The authorities in Jerusalem were peeved with the apostles because they had filled Jerusalm with their doctrine (Acts 5:28). A central means assigned for the accomplishment of this is of course preaching and teaching. But of course, as the New Testament itself demonstrates, another significant way to fill the joint up with your doctrine is by means of the written word (e.g. 1 John 5:13). A very common word in the New Testament is the word written — referring to the testimonies of God written in the Old Testament, as well as the on-going instructions for Christians from the Lord’s apostles.
And this brings me to the subject of blogging. It is certainly true that blogging can be a venue for the most narcissistic posturing ever — just as paper and ink used to be. But it is also a glorious opportunity to teach, and to amplify opportunities to teach.
Now a teacher ought to believe that he has something worthwhile to say. He might be mistaken about this, which would mean he is also mistaken about his calling to teach in the first place, but so long as he believes he is called to teach, the belief that he has something worth saying follows from the first belief. And if it is true, and ought to be advanced, a teacher’s job is to advance it, teach it, repeat it, and then repeat it again (Phil. 3:1).
Sometime ago I heard that somebody was a little chuffed because here at Mablog I had a practice of quoting sections from books I have written (which I do under the Crestomathy tag). This, it was felt, was the utter frozen limit. He has this blog, see, and he quotes himself on it!
Now if a blog is a place to hear yourself talk, to get yourself into print without all those troublesome editors, and generally to warm yourself in the glow of getting published cheap and easy, then such a criticism would really be valid. But if speaking, writing, teaching, and blogging are all means of getting the word out, then of course that is what a teacher is supposed to do. Hide it under a bushel? No! I’m gonna let it . . . never mind. As I have commented before, I preach, speak, write, blog, etc. for the same reason that dogs bark. I was built for this, and by “this” I do not mean getting to hear myself all the time, but rather I mean the never-ending task of teaching, discipling, and trying to get the point across. Paul says to the Colossians that his goal was to present every man mature in Christ (Col. 1:28-29), and when that is the ministerial goal, when do you get to stop? When do you get to shut up?
The reason I bring all this up is because of a conversation I had with a friend at church. He visits this blog occasionally, and he was wondering if there was any profit in it. He was going off the general pattern exhibited by some of the comment threads — some folks getting it, some understanding the point but disagreeing, some missing the point completely, and others dragging the thread into new and interesting dead ends. So what’s the point? And I realized that for visitors to this blog, much of what happens here might look like a never-ending small group discussion, one that never really gets anywhere.
But that is not what it is like at all. Here is a better illustration. This morning I preached to about 800 people. I had follow up discussions with just a handful of them, and this is routinely the case on Sunday mornings. The vast majority of the congregation hears the message, and applies it as they see fit. I assume they find it edifying, because they do keep returning. Less than one percent of them interact with me personally on any given message. Those who do interact may have a question, they may have an additional point, or they may disagree with something.
Now the format of this blog creates an optical illusion. If I write something here, everybody “hears the message” and everybody can see the follow up questions and discussion, which creates the impression that those who heard the message are the same group as those who are discussing it. But the format here doesn’t allow everybody to see the size of the rest of the congregation — which, in the month of October, was over 20,000 distinct visitors.
When I preach, I preach to the entire congregation. I am happy to answer questions, or follow things up with individuals afterwards, but I am preaching to the congregation. And when I write here, I am writing for all who read, and not for all who comment. When I analyze the stats for the blog at the end of every month, as I do, I look at which posts were read the most. I can see what posts are addressing the concerns that people have, and I try to focus on those areas in future posts. The decisions I make as I write may or may not have anything to do with the great threads and discussions, or the threads and discussions that went off the rails.
The development of the Internet, like the invention of the printing press, has explosive implications for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. It is clearly no substitute for flesh and blood community, and worshipping with your friends and neighbors. But it is a tremendous supplement to everyman’s library, and part of our task is to fill that library up with our doctrine.