4 Problems for the Pastor. 1: Discouragement

The top two Christian leaders of the 20th Century I would most want to sit down with are Dietrich Bonhoeffer and John RW Stott. I met Stott once, and he gave me a big bear hug because of some correspondence we had, but I never got to sit down with him. (Bonhoeffer, of course, was murdered nearly a decade before I was born.) Stott has always exhibited careful exposition of Scripture wrapped in humble resolution.

I’m not sure he wrote any books I have not read though a new one arrived on my desk recently, kindly sent by the publisher. The book is called Problems of Christian Leadership, an edited transcript of four lectures he gave in Quito Ecuador in 1985 but only recently “discovered” again. When I saw the title of the book I suspected Stott would dwell on the apostle Paul as a leader and work through his problems, which is the case for the first study — on discouragement. (The others are self-discipline, relationships, and youth, but only the last one concentrates on Paul.)

Stott, pondering 2 Corinthians 3-4, sees two major problems for the Christian leader (he is no doubt thinking of the preaching, teaching or senior pastor). The first is the veil, the second the body; the first a spiritual challenge and the second a physical challenge. Two problems: unbelief or unresponsiveness in the parish and physical weaknesses and frailty. Spiritual blindness and physical mortality — two common enough problems for all leaders.

The veil is found in 2 Cor 3:14, where Paul speaks of the veil over the eyes of Jews who do not perceive Jesus as Messiah. There is no sensitivity here on Stott’s part about Jews nor does he hesitate in moving from what Paul saw as a particular Jewish problem to universalizing the problem for all humans. The body is found especially in 2 Cor 4:7, where we have this treasure in clay pots. This leads to the “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Cor 12:7, 10.

[The accompanying image is from a “typical” set of notes Stott took into the pulpit.]

So, how to face these common discouragements, these challenges from unbelieving listeners and from our physical frailties? There is one solution: the power of God. Instead of coercion and manipulation of those who do not respond as we would like, we are to preach the gospel. 2 Corinthians 4:2 is the antidote. The light of the gospel is the light of God — so we are to realize and be encouraged by revealing the light of the gospel. Preach and teach and show Jesus.

The clay pot life of the Christian (leader or not) is there for God’s power to show through (2 Cor 4:7; see also 1 Cor 2:3-5 and 2 Cor 12:7, and 2 Cor 4:10, 12). We pray that God may deliver us.

Stott finishes this chp on a personal note, the kind of note that is quite rare in Stott’s writing. On a mission to Sydney in 1958 he came to the last night with no voice, and he said he was able only to croak into the microphone and, yet, it was the night were the most enduring response occurred — and to this day (1985), he said, people in Australia still told him of the impact of the night he was horse.