An ambassador for God

Several terms are used in the New Testament to describe preachers. One of them is that they are Christ’s ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20).. Since the term is taken from the custom of a ruler using chosen individuals to pass on his message and instructions to his subjects, it points to the dignity and authority of the preacher, even although he is always a servant. As with an ambassador of a ruler, the preacher whenever he speaks aims to honour his Master.

The preacher’s message is about reconciliation between God and man. This means that humans are at a distance from God. Yet the ambassador is aware that his Master, out of great love, desires reconciliation with those estranged from him. Moreover, his message of reconciliation is all about Jesus, his perfect life and his work of atonement. He took the place of sinners as their substitute.

As he preaches, he tells sinners about the benefits offered to them by God. They include pardon from, restoration to, and acceptance with God. These blessings are part of the righteousness of Christ that becomes theirs when they trust in him. It is amazing for a preacher to realise that this can be happening as he speaks.

The preacher offers salvation to everyone listening to him. He has no idea if the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of the listeners. It is the Holy Spirit who brings about conviction of sin in a sermon, but it is the preacher’s words that the sinner hears. The Holy Spirit can bring comfort to a concerned individual, but he uses the words of the preacher to do so. What an amazing role a preacher has!

When he offers salvation to sinners, the preacher assures them that all they have to do is accept personally what Jesus did for sinners. As one said, ‘there are no hard terms in the gospel.’ They can come as they are and be reconciled to God.

Yet as he speaks he suspects some are not listening, or are not intent on accepting the offer. He knows they are spiritually blind and deaf. They need to be affected by heaven. How does that happen? Surprisingly, perhaps, it usually occurs when the preacher starts pleading as he does his best to persuade. There are many arguments to use to persuade – the love of God, the sufferings of Jesus, the status of the forgiven, the prospect of heaven, the danger of a lost eternity – but they must come from the heart of a pleader. 

I have seen many ambassadors on the television, but I have never seen any of them pleading. This is not surprising, because they are expected to pass on their ruler’s message in a dignified way. Our great King also expects his message to be communicated in an appropriate manner, and one that would be used by him if he personally was speaking. He would implore, entreat, says Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:20.

Sunday service

Today, the Lord’s Day, involved preaching about him. Nothing new about that, but maybe there should have been. Because if it was not new, what was it? I don’t mean new in doctrine, that would be wrong. Yet speaking about Jesus should be fresh.

Spent some time this afternoon reading a couple of paragraphs from the life of William Hewitson, a Scottish preacher from the nineteenth century. He had taken part in a communion Sunday, which in those days involved a lot of preaching.

His biographer mentions two responses that Hewitson had to his preaching. The first was this: ‘Sitting in his own room, after the protracted services were over, he said, with that holy, calm solemnity which so habitually characterised him, not only in the pulpit and at the communion table, but in society and at his own fireside – “Oh for an immortal, a spiritual body, which should never grow weary in serving our glorious Lord!”’

The second was this: ‘Lord Jesus! what thinkest Thou of this day’s work? Hast Thou been seeing of the travail of Thy soul?’

Perhaps those two quotations say it all.

Freshness in preaching

Having come to the end of giving seven parables in Matthew 13, Jesus then asked the disciples if they understood what he had just taught them. They all said that they did, which is surprising, and probably amusing for most readers, but they may have assumed that they did, because often those being taught give a similar response. It surely was a shallow response for them, suggesting that they did not fully appreciate the seriousness of what Jesus had taught. But who are we to throw stones at them? 

Whatever their level of understanding of what he had just taught them, Jesus provided them with a way of knowing what they, as future teachers in his kingdom, would do. He did so by using the illustration of a householder who shows people what he has in his home.

It is obviously a wealthy home, full of pleasant surprises. We can imagine surprises in different rooms in his house – from the kitchen would come meals the like of which they had never tasted before; in the sitting-room, there would be incredibly comfortable chairs; in the library, there would be works of beauty; and in his treasury there would be an endless amount of money to share with the needy who came to him for help. 

The disciples were informed that in the house (God’s kingdom) they would have a treasure store (their knowledge of the kingdom) to share with others at suitable times. This knowledge that they would possess would be twofold – they would state what they knew already about the kingdom and they would also explain the new discoveries they would make about the kingdom, and of course they had just been told some new things about it by Jesus on this occasion.

