PREACHING YOUR SERMON - TRUE MINISTERS REGURGITATE, OR DO THEY – SHOULD THEY?
I keep some finches and just recently one pair had babies. It is interesting the way the Lord has arranged for the babies to be fed. I think most people have noticed the method used by birds as the young are fed. Usually it is the special type of rasping or tweeting sound made by the babies that stimulates the parents who then regurgitate the partly digested food into the mouths/throats of the young ones. They do that until the young have learned to feed themselves.
This process reminded me again of the function of the church minister or pastor, or the elders and leadership of the church group. I likened this to regurgitation, a simplistic way of understanding a pastor’s preaching/teaching role among the sheep.
In simple terms, to regurgitate means to feed to others what one himself has received/taken in. This can be good in Christian ministry but can also have problems associated with it. I wish to examine this as I have seen it in operation over seven decades.
[A]. THE BIBLICAL COMMAND TO FEED
Jesus authorised the care of His followers to those He had trained. In the verses that were spoken to Peter we see the pastoral care of God’s leaders being commanded by the Lord.
{{John 21:15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” He said to him, “TEND MY LAMBS.”
John 21:17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” and he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things. You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “TEND MY SHEEP.”}}
It was Peter the Lord selected to take the gospel to the Jews, working ever outward until the episode with Cornelius saw God’s message of salvation going into the whole world. This was his use of the keys of the kingdom and there was nothing popish about it at all.
In the two verses just cited, the words “lambs” and “sheep” are used. The word for lamb originally meant a little lamb, but generally means a lamb or lambkin. These are young, and in the passage in John, would mean those new believers coming into the faith. The Jews had some basic legal knowledge and teaching in their background but the Gentiles would come from paganism and needed feeding, careful feeding.
The sheep are those who are growing or have matured, being established in the faith. Strong’s mentions the word is related to walking forward, eg. sheep. That is the proper direction to go. The Lord’s followers must progress, not be stationary or worse still, retreating. It is the minister who must feed these sheep, or the church teachers in the local fellowship entrusted with that ministry, who do it.
[B]. THE BIBLICAL COMMAND TO TEACH THE TEACHERS
The Pastoral Letter to Timothy mentions a very important instruction, this one – {{2Timothy 2:1-2 “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these ENTRUST TO FAITHFUL MEN WHO WILL BE ABLE TO TEACH OTHERS ALSO.”}}
That is the line of teaching succession that began with the Apostles. Teaching is to be passed on but I question some of the approaches and methods of Bible Colleges and Denominational Seminaries from one aspect. I don’t think that is the way the teaching approach was in the New Testament era. Anyway I don’t wish to pursue that but want to say again, faithful men must teach so that the next generation of teachers can be taught by these men.
Just going back to my finches for a moment – I notice that the parent birds are quite protective of the small, newly emerged young when other birds come close. Teaching the saints would include protection of the saints. What is being passed from teacher to learner (as in the regurgitation simile) needs to be done in an atmosphere of guarding the flock.
{{Acts 20:28-29 “BE ON GUARD FOR YOURSELVES AND FOR ALL THE FLOCK, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.”}}
[C]. NOW – THE WHOLE MATTER OF REGURGITATION
By this term I mean the giving out of what has been received. Going back to the finches, what the young are fed all comes from the parents. In Christian ministry, in the early stages the servant of God will feed the flock, but as time progresses the flock is taught the feeding principles.
GIVE BACK WHAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED. This is the core of Christian preaching and teaching. It is the area I want to focus on.
This will not be a “Minister, rate yourself” message. I can’t stand that sort of thing. My purpose is to share from 65 years of ministry, principles and observations I have known.
SECOND-HAND REGURGITATION. I think there is always a problem with young men passing through a Bible College/Seminary and then entering the church as the minister/pastor. Why is that? In the New Testament letters it is absolutely clear that the overseeing and ministry in each of the local churches, was conducted by the elders and teachers, but these teachers came under the eldership role so it can be inferred that they also were the elders.
