Book Review: Jonathan Edwards, A Life

January 28, 2013 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Written by George Marsden, 2003, Yale.

Mammoth? Maybe. Magisterial? Absolutely. Marsden’s 505 pages plus notes on the life of Edwards is an absolute joy to read. He neither falls into the culturally critical Edwards bashing of years gone by, nor into the presentations of Edwards as if he fit every theological mold of his tradition. He certainly avoids the bizarre agenda of separating Edwards’ genius from his vibrant faith.

The Edwards offered in Marsden’s work is the Edwards of history, a man profoundly gripped by the glory of the triune love of God, a man who remained resolute in his disciplined life of study and ministry, yet who progressively grasped the captivating wonder of God’s gracious intratrinitarian love and grew beyond a self-determined resolution approach to spirituality.

I won’t give Edwards biography here. However, for anyone who has only seen Edwards through the caricature of a single sermon title, Marsden is a must read. Bridging the historical worlds of puritanism and enlightenment, Edwards is a massive figure in theological, philosophical and modern church history. Marsden gets the Augustinian heritage of Edwards, shining light on the emphases sometimes perceived by some to be imbalanced, yet showing Edwards to be a brilliant mind coupled with, and guided by, a captured heart.

Since I suspect it is mostly preachers who visit this blog, let me suggest that we do well to spend time with the greats by means of good biography. Marsden has also written A Short Life of Edwards, which is not an abridgement of this work, but another biography cast in an entirely new way, as it were. I look forward to reading that now that my thoroughly marked up copy of A Life is no longer next to my reading chair.

Edwards is intriguing on many levels, and from many angles: Revival, Calvinism, Augustinian Trinitarianism, puritan theology, church polity, academic institutional history, philosophy, cross-cultural missions, religious affections, hermeneutics, and so on. Take the time to get to know Edwards with this biography and you will find your own life and ministry stirred in many ways, all beneficial.

Not wanting to give away the ending, let me share the final paragraph anyway:

How can the creator of such an unimaginably vast universe be in intimate communication with creatures so infinitely inferior to himself? . . . Edwards’ solution–a post-Newtonian statement of classic Augustinian themes–can be breathtaking. God’s trinitarian essence is love. God’s purpose in creating a universe in which sin is permitted must be to communicate that love to creatures. The highest or most beautiful love is sacrificial love for the undeserving. Those who are given eyes to see that ineffable beauty will be enthralled by it. They will see the beauty of a universe in which unsentimental love triumphs over real evil. They will not be able to view Christ’s love dispassionately but rather will respond to it with their deepest affections. Truly seeing such good, they will have no choice but to love it. Glimpsing such love, they will be drawn away from their preoccupations with the gratifications of their most immediate sensations. They will be drawn from their self-centered universes. Seeing the beauty of the redemptive love of Christ as the true center of reality, they will love God and all that he has created.

(To buy Marsden’s work in the UK, click here.)

The Preacher’s Clock: Anticipation

January 25, 2013 / Peter Mead / 5 Comments

For the last couple of days I’ve been pondering issues of procrastination and preparation. But it is also important to consider anticipation.

Anticipating Future Preaching – The whole issue of preparation cycles is important. Robinson taught us that a five-day cycle was not long enough and he was right. This is only exacerbated by delays as you can end up with a message on Saturday night that has one night and one breakfast time to be embedded in your life as a preacher. That is hardly long enough to scratch the surface of personalizing experience of the message or forming any sort of conviction. You may know the material, but only in the head. A longer cycle allows for the Bible passage to do some work in you and on you, the preacher. But it could be argued that even a 10-day cycle is not really long enough if the goal is to let the message become part of your own life and experience.

This is why it is helpful to anticipate preaching for weeks or even months. Obviously you can’t be preparing months worth of sermons in any detail at all. However, knowing that a series is coming ahead of time does allow for an initial reading, some initial prayerful pondering, etc. I am considering preaching through Colossians later in the year. Awareness of that series, even without any sort of extensive study, can influence my life and thinking now. By the time the series comes, there should be some deeper rootedness in my heart and life.

Anticipating Future Interruption – Any talk of schedules and delays must also lead us to ponder the possibility of future interruption. Could there be a pastoral crisis, family illness, broken kitchen appliance, car trouble, unexpected guest or excessive administration between now and the sermon. I suspect there might be. That is why we need to build in margin to the schedule, rather than cramming things into every corner and relying on a smooth run through the week. This isn’t easy for most of us, especially when it means saying no to ministry invitations, but there is no other way to avoid seasons of overwhelming stress than to say no to things before the crisis emerges.

