Friday, May 31, 2013

Feed My Sheep

Edited by R. Albert Mohler, Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea for Preaching includes articles by a “who’s who” of modern evangelical, gospel preaching, Christ loving preachers. I personally think that every believer should read at least 1 book on preaching. It makes sense that, if God has chosen to save His people through the foolishness of preaching, then preaching should be an important concern for every Christian and not just the ones who have been called and gifted to do it. Contributors to Feed My Sheep are those who some will recognize, and others will not. Writers include R. Albert Mohler, the late James M. Boice, R.C. Sproul, Sinclair Ferguson and John MacArthur.


While acknowledging luminaries in the modern field of preaching, we are to scrupulously avoid the cult of personality that invades the Christian sub-culture. Unfortunately, no stream of Christian community is completely immune from this. I receive a bi-weekly “fundamentalist, independent, Baptist, KJV only” publication where the photograph of the contributing writer or advertising church pastor is the primary feature (a recent edition had 88 mug shots on 24 pages).

The Pentecostal wing of the culture adores such nearly household names like T.D. Jakes, Ken & Gloria Copeland, and John Hagee. The fact that many will know these names and few of the ones mentioned above demonstrates the success of self promotion. Of course, the more “moderate” stream of the Christian media will recognize the names of Joel Osteen and Rick Warren.

John MacArthur speaks to the “rock star” mentality that sadly permeates our Christian culture. In Feed My Sheep he writes:

If you want to be used mightily by God, get yourself out of the way. Learn to see yourself as a garbage pail, or, in the words of Peter, to clothe yourself with humility (1 Peter 5:5). It’s not about you; it’s not your personality, it’s the Word of God. God doesn’t need the intellectuals. He doesn’t need great people, fancy people, or famous people. The people aren’t the power. The power is the message! He puts the treasure in clay pots so that the ‘surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves’ (2 Cor. 4:7b) (page 154).