Well, very good evening to you. It's lovely to be with you. I've heard a lot about you
guys as a church family. All good. I know it's nervous when you hear that sort of thing.
But it's been great getting to know Graham over the last couple of years at ETS. From
St. Andrews, a big hello. We love our partnership in the gospel. We have with you guys as a
church family, even though we're a little bit distant, separated by the water, we were
praying for you at our last church family prayer meeting. So a range of people say hi
and it's a joy to be with you here. Not least to be thinking about this wonderfully
important, central, foundational topic of preaching. But because it's so important,
because we're coming to God's word, let's pray again and ask for his help. Let's pray.
Our great God and heavenly Father, we come before you this evening, Lord, and are very
conscious of the wonder that you, the one who spoke all things into being, the creator
God of the universe, all that is visible and invisible, that you would speak to us.
That not only have you made us, but that you address us. That you haven't left yourself
hidden behind clouds and darkness, but have spoken supremely in your Son, wonderfully and
ongoingly in your scriptures and in our hearts by your Spirit, that we might understand what
you say. Lord, please, we pray, would he be at work in us this evening? Would your Holy Spirit
grant us light, might see, soft hearts that we might receive the good seed of your word,
ears to hear, and lips and hands, feet and faculties ready and willing to obey, to put into practice
that which you say to us? Lord, be with us, we ask it, not for any sake other than the glory of your Son,
that he would be exalted, and that we would grow more like him, both individually, but also as a church
family here at Brunsfield, and in your service. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, I wonder who you are this evening. It's quite nice when you're a visiting speaker and
preacher, because I know very few of you well at all. So I'm going to trade on my anonymity and ask
you an impertinent personal question. What do you think of preaching? What do you make of preaching?
Not, what do you think of John's preaching, or what do you think of Graham's preaching? Come and tell
me that afterwards if you'd like to. But what do you make of preaching itself? What place does it hold
in your own life? And also in how you think the life of a church should be ordered? You see, my hunch
is that there's probably a range of different positions among us, just speaking from, I guess,
my own experience at home and around the place. There'll be those who are fully persuaded that
preaching is absolutely central to the healthy life of a healthy church, that it's something
that you need, that it's something that is non-negotiable. And yet, in such a high view,
can come an element of assumption. The possible danger is that we come week in, week out, and we
take for granted what we hear. We take for granted what goes on, Lord willing, as we're hearing God's
word spoken. And so our own relationship to preaching might start becoming a bit distant. So theoretically,
preaching's great. But myself, as I sit under the preached word, well, I start receding a little bit.
That might be you sitting there. It may be that you're someone who loves church. You love the
people. You love the worship. You love the community aspect. You love the preaching. But it's
one amongst many different things. And you don't quite get why people bang on so much about preaching.
Maybe you're new to Edinburgh or to the different places that you find yourself. And everyone's saying
as you look, as you look for a church, find somewhere where the preaching is good, where it's clear,
where it's central. You're not quite sure why that is such a big deal. Maybe, again, you are someone who
is here tonight who is thoroughly unpersuaded about preaching. This might be a minority of us here
tonight. But it may be that you always have wondered, well, what all the fuss is about? Surely, actually,
in our day and age, sitting and listening to something for 25, 30, 40 minutes is passé. That actually the time
has come to set aside a monologue delivered by someone nearer to a university professor than a real
person. And just get on with living life as God has called you to live. Why all the instruction? Well, hopefully,
whoever you are here this evening, there is going to be something for you as we dig into this question,
why preaching? My hope and prayer is that together we would come up with a renewed and deepened love
for the Word of God. Not only the Word of God out there, but the Word of God as declared in the
preaching of Scripture in our local churches and in any context that we find it, such that wherever we
are on the spectrum, we're going to be more attentive listeners to God's Word, more attentive students
under God's Word, and I sincerely hope, more attentive speakers of God's Word one to another.
