"Give Them Jesus"

I'm thinking about the impossible task of preaching again. I "happened" to read these words about the "holy task of preaching" on this blog when I was just starting out my new life as a preacher. God's brought them mind a number of times over the last few months:

But this is the gift which Christ gives to us preachers. It isn’t ours to control. That is a gift. It’s His Word, His preaching. Only He can accomplish what he will with His own Word. I know this is hard to remember, especially when you are under pressure to “preach” people to give more, come to church more, be more involved, or whatever the pet Law of the congregation is at that time. Your holy task is to give them Jesus and forgive their sins. It’s that simple.

"Give them Jesus."

I pray it really is that simple.

Because the temptations to do Law, to moralize, to entertain, to seek false-relevance, to do self-help, or to climb up on a soap-box behind the pulpit is always there, reading over my shoulder when I'm writing, like some bustling Martha with her many distractions. And yet, as Mary discovered, it's only in sitting and resting at Jesus' feet--listening, learning, being there-- that we find the one thing needful.

May God give his church many "Mary" sermons; may he fill his pulpits with preaching that leads people to the feet of Jesus and invites them to discover there the one thing needful.