We welcome Bob Thomas’ first blog.
Bob was the long term minister of St Kilda Presbyterian Church and for many years the Editor of New Life, Australia’s evangelical newspaper.
APOSTLE Paul unfolds a big umbrella over the work of the pastor/teacher in 1 Corinthians 1.23,24: ‘But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God’.
This begs the question for every preacher: Am I preaching Christ in all the fullness of His Person and Work to all-comers, sceptics and saved, sinners and saints, in the face of all opposition and all acceptation?
Note that preaching is distinctly different to teaching or lecturing. It goes beyond imparting knowledge, though it does do that on the way to stirring its hearers to conviction of sin, pleading for forgiveness at the foot of the cross through the full and free salvation imputed to them there in the finished work of Christ on the Cross, leading to their ‘knowing Christ Jesus as Lord’ and growing in grace as they journey towards their glorification in Heaven.
So as Paul opens the big umbrella of ‘Christ crucified’, over time we will preach on its various ribs, preaching Christ as the fulfilment of prophecy; Christ in His holy incarnation; Christ in His virgin birth; Christ in His wondrous childhood; Christ as the greatest teacher who ever lived; Christ with His compassionate heart; Christ as a man of prayer; Christ submitting His will to His Father’s; Christ upholding the truth of God’s Word; Christ in His obedience to the Father; Christ in the miraculous signs which showed His Divinity; Christ in His consciousness of Eternity; Christ in His perfect righteousness; Christ in His willingness to die for us; Christ in His atoning death; Christ in His glorious resurrection by the mighty power of God; Christ in His promise of the Holy Spirit; Christ in His empowering of those who follow Him; Christ in His ascension into Heaven; Christ in preparing a place for us there; Christ in pleading our cause before the Throne of Grace; Christ as King and Head of His Church; Christ who will return in power and glory to judge everyone who has ever lived.
In short, we preach ‘Christ who is God over all, blessed for ever’ (Romans 9.5b) and who says to everyone everywhere in every generation, to you and to me: ‘COME!/TURN!/LOOK! to me and be saved, all you ends of the Earth; for I am God, and there is no other.’ (Isaiah 45.22).
Just as God’s Word is profoundly simple, and simply profound, so we preachers must seek to receive and develop that gift. There are words which have a technical meaning and need simplification, words which have shades of meaning that need to be teased out, words which have one meaning in one context and another elsewhere, images which in their day and situation were vividly appropriate to their hearers but have become obscure in our day and need to be faithfully reimagined or matched.
Preachers must preach as those who themselves know Christ personally as their Lord and Saviour or else they are simply the blind trying to lead the blind. They must preach ‘a felt Christ’ as the Puritans would say.
Preaching should not be a haphazard affair. The Bible itself is systematic in telling the Being, Word and Works of God from before the beginning until after the end of time. Certain themes weave their way through it, sometimes on the surface, sometimes below the surface, sometimes bursting forth, sometimes keeping in the background. The preacher who makes Personal Daily Bible Study, developed by Dr Graham Miller, a worthy habit will soon find that instead of spending Saturday night wondering what to preach on the next day, he will have (in Dr Miller’s words) ‘a multitude of sermons rising up and crying “Preach me! Preach me!”’
The Very Rev Dr Leonard Small, late minister of St Cuthbert’s, Edinburgh in happier days for the Church of Scotland, was interviewed on ABC TV during a visit to Australia. He was asked how he had sustained such a long and notable ministry at St Cuthbert’s. Looking a little taken aback, he simply replied: ‘Because I preach “the inexhaustible riches of Christ”!’ Now there’s an example for us to follow.
Bob Thomas
Great News! We have a new Study Guide “Personal Daily Bible Study” by Bob on the Books and Sermons Page of this site.