The Breckenridge news., 1906-08-29
THE PASTORS OBLIGATION
TOHIS CHURCH.
Tine Western Recorder. }

church is to love 1t. First in order Of
statement; first in time of statement ;
first in Importance in fact the supreme
First 70 The kind of first Jesus men
toned when He was talking about His
Fathers kingdom" Seek ye first the
kingdom of God " The pastors first
obligation. then. is to love his church
First That first that makes every
thing else second. And now abldeth
faith, hope, love, these three; but
the greatest of these Is love. " Man s
FIRST and supreme duty is to love. 1t
Is "the greatest thing in the world,
and mas, and Will, produce the great
est greatness in the world Mark 49,
"a gives us some insight from the
worlds standpoint. Here we have the
worlds first and the world S great
ness. This kind of first "shall be last
of all, " and this kind of greatness has
and Will always be weakness and must
fail. The first we nave in mind, will
produce "tne greatest in the kingdom
of Heaven, Matt. 1914. Only love
is willing to become great on this
principle; Neither be ye called mas
ters fer one is your Master, even
Christ. But he that is greatest among
you shall be your servant, Matt.
% :1O-11. Only love can be great in
Gods sight Only love can ill this
place with DO thought of being great.
Only love can lead teach and serve for
the churcn's S sake-not the things of
the church. Paul, with this supreme
hrst IN his possession, ssid 81 seek you
not yours
Again, the pastors obligation to his
church lie to love every individual in
It, Not just love the organizstion-
on general princlples-but every
"member" of "the body. " When Jesus
died for His church, it was not for
an organization but for the individ-
uals. that would make up that body
Yes, love every one Possibly we
feel that this Will be hard for US to do
Yes, but we remember that "love Will
cover a multitude of SINS, Il Pet. 49,
And also sinners. And besides it is
the best way to get along with the
brethren-also the sisters. / CCI. 1877
"Beareth all things . endureth
all things Dr. Broughton says: IRE
sist the devil and he will flee from
you. Resist a deacon and be will jump
on you Perhaps the. deacon would
not if he were resisted In a proper
degree Of love. But if he dill, we
would take it better, and feel better
about him, after he got off. And 1t
might be better for the deacon-atter
he got off-for love woiketh no i'll
to his nelgbbor the deacon. Rom.
1910 II we past rs feel the serious
ness of this first duty; find comfort In
the fact that this is the only principle
by which we may owe them anything
r, 1873.
My brother pastors, this Is 10 as
the supreme good, and tor us as leaders
of the sheep and lambs tbs supreme
thing--even the great, st. And we VINO
are called TO be the bishops over
tine body OF Christ should not forget
the members in particular. " CO...
12 %. Yes ouI obligation TO love
every individual member For the
body is no. one menbsr (or a select
few, but many. Cor 2:14. Even
all the parts that it takes to make
the whole Love the head Love
the eye" Love the "ear;' Love the
hand yes, Love the loot " We
pastors should be equally anxious
about those at "the foot with tLose
at 1.-THE head " Always remembering
that they all are of equal Importance
IN Gods sight. Cor. - :21-26.
At least 50 far as we are relatei to
them, as "bisbop Love first qualities
us tor first and second the third, and
on to tne end of obhgatIon-even to
the feeding of the "hock of God"
over which we may be called 10 lead
in things divine. Pet 5;2
Love enables us to stand in ouI pro
per place as under shepherds, not
Lords over Gods heritage, but bein g
examples for the hock. V. 3.
Ready" tor the chief Shepherd"
whenHe "shsll appear. V. 4.
Our obligation IN is to love first and,
all the time, and then We are ready
to lead and teach land only then
them their duty toward the Bible, the
church and the world.
Leach them to honor tine word
of God" above all that has been writ.
ten or may be written. Teach
them TO support ''the church Of
God, for which He died, with their
means, and by their cooperation. Oh !
brethren, on this love principle we
may teach them to ''love one another )
to weep with those who weep and
rejoice with those who rejoice," even
! -. "a 10