But, ultimately, my reason for being very ready to give these lectures is that to me the work of preaching is the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called. If you want something in addition to that I would say without any hesitation that the most urgent need in the Christian Chruch today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and most urgent need in the Church, it is obviously the greatest need of the world also. (Preaching And Preachers p. 9).
He must know something about their background and their outlook, and what they are thinking, and what they are reading, and the influences that are being brought to bear upon them. People in their innocence and ignorance are still ready to listen to plausible speakers and to believe in anything they read in a newspaper or journal, and it is our business to protect them. We are shepherds, we are pastors, and we are to look after and care for these people who have been committed to our charge. It is our business therefore to equip ourselves for that great task. (Ibid p. 178).
A biblical theology of preaching must begin and end with God (Rom. 11:36). His glory is the great end of preaching. Cotton Mather said, 'The great design and intention of the office of a Christian preacher is to restore the throne and dominion of god in the souls of men.' The man of God must be convinced that biblical preaching is ordained by God as His appointed means of glorifying Himself through saving sinners and building up the saints (1 Cor. 1:17-2:5). 'God uses contemporary preaching to bring His salvation to people today, to build His church, to bring in his kingdom. In short, contemporary preaching biblical preaching is nothing less than a redemptive event.' (My Heart For Thy Cause p. 128).
Without a sufficient theology of preaching, the pastor's preaching ministry will lack power! He must know what he is there to do. (Ibid p.128).
Unconverted ministry must be equally dreadful in another respect. If the man has no commission, what a very unhappy position for him to occupy! What can he see in the experience of his people to give him comfort? How must he feel when he hears the cries of penitents; or listens to their anxious doubts and solemn fears? He must be astonished to think that his words should be owned to that end! The word of an unconverted man may be blessed to the conversion of souls, since the Lord, while he disowns the man, will still honor his own truth. How perplexed such a man must be when he is consulted concerning the difficulties of mature Christians! In the pathway of experience, in which his own regenerate hearers are led, he must feel himself quite at a loss. How can he listen to their deathbed joys, or join in their rapturous fellowships around the table of their Lord? In many instances of young men put to a trade which they cannot endure, they have run away to sea sooner than follow an irksome business; but where shall that man flee who is apprenticed for life to this holy calling, and yet is a total stranger to the power of godliness? How can he daily bid men come to Christ, while he himself is a stranger to his dying love? O sirs, surely this must be perpetual slavery. Such a man must hate the sight of a pulpit as much as a galley slave hates the oar. (Lectures to My Students. Kindle Locations 159-169 Kindle Edition).
And how unserviceable such a man must be. He has to guide travelers along a road which he has never trodden, to navigate a vessel along a coast of which he knows none of the landmarks! He is called to instruct others, being himself a fool. What can he be but a cloud without rain, a tree with leaves only. As when the caravan in the wilderness, all athirst and ready to die beneath the broiling sun, comes to the long-desired well, and, horror of horrors! finds it without a drop of water; so when souls thirsting after God come to a graceless ministry, they are ready to perish because the water of life is not to be found. Better abolish pulpits than fill them with men who have no experimental knowledge of what they teach. (Ibid. Kindle Locations 170-175).
Alas! the unregenerate pastor becomes terribly mischievous too, for of all the causes which create infidelity, ungodly ministers must be ranked among the first. (Ibid. Kindle Locations 176-177).
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"Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified" (Ac 20:28–32).
Soli Deo Gloria!
For His Glory,
Fernando
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