The Preacher's Goal

George Marsden beautifully expounds on how Jonathan Edwards crafted sermons:

"With his usual thoroughness he fashioned his sermonic architecture. At the foundations of his edifice he systematically closed every seam that might allow people to gain a glimmer of a supposition that their salvation was partly their own doing. So he forced them to look toward the dome around which he crafted windows that framed the light of God's ways."

Jonathan Edwards, "A Life." p. 141

A Marker of Healthy Theology

All too often those in the reformed circles get the reputation of the stuffy, stodgy, cantankerous curmudgeon who is chomping at the bit for any opportunity to beat people over the head with a doctrinal bat. Unfortunately, that reputation exists for a reason. I see that in myself as well as others. While robust doctrine is absolutely necessary to live lives pleasing to God, it derails when we use it to drive unnecessary wedges in the body of Christ.

In George Marsden's biography of Jonathan Edwards, he explains how Edwards (usually the Superman of the reformed circles) held tightly to particular and confessional convictions while simultaneously yearning for unity in thought and deed in the church.

This, I'm convinced, is a marker of healthy theology.

"Edwards' call for peace was so strong that he sounded almost like one of Boston's Calvinist moderates.

 'The gospel spirit is a catholic spirit, a noble and unconfined benevolence, like unto that of our Creator, not confined to any particular part of mankind exclusive of others...To make the wickedness of men the cause of contention and strife in us, is to make one sin the cause of another. We cannot please the devil better than by hating men's personals under pretense of duty.'

Even doctrinal differences are no excuse for hatred. People can not help what they believe.

'Tis as unreasonable to strive with others because they can't be in everything of our minds, as to quarrel with another because he differs in the color of his hair or the features of his face...However pernicious his tenets, yet we ought, as much as in us lies, to endeavor to live peaceably with him.'"

Humble Meekness, Unconquerable Confidence

Romans 1:1a "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle..."


The recognizable pattern in Paul's epistolary introduction sets forth a two-fold identity. Paul calls himself both servant of Christ Jesus and apostle. What are the differences between the two? How do they cooperate?

First, servant of Christ Jesus, also could be translated "slave." Paul primarily points to his fortified identity in Christ. It indicates a sense of personal devotion and exclusive commitment

Second, an apostle. This indicates an outward, expansive identity--a missional focus. Paul identifies his authority as equal to the 12 apostles chosen by Christ who established and governed the church, and preached the word of God to the Jews and Gentiles.

Therefore, this two-fold identity establishes two distinct tracks which merge into a missional, gospel centered helix. The vertical indicatives of the gospel call Paul into servanthood to Christ. The horizontal imperatives of the gospel drive Paul out into servanthood for the Church and the world. The vertical indicatives inspire humble meekness--that a gospel suppressing sinner would still be welcomed into the family of God by the blood of Jesus. As that truth is massaged into our bones, the horizontal imperatives joyfully send us out to the world with an unconquerable confidence in Christ.

Paul is a perfect example of this! Look at 1:14-16...

14: "I am under obligation"
15: "So I am eager to preach the gospel to you"
16: "For I am not ashamed"


Obliged, joyful, not ashamed. That is one potent trifecta.

No Other Joy Compares!

"I think, again, that is is essential to the preacher's success that he should thoroughly enjoy his work.    I mean in the actual doing of it, and not only in its idea. No man to whom the details of his task are repulsive can do his task well constantly, however full he may be of its spirit. he may make one bold dash at it and carry it over all his disgusts, but he cannot work on at it year after year, day after day. Therefore, count it not merely a perfectly legitimate pleasure, count it an essential element of your power, if you can feel a simple delight in what you have to do as a minister, in the fervor of writing, in the glow of speaking, in standing before men and moving them, in contact with the young. the more thoroughly you enjoy it, the better you will do it all.

This is all true of preaching. Its highest joy is in the great ambition that is set before it, the glorifying of the Lord and saving of the souls of men. No other joy on earth compares with that. the ministry that does not feel that joy is dead. But in behind that highest joy, beating in humble unison with it, as the healthy body thrills in sympathy with the deep thoughts and pure desires of the mind and soul, the best ministers have always been conscious of another pleasure which belonged to the very doing of the work itself. As we read the lives of all the most effective preachers of the past, or as we meet the men who are powerful preachers of the Word today, we feel how certainly and how deeply the very exercise of their ministry delights them."

-Phillips Brooks, Lectures on Preaching, p. 53-54

The Only Thing I Want in Old Age

"Theology is not something they merely study and teach. It is something they breathe. The Bible is not something they only read and preach. It is the food upon which they feed. R. C. Sproul and John Piper love Jesus Christ. They love to glory and revel in their Redeemer. Yes, they are extraordinarily gifted preachers, prodigious authors, talented theologians. But they have never gotten over the stunning fact that they were treasonous rebels who were graciously summoned to the King’s banqueting table and clothed with the righteous robes of the King’s Son. They have now walked with Jesus for decades, but they have never lost their childlike wonder that they have been called God’s sons. For them, to teach and preach God’s Word is not a duty but a delight. And they will continue to do so, as Dr. Sproul has said, until someone pries the Bible from their cold dead fingers."

--Justin Taylor

Pastors, Preachers, Teachers, Expositors of Jesus In Any Capacity:

"The pastor should want the people to be impressed with Jesus Christ rather than himself."

Lloyd-Jones On Preaching

The definition of preaching: It is theology on fire

The purpose of preaching: What is the chief end of preaching? I like to think it is this. It is to give men and women a sense of god and His presence

Why Expository Preaching?