Preaching Christ

(This originally appeared in the July edition of the Grapevine. The Grapevine is the monthly magazine of Hardwick Baptist Church, Stockton-on-Tees)

“Sir, we would see Jesus”

This is what the Greeks say to Philip in John 12. I’m not sure where the tradition originated but it’s also what’s written on plaques in many pulpits around the UK.

Every time a preacher enters the pulpit he is reminded of his responsibility, to preach Christ.

Now that might sound obvious to us. Of course a preacher needs to preach Christ to the congregation. Isn’t it simple? Doesn’t it happen everywhere?

The short answer is, no.  

Let’s deal with the preachers first.

If the preacher is to show the congregation Christ, he needs to work hard on the text. Why? Because, whatever passage he is preaching, he needs to take the people to Christ. The Bible is ultimately all about Him.

In some books it is easy to preach Christ, the New Testament all falls into this category. Some chapters of books make this easy too, think about Isaiah 53 or Psalms that are quoted in relation to Jesus in the New Testament, or think about The Passover. But, in others it’s not, and you’ll know which bits I mean.

That’s when it is all too easy for the preacher to preach a nice moral lesson, which is true and Biblical, but misses out Jesus.

That’s when the words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon are so stinging, “No Christ in your sermon sir? Then go home and never preach again until you have something worth preaching!”

On the flipside, the danger is that in trying to make sure his sermon is not just a nice moral lesson, the preacher tags Christ on the end of the sermon or shoe horns Him in, or allegorizes a passage to say something that it doesn’t.

(NB - Allegorizing means taking every detail and spiritualizing it. For example saying Noah’s Ark was made of wood and the cross of Jesus was made of wood and getting to Jesus that way)

Preaching Christ is the aim, and it will be hard work at times, but it is will also be worth it.

Every sermon should leave the congregation saying that they have seen Jesus, because, as the Jesus Storybook Bible says, “Every story whispers His name.”

What about the challenge to the congregation?

The Bible is full of warnings about false teachers who will tell people what their itching ears want to hear (2 Tim 4:3). They will use fine sounding arguments (Col 2:4). They’ll even look like nice people (Matt 7:15).

What they preach though isn’t the gospel of Christ but something much more palatable, easier to follow, less challenging.

I think it is all too easy listen to, and accept preaching, that is not all about Christ without realizing it. Lots of sermons contain good morals but fail to set forth Christ.

Without Christ in the sermon, anyone could be preaching it. Christ is what makes a sermon Christian.

The number of quotes I see on twitter and facebook from famous preachers, that Christians tag and like and share, which have no gospel content but are merely positive thinking or motivational quips is quite shocking.

We need to ask ourselves, do we lack discernment? Would we know a bad sermon in terms of theology if we heard one? Would we balk at the idea of a sermon that gave us some good morals to live by but didn’t present Christ?

If someone consistently speaks of God or Christian-sounding things like joy and patience and even forgiveness without speaking of Jesus, then we should be wary at the very least.

And when someone does speak of Jesus, are they speaking about Him on His own terms or in ways that they want to give people false hope and false ideas?

Let’s constantly be praying for Jesus to be preached.

Let’s have discerning minds that check what we hear from the pulpit, read in books, watch on Christian TV channel, or listen to on the internet.

Let’s have open Bibles and ask the Spirit to make us people who not only delight to hear Christ being preached, but also know when He isn’t.

Preaching

(This was originally published as an article in our church magazine "The Grapevine")

Don’t be put off by the title, this article is not just relevant to those who enter the pulpit, it’s a challenge to every Christian.

I read a blog post a few years ago by a pastor called Thabiti Anyabwile that included the quote below. His post was mainly a challenge to preachers, but I thought it would be worth expanding a little.

Throughout church history there have been many challenges from outside and from within. That is no different today.

There are lots of old confessions of faith, creeds, and doctrinal statements designed to define and defend the true Biblical doctrine. One such series of statements is the Second Helvetic Confession and it states the following:

“THE PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD IS THE WORD OF GOD. Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is proclaimed, and received by the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be invented nor is to be expected from heaven: and that now the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches; for even if he be evil and a sinner, nevertheless the Word of God remains still true and good.”