Perhaps we can say that for them the old was found in the Old Testament and the new would yet be recorded in the New Testament. Or we could say that the new could describe greater appreciations and understandings of what they thought the Old Testament had said about the kingdom of the Messiah. 

Of course, there are lessons here for pastors and other teachers in that what they teach to their congregations should be both old and new. Studying the Bible usually, if not always, has that effect on those who prepare messages – they see aspects of truth in a passage that they did not see there before – what they may have thought was only old also becomes new. After all, no one knows everything about a Bible passage. 

Yet I would also suggest that old and new should mark what every Christian should find in the Bible. Christian experience is about being fresh as well as being accurate. After all, we are teaching or sharing what a book says about Jesus and his kingdom, and because he is the focus of what it says we should expect to find what is old (be reminded) and what is new (discoveries of his grace and plans). 

Spurgeon on a preaching priority

Reflecting the other day upon the sad state of the churches at the present moment, I was led to look back to apostolic times, and to consider wherein the preaching of the present day differed from the preaching of the apostles. I remarked the vast difference in their style from the set and formal oratory of the present age. I remarked that the apostles did not take a text when they preached, nor did they confine themselves to one subject, much less to any place of worship, but I find that they stood up in any place and declared from the fulness of their heart what they knew of Jesus Christ. But the main difference I observed was in the subjects of their preaching. 

Surprised I was when I discovered that the very staple of the preaching of the apostles was the resurrection of the dead. I found myself to have been preaching the doctrine of the grace of God, to have been upholding free election, to have been leading the people of God as well as I was enabled into the deep things of his word; but I was surprised to find that I had not been copying the apostolic fashion half as nearly as I might have done. The apostles when they preached always testified concerning the resurrection of Jesus, and the consequent resurrection of the dead. It appears that the Alpha and the Omega of their gospel was the testimony that Jesus Christ died and rose again from the dead according to the Scriptures. 

When they chose another apostle in the room of Judas, who had become apostate (Acts 1:22), they said, “One must be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection;” so that the very office of an apostle was to be a witness of the resurrection. And well did they fulfil their office. When Peter stood up before the multitude, he declared unto them that “David spoke of the resurrection of Christ.” When Peter and John were taken before the council, the great cause of their arrest was that the rulers were grieved :because they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (Acts 4:2). When they were set free, after having been examined, it is said, “With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33). 

It was this which stirred the curiosity of the Athenians when Paul preached among them, “They said, he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection of the dead.” And this moved the laughter of the Areopagites, for when he spoke of the resurrection of the dead, “Some mocked, and others said, we will hear thee again of this matter.” Truly did Paul say, when he stood before the council of the Pharisees and Sadducees, “Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am called in question.” And equally truly did he constantly assert, “IF Christ be not risen from the dead, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is vain, and ye are yet in your sins.” 

The resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of the righteous is a doctrine which we believe, but which we too seldom preach or care to read about. 

Though I have inquired of several booksellers for a book specially upon the subject of the resurrection, I have not yet been able to purchase one of any sort whatever; and when I turned to Dr. Owen’s works, which are a most invaluable storehouse of divine knowledge, containing much that is valuable on almost every subject; I could find, even there, scarcely more than the slightest mention of the resurrection. It has been set down as a well known truth, and therefore has never been discussed. Heresies have not risen up respecting it; it would almost have been a mercy if there had been, for whenever a truth is contested by heretics, the orthodox fight strongly for it, and the pulpit resounds with it every day. 

I am persuaded, however, that there is much power in this doctrine; and if I preach it this morning you will see that God will own the apostolic preaching, and there will be conversions. I intend putting it to the test now, to see whether there be not something which we cannot perceive at present in the resurrection of the dead, which is capable of moving the hearts of men and bringing them into subjection to the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

From his sermon on Acts 24:15.

Winsome persuasion

‘Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the Lord has promised good to Israel’ (Num. 10:29-32). This invitation to Hobab by Moses is well known and has often been used in preaching the gospel. It is likely that Hobab already was a believer in God, being a son of Jethro. Although he initially refused to go with Moses, he went later (Judges 1:16; 4:11).

How did Moses go about persuading Hobab to join them? In Moses’ method, there are four lessons for us regarding how to witness to others.