Because preaching is never something that stays just out there in front and above me, but rather is something
that actually equips me to serve my fellow Christians. Now, hopefully, you've got a handout in front of you that
Graham has printed off. Graham, this will just help you if you are someone who likes taking notes to follow along
with where we're going, and if you wanted just to know the structure, this is where we are. Please turn with me
if you've got a Bible back to Isaiah 55. That'll be really helpful. I want us to begin just by considering
those two passages that were read so beautifully for us, because our understanding of preaching
is absolutely controlled by and informed by how we understand God's Word to be, what we understand God's
Word as, and what we think God's Word is doing. We're not going to chase down every reference on
this handout. Don't worry if you're having a bit of a panic attack. We're not going to go there.
A lot of the references are going to be there for you to chase down in your own time if you would like
to, to be Borean, to test what it is that I'm saying against the standard of God's perfect Word.
But we'll begin in Isaiah 55, and maybe you noticed as it was being read for us, the stress from the very
beginning. Take a look down with me. At hearing. God is speaking to his people Israel. The whole first
half of Isaiah up to the end of chapter 39 has been about the judgment that is coming on their sin,
and you may well know that in Isaiah 40, the book pivots, and the Lord declares comfort to his people.
So these words in Isaiah 55 sit within this book of comfort, but look at what God is saying. He's
inviting people to come to him. Come all you who are thirsty. You have no money. Come buy and eat.
There's this picture in verse 1 and 2 of lavish provision from the Lord. Instead of famine and
covenant curse, there's going to come blessing and rich provision from God. But look where the Lord
goes in verse 2. Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good. It's interesting, isn't it? Listen to me,
the Lord says, and you will feast. He goes on, give ear and come to me. Listen that you may live.
You see, God is saying to his people as he promises comfort that there is something critical about what
he says to them, such that actually his very words become nourishment and life itself to them,
if only they would listen. Now we are just dropping down here in Isaiah 55 into the middle of rich
truth right through the Old Testament about God's word. If we were to try and do a biblical theology of
the word of God, we would be here for weeks. Begins in Genesis 1 verse 1, where from nothing,
God speaks all things into being. From the very start, God is a speaking God. And all that has life and
breath that moves and has their being in God has that because he has spoken. You sit here tonight.
I speak here tonight. We feel our chest going in and out tonight as we breathe because God is a
speaking God. Life is only found in his word and it becomes explicit here. He goes on that this isn't
just for Israel. This is for the nations, verse 5. Then you have these glorious verses. Verse 6,
seek the Lord, Isaiah says, while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Salvation is at stake,
the pardon of God in verse 7. And then God explicitly spells out what is going on with his word and why it
is his word is necessary for life. Why his word is necessary for salvation. Look with me at verse 10.
It's this beautiful image of what God's word is. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do
not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed
for the sower and bread for the eater. So in the same way is my word that goes out from my mouth.
It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I
sent it. Now we might have a slightly abusive relationship with rain and snow in Scotland.
It's one of those things isn't even as I parked the car and got out and it started raining on me
again I thought oh more rain. It's been chucking it down in St Andrews for a week and you just feel
drenched to the bone. But bear in mind in this context, in this climate, both spiritually but
physically and geographically in Israel, rain and snow are wonderful, wonderful things.
Without it there is no life and God says that is what his word is like. It's like life giving rain
and snow that comes down from heaven. You see what it does? It waters the earth. It makes it bud and
flourish so that it bears a crop. Well God says that is what his word is like. He says it will not return
to me empty. It will do what he purposes for it. And what is that purpose? Well verse 12,
it is his people, those who hear, those who come, those who eat, those who drink, going out in joy and
being led forth in peace. Verse 13, instead of the thorn bush will grow the juniper. Instead of briars,
the myrtle will grow the thorns that are the mark of the curse of a world that has been cursed by God
into futility. Well as the life giving word of God goes forth, it is like rain on dry desert ground,
rolling back that which would cling and choke and destroy, such that life might come. The trees of
the field clapping their hands, an everlasting sign that will endure forever. See God's word goes out
that life might spring forth. Here in Isaiah, it's exactly the same there across reference to 2 Timothy 3
verses 15 and 16. Famous verses aren't they to do with the inspired word of God. You may well know it,
all scripture is inspired by God. But just before that, in verse 15, Paul says to his protege,
Timothy, who we're going to return to in a little while, that God's word is able to make anyone who
hears it wise for salvation in Jesus Christ. The life that God's word brings is faith in the person
and work of Jesus Christ. We're going fast here over lots of ground, so do come and chat with me
afterwards and chew this over together. But the life giving word of God in Isaiah is precisely the
same as the salvation bringing word of God in the New Testament through faith in Jesus Christ.
