About Preaching

Sam Storms has a very thoughtful article on why preaching has fallen on hard times, including some direct challenges both to the preacher and to church communities as well.

John R. W. Stott, 1921-2011

Tributes to the late John R. W. Stott are appearing quickly following his death yesterday (see, e.g., here, and here and here, to name a few; see also the NY Times). It seems many people have tremendously appreciated this gifted, clear-headed, and courageous evangelical pastor.

If there's one thing that has characterized Stott's preaching and teaching, it's CLARITY. Not only was he an outstanding communicator who could make himself understood, but (most importantly) he had a gift for helping students of Scripture recognize the structure and argument and compelling case of countless biblical texts. And yet, his clarity was matched with URGENCY--when you heard him speak, you knew that the Lord and his Word meant everything to this Christ-exalting leader.

I first heard him speak at Urbana '79 where he lectured from Romans 5-8 and helped all of us restless college students stop and pay close attention to God's brilliant Word.

In the 1980s his powerful, penetrating message on leadership (printed as the final chapter in Issues Facing Christians Today) was like a gracious explosion in my life--especially the section on "vision" (unfortunately, I can't dig up the audio of this lecture!).

Stott's commentaries on The Sermon on the Mount and Paul's Letter to the Ephesians are among his many excellent writings that have helped me think carefully about God's coherent and beautiful written revelation.

His passion for mission resulted, among other things, in his service as the primary author of The Willowbank Report of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, a pivotal essay on the gospel and culture. His heart for God's world also led him to establish a scholarship program for majority world Christian leaders enabling them to pursue academic training in preparation to teach and lead the church in many places around the globe. Visit the Langham Partnership website and John Stott Ministries for info on the works he founded. Note that several audios of his messages can be accessed at his church, All Souls Church, in London (and see also the MP3 library at Monergism). Amazon lists 109 books for "John R. W. Stott."

I thank the Lord for how he's used John Stott to challenge and encourage me in the study of the Scriptures!

[originally posted at www.forthejourney.blogspot.com]

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Preaching through Hebrews

This Sunday I’m beginning a sermon series on HEBREWS, “Christ Supreme.” The idea is to move through the letter from beginning to end, care­fully weighing each statement and closely tracing the line of thought, and setting out practical applications of God’s gripping truth along the way.

The Letter to the Hebrews is amazing. But one could say more: it’s complex, rich, demanding, deep, imposing, daunting … and simply breathtaking. Hebrews is like a rugged mountain peak, so the heights must be scaled with great care—and intense anticipation! Grappling with Hebrews is like standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon: it makes your legs ache with that sense of reverent wonder. The majesty of Christ is staggering! I'm praying for the Lord's all-important help in the preparation and proclamation side of things, and that he'd awaken (and re-awaken) Christ-exalting faith in the hearts of his gathered people.

By God’s help, immersion in Hebrews will rivet our eyes on Jesus Christ. At the heart of this letter is the argument and passion that Christ reigns supreme. The glory of God revealed in his Son is a treasure of matchless worth. And so, above all else, cling to Christ—or come to Christ, if you don’t yet trust him!

Hebrews is brutally realistic about the world’s appeals to turn back from the Lord and find our security in lesser “gods,” even though they can never truly satisfy our thirsty souls. But Satan will try to anesthetize you with the delirium of disinterest in Jesus and the vain hope of worldly security and the lazy attitude that quickly labels Hebrews “too difficult”: be warned.

This letter brings a no-nonsense message, confronting hypocrisy and pointing the way of authentic faith. Numerous warnings against sin and spiritual immaturity grab the reader’s attention: don’t turn back from Christ—you’ll lose everything!

Hebrews helps us understand the relationship between the testaments. How is the Old Testament valid for today’s Christian, and in what sense is it superseded by a new way of relating to God: how new is the New Covenant? Getting this right is immensely important if we intend to treat the whole Bible with respect as God’s relevant word for our day and every day.

Sound kind of heady? It is—and “hearty” too. It’s no secret that God’s Word makes demands on your mind; healthy faith calls for careful study. And among the biblical books, it may be that Hebrews leads the way in this regard! We live in a profoundly impatient culture that shuns thoughtful reflection and rushes on to action: do, do, do. What about you? Too busy to study? All that “academic” stuff not your cup of tea? I guess you’re saying you only have time for baby-bottle spirituality.

