Going Home for Christmas

My family and I are heading home for Christmas. Blogging will be on the back burner while I "strap on the feedbag," enjoying all those Christmas favorites--whatever food is set before me! Where is "home" you ask? It is in the Bootheel of Missouri--Kennett. You might know Kennett as the home of Sheryl Crow, but it is also the home of the much less famous Patton gang.

My prayer for you is the same for us--May the Christ of Christmas be very real to you each day! Let's allow God's Word to be our last word for now.

"Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you; you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased" [Luke 2:10-14 NASB].

Theology of Preaching-Further Thoughts

Here are a few more of my favorite quotes from Mohler's articles. Brackedted comments are mine.

• All Christian preaching is unabashedly Christological.
• If preaching takes its ground and derives its power from God's revelation in the Son, then the cross looms as the paramount symbol and event of Christian proclamation.
• Preaching is effective when it is faithful [not, I might add, when more people are in the seats].
• All Christian preaching is resurrection preaching. A theology of preaching includes both a "theology of the cross" and a "theology of glory."
• "You might as well expect to raise the dead by whispering in their ears, as hope to save souls by preaching to them, if it were not for the agency of the Holy Spirit" [quoting Spurgeon].
• To preach "in the Spirit" is to preach with the acknowledgment that the human instrument has no control over the message--and no control over the Word as it is set loose within the congregation.

I have appreciated these articles because I'm concerned that many of us who stand behind the pulpit today are getting the cart before the horse. We're preaching for results instead of the glory of God. I would urge preachers to first work out their "theology" of preaching before they worry about what will happen during the invitation.

Theology of Preaching

I've been concerned for some time that there has been more emphasis in the pulpit on the pragmatics of preaching than on a theology of preaching. That's why I've appreciated reading Dr. Albert Mohler's recent commentaries entitled "Why Do We Preach?" In sum, Mohler points out that a theology of preaching should take Trinitarian form, "bearing witness to the God who speaks, the Son who saves, and the Spirit who illuminates."

Some of the following quotes were of interest to me:

• The authority of the preacher is instrinsically rooted in the authority of the Bible as the church's Book and the unblemished Word of God.
• In preaching, finite, frail, and fault-ridden human beings bear bold witness to the infinite, all-powerful, and perfect Lord. Such an endeavor would smack of unmitigated arrogance and over-reaching were it not for the fact that God Himself has set us to the task.
• True preaching is not an exhibition of the brilliance or intellect of the preacher, but an exposition of the wisdom and power of God.
• This [exposition of the wisdom and power of God] is possible only when the preacher stands in submission to the text of Scripture. . .Either the preacher or the text will be the operant authority. A theology of preaching serves to remind those who preach of the danger of confusing our own authority with that of the biblical text. [I would add that when the text is the preacher's authority, he is not allowing himself to fall into the trap of pragmatic preaching, or preaching for church growth only, but preaching for the glory of God.]

I'll share more quotes to which I was drawn later. These will do for "chewing" now.

Why Do We Preach

For the preachers out there, I also want to refer to www.albertmohler.com for parts one and two of Dr. Mohler's commentaries: "Why Do We Preach? A Foundation for Christian Preaching." Both of these give you a brief "theology of preaching" primer. I'll let you know when part three is published [maybe today]. Once I digest these, I'll give you my thoughts.

Why December 25?

For those who might wonder why Christmas is celebrated December 25, you'll be interested in Albert Mohler's blog dated December 12. In it he refers to the December 10 issue of World Magazine and a 2003 article in Touchstone magazine by William Tighe.

Conventional wisdom states that Christmas had its origin in a pagan winter solstice festival, which the church took over. But this view is a historical myth. You need to read these articles. You'll find links at www.albertmohler.com.

For those who do not know, Dr. Mohler is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY.

