What Can We Learn From Voltaire?

Voltaire isn’t an evil robot from an 80’s cartoon, nor is he the bad guy from Harry Potter. Voltaire was an atheist that hated God and the Bible. Near the end of his life he claimed that within 100 hundred years Christianity would be stamped out and known only as a relic of history. Voltaire died in 1778. In God’s irony, within 25 years of Voltaire’s death his mansion housed the Geneva Bible Society. His former residence is now used to churn out Bibles.

Isn’t God amazing? Doesn’t this show us that God is sovereign and that His word will last for ever?

Yes to the first, no to the second. It doesn’t show us anything about God because the story isn’t true. First, Voltaire was a deist not an atheist. Second, there is no record of his having predicted that Christianity would be stamped out within 100 years. Now don’t misunderstand me—Voltaire was no follower of Jesus. Such a statement would not be surprising. But there is no record of his having said it.

Furthermore, it is not true that any of his houses were ever used for a Bible society. It’s a great sermon illustration. It leaves people in awe at the power of God. But it’s simply not historically accurate.

What is true is that the Hotel Gibbon which Voltaire often frequented became a depository of the Bible Society* in 1849. But that is it. Not quite as good of a sermon illustration. And so, like any good fishing story, the catch has gotten a little bigger over the years.

We ought to learn a couple lessons from this false story of Voltaire:

1. Check your facts and stories. What is intended to be a “point for Jesus” ends up being a point for unbelievers. Christians look like blind people groping for anything to believe in. It’s okay that we look like idiots—after all the gospel is offensive and seen as foolish to an unbelieving mind. But we shouldn’t look like idiots because didn’t fact check.
2. Let the Word of God be the anchor and the stories be the servants—not the other way around. The fact that this story is not true should not do anything to your faith other than to make you say, “ah man, that would have been a great sermon illustration”. The truth of God’s word is unchanging. If we find out these stories are untrue we have only lost a servant to our gospel proclamation—not it’s foundation.
3. We will have an eternity filled with TRUE stories like this. God is in the process of rooting out of his kingdom all sin and unbelief and replacing it with passionate worshippers. Therefore, there will be in heaven a million true stories of light overcoming darkness. I can’t wait!

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*Information take from here.

You Make the Illustration: Dog Pulling Up a Root

Charles Spurgeon was the master of sermon illustrations.  In his helpful Lectures to My Students he devotes five chapters (105 pages) of his work to the the importance of using good illustrations.  At one point he encourages ministers to train themselves to look at a thing and attempt to make as many sermon illustrations as possible.  He says:

…do try with all your might to get the power to see a parable, a simile, an illustration, wherever it is to be seen; for to a great extent this is one of the most important qualifications of the man who is to be a public speaker, and especially of the man who is to be an efficient preacher of the gospel of Christ.  If the Lord Jesus made such frequent use of parables, it must be right for us to do the same.  (Lectures, 463)

I want to do that.  And I think you should to.  That is why I am beginning a new weekly piece at Borrowed Light.  Every week I will post a YouTube clip (or something similar) and give you a couple of days to give an illustration in the comments.  After a couple of days I will post an article giving my illustration from the selected clip. 

You do not have to be a “preacher” to comment and give illustrations.  I urge everyone to watch the clip and give an illustration.  Who knows if we get a good response to this I might even be able to throw in some free books on occasion. 

Without further ado here is this weeks clip to consider for an illustration:

When Your GPS Unit Reads the Same But Your World Looks Different

We begin a new series this Sunday evening on 1 Peter.  The series will be entitled Sojourn: A Travelers Guide to Christian Pilgrims.  Here is the introduction to the series on 1 Peter.  If you live in the Jasper, Indiana area I invite you to give us a visit Sunday evenings starting at 6:00.  If not feel free to check out our sermons online.

Do you remember the story of Rip Van Winkle?

It is set before the Revolutionary War in the 18^th Century. Rip is kind of a lazy guy with a nagging wife. One day as she is nagging away at him he wanders up the mountains with his dog. He meets up with some fun-loving chaps and he ends up having a little too much whiskey.

When he wakes up his gun is rotted and rusty, his beard has grown a foot long, and his dog is nowhere to be found. He soon discovers that much more than his beard, gun, and dog have changed. The whole world it seems has changed to him. He gets in trouble for saying he is a loyal subject of King George, they are calling some other guy (what turns out to be his son) by his own name, his wife has died and most of his friends have died in the war as well. His GPS unit would still read the same location but somehow his very home has changed underneath him. He is, it appears, living as a stranger in his own hometown.

