I recently read a book that quoted retired (but still preaching) pastor, Sinclair Ferguson, who spoke of a congregation in Scotland that had the reputation for going to church not to hear the gospel but to hear if the gospel was preached. Think about that. Let that sink in. Consider the difference.
Rather than showing up hungry to be moved and changed by “the old, old, story of Jesus and his love,” the congregation gathered on the Lord’s Day to merely “score” the preacher’s sermon. Their litmus test was that, regardless of the text, the preacher had better have a gospel-centred message. “Well,” you might think, “what’s wrong with that? After all, should not the gospel be preached in every sermon? Should it not pass what a lot of theologues call the ‘synagogue test’?” (That is, a truly Christ-centred sermon is one that would never be tolerated in a synagogue, or a mosque for that matter.)
Well, yes. But Ferguson’s concern was that, while this congregation had ears attuned to listening for the gospel, they were not really interested in hearing the gospel. The consequence was that the congregation gathered as critics rather than worshippers. With all their supposed zeal for a “gospel-centred ministry,” they were in danger of missing the gospel. This is a clear and present danger in Reformed (and reforming) churches in our day, including ours.
As I recently said in a sermon, I am grateful for the growing emphasis upon gospel-centred preaching and gospel-centred ministry. Preachers must point hearers to Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). “All texts lead to the cross” is an important hermeneutic (the process of biblical interpretation). It is vital that teaching and preaching inform hearers concerning the content of the gospel. The need to correctly answer the most important question—“What is the gospel?”—cannot be overemphasised. But, as the apostle Paul often points out, particularly in 2 Corinthians 3:6–17, what is necessary is not necessarily sufficient. Though it is necessary that one knows the content of the gospel, they must also be converted by the gospel. Therefore, an appreciation for the appropriate proclamation of the gospel is not necessarily the same things as an affection for the gospel. Hearing the words of the gospel cannot substitute for a worshipful response to the gospel. As the apostle Paul put it, the mere “letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 6:6). Therefore as we listen for the gospel, we must desire a Spirit-wrought love of the gospel. We need both an ear for the gospel as well as a heart for the gospel.
Today’s Shibboleth
There is an account in the book of Judges of a military conflict between Ephraimites and Gileadites, with the Gileadites gaining the upper hand. Ephraimites seeking to escape had to cross a particular passage of the Jordan River, controlled by the Gileadites. The Gileadites established a kind of “passport control” that involved the correct pronunciation of the word shibboleth. Note the following: “And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, ‘Let me go over,’ the men of Gilead said to him, ‘Are you an Ephraimite?’ When he said, ‘No,’ they said to him, ‘Then say Shibboleth,’ and he said, ‘Sibboleth,’ for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him” (Judges 12:5–6).
It seems to me that, in Reformed circles, we also have a “shibboleth” by which we examine the acceptability of a preacher. Often, ministries and ministers are identified as faithful by a close examination as to whether their sermons contain a clear explanation of the gospel. Those who fail are, of course, not slaughtered, at least not physically, yet they can be unfairly barred from crossing the border into the “inner ring” of “approved” preachers.
At a basic level, I get this. After all, the gospel forms, conforms, and reforms the local church. But I am concerned that, too often, there is an unhealthy focus on the letter of the gospel while neglecting the Spirit behind the gospel. In other words, we should be listening for gospel declaration and, at the same time, longing for the gospel’s dynamic. We need both gospel discernment and gospel delight.
We can all too easily fall into the error of assuming that the transfer of gospel information is the same as gospel transformation. We need both. We need both gospel preaching and gospel power. We should desire both gospel content and gospel conversion. This seems to be Paul’s concern expressed in the phrase, “The letter kills but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6).
I am a bit obsessed with this phrase and that is because I am convicted by the awareness of how much I need the ministry of the Holy Spirit in my life and in my ministry of the word.
Your elders are committed to doing our best to preach the gospel, in every text that we expound. But we realise that, apart from the power of the Spirit of the living God, our words will fall on deaf ears. Yes, even the words of God can be heard as mere dead letters. It is for this reason that I appeal to each member to pray for the Spirit of God to take the word of God and to make it effective in the lives of the people of God. Along with this, I desire for us to grow in our affection and appetite to hear the gospel preached, not to merely assess if the gospel is preached.
May the Spirit of the living God so move in our lives individually and in our congregation corporately that we will increasingly experience the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Such an experiential encounter will go a long way in delivering us from missing the gospel in an otherwise gospel-centred ministry.
Praying for Sunday,
Doug