Well or not at all

        It is October 14. I have been working on my 2022 sermon calendar for about 16 days. It is not quite 1/2 complete. I can tell you what books I will be preaching from, but I do not yet have all the specific texts chosen for the 52 weeks of the year. “What about vacations?” You might ask. If I am away from the pulpit for a week and need to have someone fill the pulpit, I will provide them with the text for that week so that they can prepare a sermon that fits into the plan for the year. “Hmm?” You might ask. “Shouldn’t the fill-in preacher choose his own text?” Answer. “No.” It is still my responsibility to prepare the overall plan for preaching and teaching in my congregation. Conscientious pulpit-supply preachers know that they are supplementing not replacing the ongoing work of the resident minister. I appreciate the fact that I have at least one Elder who has read my supplied sermon manuscript every Sunday before I even preach the sermon. When he fills the pulpit, he knows not only what he will preach but what I have preached and should have a pretty good idea of what’s to come.

         A specific task that I have had to undertake this week is the mundane job of reading my own past work. I began preaching regularly in July 1981. That, by my account, is 40 years ago. I have held several ministries. I have been in my current pulpit for parts of 6 years. The NT contains the “Fourfold Gospel.” No matter how you cut it, I’m covering material every year that 1) I have preached before—often a lot. 2) I have preached to this specific audience. That means I must make sure that I’m not unduly repeating myself, becoming stale, or not doing original exegesis. I have read past messages from the Gospel of John and the 1^st Epistle of John this week. There is nothing more testing than looking back at old sermons and trying to determine what was going on in August 2013 (1 John) or winter 2018 (John). And then there is this. 

         Amid all the clutter on the cabinet beneath it you might notice that the date on this sermon, which is from the book of Judges is December 30, 1984. My filing system then: stuff everything in my preaching Bible. I am grateful for good mentors, good books, and a good education that helped me to come to my senses and do a better job of researching, documenting, writing, storing, and preaching the Word of God. I hope to contribute my part to that ongoing body of instruction which makes for good preaching now, and into the future.

         My goal this month, in writing these essays whilst I am myself doing what they encourage is to convince you (if you have not already been) that preaching is the highest calling you could ever receive. Preaching is the most significant form of communication disseminated in the world. This is a work which can consume a lifetime, and when your life work is complete you will only have scratched the surface. It is important. It is critical. It is essential. It should be done with excellence, planning-aforethought, prayer, thought, reading, wrestling, blood, sweat, and tears.

         There are times I look back at my ministry performance and I am embarrassed. I have not taken the work seriously. I have not studied diligently. I have written cute and clever sermons rather than clear and wise sermons. I have been glib when I should have been serious. I have approached the sacred desk without godly fear, finding myself before a burning bush, standing on holy ground with shod feet, dishonoring the voices which have spoken before me, and the messages brought down by all our predecessors from the Holy Mountain.

            You and I, we serve a King. We are His spokesmen. We focus the energies of His people upon His desires for them. We help God’s people to understand the Mission and their place within it. We speak God’s cure to a sin-sick world. We tell the old, old story of Jesus. We call sinners to repentance. We remind the world of sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come. We bring hope to the hopeless. We bring comfort to the hurting. If you don’t want to do that to the best of your ability…then don’t do it at all.