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This isn’t a post about the need for pastors to hold back on the cheeseburgers. Though such a thing might be needed, I’m aiming at a different point.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 Paul says this:
But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
Certainly, such an image is meant to remind pastors that we ought to be gentle shepherds. Yes, at times our care for the flock will bring about a godly ferocity aimed at protecting the sheep. But for the most part we will care for our people as a nursing mother would care for her infant. And there is one aspect to this which I think is often missed; namely, mommy’s diet impacts baby.
I remember from when my wife was pregnant with our kids all of the different opinions out there on what a mother should and should not eat during pregnancy. Some will tell you to avoid caffeine others say you can eat about anything. I’m not foolish enough to enter into that debate—but I will say this, if mom isn’t healthy the baby is going to be impacted. More than anything the mother needs to make sure that she is eating a healthy and well-balanced diet. The better she is then the better she will be for her baby.
I think this applies to pastoral ministry as well. I believe this is, in part, something which can be drawn from Paul’s statement in 1 Thessalonians 2:8. If Paul wasn’t healthy then it wouldn’t be to their benefit for him to “share our own selves as well”. You really cannot separate the message from the messenger. It is true that the gospel is true whether the guy proclaiming it is a goober or not. But there isn’t such a neat and tidy break between gospel proclamation and gospel living.
This is why Richard Baxter says this:
They will likely feel when you have been much with God: that which is most on your hearts, is like to be most in their ears…when I let my heart grow cold, my preaching is cold; and when it is confused, my preaching is confused…We are the nurses of Christ’s little ones. If we forbear taking food ourselves, we shall famish them; it will soon be visible in their leanness, and dull discharge of their several duties. If we let our love decline, we are not like to raise up theirs…If we feed on unwholesome food, either errors or fruitless controversies, our hearers are like to fare the worse for it. (The Reformed Pastor, 61-62)
I’ve witnessed times in my study where I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time trying to untangle the mess of unimportant knots.. Almost without fail the fruit of such a thing is never good when I stand in the pulpit. But if I wrestle with a text and really feel it, and my heart is lively, then my preaching will be passionate. And when my preaching is passionate almost without fail ears will be won. Even if the ears are mocking.
Therefore, it is vital that we preachers spend a good deal of time working on our own diet. I want to spend a good amount of time in preparation working on my own heart and applying the text to my own soul. When I see the application for my own life it won’t be difficult to help the congregation see what it means for them as well. There are some knots which will only be untangled in heaven. And while it might be fun to give it knot untangling a whirl on occasion, I realize that I’m like a nursing mother who has to feed children. I need to get filled up myself. Controversy is only going to feed my pride.
Lollipops won’t do either. You know the places in Scripture you can go to get a chorus of “Amen’s”. You know where that low hanging fruit is where you can just put together a sermon in about twenty to thirty minutes that will please the crowd. And you also know that the people won’t be fed. If you spend most of your time feasting on lollipops your weak might be fun and it might not be filled with sweat—but you’ll starve your people as you starve yourself. Get into the text and let the Spirit do some soul work.
Eat healthy and you’ll preach healthy.
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