從事有益的對教會事工其他信徒做的工作給自己的勞動力。
Last May, while I was in Durham, England to speak at the Jonathan Edwards for the Church Conference, I had the privilege of spending some time with Doug Sweeney–Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought and Director, Jonathan Edwards Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity school in Deerfield, IL. Doug also happens to be an elder in his church. In the course of one of our conversations we discussed the high calling of the pastorate. Doug noted the fact that he would often ask new classes of students to list off their top 10 theological heroes from church history–those men by whom they had been most influenced. He then remarked that, almost without fail, every one of the theologians that the students put down on paper were pastors first and then theologians. He went on to explain the great need we have for pastor/theologians today.
去年五月，當我在英國Durham說的喬納森·愛德華茲的教會會議，我不得不花一些時間與道格·斯威尼，教授教會歷史和基督教思想史和導演，喬納森·愛德華茲中心的特權三一福音神學院在伊利諾斯州迪爾菲爾德。道格也正好是在他的教會的長老。在我們談話的時候的過程中，我們討論了牧師的呼召。道格指出的是，他經常會問新班的學生通過他們已經最具影響力的人列出了他們的前10名神學的英雄，從教會歷史中，那些男人。他接著指出，幾乎沒有失敗，每一個學生在紙上放下手中的神學家是牧師，然後再神學家。他接著解釋非常需要我們今天的牧師/神學家。
這是東西19世紀末到21世紀新奇的神學家，以服務神學院校沒有的牧師，或者，至少是，如果沒有曾擔任多年的牧師。即便如此，神仍然似乎給牧師/神學家是世界上最強烈的和先知的聲音。考慮的是，約翰·派博，鋼筋混凝土斯普勞爾，約翰·麥克阿瑟等人都是牧師，首先是，誰給了自己整個部門的整體牧養會眾的工作。神在興起的一個而不是另一個拋開主權天意，我相信，有幾個原因上帝使用的牧師/神學家以特殊方式。下面是我的五個理論意見：
It is something of a late 19th to 21st Century novelty for theologians to serve in theological academies without being in the pastorate–or, at least, without having served many years in the pastorate. Even so, God still seems to give pastor/theologians the most vocal and prophetic voices in the world. Consider the fact that John Piper, R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur et al are all pastors, first and foremost, who have given themselves to the work of shepherding a congregation throughout the entirety of their ministries. God’s sovereign providence in raising up one and not another aside, I believe that there are several reasons why God uses pastor/theologians in special ways. Here are my five theoretical observations:
1. God has promised to bless His work in the church in order to show His wisdom to the Angels and to the world. Paul says as much in Ephesians 3:10, where he writes, “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.” In his oustanding series of sermons titled, “The Wisdom of God, Displayed in the Way of Salvation,” Jonathan Edwards noted:
In the foregoing verse the apostle, after speaking of revealing this wisdom of God to man, “And to make all men see, what is the fellowship of this mystery,” etc. speaks of this mystery as a thing from the beginning kept hid till now, “The mystery, which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God — that now,” etc. In this verse he mentions another end, viz. that he may, at the same time, make the angels also see God’s wisdom in his glorious scheme of redemption. — “Now at this time,” implies that it was before a mystery kept hid from them in comparison of what it is now. And here is room enough for the angels to discover more and more to all eternity of the wisdom of God in this work.
Observe the medium by which the angels come by this knowledge, viz. the church — “That now unto principalities — might be known by the church,” — i.e. by the things they see done in the church, or towards the church. and by what they see concerning the church. So has it pleased the sovereign God, that the angels should have the most glorious discoveries of divine wisdom by his doings towards his church, a sort of beings much inferior to themselves. It has pleased God to put this honor upon us.
As much as God does often bless the work of para-church ministries that are seeking to bring Him glory in specific ways, He has not promised to show His manifold wisdom to the principalities and powers (i.e. Angels, demons and earthly political powers), as He has said He would do in His church.
1，神應許賜福他在教會工作，以顯示他的智慧的天使和世界。保羅說盡可能多的在以弗所書3點10分，他寫道：“到現在神百般的智慧可能被人知道的教會執政的，掌權在天上的意圖。”在他的通性極好系列講道的題目“神的智慧，在拯救的方式來呈現，”喬納森·愛德華茲說：
在前面的經文使徒，說揭示了這種智慧神對人後“，為使眾人都明白，這是什麼神秘的，團契”等這奧秘說，作為從一開始的事一直隱瞞，直到現在，“的神秘面紗，它從創世以來已經藏在神 – 現在，”等等。在這節經文中，他提到了另一端，即。他可在同一時間，使天使也看到了神的智慧在他輝煌的救贖計劃。 – “現在這個時候，”意味著它是之前保持神秘感，從他們現在的樣子比較藏。這裡的空間足以讓天使發現在這項工作中越來越多地神的智慧的永恆。
請遵守所有的天使來到了這方面的知識，即介質。教會 – “那你們現在執政的 – 可能是由教會稱為” – 即由他們看到在教堂進行，或對教會的事。並通過他們所看到的關於教堂。所以一直就樂意主權神，天使應該具有的神聖智慧最輝煌的發現他的所作所為對他的教會，一種眾生遠不如自己。它高興上帝在我們把這個榮譽。
不亞於上帝並常常保佑那些尋求把他榮耀的具體方式的對教會事工的工作，他並沒有答應他的表現多方面的智慧，執政的，掌權（即天使，惡魔和地上的政治權力），因為他說他會做他的教會。
2. God has promised to give His ministers supernatural gifts in preaching and teaching. He has promised a special degree of supernatural wisdom and knowledge, together with an ability to preach and teach in powerful and culture shattering ways. Jesus told his commissioned disciples (i.e. pastors), “I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict” (Luke 21:15). Jesus gave his ministerial band special promises to be with them until the end of the age (Matt. 28:18-20). He told them that, “when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak.” In no other calling, has the living God given such special promises to his ministers. Consider how this worked out in the days of the Apostles. When Peter and John were teaching and preaching to all men publicly, we read of the rulers, elders, scribes and High Priest, “when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). This accounts for how the preaching of the Gospel is said to have “turned the world upside down.” The Holy Spirit has invested all of His power and wisdom in the preaching of Christ.
