Several years ago D. A. Carson made an astute comment about studying and preaching the Scriptures. He wrote: “We are dealing with God’s thoughts: we are obligated to take the greatest pains to understand them truly and to explain them clearly.”
That’s the concern behind this blog. My purpose is to share insights and lead a discussion which results in a more effective proclamation of God’s thoughts. Your comments contribute significantly to this discussion. Now it’s time for me to take the next step to advance it.
The next step is to post responses to your comments. So from now on, I plan on sharing answers, clarifications, and responses in the ‘Comments’ section after my posts. In fact, I started doing this last Friday. Some of the entries are still generating some lively discussion. See especially the posts from April 20 (“How Long Should You Preach from One Bible Book?”) and March 22 (“What is the Storyline of the Bible?”). Here are three items to keep in mind about our discussion:
1. I value your response whether you want to agree, disagree, raise a question, or add an insight.
2. I cannot possibly respond to every comment. Just because I do not respond specifically to a comment does not mean that it lacks value. In fact, I have failed to respond to some of the best comments. Why? You’ve said it so well that I have nothing to add! Also, it’s the time thing. Furthermore, I don’t always have to have the last word.
3. I’ll try to alert you to discussions from previous posts which resemble the Energizer Bunny and keep on going and going. You might check the discussion threads on old posts yourself from time to time.
Thanks for joining the discussion and helping us think deeply about the task of preaching.
Posted by Steve Mathewson at 9:30 AM on May 8, 2007
Comments
I really agree with you!
I have been reading your blog for some weeks and I really appreciate it.
Thank you!
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." 2Ti 2:15 (NIV) - That's our goal!
Andrea (from Italy)
Posted by: Andrea Aresca on May 8, 2007
Thanks Steve, for laying out the practicalities of your role and our role on the blog.
Posted by: Bill White on May 9, 2007
"greatest pains" means quality TIME! Pastors have so many things to do, they become 'Marthas' and ignore or short change the MOST important duty--to understand God's thoughts and explain them clearly.
Duane, Molalla, Oregon
Posted by: Duane Dunham on May 14, 2007
Why can you not "possibly respond to every comment"? No offense, brother, but your posts here don't get that many comments.
Posted by: Milton Stanley on May 14, 2007
DUANE: Amen and amen! We've got to be relentless about the time needed to study Scripture and prepare sermons.
MILTON: No offense taken! Even though the posts don't get a high volume of comments, I still have a limited amount of time I can devote to blogging. I'm try to use my time as strategically as possible. If someone else offers an insightful reply to one of the comments, then I'm not sure I always need to follow-up with a comment of my own. I'm new at blogging, so hopefully I'll grow into the right balance as I keep going.
Posted by: Steve Mathewson on May 14, 2007
Steve,
I have not commented on your blog up to this point. But as one servant of the Word to another---thanks for your thoughts! Keep them coming! Keep reminding us in a variety of ways that preaching is the most important thing that we pastors can do.
Harry Shields
Posted by: Harry Shields on May 14, 2007
HARRY: I appreciate your encouragement. You're right, we need to be reminded that preaching is central to the ministry God has entrusted to us.
Posted by: Steve Mathewson on June 1, 2007