(resonance of reforming)
the blog of Jerry Bolton
The Primacy of Preaching in Worship
Nov 4th
Currently listening to: “Get Me Right” by Dashboard Confessional
Chris Carrabba is a bit of a tough one to pin down. It’s difficult to know, in his songs, whose voice he speaks from – his own, or those of various characters he creates or whose stories he tells. The answer to that question would seriously uncomplicate the question of what precisely it is that he believes. What he believes is an interesting question because, before he was “The Famous Chris Carrabba – King of All Emo and the man behind Dashboard Confessional”, he was the unknown frontman of Further Seems Forever, an essentially Christian technical rock band. This song is remarkable because it’s the first one (as Dashboard) in which Chris talks in fairly straightforward terms about faith, Jesus, doubt, sin, depravity, and such things. I’m still processing what’s going on – there’s a lot of history to reckon with, and there’s a lot of voices on this record (and all his Dashboard records, for that matter).
There are about 50 blogs on my feed reader. I read most of them in their entirety every day – it’s a part of my morning routine. One that I recently added was CJ Mahaney’s blog over at Sovereign Grace Ministries. Although I disagree with CJ on some points (and really, we could all say that about anybody if we’re being honest!) I’ve really appreciated his ministry – both in book form and in his preaching.
I had the opportunity to attend CJ’s breakout session this past April at the Gospel Coalition 2009 National Conference and it was, in many ways, a pivotal point for me. Through CJ’s message entitled “The Pastor’s Charge“, God sparked in my heart a desire for pastoral ministry. Does this mean I’m hoping to be a “Pastor” someday? God only knows. Right now, I’m just working through what it means to be pastoral in character and daily practice – both internally and externally. I firmly believe that all believing men are called to strive toward the standards required of all “overseers” as laid out in Titus and Timothy and such. So, in this season of life, one of my particular concerns is to nurture and develop in those areas – striving toward being (as Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 3) above reproach, faithful in monogamy, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not an addict, gentle, not violent, not a money-lover, a good father and husband, dignified, mature in the faith and constantly pursuing humility.
With that as background, you’ll understand my excitement over today’s post on CJ’s blog, made by his friend Jeff Purswell, entitled “Preaching vs. Worship?” (entitled so as to question the false dichotomy). I’d encourage you to read it. Here’s something that stood out to me:
Why? Why so much preaching? Why all this talking? Because the primary way we encounter God in worship is through the preaching of the Word of God.
Think about it this way. Normally, in what we call “worship,” we spend significant time—perhaps the whole time—addressing God, singing to him, praising him, extolling him, praying to him. Wonderful! But in preaching we are no longer addressing God; he is addressing us. Nothing is more important than this moment. And this is why the most important worship leader in your church is your pastor.
That really gets to the heart of preaching. The Bible is not simply a book that we talk about. When God’s Word is faithfully preached, God is addressing us. God is speaking. We hear not merely a man’s voice. We hear the voice of God.
And when God addresses us, what is the appropriate response? We respond with glad and reverent hearts, with voices that proclaim his praise, and with lives that increasingly reflect his character.
God addresses us with a saving Word. We respond to him with faith, praise, and obedience. That is the rhythm of worship.
This article caught me, striking me as both true and unnoticed. As I reflect on my week-to-week experience of preaching (thanks to my Pastor, for whom I am becoming more grateful constantly), I resonate with the above sentiments on a level I can’t really express at this point. Rare is the Sunday afternoon that I don’t feel at least a little weak at the knees because of the awareness that, despite all of the flawed humanity in the preacher, God spoke to me through the faithful preaching of his scriptures. Further, as I reflect on CJ’s message at the Gospel Coalition in April, I realize the same thing – God spoke through CJ’s exposition of scripture in preaching. He called me to greater faithfulness to Him and His truth. He called me to sacrificially serve and love His church. He called me to grow and mature in Christ. He called me to repent of myself. He called me to teach and learn, to suffer and wrestle, to counsel and to seek counsel. He called me to deny myself, take up my cross daily, and follow Jesus – the author and finisher, the perfecter, the archetype, the God-man, the dread warrior, the Holy One. He called me to lay down my life.
It’s not that He hadn’t said all of those things before – they’re all over Scripture. But, God spoke to me that day in a way I hardly understood at the time, and hardly do now. He spoke through the Bible. What an amazing gift!
May those who preach do so faithfully, and may those of us who listen to their faithful preaching worship with our lives faithfully in response. Amen.
