A Word to Preachers

Though some might not call me an old man, I am surely no longer a young man. As such, I've learned some things. And one of the things that I have found true thus far in my Christian walk is the need in my soul for preaching. My innermost being needs it. My mind, soul and body needs to be preached to. My spiritual life is so very often fueled by the power of sermons. 

Conversations are pleasant. Reading is a treat. I'm grateful for the various channels of communication we have access to through television, radio, newspapers, email and the internet. But the one thing my soul desperately needs and cannot flourish without is preaching. A well-delivered sermon will pierce my heart in a way that no human book has ever done. Songs and music are pleasant. God bless the hymnists and accompanists that lift my spirit. But give me a man in the pulpit with a Bible in his hand, the Word of God on his lips, and a sermon flowing from his heart, and I shall be satisfied to set aside every other means ordained by God for the perfection of my soul. 

Oh I thank the Lord for the many means of grace He provides. Let no one mistake that I mean to discount the reading of the Word, public worship, the priority of prayer, the partaking of the sacraments, the usefulness of fasting, the blessedness of fellowship, the joy of singing and the many ways employed by the Spirit of God to shape us into the image of Christ. But I must acknowledge a special, God-ordained priority to preaching. 

Preaching has always been God's way. Noah, that ancient builder of the Ark, is not called a "craftsman" or "carpenter" but a "preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5)." The prophets of old did many miracles, but preaching "Thus says the Lord" was the greatest part of their holy work. Even David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, says "I have preached righteousness in the great congregation (Psalm 40:9)." When John the Baptist came on the scene, he came preaching. "And he preached, 'There comes One mightier than I, after me (Mark 1:7)." The apostles were told to go into all the world "and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15)." Christ Himself declared the reason for His coming into the world and described it this way: "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent (Luke 4:43)."  This is no mere personal preference I am promoting. It is the Bible, not me, that says "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace (Romans 10:15, Is 52:7)."  

Because all this is true, I wish to speak a very brief word to those who have been called to be preachers. I hope that a word from the pew will not be mistaken as presumptuous, wearisome, or rude. I dare say that a good chef will care about the appetite of the diner, though that diner be untrained in the culinary arts. A sheep may not know everything about the work of a shepherd, but it knows when it is being sheared. Though I do not know all the depths of the struggles of the preacher's life, I know when a sermon has blessed my soul, and when it has not. 

With that in mind, I humbly make the following requests of all preachers today. 

First, I implore preachers to come with a text of Scripture. Let me know what portion of God's holy Word you are serving me today. Show me where it is, read it to my ears, define for me the borders of your message. No man can preach the whole Bible in a sermon. Pick a text. As the Promised Land was carefully carved out for the 12 tribes, with exact dimensions and limits, so you must show me the Scriptural territory you intend to divide to my soul today. Don't tell me you have a topic, if you do not have a text. I frankly do not care much about the message on your heart if it is not based on a passage in the Word. The creative titles you give to your sermon series would probably be better served by the book, chapter and verses you plan to expound. Preach THE Word. 

Second, I insist you speak to me with the authority that is appropriate of a herald of the King. If you hope to be listened to like a prince, do not stand before me as a court jester. Unto you has been granted the privilege and power to proclaim the Word of the Lord. You are an ambassador of Christ sent to me with news from my Master. Proclaim it! Away with your whispering of the truth, your casual chats, your comical show. Stand before me as a messenger of the Lord of hosts. The authority of His Word matters to my heart. Does it matter to you? I come ready to hear what my Savior says, what the Holy Spirit wrote, what the Father wants me to know. The eternal Trinity has stooped to speak to my soul through preaching, do not dare disrespect His dignity by your flippancy. You, preacher, have nothing to be proud of. But you have plenty of reason to be bold.  Handle your text with the reverence and respect due such holy words. Show me that you are prepared to submit to whatever your text says, because it is the very Word of God, and I will submit with you most gladly.

Third, I demand you to be clear with me. Let me say it again: be clear! Preach the point of your text, and get to it as quickly as possible. Life is too short, eternity too long, and my soul too needy to waste 30 minutes on your jibber-jabber. Let me know what the Lord is saying. Convince me that you have understood the Scripture and are about to explain it to me. Leave your messy study notes in your office. Your sermon must be an arrow: straight and sharp. Get to it. If you bumble your way through the passage your hearer's hearts won't be blessed, but by a miracle. Don't just walk me through the text. Preach it. Have a point and make it. If your hearer does not walk away having better understood the Scripture as a result of your sermon then you have not preached, you have only talked. Preach the Word clearly. This is the hard work you have been called to. Do it. Study, pray, weep, and think hard to know the meaning of your passage. Make it plain to me. Help me to understand. Use illustrations or quotes appropriately to nail the meaning in my mind. Do not assume my brain and heart are ready in an instant to understand what took you hours and days to discover. Preaching sloppy sermons is easy. Preaching pointedly is hard. I beg you from the bottom of my soul: do that difficult work.