Let me explain what I think this means for two groups of people:

1. Preachers, do we really believe this as we prepare and stand up to speak?

2. Christians, do we really expect this when we go to church on a Sunday?

Let’s deal with preachers first.

If preachers really believed this, that in preaching they are transmitting the word of God, they would do one of two things. They would either give up preaching because they would know they were not gifted to take on such a weighty task. Or, they would constantly seek to improve their ability by listening to others preach and reading books about preaching, because they want to honour God’s word as highly as possible.

I say this to myself as much as to anyone else; a preacher should feel the awesome responsibility as he prepares his sermon. He should feel that weight as he steps into the pulpit to speak to God’s people gathered in front of him.

The task of preaching is not to be taken lightly. The task of preaching is a wonderful privilege. It is through the preaching of the word of God that God changes lives by the Holy Spirit.

The temptation for the preacher is to just get a sermon prepared. Once he has his preparation method or routine, it is very easy to go through the motions to produce a sermon.

But, if the preaching of the word of God, is the word of God, then it needs to have gripped the heart of the preacher first, not just be the product of his study and writing ability.

What about the average Christian in the congregation?

As well as the great responsibility that the preacher has, each Christian must ask themselves if they believe this statement to be true.

If they do, then they will prepare their own hearts to hear the word of God preached whenever that opportunity arises, because they know that they are about to hear a life-changing message.

That might mean they pray for God to enable them to be sensitive to what is the Spirit will lay upon their heart. It might mean asking God to help them be ready to change, even if that change is going to difficult. It might mean repenting of sin. It might be approaching a brother or sister and asking for forgiveness.

The Christian who believes that they are hearing the very word of God when a preacher begins his message must be expectant that God will speak to them right there and then. They will expect to be encouraged, challenged, taught, rebuked, corrected, cut to the heart and changed in the most profound ways.

But they will also expect that this will not be done in isolation, God will speak to all who are present and therefore, there will be others to pray with, share with, delight with, cry with, repent with and speak with as the Spirit takes the word and applies it.

The temptation for the average church member is to go through the motions, or to be focused on the tasks they have to do or the people they feel they need to speak to that morning. Or maybe just think that church is activity, something to be done like the shopping or watching a tv series.

A Christian should never view church as mundane or comfortable because the word of God will be spoken there, and it is anything but those things.

And just in case there was any doubt let me close by saying this; this is why preaching of the word of God must be central in churches, because it communicates the very word of God.

What are the priorities for a pastor? (Part 2)

This is Part 2, see yesterday's post for Part 1.

Being an Example

This is not so much a timing priority as something that flows out of a life lived as a leader. A pastor is clearly called to be an example to those in his congregation. This covers a wide range of things I believe. Prayer, mentioned above, is one area because if the pastor isn’t praying, his people won’t be either! In 1 Tim 4:12 Paul makes it clear that Timothy is to be an example in life and purity and godliness, and although this seems to be tied to the fact that he is young and people may look down on him or refuse to listen to him, it is backed up by what Peter says in his first letter (1 Pet 5:3) that elders are to be examples in service but also in life in general. They are not to use their position for themselves but for the good of the flock until the Chief Shepherd returns. Something the elders and pastors must do is linked with the way Jesus looks after the church. Humble service I think is the key (Php 2:5-11).

Not only that but I wonder if the more generic, broad brush stroke categories, (Jesus, Family, Church) that I mentioned at the beginning, fall into this as well. The qualification for an elder includes a lot of character traits. It also includes looking after your own family well as a sign of being able to then look after the family of God.

So I wonder if loving Jesus and loving your family well is a priority for a pastor because the pastor is to lead by example. If the pastor wants his congregation to value Jesus most highly he needs to be doing that himself. Here’s a quote from David Mathis:

“If the chief theme of our lives is not worshiping Jesus, enjoying God in him, and being freshly astounded by his grace toward us sinners, we have no good business endeavoring to bring others into an experience that we ourselves aren’t enjoying.”

