Archive for the 'Preaching' Category

You will benefit greatly from this sermon if you haven’t already seen it.

Getting Out – Tim Keller – TGC 2011 from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

The last bit is sobering for those called to pastoral ministry, yet it needs to be said. From the Second Helvetic Confession:

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.

Three points of qualification:

1. Certainly, this stress on the Word rather than the preacher does not excuse a lack of qualification on the part of the pastor (1 Tim 4:15-16).
2. The confession goes on to emphasize the illumination of the Spirit so the point isn’t that the Word can only be received from preaching.
3. I don’t mean to imply that I agree with everything in this confession.

Trevin Wax shares some “urban legends” that preachers have been guilty of sharing.  For the record, I have been guilty of #2.  You’ll have to click through to Trevin to see that one.  Otherwise, I think I’m okay, at least as far as this list is concerned.

Trevin Wax:

Those of us who are entrusted with the task of expositing the Scriptures in a local church must take care to verify our sources, illustrations, and stories. No matter how helpful an illustration may be, it is dishonoring to God if it is untrue.

Here are a number of urban legends that get repeated in sermons. Some are more pervasive than others, even appearing in commentaries and scholarly works.

1. The “eye of the needle” refers to a gate outside Jerusalem.

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God,” says Jesus in Mark 10:25. Maybe you’ve heard of the gate in Jerusalem called the “eye of the needle.” The camel could pass through it only after stooping down and having all its baggage taken off.

The illustration is used in many sermons as an example of coming to God on our knees and without our baggage. The only problem is… there is no evidence for such a gate. The story has been around since the 15th century, but there isn’t a shred of evidence to support it. . . .

3. Scribes took baths, discarded their pens, washed their hands, etc. every time they wrote the name of God.

As a way of getting across the reverence of the Jewish and Christian scribes toward God, preachers like to describe the honor given to God’s name. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that scribes did these sorts of rituals every time they came across the name of God.

4. There was this saying among the sages: “May you be covered in your rabbi’s dust.”

This is one of the most pervasive and fast-spreading stories to flood the church in recent years. The idea is that as you walked behind your rabbi, he would kick up dust and you would become caked in it and so following your rabbi closely came to symbolize your commitment and zeal. Joel Willitts explains:

This is powerful stuff isn’t it? Well the only problem is that it just isn’t true… The context in which it is given in Mishnah Aboth 1:4 is expressly not what is assumed by those who promulgate this idea.

Read the whole thing here.

Yesterday when preaching on Union in Christ, I mentioned Matt Chandler’s sermon at the Gospel Coalition.  You can listen to Matt’s sermon here.

You can also see this post where Matt shares about what God has taught him through his brain tumor.