Thesis 82 We must expect to be changed.
It is such a common take to have become a cliché. Many clichés, however, reach that status by virtue of being true. How many times have you heard a preacher say, “The indicative drives the imperative”? Well, maybe not that way exactly, but something like that. Throughout the New Testament we believers are told that we have been declared just, and so should live just lives, that we’ve been declared holy, and so should live holy lives, that we have been made the children of God and so should live as His children. What we are told, when it is true, should change not only what we do but what we are.
Which is where the preaching of God’s Word comes in. Our perspective on it has taken a significant tumble. We think the sermon is where the pastor, or someone he has chosen, shares their thoughts. We can find them informative, entertaining, inspiring. Or not. We sit in our pews assessing a performance before delivering our verdict.
A sermon, however, is no mere message. It is grounded in God’s Word, grounded in His authority and given with authority. It is that God ordained means by which we are increasingly changed into the image of Jesus. It tells us what He has said that we might be what He has called us. Understanding this not only ought to change how we prepare and how we bring a sermon but how we prepare for and how we listen to a sermon.
Consider it this way. I receive, from time to time, feedback on the things I write. I want to listen because it will likely help me in the future. But, however much I might give an ear, a reader has no authority over me as a writer. An editor, on the other hand, does. The reader may be wiser, have more insight but the editor has authority. I expect to be changed by the editorial remarks, even though the editor is far from infallible.
There’s a third ingredient in my writing. I may read books on writing. In fact, I have. Some of those books have even been written by professional editors. But those book writers were not my editors. They, again, even if they have far more credentials than my editor, are not my editor. I don’t expect them to make my writing better. I don’t give them authority, even though they might have that authority over writers they work with. So it is with the preaching of other pastors. They have authority over the sheep God placed under their care. The rest of us may benefit from their wisdom, but they are not the ones who will give an account for us.
We must then come as the sheep that are eager to be fed by the under-shepherd that the Great Shepherd has placed over us. We must come expecting to be changed by the authoritative preaching of His Word. The church will reform as we are re-formed by the ordinary means of grace and their extraordinary power.