Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ
It is clear that the preacher who satisfies himself with stimulating the natural sensibilities of taste & social affection has really done nothing toward his proper task [of stirring religious affections]; while he runs an imminent risk of deluding men with the vain counterfeit of natural emotions about religion, in place of true religious emotion.
[…] The pastor’s character speaks more loudly than his tongue.
–R.L. Dabney – Evangelical Eloquence
Calvin’s Preaching by Thomas Henry Louis Parker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This cursory look at Calvin as a preacher is thorough, insightful, and offers sound assistance & encouragement to preachers especially, and believers in general. The historical context surrounding Calvin as preacher is very useful in understanding the man. Also, there are a few remarkable lessons learned; Calvin preached with either a Hebrew or Greek Bible and “translated on the fly” as he preached on his selected text; also, he was not afraid of preaching “politics” or of addressing sin.
Wonderful to see that his habit was to almost exclusively preach to “us” and “we” rather than “you guys”. He included himself in his exhortations. Further, whereas in his theological writings (i.e. Institutes) you see the sharp, orderly, and cogent logic, in his preaching he is free (as Lloyd-Jones often exhorted preachers). It is in this that we are reminded that thorough systematic theology and Gospel preaching ought to serve each other, but also ought to give way to the other depending on the task at hand (defending the faith vs. proclaiming the faith).
Calvin was a immensely gifted man, and though trained as a lawyer, Parker shows that in his preaching he often leaves the lawyer behind and clearly wears the mantle of the prophetic/apostolic. Parker strings together wonderful quotes, primarily from Calvin’s sermons, and demonstrates (as much as is possible) how Calvin prepared his sermons, his primary method, and his clear habits and patterns. A very helpful companion to Institutes, and I think would be a very useful read for folks who love Christian history, or to help shape one’s understanding and approach to preaching. I would heartily recommend this make it on to your reading list.
The only remedy for our national malady is white hot Gospel preaching. I want to direct this mainly at pastors. For several decades now we have treated the pulpit more as a talk show couch, than a holy desk where the oracles of God are declared unto man. I tweeted out this quote from T.H.L. Parker recently:
If the teaching is faithful to Scripture, then it is God who is speaking. #THLParker
— Ben Zornes (@benzornes) October 9, 2016
In standing before people to preach, you are standing there on behalf of Almighty God, and as far as your teaching is faithful, God deigns to make your words His. So, enough of this patsy-caking around; we’ve had enough of movie illustrations, personal anecdotes, poems, jokes, and video clips form popular sit-coms. Anymore, preachers have all the fervent mojo of a motivational speaker; we just pin a Bible verse or two to give the illusion of trying to preach.
Men, there are parents in your pews whose children are going to leave the faith and wreck their lives because of your milk-toast preaching. There is a young man in the back row who is on his way to commit suicide, and decided to give God one last chance. There is a man cheating on his wife, a couple who just miscarried once again after trying for years to conceive, a father and mother whose grown children have walked away from Christianity, and a teenager who is hanging out with the “wrong crowd”. Your task is to preach the Gospel and cling to the Holy Spirit to add His blessing to your feeble but faithful preaching to produce a harvest of faith and obedience in your people.
You have an impossible task, humanly speaking, so stop toying around with human inventions. Stop preaching about the Gospel and preach the Gospel. Stop preaching about the Word, and preach the Word. Stop giving your people anecdotes, and give them Christ.
The Federalist just released an article detailing the fact that massive percentages of modern evangelicals, when surveyed, hold to heretical doctrines (such as Christ was made and not begotten; and the inferiority of the Holy Ghost in the Trinity). This is on our watch, and largely because of our feckless preaching.
The call to preach is a call to speak God’s Word with boldness (i.e. plainness of speech) and apply it with gentleness and firmness to the plight of man. We’ve resorted to easier methods of communication, and left out the matters of greater import, in order to feel like we have been effective. Expositing the text of Scripture and relating the Biblical context to our modern context by a logically sound train of thought is hard work for both preacher and listener; not only so, but it must go beyond propositional logic well-articulated, and it must cut to the heart, confront sin, offer grace through Christ alone, rebuke worldliness and the love of the world, and command to obedience of God’s law.