And notice that it isn't just a word out there that has to be intuited or figured out.
It is a word that is proclaimed by God himself that people might hear and believe and respond.
We're not left to figure it out grubbing around in the thorns and the dust,
but rather from outside ourselves, God breaks into sin and death with the life giving word
that he himself speaks. And as we'll see, that becomes critical because God is always
a preacher. And he then ordains people to follow after him in preaching that same word.
That's the idea that lies behind Luke chapter 8. Flip with me there, if you would,
as we scoot through a few thousand years of history and we come to Jesus teaching about his word.
Jesus, the preacher par excellence. If you read Luke's gospel and Mark's gospel, Matthew's gospel,
Jesus has come to proclaim the good news of the kingdom. It's what he does. He says,
I've come that I may proclaim in the different villages of Judea. He's traveling around teaching
the people and teaching his disciples about the good news. And here in this famous parable of the
sower and of the soils, Jesus says the central importance in coming to faith,
the foundational thing on which fruitful discipleship depends is how we receive the word of God.
How we receive the words of Jesus. You can see that there in the parable. There's this
sower who seems rather careless with his seed. Do you notice that? He goes everywhere he can,
scattering it as best he can. The seed, we're told in verse 11 by Jesus, is the word of God. And so Jesus is
the sower, wherever he goes, he proclaims, he scatters, he reaches into his bag of good seed and just
flings it such that anyone and everyone might hear. And it's the response then to that word,
which is absolutely critical. We don't have time to walk through all the different responses,
but some are chilling, some are thought provoking. There's one, isn't there, that is wonderfully
encouraging. Verse 15. The seed on good soil, the one that bears a hundredfold that which is sown,
stands for those with a noble and good heart. And look at how this is described.
This struck me. I was actually preaching on this a few weeks ago at home. This isn't some
grand heroic vision as we might think it, some great effort of faith. It's very, very mundane.
Look at the noble and good heart. They hear the word. They retain the word. And by persevering
in their hearing and retaining, they produce a good crop. If you would know the secret to a fruitful
Christian life, it is to hear the word of God, to hold onto it, to not let it go, to, in the midst
of the distractions of life, hold it in your heart. Speak it one to another that you might do that.
And persevere in so doing. That's where true fruitfulness comes. Jesus goes on to say in verse
18, consider carefully how you listen to the word that is spoken. Verse 21, he says that his true
family are those who hear God's word. There we have it again. And put it into practice.
Let me say this evening that there is nothing more important to the Christian life in following
after the person of Jesus and hearing and responding rightly to the word of God.
There's lots of unpacking we could give that. It's a bold statement to make potentially. But
one implication amongst loads is to simply ask yourself, perhaps over coffee afterwards or in the
quietness of your own heart, what is of the greatest foundational importance to you in your own life?
Is it to hear, to retain and persevere with the word of God? Or is it the various things that clamor for
our attention? Now, if it is to hear the word of God, there's an obvious question, isn't there?
If God's word matters this much, if it's this good, if it brings this sort of life, well, how do we hear it today?
How do we hear it today? It's something that people write theological papers about. It's something that people would disagree on.
There are all sorts of different ways to answer it in part truth. And what I want us to do very quickly in our second point here is to trace through,
if you like, the line that runs from the word of God spoken by Jesus to ultimately the Bible we have in our hands
and the words that we hear from the front, from the preacher, before we apply that more in point number three.
So, whistle-stop tour. Anything that sounds odd here, make a note of it. Come and chat to me afterwards.
I hope that won't be too much, but do push me on any of this stuff.
The first place that we go to to hear the words of God that have been spoken by Jesus is in the inspired testimony of the apostles.
If you were to flip up John chapter 14 and John chapter 17, you would see Jesus speaking to his disciples about the coming Holy Spirit,
the gift of the helper who Jesus is going to pour out once he has ascended to the Father.
