More Andrew Fuller Sermons

I have added two more audio readings of sermons to the Andrew Fuller Library.

The first is Affectionate Concern of a Minister for the Salvation of His Hearers (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8). Fuller stresses the centrality of the minister’s work as preaching the gospel:

Make a point, then, of distinctly and habitually preaching the gospel. Do not suppose your people are so good, and so well informed, as not to need this…. Many sermons are ingenious essays; but if they bear not on this great object, they are not the gospel. Woe unto you if you preach not the gospel!

The second is The Young Minister Exhorted to Make Full Proof of His Ministry (2 Timothy 4:5-6). This message was delivered to ministerial students at the Stepney Academical Institution. Fuller speaks as an elder statesman among the ministers of his day exhorting the younger men that will take the reins of ministry leadership from his own generation.

One highlight is his noting of “two extremes relative to this work,” one on the part of ministers and the other on the part of churches. The first extreme is that of the ministers abusing the office of ruling. The second extreme is that of the people imagining “from the idea of ministers being servants … that they are their masters.” Fuller stresses that the minister's ultimate accountability is to the Lord:

It is true they have a Master, and one to whom they must give account; but it is not to the people of their charge. As Christians they are accountable to one another, the same as other Christians; but as ministers, to Christ only. In serving the church of God, you will act as a faithful steward toward his lord’s family; who renders service to them all, but is accountable to his lord only.

JTR