Preaching is a miracle. It is God taking a man and speaking through him, and converting souls by the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Preach to your people the only message we have been given to preach: God is reconciling man unto Himself through Jesus Christ…repent and believe. That’s it. The whole scope of Scripture leads us there, and pertains to our relationship with God the Father through Jesus. God blesses faithful preaching. He judges with vehemence men-pleasing soothsayers.
Note: I had the privilege of preaching recently at Trinity Church in Coeur D’Alane (a lovely city here in Idaho). Here’s my sermon outline from it! The audio should be posted here soon.
This was a glorious and godly era of Israelite history. Indeed, David and Solomon’s 80 year reign was the high water mark for the Old Testament people of God. It would have seemed that if God were to bring the Messiah along, this would be a great time to do it. Instead, though the glory of these two monarchs was bright, God would wait until Israel was at its bleakest point, and then He sent the Morning Star. The lineage of David would eventually bring One who “was born a child, and yet a king†and whose glory was like the Sun at midday. This passage presents to us two good and godly kings. But all their regal splendor is but a shadow and a type of the divine splendor and glory of Jesus, the Son of David: the Mighty Warrior and the true Prince of Peace.
1 Chronicles 28:8-10
Now therefore in the sight of all Israel the congregation of the LORD, and in the audience of our God, keep and seek for all the commandments of the LORD your God: that ye may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you for ever. And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. Take heed now; for the LORD hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it.
David summons all Israel to a farewell speech (v. 1). David reveals his heart’s desire of building a permanent house for God (v. 2). He also tells how God forbade him to undertake this task (v. 3). The speech emphasizes that God chose David to be king, and then Solomon to be king after him (vs. 4-5). We see also that David passes the scepter on to Solomon (1 Chr. 29:22-23) along with the responsibility to build the temple (vs. 6-7). This is an act of both establishing Solomon’s right to the Kingdom, and preventing a civil war or dispute over the rightful heir to the throne.
David then gives a very poignant exhortation to the people as to how they ought to behave themselves after his passing and in the building of the temple (v. 8). He then gives a specific commission to his son Solomon, as to how he ought to behave himself in building the House of God (vs. 9-10). These commands, promises and warnings, though given to Old Testament saints, are just as pertinent and instructive for us New Testament believers.
David gives a command and a promise for God’s people to “keep and seek for all the commandments of the LORD your God (v. 8)â€. Keep [shamar שָ×מַר] – to guard the maturation process of a garden or a flock/herd, to observe the forward progression of growth; same word used in Gen. 2:15. Seek [darash דָּרַש×] – to rub, beat, tread, or trample out a path. This exhortation still rings true today: we’re still to keep and seek for all the commandments of God (1 Jn. 3:23). Further, the motivation here is the promise of possessing the good land and leaving an inheritance for our children.
In David’s final commission to his son (vs. 9-10), he exhorts him to know the God of his father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and willing mind. To know God is the great aim of the believer’s life; and yet we are often content to just know about God. When this is the case, we will most certainly serve Him with imperfect hearts and unwilling minds. We can acknowledge Him with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him (Isa. 29:13). Notice that both to the people (v. 8) and to Solomon (v. 9), David is emphatic that they seek God. He is deeply concerned that their faith be a living faith and not a heartless religion.
At the end of verse 9, there is a fascinating word-play: “If thou seek him, he (the one who searcheth all hearts) will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.â€
If you seek God, you’ll find that God was the One who first sought you. If you love Him, you find that it was He who loved you first (1 Jn. 4:19).
However, the warning is: if you forsake God (cut off his bands, law, covenant), you’ll find that it is God rejecting you. You can break God’s law, but God will not break His law; He will fulfill it. If you refuse to obey His law (i.e. repent & believe the Gospel) He will honor the terms of His law, and you will be forsaken, left no defense.
You seek God, you find that He was the one who sought you. You forsake God, and you find that He is the one that has forsaken you. His presence is life, His judgement is death. His face is full of light, life and blessing; but when He turns His back, darkness, death and the curse of eternal wrath. And all this is entirely just (Rom. 9:14). Lewis once memorably said, “There are only two sorts of people, those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done’ and those to whom God says, “Thy will be done.’†All get what they really want.
