Woeful Without the Word

Charles Spurgeon gave his students this instruction in relation to their call to ministry: "We must feel that woe is unto us if we preach not the gospel; the word of God must be unto us as fire in our bones, otherwise if we undertake the ministry, we shall be unhappy in it, shall be unable to bear the self-denials incident to it, and shall be of little service to those among whom we minister."

If you dare preach the Word, do you do it because you would grow sick if you didn't? Do the scriptures kindle a fire within you that is consuming? When you get up to speak God's message, do you allow the Word to create the spark that sets you on fire so that others may be drawn to the light? Oh that I would be a preacher because there is nothing else left to me God would have me do. If I go a season without preaching may I grow sick and be consumed with a fire unquenchable by any force other than releasing God's message to sinners in need of Truth. If the Word does not provide the power or the spark, may I never stand in the pulpit! God, please keep me away from speaking about you, but instead may I proclaim your name to the world from whatever text you would have opened. Unlock the treasure box that is your Word that I may see the glorious rewards hidden within, sharing them with your people.

Studying: At the Desk or in the Closet?

"Texts will often refuse to reveal their treasures till you open them with the key of prayer. How wonderfully were the books opened to Daniel when he was in supplication! How much Peter learned upon the housetop! The closet is the best study."

This statement comes from Charles H. Spurgeon's work "Lectures to My Students" in a chapter on the minister's personal prayer life. The idea that any man is given the responsibility of preaching is a completely ridiculous idea, but God has chosen this medium to get His Word to the hearts of people. The ridiculousness of it springs from the fact that no man has any right to speak the thoughts that the Almighty God has spoken, but even through our unrighteousness, God has chosen to sanctify certain men for the task. However, no one moment prepares a man to preach. Preaching stems from the study of the Word, the very scriptures that are given through inspiration of man by the Spirit, and it is only by the work of the Spirit that preaching occurs.

A man can sit and read the text again and again, but no matter how many times he reads it or tries to analyze it, nothing will be opened to him until the truth is revealed. To think that we can simply pick up the Bible and find a sermon is such a horrible understanding of preaching, or to come to the Word with our own ideas already formed is no less tragic. The truth of the text can stay hidden as long as we stubbornly avoid the source of the text. If the Word belongs to God, and even IS God, then how foolish to think we can grasp what is to be used as a transforming force first in our own lives and secondly in the lives of those we're entrusted with teaching. Before the text can even be approached we must be humble enough to recognize we have no right to approach it, except for the fact that Christ has redeemed us and we have been called to preach the Word!

May we have preachers bold enough to call themselves nothing; may we have preachers bold enough to fall before God in tears; may we have preachers bold enough to lock themselves in the closet of prayer until the Spirit moves their heart approach the Holy Word passed down through generations! Study the text yes, but study it in the closet well before you make it to the desk! Listen to the Word and hear what it is saying; do not dare to create something out of what you read in ignorance. Give us preachers who spend hours in prayer and minutes in creation!