Here are some questions that have been on my mind lately: "What is the role and responsibility of a pastor as a preacher?" While visiting other churches and listening to a few preachers who are far-more experienced than myself, I have wondered: "Did God really commission the preacher to be the dispenser of the infinite number of how-to's necessary for navigating daily life effectively?" Is the goal of preaching to answer all of the questions that people are asking? If it is, I'm in deep trouble, because I'm not a spiritual guru with infinite knowledge.
These questions have been on my mind because they are the questions that Jim Shaddix poses to preachers and congregations in The Passion-Driven Sermon. Dr. Shaddix, former professor of preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, is now the preaching pastor at Riverside Baptist Church in Denver. He was also kind enough to take me out to lunch a few weeks ago and help me with some problems I'm facing as a pastor and a preacher. This book outlines a practical theology of pastoral preaching that is driven by a passion for the glory of God - a passion to be jointly possessed by the pastor and the people.
Shaddix' practical theology of preaching is firmly committed to the expositional preaching of the Bible. He warns the church against the dangers of pragmatism and the temptation for pastors to neglect their ministry as shepherds who lead and feed God's people with His Word. Regarding seeker-oriented messages he asks the obvious question: Where will the most number of lost people always be, inside or outside the church? The obvious answer is outside, and therefore he exhorts pastors to preach in a way that is primarily directed at shaping the people of God into the image of Christ through the explanation and application of God's Word in the power of the Spirit. The connection of the power of the Spirit and the authority of the Bible is found often throughout the book as Shaddix makes his Biblical, philosophical and practical points about preaching.
Here are a few quotes that I especially appreciated:
"There is a hidden cry in every human soul to know the glory of God!" [102]
"The effectiveness of pastoral preaching cannot and should not be gauged by what happens at the altar on Sunday morning or by what parishioners say as they shake the minister's hand at the back of the church after the service. The effectiveness of pastoral preaching must be guaged by whether or not we who listen to preaching look more like Jesus this year than we did this time last year." [94]
"It is far more important for the shepherd to teach people to think Christianly than to act rightly." [115]
"Pastoral preaching somehow has to move beyond individual instruction and announce ethical mandates that describe morality in communal terms." [119]
"As the pastor grows confident in the supernatural power of God's Word, however, and adds to his confidence strong convictions about the practice of biblical exposition, he can be certain that the potent power of God will always be in his preaching. Why? The power of God does not rest pragmatically in the preacher but intrinsically in the truth of God's Word." [145]
This morning I will be finishing a sermon from Psalm 66 that I am scheduled to preach on Sunday. I am seeking to apply what I've learned in this book as prepare for this sermon. But more than anything, I'm looking forward to spending most of my day with God today, meeting with Him in His Word, allowing Him to work in my mind and heart, becoming saturated with the truth of Psalm 66, so that I might proclaim it with a real passion for God's glory.
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