Study as digging wells
Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 8:39 am
After years of preaching and teaching, the passion for preparation may somehow die out. Rarely counsel with commentaries. Avoid Greek or Hebrew. Study the audience to earn their approval instead of a faithful exegeses. Lose appetite to read the Bible and theology. Dig not deeply enough the words of God, the well of life. Let preaching become merely a routine.
Recently I started to preach on Genesis. I began from the first chapter, and wonder why I take it so long to preach on this book since serving as pastor. A great article reminds that we preach intensively on the New Testament, very much outnumbering the Old. Maybe we feel it is more contemporary for the modern audience to preach on the New. Maybe we think it is easier to abstract the application. Maybe it is simply easier to prepare. And the congregation listen to an incomplete message. They learn God’s love without submitting to his righteousness. The grace is giving way for a cheap prosperity promises without taking price for discipleship we’ve seen since the Old Testament times. We miss much for a comprehensive coverage of the New and Old Testament. Need persistently to dig deeper till we ourselves learn something new, a fresh spring water from the wells of the Scripture. God shows mercy on us preacher in such digging.
Recently I started to preach on Genesis. I began from the first chapter, and wonder why I take it so long to preach on this book since serving as pastor. A great article reminds that we preach intensively on the New Testament, very much outnumbering the Old. Maybe we feel it is more contemporary for the modern audience to preach on the New. Maybe we think it is easier to abstract the application. Maybe it is simply easier to prepare. And the congregation listen to an incomplete message. They learn God’s love without submitting to his righteousness. The grace is giving way for a cheap prosperity promises without taking price for discipleship we’ve seen since the Old Testament times. We miss much for a comprehensive coverage of the New and Old Testament. Need persistently to dig deeper till we ourselves learn something new, a fresh spring water from the wells of the Scripture. God shows mercy on us preacher in such digging.