The Sermon Text

HT: Leadership Journal

The Need to Hear It

Interesting article on the preaching ministry of Martin Luther (before and after 1517) at The Anxious Bench. It concludes:

...The sermon became the centerpiece of Protestant worship, and it remains so in many contexts. At the same time, few Protestants retain Luther’s theology of preaching. Luther would have little stomach for the entrepreneurial world of American Christianity, in which individuals without any ecclesiastical ties or theological training found new churches. Nor would Luther — despite his own translation of the Bible and his own devotional and academic study of the scriptures — agree that it is most important for people to study the scriptures on their own or in small-group Bible studies. They need to hear the Word proclaimed and expounded upon, and not just a sentence or two, as is increasingly common. There is, moreover, an enormous gulf between Luther’s world and ours, and perhaps today Luther would open a coffee-house ministry or, more likely, a tavern. Today, churches try harder to “reach people where they are.”

Luther sympathized with every generation’s complaints about sermons, that they are too long, too boring, and not relevant. He noted the problem of snoring during church, and he said that one of a minister’s most important qualification was “that he know when to stop.” Indeed, the belief that human beings could step up to the pulpit and serve as the mouthpieces for the eternal Word of God is, humanly speaking, rather foolish. Most people in the pews (or theater seats) recognize that basic foolishness as they praise or criticize a sermon on the basis of its entertainment, humor, or edification. In his final sermon, Luther preached that God “did not make his gospel known to the wise and understanding, but to infants and children.” He closed with a call to “shut our eyes altogether, and cling only to Christ’s Word and come to him.”

Protestants do not necessarily need better preachers or a dethronement of the sermon from its place at the center of their worship services. Instead, we need a Lutheran expectation that God’s Word will manifest itself through the “fleeting breath” of human beings and that through sacraments and sermon, the Word of God will make clear to us the promises of the gospel.

Read it all at the link

That Feel Good Message

From Radio Free Babylon

(Click to Enlarge)

Evangelistic Edification

A word for preachers:

“Don’t just preach to your congregation for spiritual growth, assuming that everyone in attendance is a Christian; and don’t just preach the gospel evangelistically, thinking that Christians cannot grow from it. Evangelize as you edify, and edify as you evangelize.”

 Tim Keller Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City 

Above, Not Outside

"The preacher has the ability, given the testimony and authority of the full Biblical witness, to preach the text and to preach above the text. This does not give him permission to preach outside the text. Preaching above the text means lifting the eyes of the hearers to see how a particular text fits into the overall arc of the grand story of the Bible. It means preaching a passage in both its immediate context and its canonical (or big-picture) context. It means we can exegete a passage and show how it fits into the wider reality of God's redemptive plan for His creation. In many ways it allows us to be a type of helicopter pilot who can freely navigate from the ground to the air and back down again. Our perspectives are widened, our vision is increased, and our hearts are humbled as we see the same text from a variety of angles. It is truly astounding to consider how intentional God's plan for His people really is."

    -Matt Chandler, Creature of the Word: The Jesus Centered Church,  page 132 (italics in the original)

Getting Deep in the Text

From: The Sacred Sandwich

Ambition to Be Windows

A poem by 17th Century English Puritan preacher and poet George Herbert.

Hat Tip: The Gospel Coalition

Weekend Links

 Some links that caught my attention:

 Encyclopedia Britannica Goes Out of Print After 244 Years

Also, Rest in Peace Britannica

5 Things a Pastor Should Never Say

Advance Review of "Blue Like Jazz: The Movie" 

Who Are the Greatest Preachers?

How to Prepare a Sermon (Not!)

Hat Tip:  Rick Ianniello: preaching prep

Killing Moralism With Grace

Great post by Joe Thorn at The Resurgence - Killing Moralism:

"Many Christians have grown up in the church on moralistic preaching; that is, preaching that calls for obedience without connecting the commands of God to the cross of Christ.

This disconnect is dangerous, potentially leading hearers into either self-loathing or self-righteousness. Moralistic preaching is often the ground in which the devil sows the seeds of legalism. Of course biblical preaching will always be relevant and call for a response, but how can we preach the commands of God without reducing our messages to moralism? Is the key to simply jump from the command “pray without ceasing” to the reality that Jesus suffered a vicarious, penal atonement? Well, that’s one way to do it. But, let me suggest three ways of preaching the commands of God that help us avoid the trap of moralism.....

Much more content at the link - please read the whole thing. He concludes:

....So yes, we can and must preach the whole counsel of God. We must call men and women to obey, but not for approval, nor apart from the truth of the God who gives and fulfills the law for us. I believe if we do this when teaching the commands of God we kill moralism and will, by the grace of God, see conviction and encouragement among the people.

E and E

Church services need both E and E. What is E and E, you ask? It means Evangelism and Edification - Evangelize as You Edify, Edify as You Evangelize :

The greatest thing an unbeliever needs to hear is the gospel. They need to be evangelized with the good news of Jesus Christ. The great thing a believer needs to hear is the gospel. They need to be edified with the good news of Jesus Christ. When there is a robust commitment to preaching Christ from all of Scriptures, unbelievers will be evangelized and believers will be edified.

