Preaching: It's Two-Fold Character

"From its origin preaching has a two-fold character - proclamation and teaching. It proclaims the gospel of Christ to men with a view to their acceptance of him as their Saviour and Lord; and it teaches to those who have so accepted him the lofty morality and the inspiring hopes and consolations which that gospel includes. It brings to men's minds the truth of God, to their wills his law, to their hearts his love. In the very beginning, and ever as time goes on, these two elements of proclamation and instruction are variously combined in the Christian sermon, which as a part of the congregational worship is occupied with the explanation and enforcement of the mind and will of God as revealed in Holy Scripture. From this origin the history of preaching proceeds through the centuries."

Edwin Charles Dargan, A History of Preaching: From the Apostolic Fathers to the Freat Reformers A.D. 70-1572 (London:Hodder and Stroughton, 1905), 553.

Reading Categories

This is a list that my Professor and Principal Kirk Wellum gave us a few weeks ago. These are primarily categories for pastors but make good for anyone wanting some selection and direction when looking at all the literary material out there.

1 BIBLE - first and foremost
2 Commentaries & Introductions
3 Read Systematic & Biblical Theological Books
4 Biographies and Autobiographies
5 History (Secular & Christian)

> Biblical Backgrounds, Civilizations, Countries
6 Apologetic Books
7 Contemporary Issue
8 Read Hymn Books & Materials on Hymns 

> these are poems set to music
9 On the Church & Leadership 

> good to read about trends within the church
10 Read Journals & Periodicals
11 Blogs (careful though - there are so many - start with GospelCoalition)

12 Newspaper & Magazines 

What other categories should there be?

Adorning the Gospel

There are many pastors today who, for fear of being branded 'legalists', give their congregation no ethical teaching. How far we have strayed from the apostles! 'Legalism' is the misguided attempt to earn our salvation by obedience to the law. 'Pharisaism' is a preoccupation with the externals and the minutiae of religious duty. To teach the standards of moral conduct which adorn the gospel is neither legalism not pharisaism but plain apostolic Christianity.

-From "I Believe in Preaching" (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1982), p. 158. JRW STOTT

Spurgeon on Preaching

It is infamous to ascend your pulpit and pour over your people rivers of language, cataracts of words, in which mere platitudes are held in solution like infinitesimal grains of homeopathic medicine in an Atlantic of utterance. Better far give the people masses of unprepared truth in the rough, like pieces of meat from a butcher's block, chopped off anyhow, bone and all, and even dropped down in the sawdust, than ostentatiously and delicately hand them out upon a china dish a delicious slice of nothing at all, decorated with the parsley of poetry, and flavoured with the sauce of affectation.

From Charles Spurgeon's "Sermons-Their Matter" in Lectures to My Students.  

On Reading Books...

I for one am a 20page/hour reader. If I read any faster I'm not digesting nor do I find my self keeping with the flow of thought. Recently to help, Pastor John Starke offered up some of his own methods on reading, calling himself a slow-reader as well - he seems to be able to get through a couple books a month! His advice is encouraging and he's on the gospelcoalition so it can't be all that bad! He also mentions 3 classics at the end that are worth your time -

 Advice for Slow Readers - John Starke

What's your current/next classic you're working through? 

5 Mistakes Pastors Make

At a recent Southern promotional talk by Al Mohler at The Masters Seminary in Sun Valley California, I received a free Southern Seminary Magazine Vol 79, No 2 - entitled: Teaching About Jesus Through the Old Testament. This morning as I sprawled around in bed contemplating getting up, I decided to have a gander. I was surprised to see the amount of work they contribute herein. It's similar to SGF's Barnabas' magazine actually. It's got a compilation of contributors from Southern - in particular in this issue Schriener, Moore, and Mohler (of course) - some promotions for the seminary, current mission work, book reviews, yada yada yada. What really caught my eye was these 5 thoughts on page 20 by Professor H. W. York about common pastoral mistakes in teaching. Leading to potential divisive doctrines to their congregations he warns of:

1 - Uncontrolled emotion. A pastor cannot afford to let his congregation sense either fear or anger in him.

2 - Treating disagreement as unwelcome. If a pastor affirms loving and gracious disagreement, then he will seldom have to deal with the kind that is mean-spirited.

3 - Preaching a system rather than a text. When a pastor shows truth in the Scriptures, it's hard for people to disagree with it unless they are willing to deny the truth of the Bible itself.

4 - Avoidance of Biblical Tensions. Any pastor who presents only one side of an argument will never convince thinking people, to the contrary, will open himself to their equally simplistic rebuttals and denials.

5 - A failure to love. A pastor must never forget that God sent him to love the people, not merely to [inspire] them with Biblical facts.