Now every analogy breaks down at some point so don’t press this any further than the single point that I am making. What happened to Rip Van Winkle is very similar to what happens to believers when God invades our life and transfers us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son Jesus. Our GPS unit still reads the same but everything is different. We start to live as a stranger in our own hometown.

This is especially weird if the Lord saved you a little later in life. If you have grown up in church most of your life I doubt you experience the Rip Van Winkle effect. But I remember how it was really strange how everything started to change. My view of life was different. Not all that cataclysmic at first but over time I look back and my whole view is shaken to the core. My friends no longer treat me as such a great friend. There is something that has decisively changed. Even within my own family I can feel that something has changed. The things that I once loved I cannot seem to find pleasure in anymore. The things that I used to find really boring, dull, and drab I now cannot seem to get enough of. The Bible—which once seemed confusing as all get out—I cannot get enough of. My GPS unit still reads the same but everything around me is different. Actually it’s not only the outside world that is different—but I’m different. 

This is what has happened to the believers that the apostle Peter writes his letter to.  Their GPS unit still read the same but they found themselves as exiles in their own homes.   And that is why we have titled our series on 1 Peter as Sojourn: A Travelers Guide for Christian Pilgrims. That is what we are sojourners/pilgrims and 1 Peter is written to those just like us that find themselves living in a strange world that they once called home.

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Thanks to Doug Baker for providing the graphic.

30 Hours To Solve Biblical Famine

Yesterday I asked “should a pastor spend 20-25 hours in sermon preparation?”  Today I want to consider how a pastor could easily spend 20-25 hours in sermon preparation.  I even want to make the argument that these steps to sermon prep should not be circumvented.  Perhaps you could give some of these less time but I believe that these steps need to be present. 

I will state the obvious (but often overlooked) upfront.  Each of these steps should be bathed in prayer.  Sermon preparation should fundamentally be done on the knees.  With that being said here is how one could easily spend 20-25 hours in prep time.

I am assuming that the preacher is preaching through an already established series, so there is no time spent figuring out what to preach. 

Stage #1

The essential element to sermon preparation is to really get what the text means.  Sometimes this will be easier and sometimes it will be really quite difficult.  I typically begin by using something like Bible Arc to get a feel for how the passage fits together. 

After I feel as if I have a grasp on the flow of the text I will begin reading commentaries and engaging in linguistic and background studies.  This is where I really try to get a grasp on what the author in this text is saying.  All throughout this process I am asking myself questions about where it fits in the overall story of Scripture and how this particular text relates to Jesus. 

Then after doing all of this background work I try to write the text in my own words (I know, heresy, right?).  This helps me to know that I have a good understanding of what the original author intended.  The goal of the first stage is to be able to know what the author intended and how it relates to Jesus. 

Stage #2

All throughout stage #1 ideas will come into my mind about how this particular text might preach.  But what I try to do before considering how it may benefit others is to consider how this text needs to shape my own life.  As John Owen has said, “If the Word does not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us.” 

At the end of the day the most important thing is that I am mastered by the Word and not simply have a mastery of the Word.  What good is it for me to know that Christ saying “I wish you were hot or cold” has to do with the water supply of Laodicea, if my own heart is not rescued from lukewarm pursuits? 

In the first stage I want to know the text.  In the second stage I want to know my own heart and how it relates to this text.  I want to consider how Jesus provides rescue in this passage.  I want to know how this passage preaches the gospel to my own heart. 

Stage #3

Now I am ready to consider how to preach this text.  This is often a really difficult task.  You have won half the battle if you consider your own heart.  But there are unique needs to each congregation and individual. 

In this stage I am trying to figure out how to bridge the gap between my 21st century hearers and the original audience.  What do we have in common with the church in Colossae?  What might we be going through that can relate to David’s time in the cave?  At the end of the day I can have confidence that the human heart in the 21st century struggled with the same thing that people in the first century (or even OT) struggle with today.  And I can also have confidence that the same Jesus recorded in Scripture is the same Jesus that heals today.  I just have to labor to bridge that gap. 

The good folks at 9Marks have provided an application grid that is very helpful for this step.  They offer it in blank and also give a completed sample. 

At the end of this stage I hope to have a decent outline of what the text is saying and how it applies to us.  I hope to put it in a concise statement that connects what the original author is saying with our response today. 

