Cloud of Witnesses
July 1, 1997
The only thing that makes preaching worthwhile to me is for Christ to speak through my sermon, because I don't like preaching enough to put myself through such a painful process for any goal lower than that. On the other hand, when the goal is to preach Christ, when the passage is studied through and prayed through and practiced through to provide the venue for Jesus to speak to the congregation, then the process is worth the effort. The congregation figures out that the sermon is dead-serious business; pretty soon they begin listening for the voice of Christ. Eventually people invite their friends, because something important is happening at worship, as opposed to something enjoyable. Speaking through the preached Word, Christ speaks to listeners personally, drawing them to himself for salvation, for repentance from sin, for comfort, for commitment to ministry. Every sermon, no matter how much exposition or story-telling it contains, must have as its goal Revelation 3:20: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (KJV). But the voice of Christ in the sermon is hidden. It is difficult to know how it works, let alone how to prepare a sermon so it will happen. But Christ does speak, when we exposit the Word properly and when we preach with the desire that he speak. But how does he speak? How does Christ call sinners to himself? It's easy to get lost in this task without some idea of how Christ works in it. No one analyzed it better than the Puritans. Flavel's dews and sunbeams
The best account of how Christ speaks to us personally in the preached Word is a collection of twelve sermons on Revelation 3:20 preached by John ...
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