My dear preacher friend, you have been called to the most noble work in this world. The rest of us may do good work, important work, appointed work...but you alone are doing lasting work. Heaven and hell will forever display the results of your holy employment. Christ alone will have the glory. And every man must answer in eternity for their own response to your gospel. But you have been set aside as a special instrument to preach to immortal beings about the only thing that truly matters in life. May the weight of this responsibility drive you more and more to Christ who is more than able to hold you up. Preacher, you are a gift from Christ to His church. I am sorry if you are not told that often enough. I commend you to the Lord and desire only that you stir up that gift that is in you to the salvation of many souls. 

To God be the Glory. 

A Sabbath Day's Journey...

"Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey" Acts 1:12


"They" were the apostles, and they had just witnessed the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Olives. What should they do now? Jesus told them. He commanded them "not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father," that is, the Holy Spirit. Christ's body had left, but His word and authority remained. They obeyed their departed Savior's instruction. They returned from Mount Olivet to Jerusalem.

Then comes this strange little tidbit of information. Luke tells us that from Olivet to Jerusalem was  "a Sabbath day's journey." What does that mean, and why include it here?

What it means is impossible to know from the Bible alone, as this is the only place this phrase occurs in Scripture. But Jewish historians have confirmed from other sources that the distance is precisely 2,000 cubits, or just over half a mile.

At some point in Jewish history it appears to have become acceptable to travel this short distance on the Sabbath, but no further. Thus the distance is termed "a Sabbath day's journey." Maybe it was an attempt to further clarify the meaning of Exodus 16:29 where Moses commanded the wandering Israelites saying "let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." The context there was the gathering of manna. But maybe to accommodate the walk to the tabernacle for worship, a distance of 2,000 cubits would have to be permitted. Anything beyond that was apparently "work," and forbidden by the 4th commandment.

So maybe this "Sabbath day's journey" is a leftover expression from the OT era, important to a manna-gathering, tabernacle-visiting people but no one else.

But if so...why would Luke, and more importantly the Holy Spirit Himself, preserve this curious phrase for NT readers like ourselves if it was to become irrelevant to our modern situation?

Maybe because the phrase is not irrelevant at all. Maybe it is more important now and to our generation than ever before.

Think about it. The "Sabbath day's journey" was an attempt to limit the intrusion of busyness into a day designed for God's people to rest. We need this reminder too. The concept of a weekly day of rest was God's idea from creation. Jews practiced this on the seventh day. Today Christians celebrate this on Sunday. But the ordinance comes from creation, and found expression in the very moral law of God alongside other perpetual commands concerning things like idolatry, adultery and murder.

Are we not living in a culture that offers us 24/7 opportunities for a hurried, busy, constantly-going lifestyle? And has not the church bought into this mentality by virtually abandoning any notion of a "Lord's day" in our preaching and teaching to modern Christians? We have adopted the mindset that as long as you can make it to church (most of the time), the rest of the day is yours. Shop, play, work, exercise, entertain...whatever you want. The concept of a restful day to care mostly for the needs of our souls has vanished.

We don't want to become legalists. The scribes and Pharisees apparently took this notion of a "Sabbath day's journey" and found ways to extend their travel by randomly assigning any spot, such as a tree, as their "new home" and could thus travel an additional 2,000 cubits further to get to wherever they wanted to go. This is hypocrisy, not piety. They entirely missed the spirit of the rule. What was designed as a practical way to encourage a peaceful, restful, God-centered day, they took as nothing but a burden, and looked for loopholes to get around it.

What is our "Sabbath day's journey?" What are the practical restrictions we have prayerfully placed in our lives to promote the Lord's Day as a day of resting in Christ, both physically and spiritually? Maybe not doing routine housework and yard work on Sunday is a good one. What about committing to both a morning and evening worship service, to protect the day from other intruding obligations? What about refraining, as much as possible, from activities which require other people to work for the sake of our entertainment or refreshment? What about asking the boss to have Sunday's off?

Again, I don't think we become legalists simply by seeking practical ways to promote piety and the keeping of the 4th commandment. Modern conveniences and technology such as cars allow us to travel greater distances without the day become excessively busy or exhausting. But they can also easily become a convenient way to avoid the rest which the Lord has wisely prescribed for our body and soul.

Our culture wants us to bear the yoke of perpetual activity. We feel the need to be constantly "moving and doing" or our lives are simply not worth living. The horror of inactivity is implied by advertisers and social media which tell us if we are not constantly doing something worth sharing...we are unimportant and insignificant as human beings. Oh how much better is the yoke of Christ, who said "my burden is easy" and in Him "you will find rest for your souls."