Tags
christianity, church, expository sermons, Haggai, John 3:16, John Piper, leadership, Pastoral Ministry, preachers, preaching, Richard Baxter
I’m not a preacher. I’ve wished that I was. I’ve tried to be. But I just don’t seem to have what it takes.
However, I love to listen to good, passionate, expository preaching. And I’m extremely thankful for 
the opportunity to hear preaching like that every Sunday. Last week, for instance, my pastor preached a single sermon on the book of Haggai. It was great. Do yourself a favor and listen to it here.
That’s a digression, but only a slight one. It hadn’t even occurred to me to mention that sermon when I sat down at the keyboard two minutes ago, but it came to mind because it’s a good example of what I had intended to write about. The original reason for this post (which I’ll move on to now) was to quote something John Piper said about preaching in a sermon last May.
Some of you are familiar with Piper’s description of preaching as “expository exultation.” After defining that phrase in this particular sermon, he proceeds to point out that…
Preaching does not come after worship in the order of the service. Preaching is worship. My job is not done if I only see truth and show it to you. The devil could do that—for his own devious reasons. My job is to see the glory of the truth and to savor it and exult over it as I explain it to you and apply it for you. That’s one of the differences between a lecture and a sermon.
A short time later, he continues with this…
If you are used to a twenty-minute, immediately practical, relaxed talk, the understanding of preaching that I just described doesn’t lead there. I won’t preach twenty minutes but twice that long; I do not aim to be immediately practical but eternally helpful; and the condition of my soul is not relaxed but standing vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people any of whom this week could go over the edge [emphasis mine].
I love that last statement. I hear in it the spirit of another faithful, hard-working pastor, Richard Baxter, who once said that he preached “as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.” I yearn for a day when all churches everywhere are filled with leaders who both shepherd and preach with that kind of passion and urgency.
I shouldn’t stop there, though. I might as well yearn for a day when every Christian, whether male or female, young or old, would burn with passion for Christ. If that were to happen, we might once again be accused of turning the world upside down (Acts 17:6).
PS: You can listen to the entire Piper sermon (which is actually not about preaching, but about John 3:16) here; or, you can watch a video clip of only the aforementioned portion of the sermon below.
Amen, brother.
You and I are the same age. Like you, I enjoy passionate preaching, be it expository or topical. One thing I wish is that I had spent more time in a Brethren church up here in Canada where it was generally expected that the men of the church would preach several times a year. I think that I have the gift and this denomination affords lay-people that opportunity.
Anyway, you say you’re not a preacher, but maybe, deep down you know you want to take another run at it. You just wrote a blog post about preaching, you embedded a video about preaching, you say you enjoy passionate preaching. Having been exposed to some good teaching, you probably wouldn’t be horrible at it!
Look for opportunities. Maybe there’s a senior’s home nearby where they need help with Sunday afternoon services. Maybe there’s a chance to get up and share something at a men’s group. I’ve had the opportunity to do some speaking in a denomination that’s not my own, but was very needy when the pastor was away. I’m sure the first few times (years ago) were truly awful, but today I’m a lot more confident.
Never say never (or never again.)
Thanks for the encouragement, brother. I’ve attempted to preach on several occasions and at several different time periods in my life, and each attempt leads to greater certainty that I’m not well equipped for the task. That’s okay, though; I’ll continue to serve however I can, whenever I can.
Hi Barry, Thanks for visiting my website. As far as the carnival goes, I’m ok with you submitting something in the last few months as long as you haven’t submitted it previously. I guess i never thought about that. I might add that to my blog carnival page and thanks for asking! I am new to doing this, so if I miss something, please feel free to call me out. The posts must be submitted the Thursday before the article publish date. I put it out every 2 weeks. I was doing it every week, but I’m kind of busy…so every 2nd and 4th Saturday is the publish date and the previous Thursday is the due date. You can submit it to me or on the blog carnival website. Just hollar if you have any other questions!
Do you go to Bethlehem? If so, HI FELLOW BB Attender! I also go there. Nice to meet ya!
MB,
Thanks for visiting. I don’t attend Bethlehem (I live in southeast Missouri), but I’ve benefited a lot from John Piper’s writing and preaching over the years. Also, thanks for the information on your carnival. I’ll probably submit something for the next one. Blessings!
Barry,
Its been a long time! But, I still voted for you in SBC Voices March Madness! Remember when I beat you by 1 vote last year and you bought me a book? I remember. lol
I remember too, brother. Did you enjoy the book? I appreciate your friendship and encouragement, Matt.
Barry, the post should be fine. You haven’t submitted before, so its ok! Thanks!
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I won’t argue with the need for urgency in sermons/homilies.
I won’t preach twenty minutes but twice that long; I do not aim to be immediately practical but eternally helpful
As a caution, I’d question any implication that a forty minute sermon would actually be eternally helpful, insofar as this is an across the board. Certainly it would help some people, but different people have different attention spans. Shorter attention spans can still engage in the “thin” aspects of Christian religion but they might need shorter bursts to do it in. As a writer I can be pretty long-winded myself, so I understand Piper’s leaning towards the longer sermons. But if I were a preacher or speaker to laypersons (theology-wise, or ordination-wise) I think I’d try and keep it shorter.
I don’t want to discount, again the urgency factor. I think that’s a really good way to phrase it. Letting souls relax is not the business of a pastor, to be sure. Just wanted to clarify that the lengthy sermon was a concern among many internal praises for what Piper was saying and what you were saying.
Hey, Dan. I understand the concern, and I’ve heard arguments both ways, but I still agree with Piper on that issue. I’ve sat for years under both types of preaching (both biblically sound), and I greatly prefer the longer, more fully-developed expository sermon. My current pastor’s sermons are routinely 50 minutes long, and I’m rarely ready for them to end.
The need for Biblically based, passionate, expository preaching is very great today.
Luckily my pastor is currently going through the entire book of Hebrews (almost done.)
It is a great need. Thanks for visiting, Greg. Feel free to leave a link in the comments to your pastor’s series. I love Hebrews!
Another nice piece Barry, I am a regular visitor of the desiring God website and quite frankly I do enjoy listening to John Piper, I really admire the effort he puts into studying scriptures as well as exposing truth. I believe that 20 mins is too short to do a thorough exposition on certain subjects, I don’t mean to be brash but I feel a lot of Christians have become too accustomed to the “fast food” “fast cars” “fast everything” syndrome that they can’t endure sound biblical exposition.
I wonder how many Christians can subject themselves under the tutelage of a preacher who teaches all night, well some early Christians could,
“On the first day of the week, we all met together to break bread, and Paul spoke to the group. Because he was planning to leave the next day, he kept on talking until midnight. We were all together in a room upstairs, and there were many lamps in the room. A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window. As Paul continued talking, Eutychus was falling into a deep sleep. Finally, he went sound asleep and fell to the ground from the third floor. When they picked him up, he was dead. Paul went down to Eutychus, knelt down, and put his arms around him. He said, “Don’t worry. He is alive now.” Then Paul went upstairs again, broke bread, and ate. He spoke to them a long time, until it was early morning, and then he left”. Acts 20:7-11
If today’s congregations were teleported to that night, there probably would have been a lot of others besides Eutychus falling out of the windows!