2，神應許給他的部長們在講道和教導超自然的禮物。他已經答應了超自然的智慧和知識的特殊程度，以宣揚和傳授的強大和文化的破碎方式的能力一起。耶穌告訴他的門徒委託（即牧師），“我會給你口才智慧，這不關你的對手將可以承受或矛盾”（路加福音21:15）。耶穌給他的部長帶特殊承諾，與他們同在，直到世界的末了（太28：18-20）。他告訴他們說，“當他們救你了，不要擔心，你應該怎樣還是怎樣說話。因為這將給予您在這一個小時你應該說，“在沒有其他呼叫，有永生神給出了這樣特殊的承諾，他的部長。考慮如何制定出在使徒的日子。當彼得和約翰被教訓人，傳向所有的人公開，我們讀到的統治者，長老，文士和大祭司，“當他們看到彼得，約翰的膽量，又看出他們是沒有受過教育和未受過訓練的人都驚奇。他們意識到，他們是跟過耶穌“（使徒行傳4時13分）。這解釋了如何福音的宣講是說，有“把世界顛倒了。”聖靈已經投入他所有的力量和智慧，在基督的說教。
3. Pastor/theologians who preach week in and week out are constantly submerging themselves in the exegetical truths of Scripture. Because of this they are saturating their minds and hearts with the Scriptures. In this way, they, like Apollos, become men who are mighty in the Scriptures. They become better theologians. They are generally ready to exegete cultural and social issues through a more deeply informed Scripture-focused lens than many who are not submerging themselves in Scripture and church history to such a degree.
3，牧師/神學家誰傳道週週出不斷自我淹沒在聖經中的訓詁真理。正因為如此，他們都浸濕了思想和心靈的聖經。這樣一來，他們也像亞波羅，成為男人誰是強大的聖經。他們成為更好的神學家。他們一般都是準備通過更深入地了解聖經為中心的鏡頭比許多誰不淹沒自己在聖經和教會歷史到這種程度，以釋經文化和社會問題。
4. Pastors are exposed to a greater array of people in the church. This is not often true of others serving in Christian ministries outside the church. Minsters are in contact with people who have a variety of needs that are often to see in such diversity in the seminary and/or para-church ministry. This helps them think through the application of Scripture to the diversity of situations in the world. They are called to carry the burdens (the many and diverse burdens) of the flock. This often gives them a more far reaching understanding of the way in which the Word works in the world.
4，牧師接觸到的人在教會更大的數組。這不是通常人在教堂外的基督教事工服務也是如此。 Minsters在與人誰擁有各種各樣的需求，常常看到這種多樣性的溫床和/或對教會事工聯絡。這有助於他們思考聖經的世界情況的多樣性應用。他們被稱為攜帶羊群的負擔（在許多不同的負擔）。這往往使他們在其中的Word工作在世界的方式更深遠的理解。
5. Pastors are called to care for the souls of the people entrusted to their care. Surely men in the academy have to comfort afflicted families of their students, see broken marriages, etc. However, a different relationship exists between pastor and people. Pastors are called to shepherd the flock in such a way that they will be able to give an account of their souls to God. This changes everything. Additionally, the are called to go after wandering sheep. Teachers in academies and those who serve in para-church ministries are not called to do this.
5，牧師被稱為照顧委託給他們照顧的人的靈魂。當然，男人在學術界有安慰自己的學生的受災戶，看到破碎的婚姻，等等。然而，不同的關係牧師和人民之間存在。牧師被稱為牧羊人的羊群在這樣一種方式，他們將能夠給他們的靈魂與神的帳戶。這改變了一切。此外，被稱為流浪羊後去了。教師院校和那些誰對位教會事工服務不叫做到這一點。
Perhaps my theory is incorrect; but, I suspect that it is not. More reasons could (should?) certainly be added to this list. The purpose of this post is to call pastors to see the importance of committing themselves to the church of God, first and foremost–as men who shepherd His flock on a weekly basis; and then, having given themselves to this glorious work, give themselves to theological writing, training and ministry for the well-being of the broader church. We need more pastor/theologians. We need a higher view of the promises of God to bless the spread of the Gospel through the church. We need a higher appreciation for why pastor/theologians are so important in this fallen world. May God raise up a generation of new pastor/theologians who will be used by Him to turn the world upside down.
也許我的理論是不正確的;不過，我懷疑這是不是。更多的原因可能（應該？）肯定會被添加到這個列表中。這篇文章的目的是叫牧師看到，承諾給神的教會的重要性，首先，作為男人誰牧養他每週的羊群;然後，在給予自己這個光榮的工作，給自己的神學寫作，培訓和衛生部的福祉更廣泛的教堂。我們需要更多的牧師/神學家。我們需要神的應許更高視圖通過教會祝福福音的傳播。我們需要的，為什麼牧師/神學家在這個墮落的世界如此重要的一個更高的升值。願神興起了一代新的牧師/神學家誰將會使用由他來把世界顛倒了。
朝聖之旅 