Proverbs 22:6 Children

Proverbs 22:6 Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Given what this proverb suggests every pastor must giive attention to children in his orbit. He can make quite an impact on them, if he is wise. He can bear them in mindwhen preaching to all, with a children's talk before the sermon and through arranging Sunday School and special meetings. He must not neglect the children. Spurgeon says

To a rational preacher and all are not rational it must seem essential to interest all his audience from the eldest to the youngest. We ought not to make even children inattentive. Make them inattentive say you who does that? I say that most preachers do and when children are not quiet in a meeting it is often as much our fault as theirs. Can you not put in a little story or parable on purpose for the little ones? Can you not catch the eye of the boy in the gallery and the little girl downstairs who have begun to fidget and smile them into order? I often talk with my eyes to the orphan boys at the foot of my pulpit. We want all eyes fixed upon us and all ears open to us. To me it is an annoyance if even a blind man does not look at me with his face. If I see anybody turning round whispering, nodding or looking at his watch, I judge that I am not up to the mark and must by some means win these minds. Very seldom have I to complain and when I do my general plan is to complain of myself and own that I have no right to attention unless I know how to command it.

Proverbs 24:27 Priorities

27 Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

The proverb has a very agricultural turn but its underlying message is things need to be done in the right order. One has to have priorities. This is true in the monistrry as much as in any other sphere. At any given moment one can be doing one of several useful things - reading, praying, evangelising, visiting, sermon preparing, etc. If we lack a proper sense of priotrities we will not do well. Some years ago Brian Croft wrote a book called The Pastor’s Ministry: Biblical Priorities for Faithful Shepherds (Zondervan, 2015). There he says

“Many pastors, myself included, will go week after week until eventually that soft but necessary voice calling us to stop and pray just fades out. If enough time passes, the voice of conviction and desire will go away. When that happens, prayer gets squeezed out of our life. Ironically, a pastor can be so busy caring for his people that he never makes time to stop and pray for them. But this isn’t right. It reveals a lack of faith and a problem with misplaced priorities.”

Proverbs for Pastoring

I recently heard Phil Heaps speak on Proverbs for pastoring and he made these helpful points.

1. It lays out three basic issues

Be teachable, wisdom involves effort, bear in mind that there are competing voices

2. It encourages every day application

3. It models memorable language

One liners, portraits, etc

4. It employs multiple methods

Discursive, punchy one liners, different types of proverbs

5. It forces uus to teach creatively