Stage #4

I start writing out the sermon.  I fill out the skeleton.  This can take some time but is actually the easiest step.  After doing all of this preparation work it is quite easy to fill out six pages worth of manuscript. 

Stage #5

After writing the manuscript I try to put it back in an outline form.  At this stage I am simply getting ready to preach.  I want to know that if my notes burn up in front of me I could still preach this text.  I may take the whole manuscript into the pulpit with me and I may take an outline form (typically I take both). 

These stages are all inter-connected and I often find myself bouncing back and forth.  But you can see how a preacher could easily spend 20-25 hours per week doing sermon prep.  And each step is necessary.

If you skip step one then you will just be giving advice.  If you skip step two then your preaching will lack passion and  your soul will eventually wither.  If you skip step three you will just have a verse by verse commentary that your people cannot fully connect with.  If you skip step four it may not be the worst thing—but you will run the risk of not being as deliberate and intentional with the words you choose to communicate such a precious truth.  If you skip step five you may miss obvious holes in your sermon. 

Preaching and teaching the word is a high calling, lets not shirk our responsibility.

Early I mentioned something obvious.  Here is the second obvious thing: I am by no means and experiment in preaching and homiletics—not even close.  Feel free to offer suggestions or how you spend your time preparing sermons or Sunday school lessons. 

Monday’s Ministry Musing: In Defense of Long Sermon Prep

I recently heard CJ Mahaney talk about 20-25 hours of sermon prep.  Mark Dever at another point mentioned upwards of 30.  I remember a discussion at T4G and most on the panel were at least in double digits.  Should a pastor spend 20-25 hours in sermon preparation? 

Apparently this guy doesn’t think so: The Waste and Redundancy of Sermon Prep

Is this neglecting the people?

The underlying assumption is that by spending 20-25 hours in sermon prep you are neglecting your people.  That is why I get tons of mail encouraging me to spend time away from studying and preparing sermons to do what I really want to do—be with people.  The thought is that if I just recycle someone else’s sermon, use a packaged outline, or show a video clip that I will immediately free up 20 hours of my week and now I can go minister to people.

Now I freely admit that many pastors (myself included) can have a tendency to be bookish and spend too much time in the study and not enough time with people.  I personally can have this tendency.  So, I need to hear the rebuke of men like Tim Keller:

If you put in too much time in your study on your sermon you put in too little time being out with people as a shepherd and a leader. Ironically, this will make you a poorer preacher. It is only through doing people-work that you become the preacher you need to be--someone who knows sin, how the heart works, what people's struggles are, and so on. Pastoral care and leadership (along with private prayer) are to a great degree sermon preparation. More accurately, it is preparing the preacher, not just the sermon. Through pastoral care and leadership you grow from being a Bible commentator into a flesh and blood preacher.

And I think Keller is especially saying this to younger preachers (like myself) that lack certain life experiences.  I must confess that I wholeheartedly agree with Keller.  I have on occasion neglected people for the sake of learning. 

But the pendulum can easily swing in the other direction.  And I think that is what has happened in the above article.  There is another side to what Keller is saying.  You will not be able to effectively minister to people as a shepherd and leader unless you are devoting an ample amount of time to the Word and to prayer.  Even if you are not preparing sermons you should be digging deep into God’s Word. 

You can neglect your people by being shallow just as easy as you can by being too bookish.  The wise pastor will find the balance.  Be aware of your own tendencies.  If you are more prone to spending time in the study (like me) then make it a habit to do “people-work”.  If you are more apt to doing “people-work” then challenge yourself to spend a little extra time in sermon preparation. 

The most important aspect to our ministry is the proclaimed word (which is empowered through Word-centered praying).  This happens through “people-work” and through sermons.  Be certain that you are giving ample time to both. 

Tomorrow I want to consider how you could easily spend 20 plus hours preparing a sermon…

Newton: The Danger of Following Preachers Instead of Christ

What I have observed of many, who run about unseasonably after new preachers, has reminded me of Pro. 27:8, "As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is the man that wanders from his place." Such unsettled hearers seldom thrive: they usually grow wise in their own conceits, have their heads filled with notions, acquire a dry, critical, and censorious spirit; and are more intent upon disputing who is the best preacher, than upon obtaining benefit to themselves from what they hear. If you could find a man, indeed, who had a power in himself of dispensing a blessing to your soul, you might follow him from place to place; but as the blessing is in the Lord's hands, you will be more likely to receive it by waiting where his providence has placed you, and where he has met with you before.

