I confess that in the pulpit I am often seized with ‘communication frustration,’ for a message burns within me, but I am unable to convey to others what I am thinking, let along feeling. And seldom if ever do I leave the pulpit without a sense of partial failure, a mood of penitence, a cry to God for forgiveness, and a resolve to look to him for grace to do better in the future.
John Stott | Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today (Eerdmans, 1970), x. (HT Denny Burk)
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As a simple man in the pew it comes of great comfort to know I am on an island on this point.
I often come out of Bible study thinking Lord what have you to do with me for I am dull of learning and slow of speech.
This statement is comforting knowing in my weaknesses our God is strength.
If a young man admitted this to his session or to an older, more experienced minister, he would probably be told that if he can’t clearly communicate his message on a regular basis, it calls into question his calling to, and fitness for, the ministry of declaring the word. Perhaps the same standard should be applied to celebrities like Stott . . .
Marshall,
I’ve been preaching since 1988. Stott is telling the truth. Any minister who didn’t admit this isn’t telling the truth or lacks humility or self awareness.
Stott doesn’t say he didn’t communicate “A” message, he just said he wished he could have communicated more of the message. Also, the moniker applied of celebrity of Stott seems like it might be done in a derogatary way. Stott was a faithful man and pastor, from all who knew him. I believe this quote goes to show his humility and fear and trembling before God.
Along with Mr. Stott’s frustration comes Mr. Burk’s, mine and yours. Mine is outside the pulpit, yours sometimes happen to be behind it. Our own endeavors to reach both the believing and unbelieving is a process of the sowing of the seed on soil that we cannot possibly see. Me telling a random guy in the construction field of his peril, yours of standing behind the pulpit telling those attending of their peril, only to leave with the thought that “did I serve the Lord with wisdom and honor?”, is a very heavy weight to carry. Yet in both positions, we sow. Do we not?