The Preacher’s Clock: Preparation

January 24, 2013January 23, 2013 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Yesterday I mentioned Robinson’s advice on moving from a five-day to a ten-day cycle simply by shifting the initial exegetical work back to the previous Thursday. I know that in my own experience most weeks are not consistent and so I have to be flexible on my preparation schedule (even if I have my own ideal). But I suspect that even many who have a standard weekly schedule still have to flex more than they would like. So what kinds of time go into a sermon preparation phase?

1. Blocks of concentration – Good sermons don’t get crafted in snatches between emails. Having significant blocks of concentration time is critical and need to be carved out of normal life. This can mean taking deliberate steps: turning off the phone, moving away from the computer or turning off the email notification, perhaps leaving the office and finding a “study” zone that allows for concentration. When we moved I left behind my favourite wooded area where I used to sit in the car and work without phone signal, but gained access to a church building that is quiet at key times.

2. Chunks of process progression – Some things don’t require being “in the zone,” but are needed to move the process forward. Perhaps researching a specific issue for an illustration, or chasing a quoted passage to gain familiarity. The key thing here is to know what needs to be done, and to have some days in which to get these chunks of work done. It doesn’t matter that it is only three times twenty minutes worth of work, if you are already at Saturday afternoon, these will get squeezed out.

3. Brief and extended moments for contemplation – Focused and planned prayer time is important. Taking prayer time when available also counts. Praying through a message in the car is better use of time than hearing the same cycle of news and chat on the car radio. I wouldn’t want to rely on car time for prayer. That makes it sound unimportant. But I wouldn’t want to be without those “non-traditional” times either. These times to think and pray are cumulative and valuable.

4. Focused prayer time – So as well as fitting in prayer and spilling out prayer as you soak in a message and anticipate preaching it, it is also worth scheduling and planning real prayer time. I like to spend some time praying in the church, focusing in on the people I associate with certain seats. Some like to pray and walk, others have a prayer closet. I don’t think God minds where.

5. Pre-delivery time – I value that time the night before and the morning of preaching to be able to run through the message. This is why I can’t just preach from old notes as if it were fresh. At this stage the work is done, but it is amazing how much can be improved when hearing the message through your own ears.

All of this time takes, well, it takes time. Hence starting the process earlier always allows opportunity for both the planned blocks and the smaller pieces in the whole puzzle to come together.

The Preacher’s Clock: Procrastination?

January 23, 2013 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Haddon Robinson was on target when he suggested the weekly cycle of sermon preparation is too short. Starting on Tuesday for the following Sunday is not soon enough and can messages under-cooked and preachers without the time for the message to be working authenticity into their experience. Robinson suggests putting in some preparation the Thursday of the week before. I think he is on target.

But what about when things go the other way and preparation gets squeezed?

I have a personal principle on this issue. If I genuinely have had unforeseen delays and have to prepare at the last minute, then I ask God for help and know that He understands. But then there is a second part to it too – if I have procrastinated and end up preparing at the last minute, then I confess that, ask for forgiveness and still ask God for help.

The first part of the principle has been forged in the relatively gentle furnace of family life and missions organization participation, and in recent years by the busy schedule created by combining ministry roles. Sometimes life happens and there is no way to prepare as you would like. God understands this. Last minute preparation is not ideal, but it is possible and it is still better to prepare as much as you can, rather than not prepare at all.

The second part of the principle is because I am human. I admire people with perfect track records in the area of self-discipline (but I also doubt them!) Rather than make up excuses and try to convince myself that I genuinely could not prepare fully due to life circumstances, I would rather be honest and admit when I have allowed other things, often very good things, to distract me from what was needed as a ministry deadline loomed. I may have lacked self-discipline, I may even have succumbed to some tempting distraction, but I don’t want to succumb to another temptation and seek to justify my procrastination. Hence, I sometimes have to repent and ask for forgiveness and then prepare at the last minute.

Let’s all be marked by the last fruit of the Spirit in our ministry preparation, making the most of every opportunity to preach the Word as good stewards of the privilege. And let’s be real with God and ourselves when we fail. Let us neither abuse grace, nor reject it.

Reading and Preaching

January 12, 2013 / Peter Mead / 8 Comments

I remember hearing about someone who made the mistake of writing down a book suggestion for someone he was discipling. The book was ideally suited to the situation, but the author was just too different. The man was chased out of his church.

What makes a Bible school “liberal?” In one sense the term refers to wide and free reading across the spectrum. Strangely, I hear that there are many of the more “liberal” schools that won’t include “conservative” books on their reading lists. At the same time, many “conservative” schools will recommend and even require the reading of “liberal” scholars. If this were all that a label referred to, then they would need to be reversed!

