Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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Preaching with impact

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Reading and article by J. S. Park subtitled, “The Difference Between a Speech And a Sermon,” got me thinking of my own experience in hearing sermons.

The “A” List

Sword
Sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12)

I have had the privilege of sitting under the preaching of some of the men who would be on many people’s “Who’s Who” list of preachers. They are on the “A” list because they are knowledgeable, talented and have the gift of oratory. They know their Bibles and can tell stories which illustrate the meaning that they want to draw out of the Biblical text. They are good at their craft. They are like high-end chefs who prepare gourmet spiritual meals. These sermons are beautiful, presented well and tasty.

One the other hand, the preachers who have had the most impact upon my spiritual growth are not on this list. These preachers were not flashy, they were not always funny, but they always got to the core of the passage and brought it to me in a way that God could use to break through my nonsense and bring real change. As compared to the “A” list preachers, these presented meat and potatoes. Their sermons were not flashy, not elegant, but very nourishing.

The point of this is not to denigrate the “A” list preachers. They are great at what they do and by their popularity it appears that they help a lot of people. I enjoy listening to sermons presented by these men.

The Point

My point is that preaching does not have to be flashy, humorous, witty, or spellbinding to be effective. Switching back to the food analogy, we do not need gourmet food all the time. Basic home cooking serves better in the long run. We need preachers who will faithfully, week after week, bring the word of God to their people. For, it is the Word of God and the Word of God alone that will cause spiritual growth in the hearers (Hebrews 4:12).

Not every man who is called to preach will have the talent and personality to be an “A” list preacher. It is often the case that the preacher with less talent but a greater love of God will produce more lasting fruit.

The Standard

Preachers, do not feel that you are in competition with the “A” listers. Tune your ear to God’s word and bring it to your people. God will take care of the rest. Your job is to be faithful.

People, do not judge your pastor by comparing him to the preacher on your iPod or on the radio. Judge your pastor on whether he proclaims the truth of Scripture and leads you in fulfilling the two great commands to love God and love your neighbor.

Feel free to leave a comment with a shout-out to a preacher who has had a positive impact on your life.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on True Christians and the Sermon on the Mount

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Martyn Lloyd-JonesIn the introduction to Martyn Lloyd-Jones‘ Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, he writes this:

I suggest to you that [the Sermon on the Mount] is the best means of evangelism. Surely we all ought to be urgently concerned about this at the present time. The world today is looking for, and desperately needs, true Christians. I am never tired of saying that what the Church needs to do is not to organize evangelistic campaigns to attract outside people, but to begin herself to live the Christian life. If she did that, men and women would be crowding into our buildings. They would say, ‘What is the secret of this?’

He goes on to compare Christianity with communism (a serious threat in the 1950’s) and how Christianity, when lived out, provides in reality what communism promises but fails to provide.

While communism may not be the largest challenge to the church today, the need for living out the Christian life is still more urgent. We have the answer to what ails society but our failure to display it in our lives prevents the answer from being accepted.

Mr. Lloyd-Jones calls us to face up to our failures in this regard, repent and begin really living the life of faith.

The blessing of being poor (in spirit) – Matthew 5:3

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Matthew 5:3 reads:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (NASB)

One must assume that Jesus knew what he was doing when he put this Beatitude first in the list. Blessed are the poor in Spirit. Luke’s record shortens this saying to simply, “blessed are you who are poor” dropping the qualifier “in spirit.”

Most of us spend a majority of our time and energy in an effort to avoid being poor, so this blessing seems to be at odds with our understanding of what life is about. Is Jesus talking about material poverty? Or does the qualifier in Matthew force us to limit our application of this blessing to the spiritual realm only?

The third possibility is that material poverty and spiritual poverty are connected in some way.

Poor

The word that is translated “poor” conveys the root meaning of “crouch” or “cringe” and carries the sense of absolute destitution. This is the word used to describe Lazarus in Luke 16:20. To be poor in this sense is to be without resources.

In Matthew 19:23 and Luke 18:24 Jesus indicated that it is particularly difficult for those who are rich to enter the Kingdom of God. Why is this? Certainly it is not because the rich are necessarily more evil than the poor. It is not because God’s grace is insufficient to save a rich man. And it is certainly not because God loves the rich any less than he loves the poor.