Finally, Hebrews prepares believers for the real trials and temptations that we hit along the discipleship path. Following Jesus is a joy; no other life can meet your heart’s deep longings. But following Jesus can also be hard. Perseverance is a necessary dimension of authentic faith in Christ, and in order to stand firm, God’s people need to be pulled and pushed (i.e., encouraged and warned) to cling to Christ all the way to glory. Hebrews is God’s gift to his church to do just that.

(For Goshen Baptist Church sermon audios, click here.)

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Expository Preaching

As your pastor, I’ve been solemnly charged to “preach the word” here at Goshen Baptist Church (2 Tim 4:2). It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of this task. 2 Timothy is Paul’s last will and testament (see 4:6-8) in which he passes the leadership baton to young Pastor Timothy, and in it he under­scores the Word of God—guarding, teaching, and proclaiming it. It’s as if he uses multiple neon high­lighters and bold italics to emphasize the point: as a pastor, you have to preach God’s truth and help people understand and embrace it; if you don’t proclaim the Word of God, all is lost. Of course, this must be done in a patient, loving manner (v 2). And, of course, God’s message won’t always be welcome—some “itching ears” will long to hear a different word (4:3).

In order to strive to be faithful before the Lord in preaching, I think it’s wise to preach “expository” messages at least most of the time. By “expository” I mean sermons that start with the text—God’s Word—and have no other aim than simply to explain God’s message and urge people to obey it. That’s why we’ve been working our way through Acts all this year. Our goal has been to sit still before the Lord and let him set the agenda for the times we gather in his presence. Acts is the story of the church’s birth and global expansion by God’s hand and through his witnesses. Our aim, again, has been simply to hear God’s message and watch him in action as he forms, leads and builds his church: we want to take in and follow all that he teaches us, the whole counsel of God.

Think of it, if you were granted an audience with a king (in fact, let’s say the King of Kings), would you cut in after being introduced and say, “Your Highness, thanks for inviting me to hear you talk, but I’m really not so inter­ested in what you think. I’d rather get a little help to process the issues on my mind—you know, things that are relevant. Could you please speak to my agenda?”? No, of course not. But still, aren’t we tempted in just this way? Don’t we itch for a message that scratches just so, one (mis)uses God’s Word to cause our lives revolve around us?

Don’t get me wrong: there’s a time for topical messages focused on the issues we face today. The God-honoring way to do this is by shining the Bible’s light on those needs. (And after Acts, we’ll have a sermon series about the questions on your mind—more on that next week.) But, stepping back, our bread and butter diet is the expository preaching of God’s life-changing, hope-giving, always-relevant Word. Please pray for me, that I would expound the Scriptures faithfully!

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Bibliolatry?

What about this idea that Bible-based evangelical Christians are really worshipping The Good Book and thus committing “bibliolatry” (i.e., making an idol of the Bible).

In keeping with the example of the Berean Bible study superstars, we need to engage in vigorous, eager, careful exam­ination of the Scriptures (the Bereans did this “daily,” and we should do the same, Acts 17:11). Receiving and proclaiming the Word of God is the way to shut down itching ears and the false teaching they crave (2 Tim 4:1-5). Flipside: failing to preach and receive the Word faithfully is a great way to unleash unsound, dangerous messages in the church. Want to mess up the body of Christ and ransack people’s souls? Then let itching ears dictate the message; preach what is popular; avoid disturbing anyone with God’s bold truth.

So does a high respect for the Bible compel Christians to commit bibliolatry? Not at all. In fact, committing bibli­olatry is a sure sign that one has not taken the Bible seriously enough. Because if you read and meditate on and truly take in the message of the Scriptures, you’ll see clearly that a zeal for truth without a love for the One who speaks ultimate truth is utterly unacceptable. The only way a professing Christian could practice bibliolatry would be by failing to really know and follow what the Bible says—and that failure would be grave indeed.

Don’t get me wrong: the risk of bibliolatry is real, and the Enemy takes a certain devious delight by infecting church people with this twisted satisfaction. If we love study, ideas and possessing know­ledge but don’t really love Jesus; if we savor facts but don’t revel in the company of Christ … that would be deadly. But don’t throw out the baby with the bath water! We’ll still love the Bible if we love Christ, and we’ll still love the Bible if we worship God alone! Because the Bible is the “place” the Lord speaks to us—it’s his voice! How could we possibly not long to hear from the One who has forgiven and adopted and loved us? How could we fail to cherish his Word—the lamp that lights our way (Psalm 119:105)?