January 16, 2009

Preach Jesus

The following is the opening for the first sermon preached by Charles Spurgeon in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, March 25, 1861. His text was “And daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” (Acts 5:42)

I DO not know whether there are any persons here present who can contrive to put themselves into my present position and feel my present feelings. If they can effect that, they will give me credit for meaning what I say when I declare that I feel totally unable to preach. And, indeed, I think I shall scarcely attempt a sermon, but rather give a sort of declaration of the truths from which future sermons shall be made. I will give you bullion rather than coin, the brook from the quarry and not the statue from the chisel.

It appears that the one subject upon which men preached in the apostolic age was Jesus Christ. The tendency of man, if left alone is continually to go further and further from God and the Church of God itself is no exception to the general rule. For the first few years during and after the apostolic era, Christ Jesus was preached but gradually the Church departed from the central point and began rather to preach ceremonials and church offices rather than the Person of their Lord. So has it been in these modern times—we also have fallen into the same error, at least to a degree—and have gone from preaching Christ to preaching doctrines about Christ, inferences which may be drawn from His life, or definitions which may be gathered from His discourses.

We are not content to stand like angels in the Sun—our fancies disturb our rest and must needs fly on the sunbeams—further and further from the glorious source of light. In the days of Paul it was not difficult at once, in one word, to give the sum and substance of the current theology. It was Christ Jesus. Had you asked any one of those disciples what he believed, he would have replied, “I believe Christ.” If you had requested him to show you his Body of Divinity, he would have pointed upward reminding you that divinity never had but one body, the suffering and crucified human frame of Jesus Christ who ascended up on high.

To them Christ was not a notion refined, but unsubstantial—not an historical personage who had left only the savor of his character behind but whose person was dead. To them He was not a set of ideas, not a creed, nor an incarnation of an abstract theory—but He was a Person. One whom some of them had seen, whose hands they had handled—no, One of whose flesh they had all been made to eat and of whose blood they had spiritually been made to drink. Christ was Substance to them. I fear He is too often but shadow to us. He was a reality to their minds. To us—though, perhaps, we would scarcely allow it in so many words—rather a myth than a man—rather a person who was, than He who was and is and is to come—the Almighty.

I have listened to many lifeless sermons in my time. In many cases, I could not tell you why they were lifeless. I supposed it was my own hard heart at fault. Surely, this was the case sometimes. Many times, I wondered if the preacher had hindered God from visiting the message through his own sin. It was obvious sometimes that the preacher was preaching his message and not the message of the text. However, I never really considered what Spurgeon has said in the above sermon. That is not in those terms.

I would say the message lacked a personal connection, or genuine feeling. That is it was hard to believe that the preacher meant what he was saying or that he cared about helping the people. It is analogous to this: if I start to tell you about my son’s abilities, you know that I am serious, and probably over inflated in my opinion of him. This happens because I love him so much. If Christ is real to the preacher, and has a great love for Him then it will show in his descriptions of Him. There won’t be a lot of dead orthodoxy, but a celebration of His glorious person.

Therefore, here is the challenge for preacher to servant, get to know our Lord intimately. Read Scripture to know Him better. Avoid theological gymnastics, that is don’t be mesmerized by knowledge rather be mesmerized by God. That is not to say you should not study theology. However, make sure it is not just academic. Let the study of theology cause you to marvel in His person. Amen.