Basically he is saying pastors and leaders can’t be hypocrites. They need to be leading by example.

Secondly, if a pastor wants husband and fathers to look after their wives and children and not be workaholics, then he needs to do the same.

These are just two areas in which a pastor must show the congregation how life should be, all the while, being humble enough to admit his faults.

The way a pastor can be an example in a practical way is to make sure his house is a welcoming place, as he trains people making sure they see not just his skills but how he lives life (see below), doing general day to day things in view of the church and the world, sharing joys and sorrows, successes and failures in his Christian walk.

Also under the banner of being an example I want to include Paul’s command to Timothy to “train yourself in godliness”. I think this involves Timothy keeping his mind and heart on the Lord, but I also wonder if it involves input for him. In our modern context this may involve a pastor reading books, getting some training or meeting with other pastors to discuss and encourage one another.

Training Leaders (current and new)

When Paul writes to Timothy the second time there is another big area of being a pastor that Timothy must undertake and in the current UK climate this is a huge issue which actually probably needs to feature as a higher priority now than maybe it would normally. 2 Tim 2:2 tells us that Timothy was to pass on the message and entrust the gospel to faithful leaders. There is a call to train up future leaders. Not only that but if we include Acts 6 and 13, there is an obvious need before this to identify those leaders and this may be the harder of the two parts. If Timothy is to entrust the gospel to these leaders then he is going to need to know them well which means spending time with them. He is also going to need to pray for them and train them in what it looks like to teach and to lead. Part of this may look like 1 Thess 2 where Paul speaks of not only sharing the gospel but the whole of life with the Thessalonians.

Not only do new leaders need identifying and training, but current leaders need to be developed, encouraged and challenged to keep going. They need to be trained to help the pastor with some of the things mentioned in the next section below, and that in turn will free him up to prepare well for preaching and teaching in the main church gathering.

Counselling, visiting etc

Some of the above is only possible if the pastor knows his flock well. Visiting members of the congregation is important, but is also part of a wider list of things found in scripture. Sick people are to visited (James 5:14), grieving people will need support, sin will need to be confronted and church discipline carried out (Matt 18 and 1 Cor 5), those who are faint-hearted need to be encouraged, those who are idle need challenging (1 Thess 5). Not that all of this is to be done exclusively by the pastor, but there will most likely be situations only he is aware of, or some where his gifts and wisdom are needed.

These five major areas cover almost everything that the Bible teaches as priorities for pastors. The specifics of each area are not explicit in Scripture, for example: we are not told how many hours a sermon takes to prepare or how long a pastor should be preaching for. As well as that we aren’t told how many visits to members of the congregation a pastor needs to make or how many hours he needs to diary in for prayer.

But having said that, given the weight of Scripture in these areas and the priorities for a church and what Christians need in general, what might an average week look like?

Average Week

I would think a pastor who is preaching two sermons on a Sunday needs to spend around 8 hours per sermon preparing. So that’s 16 hours in total. That is almost half of an average working week but it is the key to teaching and training the flock.

Beyond that the pastor needs to devote time to investing in some key individuals. Those who already have some leadership responsibility and those who are potential new leaders and need nurturing. This too will take time to prepare and also to carry out. It may be that this is done in little groups teaching general leadership principles or it may be that it is done on a one to one basis. So, let’s say around 8 hours on this, including the preparation time.

If the pastor then seeks to visit a couple of families/individuals from church each week to pray with them, look at a short section of scripture and catch up this could be 2 hours each, so another 4 in total. Although these are the things that can quite easily be a lot longer.

Even if the pastor is not the administrator and a lot of that is dealt with by someone in the congregation there will inevitably be e-mails and other bits and pieces that will take some time, so if half an hour each morning (Mon-Fri) was given to those that’s another 2.5 hours.

The pastor will also need plan ahead in terms of preaching series and direction for the church, plus meeting with the elders and leaders fairly regularly. These will take time to prepare and do, maybe up to 4 hours per week.

