I did something very unwise the other night. On Saturday night, I climbed up in the attic in search of an old sermon tape of mine (yes, a cassette tape). Back when I was in college, one of my most popular sermons was on the woman who poured the ointment on Jesus in Mark 14. The sermon was called "Waste Yourself on Jesus" and I must have preached it 20 times.
I wanted to listen to it again because I was preaching from John 12 where Mary pours ointment on Jesus' feet and wipes it with her hair. Most scholars think that these describe the same incident (along with Matthew 26). So, I wanted to remember what I said and remember all that God was doing in my life 10+ years ago.
Bad idea. It was the worst sermon I have ever heard. For the first time in a long time, I wanted to scream. I was sick at my stomach. I couldn't go to bed. If I would have had a list of everyone who heard that sermon, I would have called them all individually to apologize.
The reason it was so bad: I missed the entire point of the text. I preached about how great Mary was instead of how her devotion showed how valuable Jesus is. I urged people to be like Mary instead of helping people see the awesome worth of Jesus.
MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT: Mary's actions pointed to the awesome reality that Jesus was about to die for our sins, be buried, and rise from the grave. That's the point of the text.
You can listen to my sermon from Sunday at the Christ Baptist website.
Does anyone reading this blog remember hearing that sermon (I know there are some old friends reading this blog)? If so, please forgive me. I am deeply sorry for not being faithful to the text.
5 comments:
Justin,
In your sorrow- rejoice in the grace of God that in his mercy has allowed you the awesome honor of proclaiming His gospel.
Justin, I am encouraged by your passion to faithfully preach the Word of God and by your genuine repentance at your shortcomings in doing so. I am curious, were there significant portions of that sermon that were untrue and/or not faithful to the message of Scripture on the whole? From falsehood, I would say repent, indeed. But, aside from that, I would encourage you to rejoice in all that God has taught you about faithfully handling his Word since those days. He has made you a strong communicator of the gospel and His Word; and, it pleases Him today to use your faithfulness AND failings in sermon prep and delivery to honor His own great name and to instruct His flock under your care. I was reminded in your post of a recent Taste & See article by Piper on the glory and goodness of "Baby Talk". Here's a quote from it:
"There was a time when Jesus himself would have said, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child and thought like a child and reasoned like a child.” That is what the incarnation means. He accommodated himself to our baby talk. He stammered with us in the nursery of human life in this age."
I just share this with you, not to belittle your remorse for past inadequacies, but to encourage you to find great joy in the unfailing faithfulness of God to deliver you day by day from more and more of your "baby talk" and to make you more mature and able to understand, live out and communicate the truths of Scripture. I'm sure those who knew you back then would communicate that they've seen God doing that work in you.
Thanks for the encouragement.
There were not any heresies in the sermon. My sorrow simply arises from the fact that I missed the point of the text (even if from genuine motivations and love for the people).
I am greatly humbled by what the Lord has done in my life over these past 10+ years. He has been kind. I have a long way to go.
Christ is a great Savior!
We all learn our lesson as the Lord open our eyes and heart as we are eating His Word.
You are being faithful to Him and to us even though you made a mistake back then. But we all learn something in that too.
10 years ago, is a long time ago but see how much you have grown to eat His Word more daily and your wonderful desire to preach the text more clearly than before. This is a wonderful good news!
Hungry to learn more about Him,
'Guerite ~ BoldLion (I did rather sit at Jesus' feet like Mary.)
How awesome to know God is growing you more into the image of His son! Press on! :o)
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