And he says to those eleven gathered around him that one of the chief functions the Spirit will play is to remind them of all that Jesus has said
so that as they go into the world to be his witnesses, they're going to be speaking the words of Jesus himself.
And there's a staggering little bit in John chapter 17, verse 20.
Jesus is praying to the Father before he goes to the cross.
And he's praying for the apostles.
And then it's as though he turns, as it were, and faces us.
Because he says, I pray not only for these, my eleven.
Judas has gone out by this point.
He says, but I also pray for those who believe on account of their testimony.
Every single one of us here tonight who has their faith resting in Jesus
believes ultimately on account of the inspired testimony of those eleven,
and then Paul, the apostle untimely born, as it were, converted on the Damascus road.
The particular word of the Spirit to those twelve,
such that we now might in no lesser way
come into the life-giving contact of the word of God and of Christ
than if we lived in that day.
It's a staggering thought, isn't it?
That the Bible you have in your hands,
or on your phone,
or whatever media is your preferred way,
is the
unedited,
unabridged,
and totally powerful
word of God,
such that even if you had been there
when Jesus spoke,
you would have been no better off then
than you are now.
It's an amazing thought.
And what gets even more amazing
is that it is then
those words
that are entrusted to people who aren't apostles,
to people who might speak
the same pattern of words
to those who hear.
It would be really helpful if you turn with me all
to 2 Timothy chapter 1
and verse 13.
We're going to try not to hop around too much,
but there's a few where it's so important
that we go there.
2 Timothy chapter 1
verse 13 and 14.
You'll know probably that
Paul is encouraging Timothy,
one of his closest protégés,
in his own ministry
of teaching the word
and of raising up
others who are going to teach the word
after him.
And look at the chain,
if you like,
of the authority of God's word
that runs from ultimately God himself
through now to Timothy.
What you heard from me,
Paul says,
chapter 1 verse 13,
keep as the pattern
of sound teaching
with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
Guard the good deposit
that was entrusted to you.
That is the good deposit of the truth.
Guard it with the help
of the Holy Spirit
who lives in us.
See, Paul says,
look, the words that I've heard from Jesus,
that the Spirit has taught me,
I now entrust to you.
Guard it yourself.
Make that the pattern
of your own teaching.
Now, Timothy isn't an apostle.
He's one removed.
In that sense,
he's actually quite like us
in many ways.
And Paul says,
there's your pattern.
Chapter 2 verse 2,
just cast your eye down.
And the things you have heard me say,
the gospel that Paul preaches,
in the presence of many witnesses,
entrust to reliable people
who will also be qualified
to teach others.
Now, I don't know how many of you
have ever had experience
of writing academic essays
or even, I suppose,
it doesn't have to be an essay.
It could just be a letter.
You know when you're typing something
and you're not quite sure
how to finish the sentence,
you just go dot, dot, dot,
little ellipsis,
sort of imply something continuing.
There's a sense in which there,
2 Timothy 2 verse 2,
is the dot, dot, dot
of the transmission of scripture
through preaching.
We've gone from God's word,
spoken in Jesus,
entrusted to the apostles
and reminded by the spirit,
to then someone like a Timothy
who then in turn
is to pass that on to others
who are going to teach it
and so on and so forth.
Right there,
we get the biblical skeleton,
if you like,
of not only why we preach
in the local church,
but of why it is
of foundational importance.
Actually,
when it matches up
with this pattern
of sound teaching,
and that's a crucial caveat,
when the preaching
of God's word
is in line with
the truth of God's word
as received
and delivered
by the apostles,
then it is the very
word of God
to his people
in any and every
day and age.
And the main theater
in which it's going
to be worked out,
little sub-point number three
there is in the local church.
There are all sorts
of references there
which show us
that the local church
was the place there
where God's word
was preached
and around which
the people gathered.
You get it
in the Old Testament
as well actually,
in Exodus
as the law is given,
Deuteronomy
before Moses dies,
Nehemiah
as the people
are back in the city.
God's people
are always constituted
around the declared
word of God.
Always.
Acts chapter 2,
what do the early church do,
those who come to faith?
Well, they devote themselves
along with the sharing
of all their goods
to the teaching
of the apostles.
