The Pastor's Letter (May 1978)
Dear Friends,
We sometimes hear it said that such-and-such a preacher or minister "is very deep" or, "really a teacher."
By that it is generally meant that nobody can understand much of what he preaches about: The break down in the communication involved is usually accepted as being a deficiency on the part of the overprivileged hearers of such a man, and it is seldom questioned, whether or not the aforesaid preacher or minister is really "deep" at all in the things that constitute spiritual and biblical depth. That there are and have been, some men who go in and out of the deep recesses of the things of the Spirit we may be in no doubt, and we ought to be thankful for their labours even though it requires labour on our part to find out their meaning at times. However, this is not the general rule, and it is certainly not meant to be a constant feature of a preacher or minister set over a Church of Christ to "feed the flock of God" in his care. No, no; too often the attributing of great spiritual depth to a preacher on account of his obscurity in preaching is a pointer in the very opposite direction and only bespeaks his shallowness in these things.
To often what "bamboozles" a particular preacher's congregation is not the depth of spiritual or scriptural exploration, but the abandoned use of technical, theological, and philosophical terms and language. Lumps of high sounding material hurled at (or, rather, over) the heads of a congregation may really only betray the fact that the speaker involved has been unable to " digest" the material himself - at least in such a way that would enable him to give" meat in due season" to them before him. With this state of affairs as a real possibility in our hearts and our minds, a spirit of constant self-examination is ever called for on the part of those of us who consider ourselves called to be ministers and preachers of the Word of God.
On the dust cover of the older copies of the Banner of Truth edition of Charles Bridges' Christian Ministry, there is a very graphic woodcut. The woodcut depicts a pulpit rising out of an open Bible while another open Bible sits on top of the pulpit; on one side of the pulpit there is a minister engaged in prayer while on the other side of the pulpit sits a minister at his desk, with books before him and books behind him. That wood-cut seems to sum up so well the character, and the purpose of that great book and I am personally sorry that it doesn't still adorn the covers of the new additions. But the message is clear: The minister is both a "private" and a "public" person. The church has set him aside in order that he might draw aside to give himself to that part of his work which involves the study of God's word through prayer and meditation and searching out all things relevant and related to that study.
But, this is not an end in itself for the minister. The great purpose is that he himself being instructed and fed might be able to feed and instruct others also. Our reading and study within our calling to the ministry are not for our own pleasure, nor even for the exclusive profit of our own hearts and minds, but for the good and for the edification of those to whom we preach. The pursuit of study for its own sake can be an expression of the "easy" life that we are meant to turn our backs on. The real labour, generally speaking, comes, not in the reading and discovering of things old and new for ourselves, but in the digesting, breaking down, arranging, and presenting of those things for others in true spiritual and biblical terms and concepts. When we do this, then we find that each true believing man or woman receives those things according to their capacity, whereas they may receive nothing out of mere technical terms and philosophical phrases.
The problem, then, is one that very often lies, not with the hearer but with the preacher; not with the pew but with the pulpit. And it is, surely, only an aggravation of the condition to set on such preachers' heads the laurels of spiritual and Biblical depth in their ministry. We read that as our Lord went about preaching the people were "able to hear." How He might have spoken who was the Word of God incarnate. Yet He spoke to make Himself understood. The darkness, and the blindness, and the resistance to what He often said is another matter, but the general testimony to His general ministry is that he spoke so as to be clear and plain. We ought to aim at nothing less.
Charles Bridges in that Christian Ministry quotes an old preacher concerning this kind of ministerial task and endeavour: - "The Divine who spends all his time in study and contemplation on objects ever so sublime and glorious while his people are left uninstructed, acts the same part the eagle would do, that should sit all day staring at the sun, while her young ones were starving in the nest." We ought to aim at that sobering sentiment that seemed to underscore the ministry and preaching of the great apostle Paul; "Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus," Colossians chapter 1 verse 28. May the Lord implant it within our hearts and minds.