Seems like we should be reading widely (and I’m not really referring to facebook / blog surfing!) At the same time, it may not be wise to advertise the breadth of your reading habits in some circles.

Good reading should not only reinforce your understanding by affirmation, but also by challenging what you believe. And as maturity increases, so can the band-width of your reading spectrum. It seems to be a very immature trait to dismiss books simply because they are not 100% on target.

Read widely, disclose wisely.

Prayer and Preaching

January 10, 2013 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

The sermon is coming and the preacher is praying. Sometimes this can be really passionate prayer. Sometimes there can be a sense of a spiritual breakthrough. Praying for the message, for the church, for the people, for the lost! This can be a time of great excitement and great expectation. And this can be a time of intense battle. We fight not against flesh and blood, but against the forces of evil. And in the intensity of battle the expectation for devil-destruction in the power of the glorious grace of the gospel can increase.

Then comes the sermon and it can all feel so, well, normal. The sermon goes ok, and the listeners say nice things, but this wasn’t what you prayed for and longed for and hoped for. It is just normal.

It is easy to let the normal-ness of ministry diminish our sense of expectation. After a while it can become as if we don’t really expect people to be transformed or the Spirit of God to be at work. This is understandable, but it is wrong. As Haddon Robinson once put it, “we’re handling dynamite, and we didn’t expect it to explode!”

The Spirit of God is at work, the Word of God is powerful, and whether we see it or not, we should prepare and pray with great expectation. (What about the disappointments and struggles that come internally after we preach? We pour them out to God and then press on, daring to dream again, daring to pray big and preach big for a big God!)

Preach the glorious gospel into the normal world of life and church. Preach the wonder of God’s grace so that it connects with people in normal world. But don’t preach as if preaching is just normal. It is not. It is a moment where the character of God is held forth in His self-revealing Word to draw hearts and lives into profound transformation. This life changing process may feel normal all too often, but it is not normal. It is supernatural.

Who Goes There?

January 8, 2013 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Now is the moment when more Christians are reading the Old Testament. By Valentine’s Day they may have fallen out of love with a slow read through Leviticus and given up. So what should we, as preachers, be pointing them toward? What is the goal in Old Testament reading? What was Paul saying when he wrote about the instruction and the example of the Old Testament? Today’s post is found here, on the Cor Deo site.

Bridge Protection 3

January 4, 2013 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Yesterday I pondered clutter from our current context. But there is always another source of debris that will harm our bridge-building ministry – ourselves. What are some of the personal clutter issues that could be dangerously weakening the bridge? As I described on Wednesday, when the debris causes the bridge to do more than it is designed to do, it will be dangerously undermined.

Issues of Integrity – This seems obvious, but so important to keep in mind. Serious breakdowns in morality, sexuality, financial impropriety, etc., will totally undermine a preaching ministry. But what about the small stuff? A twig won’t destroy a bridge, but in combination with other twigs, and some time, the bridge could well be weakened. As we dealt with the clogged footbridge the other day, it was mostly small stuff in combination that had caused the water to run up over the bridge and lead to potential gradual rotting of the wood.

What are the “smaller” branches and twigs? Issues of self-control, inappropriate spending, low-grade anger, half-truths, gossip, selfishness, false spirituality, personal inflamed ego, contempt of others, competitiveness, power-brokering, self-elevation, not following through on commitments, inappropriate TV viewing, laziness, mental fantasy, procrastination, and on it goes.

Pursuit of Personal Burnout – Or to put it another way, ministry in the traditional model of a minister doing the work of the ministry while the church is filled with “lay people” who pay for the minister to, well, minister. There is a reason that the New Testament presents the plurality of church leadership, and apostles typically working in teams, and gifts being given to all believers. You can’t do it all. You might try for a while, but it is not sustainable, nor is it healthy for your church, or your marriage, or your children, or yourself.

Over-commitment is so hard to avoid in church-based ministry, but we must be willing to say no to some things in order to be a good steward of the longer term ministry. Even if some people will misunderstand? Yes. Even if some will criticize? Indeed, expect it. We can preach that the gospel is not something to be earned, then live a life of striving that undermines the very gospel we preach. People don’t earn salvation by attending every single meeting, and the preacher’s don’t live in a separate category. Guard your relationship with the Lord (which is not the same as an over-commitment to “serving Him”).

