Preach so that we can taste the truth!

When Tim Keller urges pastors to preach to the hearts of their hearers so that God's Word can do its work amongst God's people, he often quotes Jonathan Edwards to underline that the purpose of a sermon is not just to make the truth clear but to make the truth real. In Edwards' sermon, A Divine and Supernatural Light, Edwards uses honey as an illustration to make his point:

Thus there is a difference between having an opinion, that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former, that knows not how honey tastes; but a man cannot have the latter unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind. So there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful, and having a sense of his beauty. The former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the countenance. There is a wide difference between mere speculative rational judging any thing to be excellent, and having a sense of its sweetness and beauty. The former rests only in the head, speculation only is concerned in it; but the heart is concerned in the latter. When the heart is sensible of the beauty and amiableness of a thing, it necessarily feels pleasure in the apprehension. It is implied in a person's being heartily sensible of the loveliness of a thing, that the idea of it is sweet and pleasant to his soul; which is a far different thing from having a rational opinion that it is excellent.

Sermons are bad!

In a letter to his son, Christopher, dated 25 April 1944, JRR Tolkein, author of the LOTR trilogy and friend of CS Lewis, wrote: "But as for sermons! They are bad, aren't they?" However, trying to resist the Eyeore temptation to say it has always been thus, it is instructing to read how his letter continued.

The answer to the mystery is probably not simple; but part of it is that 'rhetoric' (of which preaching is a department) is an art, which requires (a) some native talent and (b) learning and practice. The instrument is very much more complex than a piano, yet most performers are in the position of a man who sits down to a piano and expects to move his audience without any knowledge of his notes at all. The art can be learned (granted some modicum of aptitude) and can then be effective, in a way, when wholly unconnected with sincerity, sanctity, etc. But preaching is complicated by the fact that we expect in it not only a performance, but truth and sincerity, and also at least no word, tone, or note that suggests the possession of vices (such as hypocrisy, vanity) or defects (such as folly, ignorance) in the preacher.

Good sermons require some art, some virtue, some knowledge. Real sermons require some special grace which does not transcend art but arrives at it by instinct or 'inspiration'; indeed the Holy Spirit seems sometimes to speak through a human mouth providing art, virtue, and insight he does not himself possess: but the occasions are rare.

Japanese Banking Crisis!

Following the problems in the sub-prime lending market in America and the run on Northern Rock in the UK, uncertainty has now hit Japan.

In the last 7 days Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches.

Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song. Today shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived. While Samurai Bank fell on its sword, Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit but remains in the black.

Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal.

Things not to say to your wife!!

Tim Hawkins has served us husbands with these timely - and very funny warnings!

How to get your email inbox down to zero every day

Here is something of enormous potential practical benefit for those of us juggling communication overload. Take it, read it, and put it into practice.

Three Wise Men ... on mercy ministries

Recently, a conversation between Don Carson, Tim Keller, and John Piper, was video-recorded at the 2008 leadership meeting of The Gospel Coalition. The videos are now available on Facebook. In part one, and part two, they discuss mercy ministries.

Church as Gospel Community

Steve Timmis and Tim Chester have helped evangelicals to recover the sense of church as gospel community, not least through their Crowded House initiative. In Total Church (IVP, 2007), they challenge today's prevailing view of life, of us standing on our own 'juggling' our various domestic, work, and social responsibilities.

All too often church becomes one of the balls. We juggle responsibilities for church (measured predominately by attendance at meetings) just as we juggle our responsibilities for work or leisure. An alternative model is to view our various activities and responsibilities as spokes of a wheel. At the centre or hub of life is not me as an individual, but us as members of the Christian community. Church is not another ball to juggle, but that which defines who I am and gives Christlike shape to my life.(pp.42-43)

Interestingly, this works out, among other ways, as church members (including church leaders) 'make decision with regard to the implications for the church and to make significant decisions in consultation with the church.' (p.45)
Such a gospel community is profoundly mission-minded. Although mission develops from being centripetal (moving towards the centre) in the OT to centrifugal (moving away from the centre) in the NT, Timmis & Chester argue that 'mission does not cease to be centripetal.'

The attractive covenant community continues to be the means by which Godfulfils his promise to Abraham. What has changed is the centre! The centre is no longer geographic Jerusalem. Now it is the community itself among whom Christ promises to be present (Matthew 28:20). The community moves out across the globe (a centrifugal movement), all the time drawing people to its Lord through its common life ( a centripetal movement).(p.47)