First, Moses, as he talks to Hobab, speaks as one who has experienced the redeeming power of God that was revealed when Israel were delivered out of Egypt. Hobab had not experienced that for himself, but Moses assures him that if he aligns himself with the people of God then he and his family will have their full share in the blessings of the promised land. In this, Moses is a picture of a believer urging another person to make the same choice as he himself as made.

Second, notice also that Moses is prepared to repeat the invitation. He did not think that telling Hobab once was sufficient. Not only did he repeat the invitation, but the second was more warm than the first. The second contains an element of pleading. Moses realised that Hobab would be the loser if he went home instead of continuing with the Israelites. Experience tells us that it is harder to resist an affectionate offer than a clinical one.

Third, Moses requested that Hobab would use his talents for the benefit of the people of God. He pointed out to Hobab that he could be useful in helping the Israelites cross the desert. True, they had the pillar of cloud and fire to guide and protect them, but Hobab would be useful in warning them of dangers and of providing them with shelter. Similarly, we can ask an individual to use his talents in the service of God rather than for promoting something else.

Fourth, Moses reminded Hobab that the Lord had made many promises of good to Israel. These promises are many: there was the promise of forgiveness of their sins, of divine protection on the journey, of God’s presence with them, of their prayers being answered. In addition, he assured Hobab that all the people would help him and share with him. And we can witness to the many blessings and benefits connected to the Christian life.

Samuel Rutherford, the preacher

From The Scottish Pulpit by W. M. Taylor, writing about Samuel Rutherford

In the writings of his contemporaries, and those who immediately followed them, we get some interesting glimpses of the preacher and his manner. Thus Patrick Simpson says, ‘He had two quick eyes, and when he walked it was observed that he held aye his face upward and heavenward. He had a strange utterance in the pulpit; a kind of shriech (shriek or scream) that I never heard the like of. Many times I thought he would have flown out of the pulpit when he came to speak of Jesus Christ, and he never was in his right element but when he was commending him.’

An English merchant, during the Protectorate, describing some of his experiences in what was probably a business tour through Scotland, said, ‘I went to St. Andrews, where I heard a sweet, majestic-looking man (Blair), and he showed me the majesty of God; after him I heard a little fair man (Rutherfurd), and he showed me the loveliness of Christ; I then went to Irvine, where I heard a well-formed, proper old man, with a long beard (Dickson), and that man showed me all my own heart.’ That was a very remarkable and a most accurate discrimination; so accurate that, as Wodrow says, ‘the whole General Assembly could not have given a better character of the three men.’

The ideal preacher, no doubt, should combine the three in himself; yet we may not refuse the palm to him who dwelt upon the loveliness of Christ, for that in the end will lead to the discovery of the other two. Now that was Rutherfurd’s distinctive excellence in the pulpit. He might and did deal with other themes, but these he only possessed; this one, on the contrary, possessed him, and whenever he entered upon it he was carried away with it.

We read that, ‘One day when preaching in Edinburgh, after dwelling for some time on the differences of the day, he broke out with “Woe is unto us for these sad divisions that make us lose the fair scent of the Rose of Sharon”; and then he went on commending Christ, going over all his precious styles and titles about a quarter of an hour,’ upon which one of his hearers said in a loud whisper, ‘Ay, now you are right; hold you there.’

Grosart says of his practical discourses that their one merit is ‘that they are full of the exceeding great and precious promises and truths of the Gospel’, and that ‘they hold forth with wistful and passionate entreaty a crucified Saviour as the one centre for weary souls in their unrest, and the one hope for the world.’

But, after all, is not that the ‘one thing needful’ in all preaching? And it is for that especially that I would hold him up for an inspiration to you. Like him, preach the living, personal Christ, once crucified, but now risen and reigning as the Saviour and Sovereign of men. Unfold His loveliness. Proclaim His merits. Hold up Himself. Let the truth which you declare be the truth as it is in Him. Let the faith to which you urge be faith in Him. Let the loyalty which you enforce be loyalty to Him. Let the heaven which you hold before your hearers be to be with Him, and to be like Him. ‘Hold you there,’ and let your words be such as love to Him shall inspire, then you shall not lack hearers, and shall not need to lament the absence of results.

