The Art of Prophesying
By
William Perkins
2. THE WORD OF GOD
The Word of God alone is to be preached, in its perfection and inner consistency. Scripture is the exclusive subject of preaching, the only field in which the preacher is to labour.
'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them' (Luke 16:29);
'The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat [that is, they teach the doctrine of Moses, which they confess]. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do' (Matt 23:2-3).
The Word of God is God's wisdom revealing from heaven the truth which is according to godliness. 'But the wisdom, which is from above is first pure …' (James 3:17);
'Paul, a bondservant of God … according to … the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness' (Titus 1:1).
The exceptional qualities of the Word, both in its nature and its effects, evoke our admiration.
10. PREACHING THE WORD
We have discussed the preparation of the substance of the sermon. Now we must think about the actual preaching itself. Here two things are essential:
(i) the hiding of human wisdom, and(ii) the demonstration or manifestation of the Spirit.
Human wisdom must be concealed, both in the content of the sermon and in the language we use. The preaching of the Word is the testimony of God and the profession of the knowledge of Christ, not of human skill. Furthermore, the hearers ought not to ascribe their faith to the gifts of men, but to the power of God's Word (1 Cor 2:1,2,5). But this does not mean that pulpits will be marked by a lack of knowledge and education. The minister may, and in fact must, privately make free use of the general arts and of philosophy as well as employ a wide variety of reading while he is preparing his sermon. But in public exposition these should be hidden from the congregation, not ostentatiously paraded before them. As the Latin proverb says, Artis etiam celare artem — it is also a point of art to conceal art.
The 'demonstration of the Spirit' (1 Cor 2:4) becomes a reality when, in preaching, the minister of the Word conducts himself in such a way that everyone — even those who are ignorant of the gospel and are unbelievers — recognise that it is not so much the preacher who is speaking, but the Spirit of God in him and by him (Mic 3:8; 1 Cor 2:4; 14:24,25; 4:19,20). This is what makes his ministry living and powerful (Luke 11:27).
Such a 'demonstration' will come to expression either in speech or in gesture. The speech must be spiritual and gracious. Spiritual speech is speech which the Holy Spirit teaches (1 Cor 2:13). It is both simple and clear, tailored to the understanding of the hearers and appropriate for expressing the majesty of the Spirit (Acts 17:2,3; 2 Cor 4:2-4; Gal 3:1).
For this reason none of the specialised vocabulary of the arts, nor Greek and Latin phrases, nor odd turns of phrase should be used in the sermon. These distract the minds of those listeners who cannot see the connection between what has been said and what follows. In addition, unusual words hinder rather than help people in their efforts to understand what is being said. And they also tend to draw their minds away from the subject in hand to other things. In this connection, too, mere story-telling as well as vulgar or foolish statements must be avoided.
Gracious speech expresses the grace of the heart (Luke 4:22; John 7:46). Such grace is either of the person, or of the ministry.
The grace of the person is the holiness of the heart and of an unblameable life. While these do not in themselves qualify anyone to be a minister, no-one can do the work of the ministry without them, for several reasons.
1. Because the doctrine of the Word is hard to understand and to practise. Consequently the minister ought to express what he teaches by his example, as a kind of model or type of his own message (Phil 4:8; 1 Tim 4:12; 1 Peter 5:3).
2. A person is not godly, however much he may understand the Scriptures, if he does not possess an inward sense and experience of the Word in his heart (Gen 18:17-19; Ps 25:8,9; Amos 3:7).
3. God abhors godly speech which is not joined with a godly life (Ps 50:16,17). As Gregory of Nazianzus ( c.329-c.389) said, it is as strange to see someone who is supposed to guide others on the way wandering out of the way himself, as it is to see a physician with signs of disease in his own body.
4. It is one of the secrets of ministry that the minister ought to cover his infirmities, so that they are not obvious. Ordinary people do not distinguish between the ministry and the minister. They are not able to see the importance of the ministry without first assessing the person of the minister. Herod heard John Baptist willingly, not because he was a good minister, but because he was a good man (Mark 6:20). Gregory of Nazianzus strikes the right note again when he says: 'He that teaches sound doctrine, and lives wickedly, reaches with one hand what he knocks away with the other.' John Chrysostom (347 A.D. - 407 A.D.), commenting on Matt 20, says: 'The doctor of the church by teaching well and by living well instructs the people how they ought to live well; but by living ill he instructs God how to condemn him.' And again: 'It is an easy matter to show wisdom in words; teach me to live by your life, this is the best teaching.' Words do not make as great an impression on the soul as works do!
5. A minister who is wicked, either openly or secretly, is not worthy to stand before the face of the most holy and almighty God (Lev 10:3; Isa 6:6-8; Jer 15:19). That is why the judgments of God remain for wicked ministers to tremble at (1 Sam 2:17,25).
William Perkins: The Art of Prophesying