It is easier for those with material prosperity to maintain the illusion of control in their lives. They can think that they have achieved their wealth by their own effort and skill, and as a result they may be more likely to think that no-one else’s help is required. They are susceptible to thinking that they are self sufficient.

The good news of the Gospel is that we can inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, the precise blessing associated with being poor in spirit. Why do those without resources have an advantage in gaining the kingdom?

To appropriate the good news first requires that bad news is understood and accepted. The bad news is that without the work of Jesus on the cross, I am not able to attain entrance into Heaven. I must first admit my inability to make myself worthy of Heaven before I can accept the offer of salvation from Jesus. To achieve spiritual health, I must first acknowledge my disease and accept the cure.

This is precisely where the poor have an advantage. They do not have any pretense about whether they are in control. They are dependent upon others for their day to day existence. It is much easier for them to acknowledge their need of a a physical and a spiritual savior. Their eyes are not clouded by their material possessions.

I suppose the take-away for those of us in Western Society, who are rich enough to afford computers or access the internet, is that we cannot let our resources inhibit our relationship with God. It is so easy to be distracted in obtaining and maintaining stuff, that we can forget the God who made the stuff possible.

It is my belief that one can have wealth and still be poor in spirit, but it is difficult. Being poor in spirit is to come to terms with our helplessness in the spiritual realm and seeking the one who promised to never leave us (Matthew 28:20).

Throughout the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows us how helpless we really are. If we are honest when reading this sermon, our eyes will be opened to what true righteousness is and we will be forced to admit how far short of the standard we fall.

As we move forward in the study of the amazing sermon, may it cause us to realize our poverty and turn to the one who promises spiritual riches (Ephesians 1:18).

Introduction to the Beatitudes – Sermon on the Mount #3

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BlessedBefore examining the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-11, it would be helpful to offer a few words on the meaning of the word translated “blessed” in our English Bibles.

The word in the original is makarios, which in Homer denoted the “transcendent happiness of a life beyond care, labor and death.” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, TDNT) Later authors used this word to describe the happy state of the gods above earthly sufferings and labors. Similarly, the word came to denote the wealthy who are above normal cares and worries of lesser folk.

In the New Testament makarios “refers overwhelmingly to the distinctive religious joy which accrues to man from his salvation and the Kingdom of God. Always there is a “connection between right conduct and heavenly recompense.” (TDNT)

Specifically in Matthew 5 we see “the power of these statements lies in the reversal of human values.” (TDNT) These statements are somewhat shocking on the surface because the initial understanding of them goes against our natural sensibilities. Who automatically thinks it a blessing to be poor? Who strives for opportunities to mourn? Who thinks that the path to advancement is paved with gentleness?

Yet, these are some of the things that Jesus tells us in the Beatitudes. On the surface, they seem to be paradoxical or contradictory in nature.

John MacArthur in his commentary on Matthew, points out that because we are encouraged in Scripture to pursue spiritual blessings, we cannot make sense of these statements in a purely physical sense. Within the bounds of physical life, we cannot make sense out of someone saying it is blessing to mourn. From the standpoint of our human, fleshly existence, it does not seem good to be poor. Mourning and poverty seem to work against our physical well being.

All through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is driving us past our physical existence and pushing us to look beyond our physical existence to something better. Unlike Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, when we pull back the curtain, we find something more spectacular than we expected.

It should be noted that to get “behind the curtain” requires an insight into the supernatural. We must get beyond the merely physical. In Ephesians 5:1, the Apostle Paul reminds us that apart from Christ we are dead in our “trespasses and sins.” Dead people cannot perceive stimuli, they cannot respond. To understand the full import of what Jesus is telling us in this sermon and in these Beatitudes, we must be made alive by faith in Jesus Christ (see Ephesians 2:4-9)

In these 9 pronouncements of blessing in Matthew 5, we will be challenged by Jesus to look beyond ourselves, to peek through the keyhole into eternity, to broaden our horizon to take Heaven into view.

I find these statements to simultaneously stimulate me, encourage me, and scare me. Without the aid of the Holy Spirit, I cannot even begin to appropriate these blessings. But when I surrender, when I set aside my limited perspective, I get glimpses of how it could be. Like a 5 year old learning to ride a bike, I begin to see how my wobbly endeavor could lead to the Tour de France.

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