Cowper on Paul on Preaching (4)
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 2 Timothy 4.1, 2
The apostle Paul called on his young protégé to be diligent and faithful in the ministry of the Word of God. And he set that instruction in an overarching charge (vv. 1-5), outlining the context which every preacher must take care to understand and bear in mind as he engages the work of preaching. For Paul, as William Cowper understood him, preaching was an “awful charge”:And natural in gesture; much impressed
Himself, as conscious of his awful charge,
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds
May feel it too… (The Task)
Paul was certainly conscious of the “awful charge” laid upon him in the work of preaching. He kept a close watch on his own conscience, to make sure that he was always good or clear with God in every aspect of his life and work (cf. Acts 23.1; 24.16). He strove always to proclaim, as Cowper noted, “doctrine uncorrupt” in all his preaching. He knew himself to be a “messenger of grace to guilty men”, and he was eager to see Timothy carry on his work in that same vein.
As Paul understood it, the context of preaching is both vertical and horizontal: It involves the preacher’s work before the Lord, in His Spirit and from His Word, to see Jesus; and with the people of God, according to their needs and the times in which they lived. In the next installment, as we take our place in Paul’s school of preaching, we will examine each of these two aspects of the context of preaching, that “awful charge” with which the shepherds of the Lord are by Him entrusted.
Resources for being and making disciples
All Christians are disciples of Jesus, and all Christians are called, under the Great Commission, to make disciples as well. Right where they are, as they are going about their daily lives. Dr. Mike McQueen offers some important insights to the locus classicus of disciple-making (2 Timothy 2.2). Click the link at the top of this edition of Pastor to Pastor to listen in on the conversation.
Other columns of interest: This week: In our ReVision column we continue our look at Paul’s view of the hope for the church, especially churches that are struggling. Our Read Moore podcast is turning into the home stretch of the book, The Kingdom Turn.Likewise in our Crosfigell teaching letter, where we are looking into the state of pastors and churches during the period of the Celtic Revival, using contemporary witnesses. And in our daily Scriptorium column we are working through Matthew 13, one of the most important chapters of the entire New Testament. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
The Ailbe Bookstore: For a fuller development of William Cowper’s view of Paul on preaching, order a free copy of our book, An Essay on Preaching, by clicking here. And, while you’re at The Ailbe Bookstore, download a free copy of our book, Pray for Your Church.
Resources for Shepherds: How do the life and work of your church compare with what we see in the New Testament and the Early Church? Watch this brief video, then download the ReThinking Church Appraisal Tool. And a new piece on St. Patrick and one on found beauty at our Resources for Shepherds page.
From the Celtic Revival
State of the Churches in the Time of the Celtic Revival: Gaul
I am surprised, I must confess, at such ease, and at the source of this mortal sloth which has almost overwhelmed us all; I know not the hearts, ears, senses, that the Lord’s own fiery words have failed to arouse in the watchfulness of an ever-burning zeal, into scorn for the world, into the poverty of Christ, even as thus they have trained many races. For I, coming from the world’s end, where I have seen spiritual leaders fighting the Lord’s battles, and formerly hoping to behold stronger and more skillful leaders of this holy warfare, and finding the position just as if I were some beholder of the corpses on the battlefield, bedewed and spattered after the fight, I am astounded an in grief…
– Columbanus, Letter to Pope Boniface
And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.”
– Ezekiel 37.3
Enough of the niceties in this letter to the pope concerning the state of his bishops and priests in Gaul. Columbanus tells it like it is.
The problem is one of preferring ease to Jesus and of laying down the weapons of true spiritual warfare and yielding the ground of parish after parish to the ravages of the devil. What kind of souls do such men have “that the Lord’s own fiery words have failed to arouse” them to watch over themselves and their flocks? These “leaders” were not like the ones Columbanus knew back in Ireland. Those men were true spiritual warriors and leaders, “fighting the Lord’s battles”. The priests and bishops in Gaul were like corpses strewn about on a battlefield, dead and rotting.
Ouch!
Read the entire article by clicking here.
Resources from the Celtic Revival (ca. 430-800 AD)
What was the Celtic Revival? What made it “Celtic”? In what sense was it a revival? Why should we care about this ancient period? These and more questions can be answered by downloading a free copy of The Celtic Revival: A Brief Introduction at The Ailbe Bookstore.
T. M. Moore
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
