05.27.08
The Importance of Preaching
Jason Robertson has a great post over at the Fide-O blog on preaching as the foundation of Christian unity. You can find it here http://fide-o.blogspot.com/2008/05/importance-of-preaching.html
05.05.08
Don’t Waste Your Pulpit – By John Piper
Follow the link below to hear about one of the ways in which pastors today waste their pulpit (it is approxmiately 4 1/2 minutes long)…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xiad6nKJCw
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 (ESV) – 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
05.01.08
Why I Preach from the English Standard Version of the Bible
I remember the days when I was a kid in church and there was basically only one translation… the King James Version. Yes, I know there were other translations such as the Revised Standard Version (which everyone said was “liberal”) and Good News for Modern Man, but pretty much everyone used the King James Version.
That is not the case today. Trying to decide which Bible translation is best can give one a headache pretty fast. Flipping through the pages of a recent catalog from a Christian bookseller reveals over ten different versions of the Bible. I know in the context in which I preach there are people who use the King James Version, New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New International Version, New Living Translation, English Standard Version and the Message.
So why do I preach from the English Standard Version (ESV)?
I didn’t start out with the ESV. I used the New American Standard Bible (NASB) all throughout seminary and for the first three years of preaching at Maranatha Baptist Church. But in January of 2008, I switched over to the ESV. My reasons were several:
1) I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) – 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
2 Peter 1:21 (ESV) – 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is the very Word of God, inspired by Him in the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek autographs. When I read and study and preach from Scripture, I want to be confident that the translation I am using is faithful to the original words of Scripture.
The ESV is an “essentially literal translation” of the Bible. The translators have attempted to capture the exact wording, grammar and syntax of the original text as closely as possible. This stands in sharp contrast with many other modern “translations” which utilize a “thought-for-thought” philosophy of translation (i.e. NIV, TNIV, NLT), rather than a “word-for-word” philosophy.
Yes, there are other literal translations available in the English language. The NASB, KJV and NKJV are all particularly literal. However, I prefer the ESV for the next reason listed here…
2) The translators of the ESV have taken great care to retain the literary beauty of the Bible.
The Bible is a literary masterpiece, as one would expect from a Book which was inspired by the living and true God. However, some translations lose the literary beauty of Scripture in maintaining a literal translation theory.
A good example of this is the NASB. From my (amateur) work in translating the New Testament from the Greek, I have found the NASB to be the most literal translation among the common English translations of the Bible (I think I prefer the NKJV in the Old Testament… the jury is still out.) However, the translators of the NASB are so literal, that often the wording is stilted or awkward. This is particularly noticeable in the poetry of the Old Testament. Read the Psalms in the NASB, then read it in the KJV or ESV and you will immediately see what I mean! The NASB, though quite literal, simply lacks the poetic beauty which is inherent in the Word of God.
The KJV is hard to beat in terms of literature. The translation work in the KJV is extraordinary. However, let’s be honest… some of the words in the KJV translation are simply not used in the English language today. I know die-hard KJV people will disagree with me, but I find it more difficult to read the KJV than other modern translations (and I read fairly well.) I can only imagine how difficult it is to understand for those who are completely unfamiliar with this older style of English.
Now the NKJV is excellent. It combines the aspects of being a literal translation of the Bible with the literary excellence of the KJV. However, I prefer the ESV for the following reason…
3) I believe the Greek text in the UBS Greek New Testament (4th edition) and the Novum Testamentum Graece (27th edition) is to be preferred over the Textus Receptus.
Although this is not a major issue and it does not affect any orthodox Christian doctrine, I believe that the Greek text in the UBS/NA27 (which, in the case of textual variants, attempts to critically examine both internal and external textual evidence to determine the authentic text) is superior to the Textus Receptus. This can be a rather technical argument… and often it is not all that edifying. If you want to read more about this, you can find some excellent articles on the Pulpit Magazine website (the first article in the four-part series can be found here http://www.sfpulpit.com/2007/01/18/a-short-kjv-detour-part-1/ )
With all this said, the reason I preach from the ESV is because I believe that the Bible is the very Word of God and I believe the ESV best communicates the literal words of inspired Scripture in a manner which reflects the literary beauty of this most supernatural book.
For more information on the English Standard Version, you can check out their website, located here http://www.esv.org/
04.30.08
Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats? – By Charles H. Spurgeon
Many of you may have already read this brief sermon which most attribute to Charles Spurgeon (the authorship is sometimes debated) but in case you haven’t…
Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
(1834-1892)
An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it during the past few years. It has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.
From speaking out as the Puritans did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.
My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the church. If it is a Christian work, why did not Christ speak of it? “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). That is clear enough. So it would have been if He had added, “and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel.” No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to him.
Then again, “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers .., for the work of the ministry” (Eph. 4:11-12). Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.
Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles. What was the attitude of the church to the world? Ye are the salt” (Matt. 5:13), not the sugar candy—something the world will spit out not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance, “Let the dead bury their dead” (Matt. 8:22) He was in awful earnestness.
Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear him say, “Run after these people Peter and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow.” Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.
In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of this gospel of amusement! Their message is, “Come out, keep out, keep clean out!” Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.
After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the church had a prayer meeting but they did not pray, “Lord grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are.” If they ceased not from preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). That is the only difference! Lord, clear the church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her, and bring us back to apostolic methods.Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the church met them halfway, speak and testify. Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment has been God’s link in the chain of the conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts. The need of the hour for today’s ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.
04.28.08
Why Preach the Word?
In an online post dated January 21, 2008, Dr. John MacArthur listed 7 good reasons why preachers must preach the Word of God:
1) Preaching the Word of God lets God speak rather than man, because it declares God’s own Word.
2) Preaching the Word is the only right way to preach because it brings the preacher into direct contact with the mind of the Holy Spirit, the author of Scripture.
3) Preaching the Word is the only right way to preach because it forces the preacher to proclaim all of God’s revelation, including those truths that even many believers find hard to learn or accept.
4) Preaching the Word is the only right way to preach because it promotes biblical literacy in a congregation, not only through what is learned from the sermon itself but also through the increased desire to study
5) Preaching the Word is the only right way to preach because it carries ultimate authority.
6) Preaching the Word is the only right way to preach because only that kind of preaching can transform both the preacher and the congregation.
7) It is His own Word, and only His own Word, that the Lord calls and commissions His preachers to proclaim.
Read the whole post here http://www.sfpulpit.com/2008/01/21/why-preach-the-word/