Acts chapter 6,
as the Greek widows
are worrying
because they're missing out
on some provision,
what happens?
Well, deacons are appointed.
Why?
So that the apostles
might devote themselves
to the ministry
of the word and prayer.
From the earliest days
of God's people,
preaching the word of God
has been at the very center,
literally and metaphorically,
of the life
of the local church.
And it goes on and on.
1 Corinthians chapter 3,
the assumption is
they're gathering regularly
and the word is being preached
and taught.
Likewise in Colossians
and in other places
that we could go.
We're going to turn shortly
to Ephesians,
which is the great place
where we see this.
But an implication of this
for us.
Again,
big statement to throw out there.
Without the preaching
of God's word,
in accordance with the sound
pattern of teaching
that's been given to us,
there is no church.
Church in the sense
that we understand it
in this way,
gathered together.
There is, of course,
the church,
all of those who trust in Christ
at any point in any age.
But the local expression
of God's people
is gathered together
around the red,
sung,
and supremely declared
word of God.
So let me encourage you
to pray for the preaching
of the word here
in Brunsfield.
Not only now,
this evening,
not only in the coming weeks,
but in the coming months
and years.
Not only Brunsfield,
but all the churches
that would seek to be gods
here in Edinburgh
and around our nation.
That at the center
of what they do,
immovable,
amongst all the many
excellent other things
a local church can do,
would be the faithful preaching
of the apostolic gospel
entrusted by the person
of Jesus
and God himself.
That is why preaching,
again,
matters so much.
And it is why
the Lord Jesus
has ordered his church,
as we'll see now
in Ephesians,
such that his word
is right at the center of it.
Final flipping of the pages
in your Bible
as we move towards a close.
Turn with me
to Ephesians chapter 4,
if you would.
Ephesians is,
the great letter,
if you like,
about the local church
that Paul writes.
The church matters
in all his letters,
but here he lays out,
if you like,
the cosmic importance
of the church.
Chapter 3,
in verse 10,
Paul says that
the church
is the expression,
the declaration
of the manifold wisdom
of God
to the watching universe.
Have you ever thought of that,
about Brunsfield Evangelical Church?
that as we gather
here and now,
the wisdom of God
in saving people
by grace
through faith
in the death
of his son
is being displayed
to a watching universe.
But actually,
spiritual rulers
and authorities
are looking down
at us this evening
and saying,
God is wise.
how else
would such a diverse bunch,
and you know,
like I said,
I don't know you well,
but I imagine you're diverse.
Even as I look around,
I can see some diversity
have been gathered together
by Christ.
That is what the church is.
And as we get
into chapter 4
and Paul starts
to apply this stuff
very practically
to them,
we see in verses 7
down to 16
the central importance
of the preached word.
We actually sang it there
that Christ has
ascended into heaven,
leading captives
in his wake.
And here,
as Paul quotes
that very psalm there
in chapter 4,
verse 8,
he says that the risen Christ,
as he ascends,
gives gifts
to his people.
And the gifts,
we're told,
are people
who teach
the word of God.
Look down with me there
at verse 11.
So Christ himself,
the risen,
reigning Jesus,
gave the apostles,
the prophets,
the evangelists,
the pastors
and teachers.
Those who teach
the word of God
to Christ's people,
we're told,
are genuinely
the gifts of God
to his people.
Now that might
just sound like
a ridiculously
overweening thing
for a preacher
to say.
And believe me
that if you were to ask
anyone who regularly
preaches the word
among you,
we would be staggered
at this truth
ourselves.
That jars of clay
full of brokenness
and challenges
and sin,
visible and invisible,
might be used by God
to teach his word.
Paul says that's
what the pastor,
teacher,
is doing.
The apostle then,
the prophet,
we can talk about
what a prophet is,
the evangelist.
Teaching the word
of God,
but not
as a full stop
end in itself.
Do you see
how he goes on?
The word teacher
is not a gift
of God
who then is to
puff himself up.
Look at verse 12,
to equip
his people,
Christ's people,
the church,
for works of service.
Some translations
have works of ministry.
ministry,
so that the body
of Christ
may be built up.
