Preachers and preaching

I've been re-reading Martyn Lloyd Jones book 'preachers and preaching' I read it very early on in my ministry and  thought that Lloyd Jones made too much of preaching. In my training I was pushed to think pastorally and instead Lloyd Jones extolled the great virtue and power of preaching. So 7 years later I re-read the book and find that I have changed my focus a LOT. In a pastorally driven ministry preaching is one of the things we are called to do but our energy and time are consumed far more with caring for the flock. This is not a bad thing – but it misses the point of Jesus ministry.

Preaching is central to the churches mission of making converts and disciples. A gospel driven church will focus much more on preaching because it is the proclamation of God's word for salvation. Paul said "I preach Christ crucified". And in many churches worldwide this is no longer the case. We need to return to spirit filled preaching of the gospel and stay away from either prosperity based self fulfilment theology or pastorally driven therapeutic theology. When we preach these kinds of messages its hard to get passionate and to be moved by God and used by God to move others. My desire is for the church to return to preaching the gospel of Jesus with passion and enthusiasm to Jesus glory!

The problem with the world is sin and preaching points sinners to the author and perfecter of faith – Jesus! Lloyd Jones book is older than me, but is still so relevant today. Here is a great quote from Lloyd Jones

"What is Preaching? Logic on fire! Eloquent reason! Are these contradictions? Of course they are not. Reason concerning this Truth ought to be mightily eloquent, as you see it in the case of the Apostle Paul and others. It is theology on fire. And a theology which does not take fire, I maintain, is a defective theology; or at least the man's understanding of it is defective. Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. A true understanding and experience of the Truth must lead to this. . . . A man who can speak about these things dispassionately has no right whatsoever to be in a pulpit; and should never be allowed to enter one.
What is the chief end of preaching? . . . To give men and women a sense of God and His presence. . . . I can forgive a man for a bad sermon, I can forgive the preacher almost anything if he gives me a sense of God, if he gives me something for my soul, if he gives me the sense that, though he is inadequate himself, he is handling something which is very great and very glorious, if he gives me some dim glimpse of the majesty and the glory of God, the love of Christ my Saviour, and the magnificence of the Gospel. If he does that I am his debtor, and I am profoundly grateful to him. Preaching is the most amazing, and the most thrilling activity that one can ever be engaged in, because of all that it holds out for all of us in the present, and because of the glorious endless possibilities in an eternal future."