On top of these, if the pastor is to remain on his toes and theologically sharp he may well need to be receiving some training, encouragement from other pastors or devote some time to reading and studying. You could add another 4 hours a week for this.

Up to this point that is 38.5 hours of diary time! That’s without including the delivery of the sermons on a Sunday and any subsequent issues that make an appearance on the Sunday.

If prayer is to be a part of the pastor’s job then this needs time in the diary too. But I am not sure setting aside time in the diary is needed or if this just needs to be something he does constantly and is the outflow of a heart captured by the Lord. Plus all of the above mentioned things need to be fuelled by prayer.

Pastoral situations will always arise as the effects of living in a broken world and the work of the Spirit through the word come into play so some flexibility in the week is helpful.

Rather than being very specific with hours, maybe the best way to simplify this even further is to say that half of the pastor’s time each week should be take up with preparing, praying over and preaching sermons.

After that another quarter would be ideally spent training leaders, in whatever forms that might be (one to ones, small groups, training seminars etc).

The other quarter will be counseling, pastoral care, visits, admin and generally living out his life as an example intentionally.

I wonder if a church advert for a pastor could be as simple as this:

ABC Church is looking for a man who can lead their flock while we await the return of the Lord Jesus.

He will need to:

·      Love the Lord

·      Be passionate about the gospel

·      Be able to teach the word of God faithful and with joy

·      Persevere in prayer

·      Love the church family

·      Love the lost

In our church this will most likely look like:

·      Preaching twice on a Sunday (for the vast majority of the year)

·      Training current and new leaders

·      Visiting church members

·      Seeking to lead the church in reaching out to the local community

Everything else can be discussed and tailored to your individual gifts and abilities.

My very brief conclusion is that there is a much tighter remit and specification for a pastor than many currently imagine. Some of the extras people add in may be particular gifts that a pastor has and can be utilized, but not all men will have them.

My job description above may be too simplistic, but I would like to think it is closer to a Biblical pattern and slightly more realistic!

What are the priorities for a pastor? (Part 1)

(N.B. This is the original version, I have since thought a little more about the section on prayer and what this might look like in practice. Also I have not included the Appendices, sorry!)

In the church today it seems a pastor is required to be a preacher, a trainer, an evangelist, a youth worker, an administrator, a life coach, an entrepreneur and a businessman; have an open office door, be financially savvy, visit the flock and numerous other things. There seems to be enough to fill the week 4 times over at least. Not only that, but it is highly unlikely that many, or any people, are gifted in all of these ways!

What I have in mind as I write this essay is the average UK church with one full-time paid minister. When there are more staff members I envisage that extra jobs, that were not possible with just the pastor, would be taken up and other jobs would be expanded. But, I also think that the lead pastor in a larger team should be much like the lone pastor in priorities.

So, what are the biblical priorities for a lone pastor with a team of elders around him?

The most common answers I found as I searched the internet for blog posts and articles, as well as canvassing friends on twitter, were mainly along the lines of preaching, prayer, guarding the truth, vision, shepherding the flock, loving people, and administering the sacraments. The answers were very similar, although what each one meant to the people who responded would probably vary, maybe even quite significantly. But, I also had more generic categories such as: Jesus, their family and the church.

The job description in Appendix A is very broad, it includes strategic thinking, preaching, developing leaders, leading the elders, keeping the church on mission, carrying out church discipline, to name but a few.

So where do these ideas come from, just what people see happening, or what they see and think should be happening instead, or from the Bible, or a bit of each of those?

I want to look at some of the key passages in scripture which speak of pastors and their role and as we do that draw in other verses to back them up.

Hopefully as this happens we will be able to build a good picture of what the average pastor should be doing.

Then, after that is established, I will aim to break that down into an average week looking at how many hours each area of the role should take. Again this will vary and isn’t meant to be perfect, but just an overall guideline.

Preaching/Teaching

One of the things those gifted in the church are gifted for is “to equip His people for works of service…” (Eph 4:12a). A pastors role must at least partly be to bring this about. With that in mind, here we go.

