Stopping to Think

  "Why are you preaching this sermon? That obvious question draws many inadequate answers. [...] No matter how brilliant or biblical a sermon is, without definite purpose it will not be worth preaching." Haddon Robinson, Biblical Preaching, pg 107

  "If a preacher will not--or cannot--think himself clear so that he says what he means, he has no business in the pulpit." Haddon Robinson, Biblical Preaching, pg 39

  "A preacher must learn to listen to God before he speaks for Him." Haddon Robinson, Biblical Preaching, pg 26

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash  There is a helpful book review/essay over at the site St. Eutychus, on the nature of preaching. Here's a brief excerpt: "Do I do my job best locked away in an office with the Bible and some commentaries open, typing into a word processor for 30 hours a week, or do I do my best listening to the wisdom of the body talking to others, with the Bible open, and thinking through how the passage best speaks to the diversity of people in the body, and to the world in a way that makes what is being said  plausible and engaged , rather than  detached and idiosyncratic . Let’s take Paul’s metaphor of the body seriously; and metaphorically — a metaphor is not an exaggeration of the true state of affairs, but an accessible simplification — a sign that points to a greater reality — a ‘simplification’ you use to make something more complex understandable… so when Paul speaks of the church as a body we’re not meant to think he’s over-applying the realit...

The Backdrop Yesterday I was preaching from John 21:1-14. I was going without notes, which used to be my typical modus operandi, but is something I hadn't attempted in a long time. For the most part I felt pretty good about how it went-until I afterward remembered that I had teased a later point in the sermon (twice!) and then neglected to make that point. Maybe there is more wisdom to taking a full manuscript to the pulpit than I accounted for. In any case, in case you haven't followed the above link and listened to the whole sermon, the thrust of the sermon was this: In the first half of John 21 , we are meant to see Jesus revealing himself to the disciples. I argued that Jesus was revealed in at least three ways, namely:     1) Jesus has perfect knowledge     2) Jesus is the source of true provision     3) Jesus is Lord The Missed Point The case of negligence, or at least of failure to follow through, took place under point two. It might be an exagge...

A Brief Philosophy of Ministry Biblical ministry is centered on Christ and Him crucified 1 . Without the message of reconciliation 2 offered by God 3 to sinners 4 , there is nothing for us to minister. “Christ is the center of Christianity; all else is circumference.” 5 A ministry centered on Christ will take a certain shape: namely, that of prayer and of the Word 6 . Paul asks the Ephesians to pray for him that he may speak boldly 7 , turns his every thought of the Philippians vertical in prayer 8 , and asks the Romans to join him in the struggle of prayer. 9 The same apostle commends to his protégé Timothy the preaching of the Word as a right response to the decaying nature of humanity and the sufficiency of God’s revelation in Scripture to save and transform. 10 Paul also makes clear that those called and gifted by God to minister are to do so for the purpose of building and equipping the body of Christ 11 , and such an endeavor will be futile and ultimately unsucce...

Throwback Thursday is a series of posts, wherein I will on (some) Thursdays post a piece of writing from back in the day. Generally not from this blog. I will edit lightly for readability, but my intention is to allow each piece to stand basically as written. Over the years my mind has shifted on many things, as my knowledge of life, the Scriptures, and myself has grown. I'm not in the business of hiding this fact, so these will probably (at least on occasion) contain some things which even I think are crazy. Originally posted on Facebook as: "Because apparently I belong in the White House...or jail" January 4, 2010 So I posted a status about appreciating real news and started World War 7...or whatever World War we are on now. So I thought it prudent to examine some of what other people had to say there, and take the time to flesh my thoughts out more thoroughly. My original point was that I was thankful for a source of news where I got just that - news. Ne...

On more than one occasion I have heard or read a quip to the following effect, "If you want God to speak to you, read the Bible. If you want Him to speak audibly, read it out loud." It gets me every time. I love the snarky, and helpful, rebuttal it contains of a certain type of subjectivism which wants more from the Christian walk than prayer and Bible reading. More than talking to and hearing from God? More than conversing with the Creator? Come on. So I appreciate the quip. However.  I do think it could be made more Biblical. It would look something like this: If you want God to speak to you, read the Bible. If you want to hear Him audibly, hear the Bible preached . The centering of Christian experience upon the personal Bible reading time is a rather modern development. It requires a few things which for most of church history simply have not been the case (this point is largely drawn from the observations Carl Trueman, Professor of Church History at Westminster The...

Throwback Thursday is a series of posts, wherein I will on (some) Thursdays post a piece of writing from back in the day. Generally not from this blog. I will edit slightly for readability and grammar, but my intention is to allow each piece to stand basically as written. Over the years my mind has shifted on many things, as my knowledge of life, the Scriptures, and myself has grown. I'm not in the business of hiding this fact, so these will probably contain some things that even I think are crazy. Notes from Fuel 2/13/2010, with some elaboration. Originally posted on Facebook, February 14, 2010 Well, I was gonna post the notes I had for my message, but I meandered a bit from them, so I re-worked them and elaborated on them a bit. A lot a bit. In fact this is taking that message as a basis and basically going into what God has taught me in the last two days. My base text was Revelation 3:12-22 (NIV) "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of...

Some thoughts thought along the mail route today: I reflect often on the inclination of Christians-praying, church attending, Bible reading Christians-to desire something more from their Christian life than, well, what I just described. There is, it seems to me, a very pervasive attitude that says, "yes, praying, church, Bible reading. All well and good, but I want something more. I want God to speak to me personally." I want to address, not the sole cause of this, but a particular cause that I believe to be both large and overlooked. Let's start with some Bible. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhor...