Have you ever sat through a sermon on a Sunday, thinking that the preacher was doing well, only to walk away not remembering the point of the sermon? I have experienced a sermon or two after which I remembered the opening joke or a touching illustration but did not remember anything about the Biblical text for the message.

In contrast, I have also experienced “meat and potatoes” preaching that was not flashy or great oratory but helped me learn Scripture and apply it to my life.

I have often wondered what made the difference between memorable and forgettable preaching. Perhaps I was given a clue about answering this question when I read this:

“The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.” (John 7:18, ESV)

Is it safe to say that anyone who fills the pulpit on a Sunday must first wrestle with his motivation for being in the pulpit? The same would be true of anyone who has any teaching ministry in the church.

Honesty requires me to admit that I have never done anything from entirely pure motives. Pride sneaks in to steal some of the glory. I assume that this is true of others also.

The question for those of us who presume to teach (or write blog posts) in the church is “Why am I doing this?” Or as Jesus puts it, “Whose glory are you seeking?

Am I writing or speaking to glorify God and encourage people into deeper relationship with him or am I trying to display my knowledge and look brilliant?

In the end, the closer I can get to seeking only God’s glory in what I do, the more worthwhile is the doing of it.

There are so many problems in our culture that it is easy to become overwhelmed just by listening to the news. Certainly, to get improved ratings the news curators pick stories based on their shock value, so things are likely not as bad as what the media outlets portray. But still, our own experience validates the fact that there is much brokenness in our world.

As I listened to a reading from Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John this morning, I tried to put myself in the shoes (sandals?) of the disciples as Jesus challenged them to provide food for the crowd which numbered 5,000 men plus women and children.

There were no food trucks queuing up to park around the meeting place. They could not call a food delivery service for 10,000 sandwich boxes. The disciples had no idea how to provide food for the crowd.

The only resources available were five loaves of bread and two fish.

Andrew, who discovered this resource then asked the crucial question, “. . . but what are they for so many?”

If I am honest, I have to ask the same question when faced with the issues of my daily life. I don’t have the resources to improve, let alone fix, the problems I see around me. I have limited time, limited talent, limited knowledge, and limited financial resources. I look at the resources I have and have to ask God, “What are they for so many?”

The lesson I should learn from John 6 is that I don’t need to feel pressured to fix everything. It is not my responsibility to fix much of anything. I’m called to be obedient to do the next thing.

If I am sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and if I am obedient to that leading, God will make it enough.

In a sermon not long ago, I heard a definition of Biblical joy that I would like to share with you:

”Biblical joy is the conviction that God sovereignly controls the events of life for his glory and our good.”

I think of the words in James, “consider it all joy when you encounter various trials.” From this verse it seems as though joy is something that is not an unbidden emotion such as anger or jealousy. Joy seems to be something that needs to be learned through a changing of mindset.

J Gresham Machen published a book in the 1920s describing the challenge facing the church of his day. I’m finding that some of what he predicted as the result of cultural trends in his time is impressively applicable 100 years after his writing.

For example, consider this paragraph:

The whole development of modern society has tended mightily toward the limitation of the realm of freedom for the individual man. The tendency is most clearly seen in socialism; a socialistic state would mean the reduction to a minimum of the sphere of individual choice. Labor and recreation, under a socialistic government, would both be prescribed, and individual liberty would be gone. But the same tendency exhibits itself today even in those communities where the name of socialism is most abhorred. When once the majority has determined that a certain regime is beneficial, that regime without further hesitation is forced ruthlessly upon the individual man. It never seems to occur to modern legislatures that although “welfare” is good, forced welfare may be bad. In other words, utilitarianism is being carried out to its logical conclusions; in the interests of physical well-being the great principles of liberty are being thrown ruthlessly to the winds.

-J Gresham Machen – Christianity and Liberalism

These are chilling words, especially since we do not seem to have learned any lessons from the 20th Century as we move into the 21st. In my own country, I am noticing an alarming trend where some people in power attempt to silence those who disagree with their narrative of how society should be arranged.

We need to look no further back than the Covid-19 crisis to find evidence of this tendency. During the crisis, there was no room for debate, and in many locations, there was no freedom to operate outside of the stipulations of the elites who held the power.

Liberty was sacrificed by using fear to manipulate the people into compliance. What freedoms will be taken away during the next crisis? The freedom to proclaim our belief in Jesus? The freedom to assemble to worship?

Even so, I am encouraged that Jesus promised to build his church and the gates of Hell will not prevail over it.

Jesus cannot be stopped, no matter who attempts to do so.