In Scripture it is undeniable that preaching and teaching the word of God is one of the primary duties of a pastor (Acts 6:2, 1 Tim 4:13, 2 Tim 1:13-14, 2:2, 4:2). The preaching of the gospel and the application of it to the lives of those listening will not just involve boldly declaring good news, but also teaching in a way which means people can refute false teaching and avoid it like the plague. So, the idea of guarding the truth also comes into this, faithfully standing firm upon, and passing on, the authentic gospel. In Paul’s first letter to Timothy he makes it very clear that Timothy is to warn people about what is false, expose the lies, and show how destructive it can be to follow them (1 Tim 4:1-6).

The context of 1 Timothy is especially key as Timothy was sent by Paul, the founder of the Ephesian church, to carry out the job of pastoring the church and appointing elders in his absence. The whole letter contains priorities for Timothy, some of which are specific to Ephesus, but also many which are for general application.

Titus is also exhorted by Paul to teach, and in chapter 2:1-5 specific groups of people are mentioned. This must mean applying scripture specifically as it is preached, but it also must include personal conversations or visits, which we will come onto later.

Not only are these very personal letters of the apostle Paul to young pastors extremely clear on of the importance of preaching but, if we look at Acts 6:2-4, it seems preaching is one of the highest priorities for the Twelve too. As the needs of people increase, and the church seeks to reach out, others are appointed to oversee those tasks so that the Twelve can focus on preaching and prayer.

Another way the priority of preaching is seen is purely in the lives of Paul, Peter and the other pioneers. They always preached the gospel. Paul preached Christ and Him crucified. Throughout the book of Acts leaders of the mission trips or fledgling churches spoke the truth, preached it far and wide.

I think particularly in small churches the preaching done in main gathering(s) of the congregation has to be the major priority as it could be the only, but will most certainly be the main, source of input into the lives of the church members at large. As church grows there may be home groups and other smaller gatherings, which the pastor leads, but the central gathering must be his priority. In larger churches this still needs to be the priority, but there will be less pressure for the pastor to be leading home groups and other areas of ministry if other leaders have been trained to do so. His focus beyond preaching will be in training them and encouraging them and identifying new leaders (see below).

Prayer

As we have already looked at Acts 6:2-4 we need to add prayer to our list of pastoral priorities. The Twelve are very clear that they need to be devoted to the word of God and prayer. It seems strange that something all Christians are exhorted to do (Eph 6:18-20, 1 Thess 5:17) could be something that a pastor is specifically to do as part of his paid working time. But, I think it must be the case. Pastors are to look after their flock (1 Peter 5:2) along with the elders, and upholding them before the Lord in prayer is one of the best ways to do that. To be devoted to prayer shows humility and reliance upon the grace of God in life, and the Spirit of God to reveal the truth of the word in preaching. I don’t think it means that the pastor needs to be locked away in his study for hours on end just praying on his own. I think the devotion to prayer spoken of in Acts 6 would include praying with other leaders, praying before and during sermon prep praying as he meets with church members and so on. Jesus prays regularly throughout the gospels, the Apostles pray at various times in the book of Acts, and within Paul’s letters there are numerous prayers recorded. Prayer must be a priority.

(Part 2 to come.....)

From Donny with Love

It's been a while since I posted a prayer update for our family. We had intended to write one much earlier, but in the end it was Christmas Eve when I finally completed it. The title of the post is the working title for the new prayer letter, any suggestions are welcome!

The first few months in Doncaster have been busy (not for all the reasons we initially expected) but really good, as you will see if you read the linked document below.
We have been blessed to get to know some wonderful people already and we feel well loved. We hope that as we continue to build relationships that God will continue to use them as a means of grace to us and also from us.

Thank you for continuing to partner with us, we hope you find this latest update helpful and encouraging.

Prayer Update Dec 2012

Preaching - what is it?

Here's a very challenging quote that I recently read on the Pure Church blog by Thabiti Anyabwile. His post is much fuller than mine and has some links to some lectures, check it out here.

For now, just read the quote and mull over the weightiness of it.

