AUDIO
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Phillip Jensen speaks on Anger as part of a series on emotions in the Christian life, delivered at the Australia Day Convention 2010
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I wonder whether the provision of MP3s of sermons of great preachers now available everywhere is in danger of creating another Corinthian problem for our churches.
As you know, the Corinthians were a rather ratty congregation, obsessed with great speakers. They had formed themselves into groups: ‘I am for Paul’, ‘I am for Cephas’, ‘I am for Apollos’. It seemed that they loved powerful speakers like Apollos.
The trouble was that Paul, the one who had founded them, wasn’t so hot. His words were weaker than Apollos’s. And so the church was divided, boasting in human leaders. Paul had to correct them and show them what it was to follow the crucified Christ.
I am detecting a danger of this in our churches. Increasingly people are spending their time listening to fantastic, powerful speaking- John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller and others. Wonderfully helpful, insightful, powerful men.
And as you listen to them, you think not just of what they are saying, but what great leaders they must be to say such things.
And then, on Sunday, you go . . . to your church, and there is your minister . . . his sermons are not internationally sought after. He really isn’t a patch on the great ones you have listened to all week. In fact, he really is rather unimpressive. And what’s more, you can see the weaknesses of his life up close. How easy it is, then, to become disappointed, unhappy with your minister. Or even to wish that he was Piper or Driscoll or Keller. And in your heart, very subtly, you start condemning him for not being so.
You have become a Corinthian.
There is no putting the MP3 sermon genie back into the bottle. Who would want to? It’s a wonderful facility to hear great preaching. But I think it is probably important to learn what it is to listen at a distance to the very best in the world while deeply engaged with those who are proximate to us, our own church, and to love and esteem our own preachers, even if they are pretty ordinary. Remembering that the power of God is made present in weakness and that we are not to boast in humans but in the crucified Christ.
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I agree - but also want to say mp3 talks are an absolute lifeline for me and many others in isolated locations. A couple of things I have found useful to avoid becoming a Corinthian.
1. Listen to talks from a range of speakers - and not just the big names. I really enjoy listening to talks from my home church in Australia. Hearing the familiar expressions, laughs from people I know in the congregation is great - but also helps keep me humble in my listening and thinking.
2. I try not to listen to only 'conference' talks. Its great to hear the series from CMS Summer School or Men's Convention or whatever, but I need to listen to standard, day in day out Sunday preaching as well.
At the same time, I've learnt heaps from some overseas teachers over the years, so I certainly wouldn't want to condemn the practice. We just need some balance and discretion.
Bishop, thankyou for this very timely word.
So, not only will the Truth of the Bible, perhaps, challenge, encourage, and change our lives and those whom we minister to, but so will the faithfulness, persistence, and walk of uncommon Men and Women, who share their stories of faith, courage, hope and transformation today.
I suppose some people may listen to recordings instead of going to worship with others, but I am as put off today by the idea of listening to recordings instead of meeting together as I was when people began listening to tapes of R B Thieme Junior in the 70s.
But I think that some naughty credoBaptists prefer to attend evangelical Anglican churches, for various reasons, though not for the christenings.
On the other hand listening to preaching beyond our own tribe can help us see new and fresh ways to engage with the text and proclaim Christ - a boon for the congregation!
It is a bit like my experience of music. I love listening to John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists. So far I have only been able to hear them on recordings: dvds or cds.
Attending concerts of top-notch performers is also a great thrill.
But it doesn't beat making music with friends in our own town and sometimes in our own home.
I think it would be better to be systematically working through a Bible book, sometimes a Bible character or Bible teaching, which should address needs the preacher knows about and doesn't know about and should, in time, address the needs we are facing or will face.
I would agree that a situation that has faced a whole congregation together should be addressed, such as the death of a member of the congregation, or a natural disaster, but I think I'd find it creepy if the minister were targetting individual needs in his sermon. It would be hard to do it sensitively without being obvious and intrusive.
I think one of the problems is that many of our ministers are not gifted preachers, and as a result people look for a place to get fed. This trend should be a wake up call to the systems that we currently have in place in identifying ministers, and also our training mechanisms.
Would we be less worried about people listening to sermons if they were preachers such as Simon Manchester, Ian Powell, Justin Moffatt, Al Stewart, Phillip Jensen? I had an elderly man tell me that he attends St Andrew's Cathedral every week just so he could get 'real' preaching. After all we hold conferences and sell sermons from those conferences. People attend based on the excellent teaching. Phillip has been selling his CDs for years.
Is the problem beginning with us, brothers, in our response to what we perceive to be a foreign invasion of sorts, and deep insecurities with our own abilities as God's teachers? What have we changed about how we do things here in Australia after hearing these excellent preachers?