How can the evangelical church be so enamored of resources and yet be so impoverished?
Much of the problem is that people are not reading the right books. Even ministers, who obviously know better than most, are guilty in reading only popular and accessible works that consist in ready made fodder for their sermons. How many times have you heard a minister see some novel idea in a book and share with his ministry support group, "that'll preach?" Well I not only have heard such nonsense, I used to apply such nonsense in sermons. That's why about ten to twelve years ago God convicted me of the morass of humanism in my written sermons, and because of the deep shame I was exposed to, had the lot thrown into the garbage. Yes, years and years worth of toil and labor in amassing quotes and insights from all the popular writers to illustrate a point, or to borrow a concept to proclaim, or occasionally to reproduce almost verbatim sermon materials from others has been gladly rescinded.
Does that mean we no longer should read and prepare? No, no, no! Of course, we must be students, and good ones at that. However, we need to spend more time getting our material from Bible books in their entirety rather than scouring the latest gold medallion award bestseller from our fast marketed distributors. God's word is still the first and last word on all matters Christian. It may sound cliche, but it is also fast becoming all the more necessary to sound forth the herald's cry once again: Sola Scriptura. In addition to this absolutely necessary injunction is the need for demanding from our pulpits Tota Scriptura. We need it all!
When was the last time you heard a sermon on Leviticus? Job? Amos? More than likely your spiritual diet consists of John (several on 3:16, no doubt!), Philippians, Mark. The authorities are more likely to be Charles Swindoll, J. Vernon McGee, and Max Lucado than any deep exegesis of these texts by solid scholars. Do your pastor a favor, buy him a set of John Calvin's commentaries or John Owen's works. It may be a little more than you had in mind in spending on him to encourage him in the ministry, but it will repay dividends now and countless more myriad blessings into the hereafter. By the way, tell him to get rid of his golf clubs while you're at it, and tell him Paul would never rest until all his countrymen were exposed to the gospel.
Our business as pastors is to study deeply and preach passionately. For some it may mean the revolutionary step of trashing some sacred cows, in our sermons fully alliterated and filed neatly on our desktop for ready reference. Let your sermons be shaped by the great expositors and theologians that have stood the test of time.
I challenge all pastors to step into the pulpit with nothing more than a Bible, and a heart full of passion, and a studied mind full of spiritual meat ready to share and see the flock grow. If that doesn't strengthen the church, nothing will!
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