When this gets posted, Lord willing, I will be attending the final day of Together for the Gospel.  The men that have spoken are some of the most gifted ministers of the gospel in our day.  It would be quite easy to begin following men as well as following preachers instead of Christ.  Newton’s wise counsel here bears following. 

In our day and age you can spend hours listening to many really good sermons.  But it may be wise for you to heed this counsel from Newton as well:

In the first place, be cautious that you do not degenerate into the spirit of a mere hearer, so as to place the chief stress of your profession upon running hither and there after preachers. There are many who are always upon the wing; and, without a due regard to what is incumbent upon them in the shop, in the family, or in private devotion—they seem to think they were sent into the world only to hear sermons, and to hear as many in a day as they possibly can. Such people may be fitly compared to Pharaoh's lean cows; they devour a great deal; but, for lack of a proper digestion, they do not flourish: their souls are lean: they have little solid comfort; and their profession abounds more in leaves than in fruit.

There are others gems in this letter, you might want to read the entire letter: On Hearing Sermons

The Spiral of Rebellion v. The Spiral of Redemption

There is a new sermon available.  If you get a chance to listen to the newest sermon you might need to see these.  In discussing Ephesians 4:17-24 we talked about the spiral of rebellious idolatry and the spiral of redemption.  In the coming weeks we will be spending more time on this spiral of redemption.  As I studied the text I thought this was a decent representation of the life of the Gentile (unbeliever) contrasted with the life of the believer. 

This God rejecting spiral is the result of idolatry (or as I have titled it Fighting the Gospel).  When we reject God and fight the gospel we become hardened and calloused (Losing Humanity).  Then this comes to full fruition and we are given over (as in Romans 1) or we give ourselves over (as in Ephesians 4) to sin. 

The God accepting spiral is the result of Ephesians 1-3 happening in our lives (coming to know God and being transferred from the kingdom of rebellion into the kingdom of redemption).  This spiral is contrasted with the idolatry of our former way of living.  Rather than dying in sin we are now fighting sin (Put off the old self).  We are being renewed in our spirits (growing in the gospel—or being redeemed into who God intends humanity to be).  And we begin growing in holiness and righteousness (we start looking like God).

Monday's Ministry Musing: Simple Sermon Prep

Occasionally I will have students ask me how to put together a Bible study or a sermon. Rather than giving them a full course on hermeneutics and homiletics I try to keep it simple. If they have a text or topic (if not we first discuss how to pick a text) in mind we go to the Scriptures and begin discussing sermon preparation.

Let’s imagine that a student feels led to preach on John 3:16. The first thing I do is tell the student to imagine time travelling; travelling back to the time when Jesus originally said these words, or when John originally wrote them. At this point I ask the student to imagine all of the things that would make it difficult for them to understand what Jesus is saying. We talk about language, culture, and the like.

At this point I pull out a sheet of paper and write the name Biblical Bob. I remind the student that what matters most in a Bible study or sermon is not what you want to say or what you think the audience needs to hear, but rather what God says. The first task in preaching John 3:16 is to understand the world of biblical Bob. This means that you study the text, you study the times, and you study the context. I usually offer a few resources to aid them in discovering these things.

Secondly I write the name Modern Marv. This is your audience. You need to know the people that you are preaching to. You need to have a vague idea of their struggles. There are many things that are universal to all men and women. And there are some things that are unique to your environment. We must be aware of these.

The task of preaching is building a bridge between Biblical Bob and Modern Marv (Or Post-Modern Percy if you prefer). How do you communicate the biblical message to our modern ears? In order to do this effectively you have to know what the message is—this is your chief task. At this point I usually draw a bridge between the two and begin discussing things that Biblical Bob has in common with Modern Marv. Then I remind the student that Jesus is the hero of both Biblical Bob and Modern Marv.

There are numerous other things that go into sermon preparation but I feel that explaining it this way helps the student to understand the task at hand. As they begin preaching you will find many students will fall off on one side or the other: either they will preach a very “biblical” message that has little to no relevance for today or they will preach a very “relevant” message that has little to no biblical fidelity. Having this framework in their mind will help them grow and be faithful to the text and to their audience.

Questions?

