It is folly, therefore, for the servants of the Word to cast about how to reach men’s hearts, how to fill the pews, how to bring people to the fear of the Lord; it is folly to suppose they must discover new powers, find a new content for their sermons, or try this or that new method.
The hammer that breaks the rock in pieces has not been cast aside, it needs only an arm to swing it; the Lord’s fire is still burning, it needs only servants to carry it among men. Here is God’s plenty, to win men and to hold them. Ahab puts on sackcloth when Elijah speaks; Josiah rends his garment when the words of the covenant are read; Saul, disconsolate in his darkness, rises and receives his sight when Ananias brings him the Word of the Lord.
This was the “sword of the Spirit” which the great Apostle thereafter never let go out of his hand. With this Word he founded his congregations, repaired the breaches in the Corinthian Church, and preserved his Galatians from apostasy. “By the Word the world was made; by the Word the Church was preserved: by it she must also be reformed.” — so Luther writes to Spalatin.
The hammer that breaks the rock in pieces has not been cast aside, it needs only an arm to swing it; the Lord’s fire is still burning, it needs only servants to carry it among men. Here is God’s plenty, to win men and to hold them. Ahab puts on sackcloth when Elijah speaks; Josiah rends his garment when the words of the covenant are read; Saul, disconsolate in his darkness, rises and receives his sight when Ananias brings him the Word of the Lord.
This was the “sword of the Spirit” which the great Apostle thereafter never let go out of his hand. With this Word he founded his congregations, repaired the breaches in the Corinthian Church, and preserved his Galatians from apostasy. “By the Word the world was made; by the Word the Church was preserved: by it she must also be reformed.” — so Luther writes to Spalatin.
Johann Michael Reu, Homiletics
Posted at The First Premise
Posted at The First Premise
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