·
Teaching and preaching are of absolute
importance for Christians (1 Cor. 4:1-4).
Scripture is to be at the center of the pulpit ministry the one
appointed by God is to be faithful in dispensing God’s truth to God’s
people. John R. W. Stott in The
Preacher’s Portrait referred to the idea of stewardship in this
quote:
A steward: he is a trustee and
dispenser of another person’s goods. The
Christian preacher’s message, therefore, is derived not directly from the mouth
of God, as if he were a prophet or apostle, nor from his own mind, like the
false prophets, nor undigested from the minds and mouths of other men, like the
babbler, but from the once revealed and now recorded Word of God, of which he
is a privileged steward.
·
Stott draws some lessons from this stewardship
idea.
o The
preacher’s incentive comes from this sacred trust. As with Paul the preacher says “woe is me if
I do not preach the gospel” and “I am under obligation to preach the gospel.”
o The
preacher’s content requires he be faithful to deliver the goods. Every sermon should be, in some sense, an
expository sermon. The preacher is a
bridge-builder, seeking to span the gulf between the Word of God and the mind
of man.
o The
preacher’s authority is based in the stewardship. He does not say Thus saith the LORD as
the prophets or Verily, verily I say unto you as our Lord said. Rather his authority is, The Bible says.
·
In terms of listening to the Word of God that is
being preached there are some problems that must be noted and avoided.
o Matt.
13:14: It is possible to listen without truly hearing. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is necessary
to proper listening.
o Ezek.
33:30-32: There is the problem of what a nice sermon. Preachers love to hear this; people like to
say this. But it means nothing in terms
of truly hearing what God has said in His word.
In fact, as many have pointed out, a nice sermon is quite often
not what God wants delivered. He wants
truth and truth always must confront before it builds up.
o Jer.
13:10-11,17: There is the problem of rebellion, people that refuse to
listen to the preaching of the Word. It
may be incited by different reasons but the hard heart shuts out the Word of
God.
o Amos
8:11: There is the problem of the famine of the word of God. That goes more to the preacher, of course,
who might so dress up the sermon so as to obfuscate the Word. I have seen it happen with too many stories
or humor, and with a cursory reading of a Bible passage and then a sermon that
seems to have no connection at all with what was read.
o 2
Tim. 4:3-4: Lastly, we will note the problem of selective listening. People want their ears tickled or their back
scratched or whatever. The result is
that they move from their favorite preacher to another favorite and so forth,
willing to hear only what they want to hear.
That’s enough to think on today. Let us first address the problems and repent of our bad attitudes and bad habits.
No comments:
Post a Comment