See,
here's where preaching
hits the road.
It isn't,
like I say,
just out there,
which we consume
and then go away with.
It is actually
given
so that every
single one of us
as God's people
may be equipped
for ministry,
for works of service.
Do you know that?
Every single one of you
is a minister
of the gospel.
You might want to put
a small M
instead of a big M
depending on where
you've come from
in terms of a church
background or not.
But the whole point
of the declaration,
the announcement
of God's life-giving word,
is that all of his people
together
may engage
in works of service.
Here,
the supreme work of service,
you can see there
in verse 15,
it's not being blown
about by false teaching.
Rather,
verse 15,
it is to speak
the truth in love
one to another
such that as the word
is preached
morning and evening,
week in and week out,
as you study the word
in your small groups,
it isn't just hovering
and kind of pushing
and nudging you
in different ways.
Rather,
it is dwelling
richly among you
as God's people,
as Paul says
in Colossians,
and then being spoken
in turn
one to another.
all of us
gospeling
each other,
speaking that truth
which we have
heard from God,
why?
So that
the body
might reach
maturity.
Do you know,
as a church,
you will never
reach maturity
if you do not
speak the truth
in love
one to another.
You will never
reach maturity
in the Christian life
on your own.
So many people
speak about
so-and-so
as a mature Christian.
Well,
so-and-so
on his or her
own is not
a mature Christian.
Maturity is
something that
God's people
together attain
to as they
speak the word
one to another,
as the word
is declared
to them
by God
through those
whom he has
gifted to
his people.
It's a wonderful,
beautiful picture
of this dynamic
building site
as the whole
body,
we're told,
builds itself
up in love,
verse 16.
All playing our
part.
You could look
at 1 Corinthians 12.
Yes,
the preacher
matters,
but no more
than the person
who cleans
the loose.
No more
than you
as you
over a cup
of coffee
ask someone
how they're
going in
following after
Jesus.
No more
than you
as you
take what
you've heard
and apply it
one to another
in love.
preaching
in action
if you like.
God's word
dwelling among
us richly.
So three
implications
as we close.
Listen,
test,
and speak.
I guess the
first one is
perhaps self-evident
from where we've
been.
We are to
listen to
the word of
God that is
preached to
us.
We come back
to Luke 8.
Jesus says
hear.
He says
hear.
He says
hear.
Consider
carefully
how you
listen.
Luke 6,
Luke 11,
he says that
true blessing
comes as we
hear and
obey and
do the
word of
God that
is spoken
to us.
So another
personal question,
are you a
careful listener
to that which
is preached
to you?
Too many of
us are
armchair
critics,
at least I
speak very
autobiographically
here,
particularly as
someone I
guess who
has the
blessing of
preaching quite
a bit.
I can find
myself sitting
in a sermon
thinking,
oh that's
interesting,
why did he
do that?
And why
did he
structure it
that way?
And oh
gosh,
I wouldn't
have used
that
illustration.
Or oh,
my phone's
buzzed,
let's see
what's
happening
with the
rugby.
We can
have all
sorts of
distractions.
God says
no,
you are to
listen to
that which
is spoken
to you.
There are
lots of
ways that
might work
itself out
among you.
Do you
read the
passage that you
know you're
going to be
hearing on a
Sunday morning
before you
come to
church,
that you
might consider
it beforehand
and meditate
on it?
Do you
speak it one
to another,
ask what
someone made
of the
sermon over
Sunday lunch,
not to
critique but
to apply?
Even if you're
hearing a sermon
that you think,
I'm not too
sure about that,
what is it that
God is saying
to you?
even if it's
one thing
that you
might apply
and retain
and obey.
Listen to
the preaching
that God
gives you.
Secondly,
though,
we are to
test,
this is an
implication,
a secondary
thing,
if you like,
from the
truth that
all of God's
preaching now
must accord,
must line up
with the
sound pattern
that has been
given to the
apostles.
Paul encourages
the Berean
church in
Acts 17,
he says they
were of more
noble character
than the
Thessalonians.
Why?
Because they
eagerly searched
the scriptures
to make sure
that what Paul
said to them
was accurate.
So test,
be Berean.