Dangerous Levels of Distraction – You know what draws you away from what you should be doing. This may not be a sin issue at all. Good interests, hobbies, social networking, etc. Good things can become negatives if they undermine our primary calling. Handling both well, with the Lord being with us in both work and leisure, will make for a genuinely healthy ministry. Yes we need to be involved in things other than work and ministry, but that does not mean these things should become distractions that undermine our stewardship of the ministry. Ask for wisdom and clear vision here too!

Bridge Protection 2

January 3, 2013 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Debris and clutter under the wooden footbridge had clogged it up and water was streaming across the bridge. A minor inconvenience for dog walkers, or a gradual destruction of the bridge? Pulling out the debris showed just how weak soaked and rotten wood could become, and without addressing the needs of the bridge, it too would rot to danger point.

So what are the debris issues clogging up the bridge we build in preaching? What seemingly unimportant encumbrances are putting a strain on our messages and gradually leading us toward a rottenness that could undermine everything we do? I don’t know which way you’d take the analogy, but here are some of the logs I see clogging up the bridges of preaching today:

1. Entertainment. Good preaching should be engaging, and at times the biblical narrative is both gripping and entertaining. But too easily we can start to think our role is to compete with the various entertainments of our culture, and consequently we undermine our own preaching. Witty comments combined with powerpoint images will never compete with contemporary media banter and highly produced action. We lose if we compete on entertainment alone, but we lose multiple times more in terms of what is sacrificed in the process. The spiritual impact of the genuine preaching of a living Christ far outweighs anything our culture has invented to fill the void. But if we pursue entertainment as an end in itself, our bridge will rot to danger point very quickly.

2. Political Correctness. Like the proverbial fish that can’t see the water it is in, so we are so easily shaped by what our culture perceives to be “PC.” My grandparents would come out with an absolute faux pas to my generation, but then be highly careful with a total non-issue (to my generation). Too much focus on the current standard of what is acceptable will leave us dangerously weak in terms of the substance of the revelation that we preach.

3. Worship of Culture. Every era has had its enticements. The refinements of sophisticated living and liberal-leaning theology was a draw in the 1700’s. Today some preachers are still drawn away by an inordinate enamoring of contemporary culture. Don’t get me wrong. We need to engage with culture, and we need to understand culture to engage people effectively. But under the banner of cultural engagement it seems that some are so captivated by what attracts them that their gaze on Christ seems to fade and become something of a justifier of their interest in some aspect of contemporary culture. Christ sanctifies their interests, and this seems to dangerously weaken their ministry. Let’s not go to the opposite extreme of reclusive disengagement, but let’s remember that we are with Christ as He engages culture…we mustn’t disengage from Him in order to forge links on our own terms.

Tomorrow I’ll take another angle, but please feel free to comment . . .

Bridge Protection

January 2, 2013 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Yesterday was a fine winter’s day and my children enjoyed being outside. Very near our house we have a stream that runs under a little wooden bridge. Typically the stream would be 3-4 feet wide and inches deep, but with heavy rains and interwoven branch debris the space under the bridge had blocked up and the water was 8-10 feet wide and pouring across the bridge. For my children this constituted high drama and the need for Dad’s help!

We poked, we prodded, we jumped on the branches causing the blockage. We levered, we hammered, we tugged . . . and after half an hour we’d dropped the water level by about an inch. As light faded it was either go home or try harder. Risking cold water entering my boots (I know, Dads are heroes), I got more aggressive. A few minutes later a larger branch was extracted and then I faced the granddaddy of them all, with a diameter of about 8 inches, this eight foot “twig” looked like a backbreaker. It wasn’t. It was rotten to the core and fell apart as I tried to lift it out.

The debris cleared and the water level dropped 18 inches (perhaps flooding the other side of town!) Job done.

Pondering this mini-adventure and community service escapade, I realized that while the situation looked harmless, it was not. Walking through a half inch of water on that bridge was no problem for the dog walkers and children passing by. But that rotten log told a different story. Without clearing the debris, that bridge would have gradually rotted to a dangerously weakened state.

John Stott described preaching as bridge building. We stand between two worlds and form the link between the two. The truth of God’s Word is conveyed to the needs of our world. I wonder if we live in a day when the ministry of preaching is threatened by some debris clogging up the space beneath and causing a dangerous gradual rotting to take place?

Perhaps as we head into this new year, it would be worth considering whether there may be some poking, prodding, stamping and debris clearing to be done around our preaching ministries. If clogged for too long, the bridges we seek to build could turn out to be only as strong as rotten soaked wood, unable to carry the weight of the burdens placed on them.

Tomorrow I’ll ponder some debris that may need some clearing to allow our preaching ministry to function as it was intended to function: for the transformation of lives and eternity, and the pleasure of our good God.