The Gospel teaches us that none of us have perfectly kept God’s law. We have all forsaken it, and the wages of this sin is death. Christ is the Better David, and the Better Solomon. God is pleased to let His Son’s merit stand in our stead, and that His righteousness shall be the believer’s defense, hope and peace.
He, as the better David, has conquered our enemies, and He, as the better Solomon has perfectly kept the command to build the house of God, He was strong and has done it (v. 10). He has established the house of God, He dwells in the house of God (1 Cor. 6:19), to do the will of God; and the will of God is that we would seek after the God who seeks after us.
David won peace for Israel, Solomon administered this peace for God’s people to enjoy. Christ’s death showed Him to be the Better David, and His resurrection showed Him to be the Better Solomon. David could not build the temple because he had shed blood, but Jesus could not build it until He shed His blood. By rising again Christ showed Himself the Better Solomon whom God had chosen to eternally rule over the house of God with peace. Christ alone can build the house of God, and by His Spirit within us He enables us to be strong and do it as well. Think on this, and let this assure your heart, Christ is the only one who can conquer your sin. Christ is the only one whose reign and rule brings peace.
The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Volume 1: The Biblical Period by Hughes Oliphant Old
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
H.O. Old’s work is very good; you can see the weathered features of many painstaking, tedious, and diligent hours of study, thought, and prayer. This is no slip-shod work. Full of very rich and well documented historical insights, all presented in a manner that is very accessible to most readers.
The wisdom & insight here is very helpful. The main thrust is to show that preaching is worship, and has been a part of the worship of God’s people from the beginning. It is not isolated to the 1950s, but rather is a long-honored tradition, worthy of continuation until the end of time. And preaching has always been solidly founded upon God’s Word.
Spirit Empowered Preaching: Involve the Holy Spirit in Your Ministry by Arturo G. Azurdia III
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Azurdia’s “Spirit Empowered Preaching” is a profoundly helpful book for those called to preach the Word to God’s people. It is refreshing that this is a contemporary work with much wisdom, as well as rebukes for much of our modern evangelical folly. We cannot expect God to work mightily if we are not faithful to obey His command to “preach Christ”. This is foolishness to the world.
Further, while many want to replace preaching in the church with motivational speeches, dialogues, debates, rock ‘n roll worship experiences, Azurdia reminds the church of our generation that nothing can replace preaching the Gospel in the power of the Spirit.
One of the final chapters I found most edifying was the chapter which exhorted congregations to “do their 
part” in preaching; that is, be attentive, eager, discerning listeners. It is no wonder that we get so little out of preaching, precisely because we come predisposed to dislike, critique, and even disdain the message preached.
Azurdia presented some real solid portions here, worthy of consideration and implementation. However, there seemed to be a lack of original material here, and while the quotes he provided were wonderful, it seemed to me that the arguments made relied a bit too heavily on external material rather than original reasoning.
Overall, really good. Worth reading by both pastors and parishioners!
More Book Reviews
A Serrated Edge by Doug Wilson
Between Two Worlds by John Stott
The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien
The Poetic Wonder of Isaac Watts
Other Somewhat Related Stuff I’ve Written
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The Consequences of Repentance
I’m currently working through Lloyd-Jones’ book “Preaching and Preachersâ€. Thus far am really grateful for the insightful wisdom he gives to the topic. Here is a gleaning of some of my favorite quotes thus far:
—He has been sent, he is a commissioned person. In other words he is not there merely to talk to them, he is not there to entertain them. He is there—and I want to emphasis this—to do something to those people; he is there to produce results of various kinds; he is there to influence people. He is not merely to influence a part of them; he is not only to influence their minds, or only their emotions, or merely to bring pressure to bear on their wills and to induce them to some kind of activity. He is there to deal with the whole person; and his preaching is meant to affect the whole person at the very centre of life. Preaching should make such a difference to a man who is listening that he is never the same again. Preaching, in other words, is a transaction between the preacher and the listener. It does something for the soul of man, for the whole of the person, the entire man; it deals with him in a vital and radical manner [Read more…] about Gleanings from Lloyd-Jones
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