…the difference between knowing and knowing
Oct 15th
Current Tunage: Plankeye – The Meaning Of It All
I’m among the few who really prefer the second iteration of Plankeye. That probably says a lot about my tastes, I guess. I also like Fanmail better than the first Plankeye. Go figure.
Preaching isn’t something I’ve done in a few years. Back when I lived in Peterborough, I had the opportunity on a handful of occasions to preach on a Sunday morning from the pulpit of my local church. I don’t think I understood at the time just how unusual that was – a young guy, not particularly qualified (no fancy degree or ordination… or pastorate) – preaching a Sunday morning message. Some of the “blame” can be attributed to the tradition I was a part of at the time (and still respect), but ultimately I’ll chalk it up to God’s grace.
There’s something spectacular about taking Scripture to people – and not just blathering at them for 45 minutes. There’s something amazing about really conveying truth through exposition… and watching as God makes his words powerful in people’s lives. It’s humbling how much he accomplishes. More humbling, of course, when in the process he has made his word powerful in the preacher’s own life as well.
This morning a new post by James MacDonald hit my RSS Reader. I recommend you check it out here. It’s a post passing down advice from his many years in preaching ministry, primarily concerned with how to communicate better.
With that as background, James’ basic advice to young preachers concerning how to better communicate as they preach… is this:
The simple move I made, and commend to you, is setting up the word before you need it. By making the word significant in the hearers’ mind before you want to use it, you accelerate your move from explanation to application.
He illustrates his point with this video – in which “know” is the significant word:
(Note: The video didn’t make the transition here. Check it out here: http://blog.harvestbiblefellowship.org/?p=3180 )
As I’ve found myself at one of life’s many crossroads following graduation, I’ve been considering deeply how and where God would have me serve him. I’d love to say I have some answers to that important question, but for now I’m still searching through his words, spending time wrestling with him… falling down and getting back up again. In the last couple days I’ve been reconsidering pursuing a Masters degree at a good Seminary, not out of some bondage to schooling (ha!), but because there is in me a strange, growing glimmer of desire to pursue it.
This morning I’ve been thinking more about the short clip that James posted (and that I’ve reposted above). He makes a brilliant point – Jesus doesn’t just know in a fact-based, sensory, empirical-data, observation-oriented way… he knows experientially, and that’s a whole new echelon of ‘knowing’.
Hearing it made me recall my pastor’s message this past week from Jeremiah 15, in which he highlighted Jeremiah 15:15a… which says “O LORD, you know“.
As I considered these two messages – one brief and provided as an illustration, the other a straightforward reminder… my mind was drawn to Philippians 3:
Philippians 3:8-11 ESV
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith– (10) that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, (11) that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Here’s what occurred to me: Both of the messages that I heard ruminated on the fact that God knows – not just factually and logically, but experientially… empathetically.
Here’s my response-thought: We are called to know God in the same way that He knows us. Experientially and empathetically; intimately – not just factually and empirically. The Apostle Paul nails this in Philippians 3 when he talks about knowing Christ in the same breath as he yearns to ’share in his sufferings’, and to become ‘like him in his death’. The grammar in English is a little tricky, but it is still clear that Paul isn’t talking about some kind of abstract, purely schoolbook knowledge… he’s talking about a knowledge characterized by intimacy of relationship. He’s talking about sharing in Jesus’ sufferings and becoming like Jesus in his death… right after saying he wants to know Jesus and his power.
Hopefully nobody’s surprised when I say that there’s a difference between knowing Jesus and truly knowing Jesus. Lots of people know Jesus factually or theologically or empirically… but so few know him experientially the way Paul talks about. So few even want to know him that way – it comes at a great cost.
It will cost you your hobbies, your time-wasters, your habits, your lust, your selfishness, your self-sufficiency, your fears, your lies, your leisure, your friends, your family, your comfort, your poverty, your wealth, your mental illness, your mental wholeness, your certainty… it will cost you everything if you choose to follow Jesus. In Luke 9:23, he called it your cross.
Lets take them up… let’s know him and follow him, not just with a head-full of factoids and memory verses we can’t remember the location of, but with hearts inclined toward him, with a sacrificial way of living that trusts him to provide and spares nothing that would get in the way of our being closer to him.
Someone asked me this week: “If God seems far away… who moved?”. By implication or otherwise, the answer is always “me”. Let’s do everything we can this week to close the gap – let’s be people who are willing to kill our hobbies, to kill our habits, to kill our entertainment… and to build defenses against their return… as we seek to truly know Jesus through scripture, through prayer, through obedience, and through all the ’sharing’ and ‘becoming’ that will surely come out of being faithful in those ways. Let’s stop just ‘knowing’, and start really ‘knowing’.