Several months back I had the opportunity to teach ELI’s homiletics (preaching) course entitled “Preaching Christ” twice in South Asia. This curriculum is “top shelf” and I not only enjoy teaching it, but God challenges and encourages me every time I have the privilege to share its content with indigenous pastors. Dr. Joseph Driewer (Joe), a good friend who is a professor at Dordt University, accompanies me on this trip, as ELI wisely requires faculty to travel/teach with at least one other person for many reasons (accountability, finances, shared responsibility of teaching, safety…)
The first week we teach pastors from one region who are hungry for theological training, passionate and very responsive. Most of them are young and energetic. On the breaks they are often out in the courtyard playing outdoor games together. There is a lot of laughing, and it is clear that they are enjoying the training and the fellowship of being together. The first day we teach them what expository preaching is, as this is not the typical approach to preaching in this part of the world. Expository preaching explains the meaning of a particular text, giving reference to original audience and meaning, highlighting the context of where this passage exists in the history of redemption, and connecting this meaning through the gospel to the contemporary hearers. Lesson by lesson each pastor clearly discovers that their job every week is to preach Christ; that because we live at a time following the coming of Jesus the Redeemer, the subject matter is always the gospel. We share how Jesus’s words in Luke 24:44 inform us that all the Scriptures of the Old Testament point to Jesus: “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” By week’s end these pastors admit that they’ve heard things they’ve never heard before, and excitedly promise to bring these vital principles into their pulpits.
On the last day, one pastor confesses that he has been preaching through the Old Testament for over a year and has never once mentioned the name of Jesus Christ. He is excited that everything has changed because of this class.
The first week goes by and a second group of pastors enters the ministry center. Joe and I follow the curriculum’s metaphor of the preparation of an expository sermon being a lot like preparing a fine meal. The 4 ingredients are explanation, redemptive themes, illustrations and applications. Each one of these 4 “ingredients” is given it’s own lesson and a deep dive study which includes breakout sessions where each pastor can practice the concept through an exercise in class. Instead of only “hearing” the new ideas, they can now practice “doing” each novel concept, further cementing the training into their hearts, not only their minds. However, this second crop of pastors is much more somber, more sober than the first. While not sad, there is a distinct difference in their countenance. No games are played during the downtime, and laughter is rarely heard. When I share our observations with our country partner, he agrees and explains that most of the leaders from this second group come from a region that is well-known for Christian persecution, and that this is likely the reason for the difference in temperament. This new information colors our teaching, and, at an appropriate place in one of the lessons, I casually ask how many of these pastors personally knows someone who has been martyred for their faith. Immediately, between one third and one half of the hands shoot up. I am humbled to the ground; in my mind the room has instantly been relocated to 1st century Palestine. I am suddenly in the presence of holy men, who will employ my training this week in their churches next week to a congregation of saints facing open and frequent hostility and opposition. And many of these men we are now training will preach these principles to their death.
The gravity of the moment hits me and I’m not sure I’ve ever taught the final lesson of this course with greater resolve and passion. The title of Lesson Eight is “Adoration”, and the focus is on exalting and passionately bringing glory to King Jesus in every sermon we preach. Romans 11:26 is the key verse: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever, Amen.” I share that this verse in Romans is what I want written on my tombstone, and it occurs to me, as soon as the words escape my mouth, that between one third and one half of the wives of the pastors in that room may all too soon have to choose a tombstone inscription for their husbands because they were martyred for their faith. Lesson Eight contains this pithy challenge: “The gospel preacher has one overarching message – the glory of Christ. We want people to see and understand the good news of God’s glory, be captivated by his glory, and be motivated to pursue his glory.” At the end of week 2, as we say goodbye to these brave heroes of the faith, and even as they are effusive in their gratitude to me and Joe, I realize that they are the ones to whom the thanks is due. They have taught me what it means to be captivated by the glory of Christ, as each of them, (knowing full well what they are going back to), are motivated to leave the safety of the ministry center and go back to their dangerous homeland to preach Christ.
