“The best teachers remain students all their lives.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 40
Homiletic Hide and Seek
“To withdraw from the world into the Bible (escapism) or from the Bible into the world (conformity) will be fatal to our preaching.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 40
What Planet Is This Guy From?
“We must preach and defend the gospel, but we must also teach and defend biblical sexual ethics. They are essential to a society’s health; failure to keep to them destroys a nation and a community.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 38
And Try to Say “Bravely” Without the Voice Quavering
“We learn, for instance, that sexual intercourse belongs only in lifelong heterosexual marriage (Gen. 2:24; Mark 10:5-9; 1 Thess. 4:3-5). What is more, since marriage was established at creation, these divine standards apply to everybody, not just to believers. It is impossible, therefore, to limit the faithful teaching of biblical sex ethics to the congregation; we also have to be involved in public discussion about marriage, about divorce, about the remarriage of divorced persons and about homosexual partnerships. Christians should discuss these issues thoroughly and should use the pulpit to do so clearly and bravely.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 38
Holiness Not Legalism
“To teach the standards of moral conduct that adorn the gospel and insist that our hearers heed them is neither legalism nor pharisaism but plain apostolic Christianity.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 35
Above All Else
“Jesus Christ . . . is the fulfillment of every human desire (Col. 2:3, 9-10). Therefore, above all else, we must preach Christ.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 34
Because When You Do Both You Get Into Trouble
“We find that conservatives are biblical but not contemporary, while liberals and radicals are modern but not biblical.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 32
Irrelevant Relevance
“If we uncritically accept the world’s own self-understanding, we may find ourselves the servants of the latest trend instead of the servants of God. In our eagerness to be relevant, we may disregard God’s revealed truth.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 32
The Need to Touch Down
“Preachers who are theologically conservative tend to make the mistake of living only on the Bible side of the gulf. That is where we feel comfortable and safe. We believe the Bible, love the Bible, read the Bible, study the Bible and preach the Bible message. But we are not at home in the modern world on the other side of the gulf. It bewilders and threatens us. So our bridge is firmly rooted in the Bible but never reaches the other side”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 32.
So Logging Trucks Can Get Through
“The [next] metaphor presents the preacher as ‘a worker who does not need to be ashamed’ because he ‘handles the word of truth’ skillfully (2 Tim. 2:15). In other contexts, the Greek verb used here means ‘able to cut a straight path through country that is forested or difficult to pass through so that a traveller can go directly to his destination.’ This straight teaching contrasts with the false teaching of those who swerve from the truth (2 Tim. 2:18), ESV). Our exposition must be faithful and simple so that our hearers can understand and follow it easily.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 31