Christian preacher, his calling is surprising. In fact, your life is amazing. I hope you are impressed by your miraculous existence in Christ. As a Christian, you are not unique, but it is amazing.
When did Jesus Christ rise from the dead?From the Creator, he sat to the right of God in heaven (Ephesians 1. 19-20). This is where the God-man is today, waiting for the last trumpet, as I write, he’s there. While he preaches, he’s here.
- After telling us that Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.
- Paul tells us that you are sitting there with him.
- Now.
- Today.
God gave us life with Christ, . . . He resurrected us and made us sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus; (Ephesians 2. 5?6).
Did he put you there when he gave you his life? When he made you a new creation. It’s done, it’s not something to do yet. But it’s ready. You, a Christian preacher, are now sitting with Jesus at the right hand of God.
?. . your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colosssenses 3. 3?4). Today, incomparable glory. Then, when he came, the glory manifested itself. Christian preacher, are you surprised by his life?
His call to preach is astonishing! You share Paul’s call for the Lord Jesus, don’t you?You know what Jesus said to him:
?. . , whom I send you, to open their eyes and convert them from darkness to the light and power of Satan unto God, that they may receive the remission of sins and inheritance among those sanctified by faith in me. ? (Acts 26,17?18)
Are you called to do what only God can do?Open your eyes to the blind?(2 Corinthians 4. 4). Only the Creator of the universe can say, “There is light!” in a heart blinded by sin and Satan?And wait for the blind to see. And that’s exactly what he says to blind hearts.
“He himself shook in our hearts to enlighten knowledge of god’s glory in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4. 6).
If this is not surprising enough, can God give blind sinners a real view of their glory in the face of Christ and lift them from spiritual death?Then add the following: it does it through you. With his preaching! You’re just a man. A finite and fallible sinner, called a servant of the Risen Christ.
“For in the wisdom of God the world did not know him by his own wisdom, he pleased God to save those who believe through the madness of preaching” (1 Corinthians 1:21).
When you proclaim the glories of God in Christ, God saves; God opens the eyes of the heart (Ephesians 1:18). It illuminates the glory of Christ, which makes this beauty happily irresistible. Be amazed, Christian preacher, God saves sinners with his preaching.
Experiencing this is exciting. Even today I received a letter from a man who became through the preaching of several shepherds, I was one of them. He wrote,
“[He] continued to explain the following verses, and at that time everything made sense. God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, showed me that he had cried to Jesus because he had given me him, that Jesus never cast me out and that his will was that he would never lose me, I began to cry with joy and filled myself with the most wonderful feeling of warmth and comfort, from that day I discovered that God has placed in my heart the desire to seek him daily , adapt all aspects of my life to your word and fight sin in my life.
Preaching is not just teaching. It is not just about giving advice, it is not a debate. Preaching is a sincere proclamation of reality communicated by God-inspired spokespersons in the Bible.
Paul said, “Is all scripture inspired by God? (2 Timothy 3:16). Then he said, “Preach the word?! (2 Timothy 4. 2). I mean?Proclaim (Greek k? Russ?) The word?! And among this highest of all the praises of Scripture (inspired by God), and this commandment to “speak the word” is the most surprising preamble of the Bible to a great order.
This preamble transforms the order of proclaiming the word into an exalted, solemn and of the utmost importance:
I am summoning you
before God
who will judge alive
and dead,
for your event
and for his kingdom: preach the word! (2 Timothy 4. 1,2)
I don’t know anything about that in Biblia. Es unparalleled preparation for a three-word order. The proclamation of the word of God is in obedience to a solemn and apostolic “request”. This requirement to preach with power “in the presence of God”, the Creator of all things.
This happens “in the presence of Christ Jesus”, the Son of God. Does this happen in the light of a big one? Test: last part of the one we preached. Does that always come in the presence of those who will be judged, living or dead, this happens in the certainty of Christ’s personal manifestation on this planet, and this happens in the power and presence of the whole kingdom of Christ.
Brother, your call to preach is amazing!
Stay awake with the wonder of your call. If you’re not awake for this, neither would your people, and that would be tragic.
You stand before God’s people and tell them the greatest realities in the world; you can rejoice with them in the most exalted truths in the universe; You explain to them the most mysterious wonders ever conceived in the spirit of God. Are you an administrator of God’s mysteries? (1 Corinthians 4. 1).
Do you represent the highest authority in the world?” God makes his call through you: to be reconciled with God?(2 Corinthians 5:20). You meditate day and night, as part of your vocation, in realities more precious than gold. And silver, can you chew, taste and tell the most delicious truths out there?Truths sweeter than honey and ray distillation (Psalm 19. 10), sweeter than the world’s most intense sweetness.
God fills his mouth not only with truth, but with a beautiful truth, an infinitely precious truth, a deeply satisfying truth. That’s why his job is to preach, not just teach. Preaching, not just explaining. Preach, not just argue, debate or defend. God created the uniqueness of preaching because of the uniqueness of reality communicated in His inspired words.
Yes, these words and reality must be explained. Preaching includes the dissemination of biblical texts, or is not preached. The final reality, the glorious reality, comes to us through the written texts, but careful ex display is not preaching. Not yet.
Preaching is the effect of a surprising reality, transmitted by truth, mediated by the text and revealed by the Spirit. And this effect is not boredom. It’s not emotional neutrality, it’s not lukewarm. It’s not foolishness, cunning or lightness, it’s not obscene emotion. This is not a pathetic melodrama, it is not a pseudo-solitude.
The effect of surprising reality, transmitted by truth, mediated by the text and revealed by the Spirit in preaching, is the exaltation of the word or, more precisely, the overflow of the lips of the emotion aroused by the Spirit, typical of the word. reality of the text, but it is never neutral. Emotionally neutral preaching does not integrate the reality of text; He betrays you.
Preaching is a sincere proclamation of reality communicated by authors inspired by the word of God, the Bible, I call it “explanatory exaltation”. Isn’t that one or the other? Exposure or jubilation. Both are at the same time. The Call of the Christian Preacher is to enlighten the spirit by exposing the Word of God and to animate the heart of the glory it carries.
That’s amazing. Really impossible. For a man He enlightens the blind. Encouraging the dead. It’s an amazing call. The way the miracle happens, I call it explanatory exaltation.
If you’re wondering what this description of preaching means, I tried to share my burden in the book Exultation Exultation: Christian Preaching as Worship. I hope that you will find there the way and, through it, the power of the surprising call of Christian preaching.
? Exultation of the exhibition? It is a book built on the basis of two previous titles:?A peculiar glory and “Supernatural Reading of the Bible”. In this article, John Piper aims to demonstrate that the purpose of the sermon is not only to explain the text, but also to provoke praise by being, in itself, an expression of worship of God.