John the Baptist

John the Baptist by Edward Payson

1.       From this subject we may learn who are, and who are not, the real preachers of the gospel, the true ministers of Jesus Christ. You need not be told that among those who claim this title great differences prevail. Some preach one thing, and some another; and it is of infinite importance, of no less importance than your everlasting happiness, that you should be able to ascertain who are right; who are the true guides whom God hath appointed to conduct you to heaven. By attending carefully to the conduct and character of John the Baptist, you may learn how to do this.

2.        We know that he was divinely commissioned and taught; for we are told that he was a man sent from God; that he was a prophet and more than a prophet. We may therefore conclude that all, who are sent of God to preach the gospel, will resemble John in their preaching. And what did he preach?

3.     I answer, he preached repentance toward God. ‘I, indeed,’ says he, ‘baptize you with water unto repentance.’ ‘In those days,’ says the evangelist, ‘came John the Baptist preaching and saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ This he preached to all classes and characters alike. He also taught his hearers to manifest their repentance by a corresponding life: ‘Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance; for the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.’

4.        But while he inculcated repentance, he taught his hearers not to trust to their penitence, nor to baptism, nor to any outward privileges for salvation, but to Christ alone. To exalt Christ and turn the attention of sinners to him, seems to have been the great object which he always kept in view. Especially was he careful to teach his disciples that he could not himself save them. All who came to him he sent to Christ. He seems to have considered himself only as a waymark, whose business it was to stand with extended finger and point to the Saviour, crying, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.’ He told the people that they should believe on him who should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. In all his preaching still he held up Christ to view as all in all, and like St. Paul testified to all his hearers of every description, repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

5.   That they might know how repentance and faith were to be obtained, he taught them the necessity of divine influence, of being baptized with the Holy Ghost as a purifying fire; and informed them that Christ alone could baptize them in this manner; that without this they would be no better than chaff, and as such would be burnt up with unquenchable fire.

6.     Thus he made Christ the whole subject matter of his preaching, and represented him as the beginning and ending, the author and finisher of our faith. Thus then will all preach who, like John, are sent of God. They will determine to know and to make known nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified, and will teach all men to honour the Son even as they honour the Father. They will not seek their own glory but the glory of Christ. They will strive to draw disciples not to themselves but to him, and will feel no apprehension of exalting or teaching others to exalt him too highly. Nor will they fail to insist much on the necessity of divine influences, of being baptized with the Holy Ghost, saying with our Saviour, ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God.’

7.    In the second place, all true ministers of the gospel will imitate John in their temper and conduct; especially in his humility. Highly honoured and distinguished as he was, you see how meanly he speaks of himself in comparison with Christ. He felt his need, as a sinner, of being baptized with his baptism. He felt unworthy to stoop down and loose the lachet of his shoes, a plain intimation of his readiness to cast himself and all that he possessed at his Saviour’s feet. Similar will be the temper of all who truly preach the gospel. They will learn of their Master to be meek and lowly in heart; and though, in consequence of his removal from this world, they cannot perform menial services for himself in person, yet they will be ready, in imitation of him who washed his disciples’ feet, to perform the meanest and most laborious offices of kindness for the lowest of his followers.

8.    Such, my friends, will be the mode of preaching, such the temper and conduct of the true ministers of Christ. When you find such you may safely follow them, for they are the followers of John, of the apostles, and of Christ; and those who refuse to follow such guides would have refused to follow Christ and his apostles, had they lived in their day.

Waiting for the lion to roar

One of the thrills of Christian ministry is to be able to speak about God. Would-be preachers go off to Bible College and discover lots of interesting details about him (his attributes) and his purposes. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that usually people emerge from such places confident that they are now equipped to define God and his ways.

I have spent the last few weeks musing about Hosea’s call to preach. In some ways, he lived in a period very like our own. The commandments of God were being ignored, a great deal of changes were taking place in society, and uncertainty about the future of God’s visible kingdom was on people’s minds, whether or not they were for it or against it.

Hosea was called by God to preach to such people and discovered that doing so was not very easy. After all, his explanation of divine ways extended literally to how his wife was. It must have been hard for Hosea to say to his neighbours, ‘You are just like my wife.’ Even harder to say to them, ‘I am just like God in this regard – he is patient towards you, expressing costly love, and willing to restoring permanently unworthy persons.’ Yet as we think about what God called Hosea to do with his unfaithful wife, we see a vivid picture of God’s grace. 