Being elders means they were both older men in the faith and older men in age. Let us say, “mature men”. It seems contradictory to place a young man in ministry alone, who has not had the experience of life, especially in personal relationships and counselling. The nation of Israel functioned under the same principle with national elders of Israel.
HOW DOES THE MINISTER/PASTOR/TEACHER FEED THE FLOCK OF GOD?
How many times did Paul said, “What I received from the Lord,” and that is our operating principle. The man must be God’s appointment, fed by God to feed others. It is as simple, but as serious as that.
You give out what you receive. That can only progress as one is a student of the bible and studies the word with the guidance of the Holy Spirit to be able to relate it to the believers’ needs. He waits before the Lord and he meditates on the word day and night. The Lord gives him the words to speak; the subjects to cover; the tone of the message and it becomes the well-digested food able to be passed to others as the finches do, suitable for their needs and growth.
That is the correct way to do it. (I will mention practical helps later on). Years ago; I mean decades ago before the Internet, one could buy books of sermons and Sermon Outlines all produced to assist the minister in sermon thoughts, even providing sermons. Are these books wrong? I will do that later on.
Then came the Internet, and one can source literally hundreds of thousands of sermons and sermon outlines and illustrations.
I mentioned Second Hand Regurgitation. That happens when a speaker takes what others have written and makes it his own sermon (because he has not done his digging in his own gold mine). Again the question, “Is that wrong to do?”
I think the most disturbing aspect that can happen in ministry is the square peg in the round hole problem, that is, a man ill-fitted for ministry who struggles. There are many reasons for struggling, but if we dismiss some of them and just take up a few, I want to highlight these –
(a). Laziness. Sadly there are some who are lazy and I mean it in the sense of being deep students of the bible – being fed so one may feed others. That is Regurgitation proper. True bible research and study is a discipline that requires time and waiting on the Lord for what He speaks to us. Lazy preachers can, and do take messages from here and there and give out those because it is convenient.
(b). Incompetence. Please don’t call me critical, but there are those in ministry who ought not be there. They lack the skills God would require. They don’t have the conviction for the ministry of Christian service, nor the commitment. In a past generation in England, in a family, one son went into the army; another one into the church (some Christian service) and so on. Well without the calling of God it becomes a farce. The incompetent one regurgitates what he puts together and scrounges from others and not what God has given him personally.
(c). Uncertainty of Calling. Here is a situation - A man does not know what to do in life and goes to a Theological College (often Denominational); finishes the course and still does not know what to do with his life. He then decides to stay in that denomination’s service and is placed in a church. (Those who call their pastors are less likely to have that problem). A man of uncertain calling is a bit like the shepherd who runs away when the wolf comes. True Daniels are the ones who stand firm with the calling of God. These uncertain souls readily take what others have produced and adapt it or take it as a whole as the convenient way of doing their duty.
[D]. SERMON PREPARATION
THIS message here is not going to focus on the very big area of preparing sermons – there are many resources that teach that method (and I would suggest you look at guides on Expositional Preaching). I want to address the regurgitation aspect. Firstly we take a look at this – {{Ecclesiastes 12:8-12 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!” In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also TAUGHT THE PEOPLE KNOWLEDGE, and he PONDERED, SEARCHED OUT AND ARRANGED MANY PROVERBS. THE PREACHER SOUGHT TO FIND DELIGHTFUL WORDS AND TO WRITE WORDS OF TRUTH CORRECTLY. The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails - they are given by one Shepherd, but beyond this, my son, be warned - the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.”}}
Take note of the capitalised words. “Pondered” is when the man carefully studies the word of God. Spending time with the Lord in His word has results and is when you sense what the Lord wants you to speak on and provides the thoughts and material. That is the basis of your message. It is the framework if you like and then you may, if you wish, go to the next step.
