Paul Preaches the Cross.

What did Paul preach that brought down Holy Spirit?  “Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” (1 Cor.2:2).  He preached the Cross.  He preached the death of Christ for lost mankind. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  “There is none righteous, no, not one.” “There is none that does good, no, not one.”  All are sinners, therefore all need the Saviour.  Jn.3:16 tells us that sent One Who was to be that very Saviour the world needs so badly.  Only at the Cross is there salvation for anyone.  Christ died for you, my friend.  God does not want anyone, not even you, to perish, but to come to repentance, (2 Pet.3:9).  And all means all.  There are no exceptions, no exclusions but those who exclude themselves.  Paul  preached this mess “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”  

Oh for Spirit-filled preachers in our churches today! Pray for men who will be so surrendered to Christ and so filled with His Spirit this 2012, that we will see great advances for the Kingdom of God.  Pray for a mighty revival in, and reformation of, the Church.  For preaching will be totally useless without this.  Plead with God to give Him in great measure.  Pray to God to bring preachers back to the Cross, and to declare it without fear or favour, and regardless of the smiles or frowns of those who listen to them.   This was Paul's message – it must also be ours.

Theological Education and Training

A well qualified and experienced minister to undertake work for the training of ministers of the Gospel is a great advantage to the church.

In fact, it gives such a man the greatest opportunity of re-dressing the awful spiritual and theological situation that the church finds herself in.  If the professor of theology holds to honest and accurate theological and spiritual convictions, he is possibly the best placed man to do this work! 

What I am trying to say is this: a theological teacher who keeps that focus always before him will do untold good to the life of the church.  His is work, primarily, of ministerial training, and only secondarily of theological education.  Theological education is the means, or possibly even a means, of preparing men for the ministry.  

 But there is much more to it that barren and lifeless academic theology.  This work is not about helping theologs to 'count the number of angels that can stand on the head of a pin!'  The good teacher/trainer knows that anyway.  He will be teaching that theology that will help men to preach the Gospel, and thereby reform the church according to the Word of God.  All else is superfluous, and may be a diversion from the real work of the Kingdom. 

DMLJ argues that prospective Gospel ministers (what other kind are there?) ought to have, inter alia, a good mind, though not necessarily an academic one.  To him, a minister was not a Bible scholar skilled in expert knowledge of New Testament Greek, though he did believe that ministers ought to have learned it; they ought rather to be men who are primarily preachers and pastors with a divine commission.  

We have often reflected on the lack of power and authority in much preaching today, the emphasis being on confessional correctness rather that on the ability to give worshippers a sense of the presence of God.  This is where confessional correctness, which is but another name for ' dead orthodoxy,' gets hopelessly in the way of evangelism.  Theological understanding is important, but it is the skeleton rather than the actual structure of a sermon.  The Doctor often defined preaching as "theology coming through a man who is on fire."  On this he is right again.  He adds that such a man must be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and called by God to proclaim it. 

So a theological education ought to provide the minister/preacher with the framework within which his preaching and evangelism is to be done.  It must always be biblical!  And it must drive his evangelism not restrict or hinder it. 

There is no greater servant of the church than an academically gifted teacher who can impart to trainee ministers a sense of the wonder of the Gospel, and of God's way of salvation, and equip them to proclaim it; men who can present the Gospel accurately and defend it against all comers! 

A good theological professor can write papers for the ordinary people as well as for academia. But, remember, there are more ordinary people than there are academics.

These are my musings about theological education which I trust you share, at least broadly.  

Spirit-empowered preaching

We had a blessed time in the service of the LORD yesterday, and He was so near to us. People left the service and there was none of the trivia spoken that normally accompanies worshippers as they leave the services. There was that hush of eternity, that deeply spiritual presence, as if the Holy Spirit was carrying every word I had spoken right into the hearts of the hearers.

Whilst I had prepared in my usual thorough manner, I did not need my notes. This was the first time in years that I had had that precious experience. The message just flowed - I was preaching on Rom1:16f, and asked why is it that sinners need the Gospel? I made the point that if, as we believe, and as Paul states, "the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes," where there is no power, CAN THE GOSPEL BE SAID TO BE PREACHED?

Now this really challenged my heart - as I was preaching. What is missing from our preaching if the hearers do not feel the power of God in their midst and hearts? Is this a familiar question? I said that we were fooling ourselves if we believed that God's power attended the preaching if the Gospel of Paul was not being proclaimed.

This was a very special time - and in God's providence, it came at the perfect time for me. God is good, praise His glorious Name.