Hosea’s message about God had other emphases as well. In chapter 5, God tells Hosea to inform the people regarding their future and in what ways they can expect the Lord’s presence. Surprisingly, God likens himself to a moth and to dry rot (v. 12)! I don’t think I was taught that in theology classes.

Of course, the illustrations depict destruction, slow gradual destruction. A moth begins to destroy a garment and eventually it is full of holes. Dry rot begins to destroy wood and eventually the house falls down. They illustrate an active ongoing presence of God, but a presence that is very disturbing.

Some may respond by denying that God would behave in such a way today. After all, we assume that he is pleased with what is linked to him. But as we look at the visible church, does it reveal evidence that a moth has been at work and that dry rot is having its effects? If it does, then God may be at work – slowly.

Hosea the preacher was called to tell his people, ‘This is God at work.’ Yet they did not listen, and turned instead to Assyria for help with their problems (v. 13). In response, God spoke again through Hosea and this time likened himself to a lion, to a young lion on the prowl for prey, with the prey being his people (v. 14). A moth and dry rot are gradual, giving time for Israel to respond and mend their ways, but a lion? The lion did catch his prey, and they went away into captivity in Assyria. But Hosea would say, ‘Assyria (if he knew that was whom God would use) will only be the equivalent of the lion’s teeth. God, the God you rejected, will do it.’ 

It was sad enough for Hosea to see holes and dry rot. But he had to live out his preaching ministry waiting for the lion to roar. So he would have been thankful he could still call the people to repent (v. 15), which is what preachers are privileged to do today in our society.

Elijah, the preacher

In 1 Kings 17:1 Elijah appeared suddenly to Ahab, passed on the Lord’s message and then went and lived in another obscure place. Yet his short message has lessons for us as preachers. The first is Elijah’s understanding of who the Lord is.

It is clear from Elijah’s opening words that he knew that his God was alive and aware of what was going on. The prophet knew that his God was not like the inert gods of the pagans. But he also knew that his God was not like the impressions that were being given about him in the northern kingdom of Israel at that time. The rulers of Israel for several decades had imagined that they could manipulate God and his ways for their own ends. They had their own reasons for erecting and supporting alternative places of worship in Dan and in Bethel. Yet all they were doing was demeaning the authority of the living God and their actions revealed that they were indifferent to what he regarded as important. All this flowed from the fact that they did not believe he was alive.

Second, Elijah recognised that he was accountable to God. We can see this outlook in the prophet’s words, ‘Before whom I stand.’ We are not told where Elijah was when said this – he may have met Ahab in a royal dwelling or he may have met him in an open space. The one thing that is clear is that Elijah did not worry too much about being in the presence of an earthly king. Standing includes the idea of showing great respect and Elijah recognised that he was accountable for his actions. So he never forgot that he was in the presence of God, no matter who else was in the room.

This self-description by the prophet also highlights the sense of authenticity that he had. Elijah knew he was different from the false prophets, whether of Baal or any other god. He had stood and heard more than once the Lord’s call to him to serve in particular ways, and this awareness made him brave in his actions. He had no doubts about the role God had mapped out for him.

There is another element that this self-description reveals about Elijah and that is his consciousness of the authority he had as the Lord’s messenger. The Lord had given him a message to say, and a difficult message at that, and this was sufficient authority for Elijah. When a person senses this authority he will speak to anyone, even if the message from God is threatening, as it was here.

Third, his message from God confronted the sins of the time. It is obvious that Elijah had a message of judgement, but we can ask, ‘Why was there a particular form of judgement involving the dew and the rain?’ The answer is that the message about Baal claimed that he was in charge of the seasons, that he was able to control the elements in order to give good harvests. We can see how the prophet’s short message spoke directly to the situation facing the people of Israel. As Elijah was later to ask them, the choice was between Baal and its worldview and Yahweh and his covenant commitments. God’s message always confronts contemporary culture – that was the case in Elijah’s day and it is the same today. The promised judgement, passed on by Elijah, showed that Yahweh was mighty and Baal was non-existent. We must do the same. There is little point in preaching about the threats of a century ago (unless they are still here). We have to be relevant when calling people to repentance.