Solomon then said, “He searched out and arranged many proverbs”. In other words, he was gathering resources. These may be excerpts and quotes from others and illustrations. If I may be personal, what I write now is from what the Lord leads me to, but now and again I check out a certain passage or phrase in what I write to get a consensus on it, or clarification. That means checking Commentaries, looking into the original languages, and bible versions, though I like only the literal translations. I might even then take a quote regarding it. All that is legitimate. Also sourcing good and suitable illustrations is helpful.
I must emphasise this – {{Ecclesiastes 12:10 “THE PREACHER SOUGHT TO FIND DELIGHTFUL WORDS AND TO WRITE WORDS OF TRUTH CORRECTLY.”}} The concept shouting out from this verse is “effort”. The effort must be placed into every message that is given. Do not grab what someone else has prepared and give that because you don’t have time or you have not been doing your own work. That is second-hand regurgitation and it is wrong. You must be giving back what you receive.
CONSIDER THE FARMER - Jesus often used agricultural illustrations as the people were agrarian workers, many of them. There is no such thing as a farmer reaping an instant crop as we all know. It takes much effort, dedication and time. The soil has to be prepared, the ploughing, and disc plough; then the planting; then the harrowing (dealing with the weeds); all the time attending to the watering; then the harvesting; and depending of the crop in those days – the winnowing or separation of the grain.
It is no different with sermon preparation. In fact a man should be so familiar with the word of God, that the Lord can direct him to a subject/area/series He want the preacher to do.
To summarise that, it is fine for a man to gather material from other servants of the Lord from what they have written and in illustrations. However the whole message is coming from YOU, not from another. You are the Lord’s servant and doing you work for the Master, not producing second-hand work.
[E]. ONE IMPORTANT ASPECT WE MUST NOT FORGET
The minister does not own the pulpit. It must never be seen as his sole service. His role is not in delivering a sermon each Sunday but in TRAINING others. Look at this special verse we had earlier – {{2Timothy 2:2 “and the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”}} The teaching role of a pastor must be highlighted. Training others for service in the church; in teaching AND in preaching and so many other expressions. As I said the pulpit does not belong to one man solely (the minister) but he must train and encourage and give opportunity for the development of spiritual gifts. That means the “official” minister does not preach all the sermons.
This next passage will again speak about the purpose of leadership in the UNIVERSAL BODY of Christ and also in the local body of Christ – {{Ephesians 4:11-12 and He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for THE EQUIPPING OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WORK OF SERVICE TO (in) the building up of the body of Christ”}}
THE APOSTLE PAUL
Why was Paul such a successful “passer-on”? I will supply three reasons –
[1]. He knew the scriptures thoroughly. We speak here of the Old Testament scriptures. Ministers and all Christians, we must know the Old Testament scriptures as well as we know the New Testament scriptures because the Old Testament scriptures were the bible of the early church. They have not been superceded. Meditate on these well known verses (referring to the Old Testament) – {{2Timothy 3:16-17 “ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”}}
[2]. Paul was a man of prayer, commitment and faithfulness. No minister in service in a church or mission field or any ministry should be less committed.
[3]. Here is a working principle – {{2Timothy 2:15 “BE DILIGENT to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, HANDLING ACCURATELY THE WORD OF TRUTH,”}}. Diligence (“study” in the AV) is a necessary requirement and Paul’s life reflected that thoroughly. So must ours.
Ministers and pastors need to train their congregations in how to study the word of God and to study for themselves. I think only a man of experience can do that which brings me back to the point of young men entering denominational ministry.
The purpose of this message here is to show that true ministers regurgitate WHAT THE LORD HAS GIVEN THEM, not what the Lord has given to others. I hope there were some pointers. If you disagree with something, well it might not suit your situation.
ONE CLOSING POINT – In the New Testament times faithful men did not have books of sermons or the Internet to take things from. Instead they studied and laboured over the Old Testament scriptures to see what God wanted for them to live by and to preach and teach. Never forget the Bereans.
