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Concordia Theological Monthly

Publication Date

3-1-1951

Document Type

Article

Keywords

living gospel, powerful, sermons, grace

Submission Type

Bible Study; Lecture; Sermon Prep

Abstract

The object of preaching and teaching in the Church is, quite simply, to move men. We preach in order that men may be stirred into newness of life; and we teach in order that men may continue, in the Spirit-moved pulsation of repentance and faith, to grow, to increase, to live and move under the continued and inevitable forward tension of the grace of God that dare not be received in vain. This is a commonplace, and there is nothing startling about it; the startling thing is that so many of our sermons (good sermons, carefully constructed sermons, and not altogether unedifying sermons) themselves are not in motion, do not go anywhere. They hover statically above the living and moving text, like a helicopter above a torrent, at a safe remove from the stream's rapid and rapacious onflow, unaffected by its persistent din, and unflecked by its cool and stinging spray. This is bad psychology: our wandering wits leave the preacher for little side excursions into trivia with the comfortable assurance that they can come back any time and find the preacher where they left him; there is no sense of urgency that compels us to stay with him.

Disciplines

Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Scripture References in this Resource (separated by semi-colons)

Exodus 15:2; 2 Corinthians 1:3 ff; 1 John 4:8; Galatians 4:9; 1 Corinthians 8:2-3; Exodus 7:1; Exodus 4:16; Romans 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9, 15; Matthew 11:5; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 2:15-16; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; Colossians 1:6; Ephesians 3:6; Romans 15:19; Philippians 1:27; Ephesians 6:15; 1 Corinthians 4:15; 1 Peter 1:23; 2 Timothy 1:10; Colossians 1:23;

Submission Cost

Free

Submission Audience

Laity; Ministers; Scholars

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