Wednesday, March 24, 2010

My Role as the Preacher

In a stunning sermon on Romans 5: 1 - 11 John Piper expounds the role of the Preacher when preaching if it is the role of the Holy Spirit (vs. 5) to reveal the essence of the love of God to us. (See here) What is the preacher useful for? What is it that I am called to do morning by morning before the people of X1? Here is Piper's thoughts

"The point is this; my message this morning cannot take the place of the Holy Spirit in your life. And the Holy Spirit will not do the work assigned to the Word of God. My calling is to describe the love of God to you. His calling is to pour it out in your hearts. My calling is to point you to what Christ did; his calling is to open your eyes to see it as glorious and personal. My calling is to make it plain; his is to make it precious. Mine is to make it clear; his is to make it dear. Mine is to take you on a tour around the deep and scenic lake of the love of God; his is to plunge you in and saturate your life with the love of God—to baptize you in it."


Lord help any person entrusted with the difficult yet glorious task of "making it plain," "making it clear" seek your strength in this. Lord cause your people to reevaluate what preaching is and not to put up with mere great talking! It is so much more than that!

Simon

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