The Gift of Preaching:
Would to God that we could gradually train our hearts to believe that the preacher’s words are God’s Word and that the man addressing us is a scholar and a king. . . .
If someone announced: “I know of a place in the world where God speaks and anyone can hear God there”; if I had gone there and seen and heard a poor pastor baptizing and preaching, and if I had been assured: “This is the place; here God is speaking through the voice of the preacher who brings God’s Word” – I would have said: “Well, I have been duped! I see only a pastor. . . .”
In fact, we do not enjoy listening to any preacher unless he is gifted with a good and clear voice. If you look more at the pastor than at God; if you do not see God’s person but merely gape to see whether the pastor is learned and skilled . . . then you have already become half a Jacob. For a poor speaker may speak the Word of God just as well as he who is endowed with eloquence. A father speaks the Word of God as well as God does, and your neighbor speaks it as well as the angel Gabriel. There is no difference between the Word when uttered by a schoolboy and when uttered by the angel Gabriel; they vary only in rhetorical ability. It matters not that dishes are made of different material. . . . The same food may be prepared in silver as in dishes of tin. Venison, properly seasoned and prepared, tastes just as good in a wooden dish as in one of silver. . . .
People, however, do not recognize the person of God but only stare at the person of man. This is like a tired and hungry man who would refuse to eat unless the food is served on a silver platter. Such is the attitude that motivates many preachers today. Many, on the other hand, are forced to quit their office, are driven out and expelled.
That is done by those who do not know this gift, who assume that it is a mere man speaking to them, although, as a matter of fact, it is even more than an angel, namely, your dear God,
Martin Luther preaching on John 4:10 (LW 44, 526-529)
'via Blog this'
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GJ - When ministers grasp this truth from Luther, they realize that the time they spend on writing and giving the sermon is the best work they can do. They enjoy it from beginning to end, because they know the Holy Spirit is at work in faithful study, writing, and preaching.
Why does this not happen? Unbelievers in the congregation take every opportunity to thwart and pester the minister. As Luther wrote, if they cannot say enough bad things about the pastor, they attack members of his family.
Even worse, the apostate synod leaders (the vast majority) work exactly the same way. The one thing they loathe and oppose is the faithful teaching of the Word.
Thus the minister is caught in an ambush where the synod officials meddle through the apostate members, and the Word-haters run to the synod every chance they get. The solution is to be inoffensive, to water down everything, to follow the synod's lead on the road to perdition. That makes the majority happy, and the wealthy adulterers smile when they have another minister in their pockets.
A minister does not have to preach against adultery to have the unfaithful angry at him. They sense the wrath of God and feel it, whenever the pure Word is taught. James says, "The demons believe, and their hides bristle."
This may sound discouraging, from the human vantage point alone. Bearing the cross is God's plan and taught with the greatest clarity by Christ. Any minister who obeys his ordination vows will suffer reproach, name-calling, economic hardship, and more. The laity experience this as well. But in the midst of this conflict, which many abhor and avoid, the Holy Spirit works God's will through the Means of Grace.
Today the most basic doctrine of Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz, Andrae, Chytraeus, and Gerhard is disputed and attacked in every possible venue - justification by faith. And yet, this simple but profound concept comforts people and moves them to study the Word and Confessions in earnest.
