In the 1950s and 1960s, John Stott, amongst others, raised the bar in evangelical preaching. Stott, in his preaching and in his commentaries, showed three generations of preachers how to expound a biblical text. He unfolded the text, showed what was there, connected it with life, and did it all with passion and a clear, memorable structure. Those who heard Stott and the very best of those who preached like him, knew that they had been addressed by God. They knew why this part of the Bible mattered, why God wanted us to have it, and the difference it makes to life as a disciple of Christ. Whether they were being challenged or comforted, they were gripped by the teaching of Scripture and excited about studying the Bible. This style of preaching nourished faith, revitalized churches and taught people how to read the Bible for themselves.
Author Archives: The Briefing
Excuse me, but what’s ‘mission’?
As a new missionary visiting a church recently, this was a question asked by one keen enquirer. He explained that he was a new Christian, he had just joined this church and he knew that it was a church that supported mission, prayed for people overseas and encouraged local mission. But he was a little embarrassed to ask what mission actually was.
Getting rid of the killer but
I admit it, the title is a serious temptation: I feel an overwhelming desire to make bad jokes about posteriors (perhaps it’s the result of me spending too much time with my seven-year-old son). But I do want to talk for a moment about the dangers of the killer but. What exactly do I mean? I mean the but that qualifies almost every significant theological statement we ever make. Let me give you some examples:
The very practical doctrine of total depravity
Thought
Preaching to the sinners
Nothing makes a preacher more unpopular than him telling his flock that they are all sinners. Yet nothing, as Simon Manchester discovers, is more essential for them.
When I was invited to write on this subject, my first reaction was to flatter myself that such a theme, though difficult, was merely secondary. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this subject is so central, so urgent and so (ultimately) wonderful, it must occupy our mind in all we do. Knowing how easy it is to begin an article, only to pull out part-way, I want to urge you to persevere so you reach the application (‘Practical issues’) so you will grasp the urgency of the task. Is it too much to say that we will never appreciate our saviour unless we appreciate our sin? Shallow views of sin lead to shallow views of Jesus:
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Humility: True greatness
Humility: True greatness
CJ Mahaney
Multnomah, Colorado Springs, 2005, 176pp.
Humility and pride are funny things. It’s amazing how often I catch myself taking pride in my humility. Actually, I catch myself taking pride in my public displays of humility. When someone pays me a compliment, I know just how to affect the right degree of nonchalance—the right shrug of the shoulders—the right words to deflect the glory away from me—while, on the inside, I am proud that my efforts have been recognized—proud (and perversely so) that they think I’m humble. At the same time, I convince myself that pride is not that serious—certainly not as bad as other more obvious sins. In my sophistry, I convince myself that surely pride is a good thing (when it is deserved); it’s arrogance that is the sin. Yet, when I read the Bible, I know I am kidding myself: as Proverbs 16:5 makes clear,
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Don’t wait ‘til you say goodbye
Up front
As some of you are aware, I left the ministry that I had been involved in for seven and a half years at the end of August. I look back on that time in my life with great fondness and thankfulness to God, even though I have come to the point of moving on because of certain personal struggles and weaknesses that I have not enjoyed being forced to face. It will suffice to say that I have learned all sorts of things about myself and others in the process of leaving. (more…)
Shutting the door
Up front
Six months ago, my husband Dave and I changed our morning routine. Previously, we had tried various strategies for daily prayer and Bible reading, fitting them around work and children into the cracks and crevices of the day. For me, this meant doing it when the children were resting, or otherwise occupied, or asleep. Some of these strategies worked better than others. Finally, when none of these cleverer approaches delivered the consistency and quality of time that we needed, we decided to bite the bullet and go back to the old-fashioned, unoriginal approach: we would simply get up early enough to take turns to look after the kids while the other parent shut the bedroom door and spent some decent time alone in Bible reading and prayer. (more…)
Is the gospel still first for the Jew?
Interchange
I have just got round to reading the September issue of The Briefing and Martin Pakula’s article ‘Is the gospel still first for the Jew?’ in which he refers to “the London Missionary Society (later known as the Church Missionary Society)”. This is quite wrong. (more…)
Traditions old and new
Being old is neither right nor wrong. Being new is also neither right nor wrong. Therefore, being either a conservative or a radical is silly: it is neither right nor wrong to want to preserve the past or explore the latest innovation. (more…)
Generation Ex
Interchange
As a child of ‘Generation Ex’, I was very grateful for Karen Beilharz’s article on the impact of divorce on children—even adult children. It was insightful and practically pastoral. I especially appreciated her honesty about her own reactions and struggles, and the salutary warning she provides to parents (even Christian ones) who might be tempted to think it is better for children to have ‘happy’ parents who are divorced rather than unhappy parents in a miserable marriage. As she rightly points out, the Lord hates divorce. (more…)
God, sin and Christ: why we need all three
What ever happened to preaching the holiness of God and the seriousness of sin? Martin Foord asks whether our evangelism has been rendered worthless by a loss of nerve.
One day my mother discovered a pimple-like bump on her arm. So she went to her GP for a diagnosis and was told, “It’s nothing to worry about”. However, she decided to get a second opinion from a skin specialist, and this time the diagnosis was radically different: it was melanoma, and she was under the surgeon’s knife within several days. Stories like this remind us uneasily of how perilous it is to be ignorant of bad news. If we have a melanoma, it’s critical we know, otherwise we can’t take the appropriate action. (more…)
You must read this book
I am struggling to find reasons to avoid reading a few things, including a small pile next to the bed, and a larger pile shoved inside a cupboard next to the bed, and a pile on the desk at work.
Evaluating truth
I spent two days last week at a writing conference. It was a great couple of days, and I learned many things about the art of writing. (Like, apparently you need to know something about grammar! Who would have thought? [If you listen carefully, you can hear me exhaling loudly and rolling my eyes. Actually, the person leading the sessions who raised the issue was exactly right to do so. I think I am just frustrated that we have come to the point where that point needs to be made.]) All joking and then serious reflection aside, I learned heaps (like the fact that ‘learnt’ is an archaic form that is passing out of use, and I should always use ‘learned’). But I was also reminded of the rather strange relationship between words and meaning in the (post?)modern world.