Feed My Sheep

I just finished reading Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea for Preaching. It is admittedly written to pastors and for pastors. But the principles in the book will apply well to anyone who would teach the Scriptures.

Two chapters are particularly worthy of consideration.

Sinclair Ferguson considers the topic, “Preaching to the Heart.” This principle is so important because as he notes, the heart “denotes the governing center of life.” And the goal of preaching to the heart is to preach so that “inner prostration of the hearts of our listeners [is produced] through a consciousness of the presence and the glory of God.”

How can we preach and teach and disciple so that people are left prostrate before the Lord? By exhibiting these five characteristics:

1. A right use of the Bible
2. The nourishment of the whole person
3. Understanding the condition of the hearers
4. The use of the imagination
5. Grace in Christ

In summation, “preaching to the heart is preaching Christ in a way that reminds people of Christ, but also manifests Christ to them, and draws them to Him.”

Also of superior help is John Piper’s chapter, “Preaching to Suffering People.” He articulates why this is such an important issue: because “suffering is a universal human experience, designed by God for His glory, but endangering every Christian’s faith.”

Suffering is a reality that is not only known to be true by life, but because of its affirmation in Scripture (Mt. 8:19-20; 10:25; Jn. 15:20; Acts 14:22; Rom. 8:17-18; 1 Thess. 3:3; 2 Tim. 3:12; 1 Pt. 2:21; 4:12; Ps. 34:19).

So why should there be joy in the Lord? Because “suffering and hardship joyfully accepted in the path of obedience to Christ show the supremacy of Christ more than all our faithfulness in fair days.”

And the difficulty and suffering of the preacher and teacher is a fundamental tool that the Lord will use to accomplish this purpose. If you are teaching,

1. God has ordained that our preaching become deeper and more winsome as we are broken, humbled, and made low and desperately dependent on grace by the trial of our lives.
2. God has ordained that when we preach from weakness and suffering sustained by joy in Christ, the people see that Christ is treasured and they are loved.
3. The suffering of the preacher helps him see from the Scripture what he must say to his suffering people.

In sum, “the aim is to treasure Christ above all things, and to love people with the truth no matter the cost. That will bring the trouble.…We will preach and teach that they must all die, and we will bend every effort to help them say, when the time comes, ‘To die is gain.’ If we can help them value Christ above all that death will take away, they will be the freest and most radical, sacrificial people in life.”