The Second Helvetic Confession states:

THE PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD IS THE WORD OF GOD. Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is proclaimed, and received by the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be invented nor is to be expected from heaven: and that now the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches; for even if he be evil and a sinner, nevertheless the Word of God remains still true and good.

Preachers, do we really believe this as we prepare and stand up to speak?

Christians, do we really expect this when we go to church on a Sunday?

The LORD is Peace - Judges 6

The church I am a member of is currently working its way through the names of God on a Sunday evening. At the end of last month I had the privilege of looking at "Jehovah Shalom" - The LORD is peace, as revealed in Judges chapter 6 when the Angel of the LORD meets Gideon.

I thought I might post my thoughts on the passage with this theme of "Jehovah Shalom" in mind.
Generally I find thematic sermons harder to passage than straight exegesis of a passage.

First, the people of Israel are in the land of promise and at the end of chapter 5 we are told there has been 40 years of peace; no war, plenty of rest, and prosperity/well-being.
But, as chapter 6 begins, it all goes pear-shaped again. As we so often read in the book of Judges, "the people did evil in the eyes of the LORD". In chapter 6 the LORD gives them over to Midianites and Amalekites to be raided and pillaged for 7 years. The people of Israel are experiencing covenant curses (no time to go into this).

The people then cry out to the LORD to come to their rescue. They are utterly helpless. As we read what follows we are surprised. The LORD doesn't just reach out His hand and save them, He sends a prophet who reminds them of what the LORD has done for them and then declares that they have not listened. If the passages stops there the people are in deep trouble. They merely want the LORD for a rescue, a return of their prosperity and protection. They do not want the LORD for who He is, just His blessings.

Fortunately the story doesn't end there, and this was the second things I looked at. The Angel of the LORD appears to Gideon who is threshing his wheat in a winepress to he can hide from the raiding parties and have some food.
The dialogue between the Angel and Gideon is fascinating. The identity of the Angel becomes clear, and it is wonderful. He declares that He will be with Gideon. In verses 14 and 16 He is clearly identified as the LORD, not just speaking on His behalf. So, who is this Angel? He is the Eternal Son of God, the second member of the One Triune God, the pre-incarnate Christ. Gideon meets Jesus.

Gideon comes to realise this very fact as he returns with a sacrifice which the Angel burns us with the tip of His staff and then disappears. Gideon's reaction to this speaks volumes. He is terrified. He thinks he is going to die, because he has seen the Angel of the LORD face to face. He equates the Angel of the LORD with the LORD Himself. I think it is fair to say that Gideon believe in a Triune God.
Gideon need to know the peace that the Angel then declares to Him. He need to know the he is safe, secure, not in danger of death. He needs to know shalom.

My final point was, how does this apply to us. How does we know "Jehovah Shalom"?
Quite simply, we know Jesus. We know peace with God because of Him. Here's a list of verses I read out to show peace linked with Jesus (there are many more); Luke 2:14, Colossians 1:20, Ephesians 2:14-18, John 14:27, Romans 5:1, 2 Thessalonians 3:16. Not to mention Isaiah 9 where the Messiah is called the Prince of Peace.
Interestingly enough, one writer says this about the word shalom, that its core meaning is: "reconciliation brought about by payment of a debt, the giving of satisfaction."
That's exactly what Jesus does. Gideon needed to know it because he was a member of rebellious Israel who had turned to worshipping idols, we need to know it because we too worship idols instead of the Triune God of the universe. Jesus dies for us, making peace, defeating sin and death. In Him, and in Him alone, we are made right in the sight of the Father, Jesus' righteousness being credited to us, meaning we can be in relationship and at peace with God.
The Angel who meets Gideon is the One and same Lord Jesus Christ who dies on the cross.

Knowing the peace that Jesus is, brings and gives to us frees us to live lives that are truly fulfilled and satisfied. We are freed from legalism because we do not, and can not, earn this peace.

There is much more to say, but this post is fairly substantial already. Here is the manuscript I preached from. Check it out if you want to see more of the application and content.

(As always, any feedback, comments or questions are welcomed.)