At any given time I am usually working through three or four books. Among them I always have going at least one book that gives help for pastoral or church ministry. At the moment that book is Light and Heat: The Puritan View of the Pulpit by R. Bruce Bickel.

The Puritans saw the pulpit as the central part of corporate worship. The preaching of God’s Word is the principle work of a minister and the central, most important part of a church service. Because of the great gap between the Creator and the creature and our great need for divine truth, it is more important that the assembled believers hear what God has to say than that they speak to God. Prayer and singing certainly have an essential place in church but it is through the expounding of God’s Word that the people hear from God.

Bickel says the Puritans “note clearly the progression that begins with God giving the ministry of preaching to His Son, the Son giving the ministry to His apostles, and thence to all ministers of the gospel.” He then quotes the Puritan Paul Bayne who points out Ephesians 2:17 which mentions Christ preaching to the Ephesians. Jesus was never in Ephesus so the preaching must have been through Christ’s messengers, those appointed as ministers of the Word. When those men speak it is as though Christ speaks, as Jesus said in Luke 10:16: “The one who hears you hears me…”

The Puritan sermon was divided into three parts: Doctrine, Reason, and Use; or Declaration, Explanation, and Application. The sermon always followed a text of Scripture. The first part of the sermon would lay out the doctrinal teaching from the text. The second part would present the argument and respond to objections. The third part would give specific application of the text on the Christian life. Bickel includes a quote from Richard Baxter about the development of a sermon and appeal to the hearer:

The preacher’s aim should be first to convince the understanding and then to engage the heart. Light first, then heat. Begin with a careful opening of the text, then proceed to the clearance of possible difficulties or objections; next, to a statement of uses; and lastly to a fervent appeal for acceptance by conscience and heart.

I’m only part of the way through the book so there is much more to see and learn, but already my preaching has been challenged. To what degree do we look for light and heat in the pulpit? Are we as preachers really trying to speak in a way that Jesus speaks through us? Are we watering down his message with the world? Are the hearers looking for solid, biblical preaching that unfolds Scripture before them? How much will today’s congregations tolerate poor preaching?

Brothers, hold me accountable, and preach the Word. Person in the pew, hold your preachers accountable.

One questions often asked of Calvinists is why we believe anyone should evangelize if ultimately salvation is the work of God. It is a fair question but it is really a question for everyone.

Why does God use human beings to carry out any part of his plan? We are sinful, lazy, obstinate, bad at following directions, inefficient creatures. It seems that God could accomplish far more if he kept us from being the workers of his will.

For example, why doesn’t God surround the world with angels? From every part of the earth angels could proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. They saw the cross. They stand before God in Heaven. They would be visible evidence of the existence of God. But they would still preserve choice. Angels would not be able to force anyone to believe so they would not cause a conflict with those who believe salvation comes entirely through a free choice of human beings able to accept or reject the gospel.

Why doesn’t God use angels? Why does God use humans to carry out one of the most important tasks in his creation?

It is enough to say that God uses people because that is his will. We do not have to know the reason. God commanded us to go and tell, we go and tell. But we also know that God is glorified when he is proclaimed by those whom he has saved. When his praise is on the tongues of his people his holiness is magnified. Who better to demonstrate the value of his saving grace than those who have received it?

Whether Calvinist or not, I think we can (and should) agree that the role of humans in salvation has nothing to do with persuasion or the free choice of man. God uses us because he is pleased to do so and because by our proclamation he is glorified.

Some see evangelism as a burden but it is one of our most precious gifts. God has given us the opportunity to do something of eternal significance. This is part of having a life that is not wasted. While obeying God’s command to go make disciples we find that it is not a labor, a chore, but a tremendous joy and privilege to share with people the great grace God has lavished on us in his saving mercy. This is something the angels could never do.

So why are you still reading? Go and tell!

One thing that will quickly turn me off to a preacher is if I hear him using facts or information in an imprecise or incorrect manner. I knew one such preacher a few years ago. Just about every sermon contained questionable factual data. In one instance he was talking about a new Muslim place of worship in the city, explaining how it was paid for by oil money from tycoons in the Middle East. Evidently some of the people had had enough. Someone called out that it was a Shriner’s club, not a Muslim mosque. He had a hard time regaining his balance after that correction.

If you are going to claim something in a sermon, be sure it is true.

Dan, one of the Pyro guys, has written about the use of Greek and Hebrew in a sermon. His post applies to any facts used while preaching. He says well why we should not say what we do not know:

Suppose I choose to draw an illustration from the field of biology, or anatomy, or a physical science, or an historical event. Suppose, further, someone in my audience happens to be well-studied in that field. And suppose he instantly recognizes that I’m full of beans, that I pulled out some old chestnut that every well-studied ____ist/ian/ologist immediately knows to be an urban myth, or a common but long-since-exploded misconception.

What will he think of my faithfulness? of the seriousness of my intent? of the thoroughness with which I research what I am about to hold out for people’s trust and acceptance?

He’ll instantly know I’m willing to say things of which I haven’t taken the time to make sure.

And he’ll wonder — he’ll have good reason to wonder — how thoroughly I have researched and thought through the other claims I’m making. He’ll have good reason to think, “Okay, I know anatomy, and I know that what he just said is simply beans. But I don’t know Greek, or theology, or much about the Bible. How do I know whether he knows what he’s talking about on those subjects, or whether he’s just as sloppy about them as he was about this?”