Some thoughts from John Bunyan on the ministry of the gospel

Taken from Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners

He is relating his experience in being called to preach and his various struggles in it.

1. He was hesitant to enter into this high calling.

He began by only speaking one-to-one, and began his public ministry only because of the persistent request of the saints around him. They asked him to, and persisted in asking. He found that he was not content unless he was in the exercise of his gift, not because of the public acclaim (which in truth, in his own day Bunyan got little of), but because the gifts themselves were given not so that a man might edify only himself.

2. He only believed that he was gifted in it, when he saw the fruit of it.

But I first could not believe that God should speak by me to the heart of any man, still counting myself unworthy. This was not false humility, for before entering into ministry Bunyan wrestled with fear of damnation and a terrible consciousness of his sin for nearly ten years. It was really amazing to him that God would see fit to use him.

3. He preached his own experience.

I have been as one sent to them from the dead; I went myself in chains, to preach to them in chains; and carried that fire in my own conscience, that I persuaded them to be aware of. Bunyan recounts that his ministry began by his preaching of the law and the reality of sin (this was his theme for two years!), and then he altered his preaching to hold forth Jesus Christ in all His offices. This he continued in for a further two years. After this, he spoke on the mystery of union (by which he means communion, or depth of experential intimacy) with Christ. These he calls the three chief points of God. He only stayed on the third point for one year because he was arrested.

4. He was concerned with the good of the person he preached to.

He would constantly pray as he preached that God would make the word effectual to the salvation of the soul he spoke to, and would grieve that Satan would steal him away. In this, he relied always on the power of God. It pleased me nothing to see people drink in opinions, if they seemed ignorant of Jesus Christ, and the worth of their salvation...

5. He stuck to what was important

I never cared to meddle with things that were controverted, and in dispute among the saints. This should be tempered by his fierce opposition to things that we might consider unimportant but which Bunyan saw as essential. He opposed the Arminian conception of salvation, and the Roman system of worship. But the matters of church government, details of Sabbath-keeping, music, etc he did not concern himself with. What was important: the word of faith, and the remission of sins by the death and sufferings of Jesus.

6. He didn't plagiarize

Though he didn't condemn those who do. He wanted to feel his sermons, and so spoke ex tempore.

7. He gloried in saving souls.

Here are some good lines: My heart hath been so wrapped up in the glory of this excellent work, that I counted myself more blessed and honored of God by this, than if He had made me the emperor of the Christian world, or the lord of all the glory of the earth without it.