Here is a pattern that all ministers ought to follow. Publicly and privately, from the pulpit and in private visits, they ought to rebuke all open sin, and deliver a faithful warning to all who are living in it. It may give offense. It may entail immense unpopularity. With all this they have nothing to do. Duties are theirs. Results are God’s.
~ J.C. Ryle
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1985], 119.
What will it take for me to get to the point where I FULLY believe and ACTUALLY live as if I believe this statement:
“Duties are theirs, results are God’s”
Amen. I needed this. We all need this.
paul
Duties are theirs, results are God’s…
Does that mean “follow orders, and your commanding officer will deal with the outcomes”
What a difficult teaching.
Deliver a faithful warning…in love?
Sometimes approval or disapproval does not have to be vocalised in order to be communicated. Do you agree?
Sometimes we have to speak judgement into a situation like one who warns a child away from the cliff edge, whether our opinions have been called for or not.
Other times I think we must wait until our opinion is called for (either implicitly or explicitly) and give it on the terms on which it was asked.
But I realise Ryle is talking about ministers, who have an additional mandate because they are viewed as arbiters of right and wrong.