The Christmas War

There has been much said and written the last few weeks about the so-called "Christmas War." You know, whether "Happy Holidays" has replaced "Merry Christmas," and that sort of thing. There is a great column this morning in the Fort Worth Star Telegram from Cal Thomas. You need to read it.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/13421612.htm

My own thoughts on the subject were recently sent to those who receive my twice-weely devotion "Got Purpose?" It read as follows:

I have to admit to a little bit of anger recently as I watched a news story on one of our Dallas/Ft. Worth T.V. stations. In essence, it had to do with whether we should call our decorations this time of year Christmas or "Holiday" decorations. Should we call it a Christmas tree of a "Holiday" tree? Well that pretty much set me over the edge. For years now I've watched the PC [politically correct] crowd bombard us with their "religion." Theirs is a colorless, void philosophy that wishes to make us believe that all religions are the same and not one in particular is truth. As a matter of fact, for the PC crowd, there is no truth except in the opinion of each individual.
While I was still smoldering over all this, and as I was preparing to preach last Sunday, I came across this verse: "We know we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one" [1 John 5:19]. I began to think about this verse, and God put all this PC stuff in perspective. The Holy Spirit began to speak to my heart: "You shouldn't be surprised that the world wants to leave "Christ" out of Christmas. The world always leaves My Son out of the picture because it is under Satan's influence. But you don't. As long as you're here and other Christians are here, there will always be "Christ" in Christmas."
I think what the Lord was telling me was that there is no need to be upset about the "Christmas" tree/"Holiday" tree debate. The world will likely win it anyway. But as long as God's people are on this earth, the season will never be void of its true meaning.
Let the world do what it does. As for me and my house, we'll still put up a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations, thanking God for His unspeakable gift to us all.

Carter and Rogers

I've found it interesting that former President Jimmy Carter has now admitted that a comment he had attributed to Adrian Rogers was not said by him. Executive editor of The Florida Baptist Witness, James A. Smith Sr. had challenged Carter's allegation of an Oval Office exchange between the former president and Rogers. Carter had written in his latest book that in 1979 the new president of the SBC [who was Rogers] had said, "We are praying, Mr. President, that you will abandon secular humanism as your religion."

In an interview with Smith shortly before his death, Rogers denied ever saying that to Carter. The former president has apologized to the Rogers family and intends to make a correction in future printings of the book, Our Endangered Values. Apparently the visit in question was not with Rogers at all and in 1980 instead of 1979.

See the full story at http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/5315.article

I'm glad that this is getting straigthened out after all these years. It's a shame that one of the great leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention's last thirty-years has been tagged with this false accusation. I appreciate the editor of The Witness for getting to the truth. We would do well to remember 1 Timothy 3:19: "Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses."

Christmas Services

I was interested in the front page of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram today. Pastor Ed Young, Jr. of Fellowship Church in Grapevine is featured. It appears that Fellowship Church will not be holding church services on Christmas morning, which of course, is on a Sunday this year. The last time Christmas fell on a Sunday, there were only a handful of his members there. There are other mega-churches listed in the article which are not holding services either.

To be fair, Fellowship is offering serveral worship experiences leading up to Christmas morning and a steaming-video on their website on that day. But I wonder, shouldn't the church of all places be open for business on Christmas morning? Should it really matter to church leadership how many people show up for the service? Are we becoming too pragmatic and consumer oriented?

At Riverside Baptist, we are having one service on Sunday. We will not have our usual Sunday School or evening service. I am sensitive to the need for people to have their family traditions; I have them too. But isn't the first and foremost priority of the church to worship? Doesn't it send the wrong signal to the world if the church doesn't open its doors on a Sunday morning--especially Sunday morning, December 25?

Getting Started

I have been thinking for some time about creating a web blog. I plan to use it to communicate my own thoughts about a multi-range of topics but primarily about religion and culture. My primary interests are New Testament issues, pastoral/church concerns, and preaching.

I hope to communicate with members of my church [and former members and friends] about a variety of issues, and I also hope to use the blog to communicate with my students at Southwestern Seminary, leading them to websites of interest to their studies.

I also look forward to reading the comments on these musings of a country preacher! Blessings!