By the way, none of this is new to me. The way it is communicated might be, but the general principles can be found here among other places:

Between Two Worlds by John Stott
Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell
The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper
Spirit-Empowered Preaching by Arturo Azurdia
The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text by Sideny Greidanus
Preaching Christ in All of Scripture by Edmund Clowney
Preaching to a Post-Everything World by Zack Eswine

New Sermon Available

In case you missed it David has faithfully put Wednesday's sermon online. It's out to the right. This sermon is on Ephesians 3:1-13. I had preached on this text awhile back and took it in a little different direction this time.

Again the sound is a little rough (no fault of David's). We are hoping to get a lapel mic or something pretty soon and then the sound will be better.

A Work in Progress

In some areas I am needlessly shy. In some areas I am annoyingly vocal. In some areas I think I have the proper balance. One of my areas that I am shy is in the area of broadcasting my preaching and teaching. I have recently been convicted about this. (See my post on Cinderella dressing up). I guess part of me just hates getting picked apart. I think I may be a closet perfectionist. Or maybe it is pride. That has to go. This quote by James Denney has stuck with me:

"No man can bear witness to Christ and to himself at the same time.
No man can give the impression that he himself is clever and that Christ is
mighty to save."

I write all of this to say that the sermons that I preach on Wednesday nights will now be available for you to listen to...thanks to my good friend David. David has taken the time to record the messages, edit them, and post them online. Everything is really rough right now. This is no fault of David's but a fault of our equipment. Currently I am using three mic's set up around me because I cannot use only a pulpit mic (I move too much). We are in the process of securing a lapel mic or one of those ear-piece ones (so I can look like Britney Spears John Piper).

The sermon's will be available on the sidebar. Or you can go here at least for now. This week's sermon is on Ephesians 2:11-22. If you are curious as to what everyone was laughing at in the beginning it is this:

No clue who that poor kid is but I bet he got picked on in grade school.

Enjoying What Christ Purchased

One of the most difficult things for me to preach are Paul's prayers. For one the actual text is usually packed and lengthy; typically being one long sentence in the Greek for our 8 or 9 verses. It is also difficult to apply. Do we discuss what Paul prayed for? Do we discuss prayer? In this particular sermon on Colossians 1:9-14 (primarily focusing on v.9-10) we discuss the importance of having a knowledge of God's Will. If we desire to fully enjoy that which Christ has already purchased then one way of doing that is to be filled with a knowledge of God's Will. You can now view Wednesday's sermon online.

Two Recent Sermons

I apologize that I have not posted much lately. Just when it seemed that this blog was beginning to gain some momentum (as far as number of visitors) I found myself ridiculously busy, and unable to post much. Hopefully, today that will change.

There are two recent sermons that are now available online. The first one is the introduction to our new series on Colossians. The introduction and conclusion are under-developed in the written version that is available; for that I apologize. The body of the sermon is, however, very much intact. Although it was probably preached a little different than this "uncut" sermon. You can find it here.

The second sermon that is available is the one that was preached last night. It is on Colossians 1:3-8, You can find it here.

Jesus Christ, The All-Sufficient Treasure

Despite having to meet in the larger sanctuary, Wednesday night went quite well. Our attendance seemed to be up. But more importantly God was there. The music was phenomenal, I always love it when Brian is able to lead us. And the Word, I believe, came with much unction. Numerous times during the week I prayed that the Lord would overwhelm us with the gospel. What an insane task to preach on the benefits of the Gospel. It is but one cut in the beautiful diamond, that is Jesus. And to think that this too is but a word picture. Oh, how awesome must be the reality.

Here is my feeble attempt to display the All-Sufficiency of Jesus Christ.

New Series in 2008

Starting this Wednesday we will begin a new series entitled Enjoying Grace. The focal point of the sermon series is the notion that the gospel is meant to be enjoyed. If we wanted to get Piper-ish about it we would say, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him". The hope of this sermon series, then, is to admonish you to delight in God.

I am hoping to complete this sermon series in the 5 weeks in January. On February 6th I will be out of town and Chris Kuenzle will be preaching instead. With Isaiah's due date being January 7th it is possible that I will miss a Wednesday night, then the final sermon would be pushed back to February 13th.

The sermon series will be thus:

Sermon One: The Gospel is Meant to be Enjoyed
Sermon Two: The Impossible Burden of Legalism
Sermon Three: The Suicidal Exchange of Licentiousness
Sermon Four: The All-Sufficiency of the Christ and His Cross
Sermon Five: John Newton: An Example of Enjoying Grace