Michael S. Foster's Weblog

You are the Man: How to Rightly Listen to a Sermon

I can imagine the king of Israel sitting there on his throne, brow furrowed, sporting a consistent head nod. It was impossible for this youngest son of Jesse to not be drawn into the story that Nathan was verbally painting. A wealthy man had orchestrated and executed a sinister plot that resulted in the robbery of a poor and oppressed man. By the conclusion of the prophet’s tragic tome the anger of the king burned nuclear. His head nod had subsided into a frozen glaring grimace as he thought of this great injustice happening on his watch, in his kingdom. David had been moved to apply Nathan’s sermon. The poet-warrior declared, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die…because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” It is at this moment that the brave messenger of God delivers news that is chalked full of irony that outweighs any Hitchcockian tale….

“You are the man.”

My friends we are David. When we listen to our shepherds bring forth the Word of God we think others. We are ready to apply our lessons into the life of our brethren. We never think for a moment that Scripture is talking about us when it speaks harshly of the…

• The jealous and murderous son of Adam
• The correction-hating fool of Proverbs
• The camel-swallowing Pharisees
• The politically-astute Sadducees
• The mob-pleasing Pilate and Herod
• The glory-seeking Ananias and Sapphira

No, all the villains in the Bible are our villains. They are Catholics, emergents, the liberals, and the God-hating atheistic scientists. Right? They have nothing to say to us? Right?

Wrong. You are the man. Take the counsel of Kierkegaard who advises, “When you read God's Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, ''It is talking to me, and about me.'' Learn from David. Nathan is talking to you.

Things You Probably Weren't Taught at Seminary

Deepak Reju listed seventeen things seminary neglected to teach him. I think his list is a reminder that seminaries are not sufficient to prepare us for the core of pastoral work. Our training must be based in the local church where all these messy and "unscholarly" issues are dealt with one a regular basis. Here is his list:

• How to tell a man his wife just died.
• How to tell a couple they should not get married.
• How to tell a staff member he is fired.
• How to tell my wife that I am depressed.
• How to tell someone that he or she is foolish.
• How to encourage someone who has given up on life.
• How to plead with a man to stay with his wife.
• How to give comfort to a woman whose husband just left her.
• How to give comfort to a mother who just suffered a miscarriage.
• How to navigate the IRS tax code for pastors.
• How to chair an elders’ meeting.
• How to organize and manage a church budget.
• How to balance church responsibilities with family life.
• How to do a wedding and a funeral.
• How to administer the Lord’s Supper.
• How to best use technology for the sake of the kingdom.
• How to shield my kids from the pressures of being a PK.

He ended by asking if there is anything that others might add to the list. The replies may be found in the comments here along with the usual push-backs that come with the slightest criticism of seminary. What might you add to this list?

They are nothing but devil’s fools...

“Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason (which the pagans followed in trying to be most clever), takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, “Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores, and on top of that care for my wife, provide for her, labour at my trade, take care of this and take care of that, do this and do that, endure this and endure that, and whatever else of bitterness and drudgery married life involves? What, should I make such a prisoner of myself? O you poor, wretched fellow, have you taken a wife? Fie, fie upon such wretchedness and bitterness! It is better to remain free and lead a peaceful, carefree life; I will become a priest or a nun and compel my children to do likewise.” What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, “O God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? 0 how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labour, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight.

A wife too should regard her duties in the same light, as she suckles the child, rocks and bathes it, and cares for it in other ways; and as she busies herself with other duties and renders help and obedience to her husband. These are truly golden and noble works. . . .

Now you tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other mean task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool, though that father is acting in the spirit just described and in Christian faith, my dear fellow you tell me, which of the two is most keenly ridiculing the other? God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling, not because that father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith. Those who sneer at him and see only the task but not the faith are ridiculing God with all his creatures, as the biggest fool on earth. Indeed, they are only ridiculing themselves; with all their cleverness they are nothing but devil’s fools.” -Martin Luther, “The Estate of Marriage”