There’s an interesting discussion over at The Good Book Company Blog on how we introduce our preachers in church meetings. I know when I’ve led church services I’ve often used the familiar line ‘…and now X is going to explain the Bible to us’.

But is ‘explain the Bible’ really the most apt phrase? Does that really capture the hugeness of God himself speaking to our hearts as the message of the Bible is unpacked and applied? Maybe it explains in part why sermons are often seen merely as lectures or the ‘intellectual bit’. I’m reminded of Martin Lloyd-Jones’ line that expository preaching is actually ‘logic on fire’.

Of course when I preach I am trying to make clear, to explain, the meaning of the Scriptures so that it is understood. In that sense there is something gloriously simple about the human instrument, just expounding the truths of the Bible. But ‘explain the Bible’ does seem a little short of the mark.

A little short of the mark to describe the gracious act of God in addressing and transforming his people.

A little short of the mark to capture His powerful words of life going forth, the sword of the Spirit at work to bring people to faith.

What do you think? How would you describe preaching? Let me know know below and why not pop on over and join the discussion.

God loves his church. Well that’s an understatement if ever there was one.

But lately I’ve had the chance to see that afresh in 1 Corinthians. We’ve been going through it over the course of the last year in our Growth Groups at church. We do this because we believe the Bible is God’s word and so we want to hear him speak and change us, and just recently we’ve been looking at ch12-14. It’s a section infamous for provoking controversy about spiritual gifts. It also includes a passage that would have made Paul a billionaire if he’d just thought to copyright before the wedding industry got their mitts on it.

The Giving God gives to His church

But before this section is about gifts, it’s about God and his church. And in chapter 12, as Paul lays down the foundations for his pastoral panacea, he gives us a beautiful picture of our God at work, lavishly giving to his people.

‘Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.’

(1 Corinthians, ch12, v4-7)

Straight-up it’s a simple point about unity despite variety. That phrase can be misused to dress up a mishmash of theological heterodoxy that’s actually got about as much unity as a joint Apple & Android staff team-building day. But in context here it captures the stunning and intentional variety of the one God lovingly manifesting himself in his people through various gifts.

Take your eyes off your ‘spiritual gift’

In fact, like the Corinthians, we get hung up on ‘gifts’, probably because, also like the Corinthians, we focus instinctively on the value we believe they give to us. ‘I’ve got a better gift than them!’; ‘How can I get my gift to be seen?’; ‘Why aren’t my gifts being recognised?’; ‘What can I do to let people see how gifted I am?’ (Questions of my heart no less, all the time forgetting of course that the word gift means… duh… gift.)

When my mindset is all about my gift it quickly descends into me treating some gifts as more spiritual. That seems to have been the Corinthian problem with tongues (see ch14).