It doesn't
matter who it
is, whether
it's a stranger
like myself,
or a loved
regular like a
John or a
Graham or
someone from
the church's
past,
whoever is
preaching,
as you listen
carefully,
listen with
your Bible
open.
Such that
you can see
where his
words match
up with
God's
words.
The authority
of the
preacher
extends
precisely as
far as
God's word
and no
further.
It's one of
the key
insights of
the Reformation.
That any
authority within
the local
church is
governed by
and circumscribed
by God's
word and not
man's.
No one sits
above scripture,
no one.
We all sit
under it,
no matter
who it
is, no
matter their
pedigree,
no matter
their impression,
their rhetoric,
whoever they
might be.
Listen carefully
and test what
you hear.
And then,
if it accords
with the word
of God,
I'll speak it
to others.
Do it,
in Jesus'
words.
Obey.
apply that
which you
hear one
to another
and to
yourself.
No matter
how costly,
no matter
how painful,
but you
know,
it's regularly
going to be
joyful.
There is a
sweet pain
to the rebuke
that scripture
brings.
The words
and wounds
of a friend
are a
blessing,
we're told
in Proverbs.
How much
more the
words of
God himself.
So,
as a church
family,
as you
listen to
God's
word,
as you
test
God's
word,
may it
dwell
richly
among you,
working
itself
like a
good
yeast
into
every
corner
of your
church
life.
My
prayer for
you,
a prayer
I pray
every week
for our
church
family in
St.
Andrews,
is that
we would
be
saturated
in the
life-giving
word of
God.
That there
wouldn't be
conversations
happening
each week
that is
devoid
somehow
of the
spirit-inspired
truth
about who
Jesus is
and what
he's done
and all
that he's
doing
and all
that he
will come
to do.
And as
that happens,
as we
listen,
as we
test,
as we
obey,
as we
speak to
all and
sundry,
believer or
unbeliever,
well,
so we're
told Christ's
church is
built.
But why
preaching?
How could
it not be?
How could
it not be
in the life
of any
healthy church
that would
seek to
glorify
Christ?
Like I
say,
there's so
much more
we could
say.
I'd love
to chat
with you
afterwards.
I'm not
dashing away.
If you've
got any
questions,
please do
come and
chat.
But my
prayer for
you as a
church family
is that as
God's word
is preached,
you will be
built up and
that you will
be engaging
in works of
service one
with another
as you hear
the words
of Jesus.
Shall we
pray?
Heavenly
Father,
we thank
you for
your word.
Lord,
thank you
for your
son,
the word
incarnate.
Thank you
for your
spirit who
shines light
upon us
that we
might see
him and
that we
might hear
you.
Lord,
please,
as your
son,
the risen
king,
Christ
himself,
addresses us
as the
word is
preached to
us,
would you
make us
those who
hear?
Lord,
for my
brothers and
sisters here,
whatever the
trials and
sorrows are,
whatever the
joys and
the cares
that pleasure
and riches
can bring,
would you
make them
individually
and together
single-minded
in carefully
considering what
they hear?
Help them to
listen,
to obey.
Help us,
we pray,
Father,
to be those
who do test
what we hear,
that it might
match up
with your
word.
We pray for
the preaching
of the
word here
in St.
Andrews and
in our
sister churches,
that in
every way
the sound
pattern of
your gospel
would be
taught.
And make
us do as
we pray,
Father.
Not only
hearers,
not only
those who
look in a
mirror,
but those
who act
in accordance
with what
we see.
Help us
to be those
who speak.
Lord,
would this
be a church
family where
your word
would dwell
richly in
every member,
where it
would ring
out from
this church
right across
Brunsfield and
Edinburgh,
that your
church might
be built,
that Christ
might be
glorified,
and that in
every way we
would be built
up into his
image,
the one who
perfectly heard
and obeyed
your word.
Truly,
would we go
out in joy?
Would we
be led
forth in
peace?
Would the
mountains and
the hills
burst into
song before
us?
And would
you, by
your word,
through your
spirit, in
the name of
your Son,
bring junipers
instead of
thorn bushes,
myrtles instead
of briars,
for your
everlasting
glory.
Amen.