The Miracle of Belief

July 16th, 2013 by Dave Leave a reply »

My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom . . . —1 Corinthians 2:4

Paul was a scholar and an orator of the highest degree; he was not speaking here out of a deep sense of humility, but was saying that when he preached the gospel, he would veil the power of God if he impressed people with the excellency of his speech. Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of redemption, not by impressive speech, nor by wooing and persuading, but only by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.

Real and effective fasting by a preacher is not fasting from food, but fasting from eloquence, from impressive diction, and from everything else that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God— “. . . as though God were pleading through us . . .” (2 Corinthians 5:20). He is there to present the gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the gospel will result in making me a traitor to Jesus, and I prevent the creative power of His redemption from doing its work.

“And I, if I am lifted up. . . , will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32).

Journal DJR
Good Evening Lord
It is such a human characteristic to idolize talent. That talent is mostly gifting from you … but people dont see that. Whether a person is preaching or feeding the poor, we tend to say, “What a great speaker, or what a giving person.” It seems that the more talented and gifted we are and the more we hone those talents … the more likely we are to get in the way of people actually seeing and meeting you thru us. So what should we do to prevent that? It doesn’t seem we should make a second rate sermon to avoid the hero worship that comes with excellent sermons? Paul didn’t do that.

You dont need to dial back the gifts I’ve given you. Or do second rate work to avoid compliments. If you just stay connected with me and listen for my voice and follow it … I’ll keep you safe from that. When you’ve found yourself worshipped in the past, wasn’t it after a season of poor connection between us?

Yes, sir. I get it. We are back to the Centrality of Connection. In theology they talk about the Centrality of the Cross, but you keep talking to us about the Centrality of Connection. I suppose they are both important.

Yes, and I talk to each of my children about what they need to hear. So for you, Stay connected and you will do well. Run on your own and … well you’ve seen how well that worked.

Not too well at all… So help me stay connected, and I wont worry about the rest of it.

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