From Timmy Brister at Provocations & Pantings:

Worth Hearing

Surprisingly to me, the Bishop of London's sermon at the royal wedding of Will & Kate was well worth hearing, and hearing again with deeper concentration.

...William and Catherine, you have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that he gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

And in the Spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to each another.

A spiritual life grows as love finds its centre beyond ourselves. Faithful and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover this; the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed. In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life......

....As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden. We are all incomplete: we all need the love which is secure, rather than oppressive, we need mutual forgiveness, to thrive.

As we move towards our partner in love, following the example of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us and can increasingly fill our lives with light. This leads to a family life which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can practice and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate the coming world of the Spirit, whose fruits are love and joy and peace.

Here's a link to the whole message. Perhaps my surprise at the quality of this message says something uncomplimentary about me.  If so, I admit it.  God bless the royal couple, may they take these words to heart and show a better pattern and example of marital commitment than so many other celebrities (and ordinary people) do.

Hat tip: A Place For The God-Hungry » Blog Archive » Words Worth Hearing–The Royal Wedding Sermon:

Auctioning Eternity

 From “What About Altar Calls?” – Pure Church by Thabiti Anyabwile:

I grew up in Southern Baptist churches were altar calls were routine - people were urged to "walk the aisle" to come to Jesus.  This approach to evangelism is a relatively recent phenomena, dating to the work of Charles Finney in the early 19th century. Many Reformed churches do not use altar calls, for some reasons explained at the link above.

What do you think?

Christian Urban Legends (for Preachers & Hearers)

Have you ever heard a preacher repeat one of these Preacher Urban Legends?  If you are a preacher (full or part time) have you ever told one of these stories without confirmation/

1. The “eye of the needle” refers to a gate outside Jerusalem.

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God,” says Jesus in Mark 10:25. Maybe you’ve heard of the gate in Jerusalem called the “eye of the needle.” The camel could pass through it only after stooping down and having all its baggage taken off.

The illustration is used in many sermons as an example of coming to God on our knees and without our baggage. The only problem is… there is no evidence for such a gate. The story has been around since the 15th century, but there isn’t a shred of evidence to support it.

2. The high priest tied a rope around his ankle so that others could drag him out of the Holy of Holies in case God struck him dead.

Various versions of this claim have been repeated by pastors, but it is a legend. It started in the Middle Ages and keeps getting repeated. There is no evidence for the claim in the Bible, the Apocrypha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus, the Pseudepigrapha, the Talmud, Mishna or any other source. Furthermore, the thickness of the veil (three feet) would have precluded the possibility of a priest being dragged out anyway.

There are more "legends" at the link. I must confess that I have used both of these stories, but I will never do so again.  We need to practice integrity in Bible teaching and preaching, so that listeners can trust what is taught. If you hear one of these whoppers being told, please encourage the speaker to check his facts!

Hat Tip: Kingdom People

Content Rich & Compassion Saturated

A great need in all forms of Christian communication today, whether witnessing, preaching, writing, or teaching, is the ability...

"...to communicate a content-rich message in a compassion-saturated relationship. "

(Dane Ortlund, quoting Randy Newman, at Strawberry-Rhubarb Theology)

O Lord, teach us and form us to do this, to be like this, to live this!

Top Ten Signs Your Pastor Has Caught You Napping During His Sermon

 From: The Sacred Sandwich

At Rest in the Lord

Hat Tip:  Get Ready for Your Pastor’s Next Sermon Dud! – Pure Church by Thabiti Anyabwile:

Words Required

Did Francis of Assisi really say the popular quote often attributed to him, “Preach the gospel. If necessary use words”?

Nope! Some evidence to that effect is summarized by Joe Thorn at Francis, Preaching, and the Gospel. Joe then concludes:

"Preaching the gospel with words is both prescribed and described as normative for the church everywhere in the Bible. It’s not a way to do it. It is the way. The saying is at least confusing because when we say, “Preach the gospel. If necessary use words” we are saying that one can preach the gospel without words. But let’s be clear about this. Our good works and godly lives can and should compliment our confession, but they cannot themselves announce the good news."

The Gospel in Every Message

Video from the Gospel Coalition:

Not every Christian is equally gifted as an evangelist. But all of us have the obligation and opportunity to prepare ourselves “to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15). Pastors in particular might seem as though they have many chances to share the gospel with unbelievers. In reality, they spend so much time with Christians that they must be proactive to build relationships with non-Christians. If you don’t pray for opportunities to evangelize and don’t actively look for them, you won’t likely have the privilege of welcoming many new believers into the kingdom of God.

The sermon, however, is one regular occasion when pastors can model gospel proclamation for the congregation and trust God to move unbelievers visiting the church to repent and believe the good news that Jesus Christ died for sinners and triumphed over death in resurrection. So why don’t more pastors make sure they preach the gospel in every sermon? TGC council members Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, and James MacDonald address this question from their varied experience as they discuss the pastor’s ministry of evangelism in this video roundtable.

Hat Tip:  Pure Church by Thabiti Anyabwile

Secret Ingredient

 From:  Iron Preacher - The Sacred Sandwich