Proclaimer Blog
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers #16 and last
Chapter 16. ‘Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power’
This is the most controversial chapter of the book, in which MLJ’s wider theology of the Spirit (which we won’t get into!) is applied to preaching. Here’s a summary:
Unction/anointing from the Spirit is the most important thing in preaching, in which the Spirit comes on the preacher ‘in a special manner’, allowing his work to be a channel of the Spirit’s work. He stresses that it is an anointing of what the preacher has prepared, not an excuse to be lazy in preparation.
He seeks to substantiate it from the NT:
– those places in Acts which speak of the Spirit’s presence in those who are proclaiming Christ
– those places where Paul speaks of the Spirit and power accompanying his preaching (especially 1 Cor 2 and 1 Thess 1).
He states: if it were all ‘left to us’ as preachers, we would be hopelessly miserable.
Then come historical examples, especially from times of revival when certain preachers were used powerfully, often for limited periods. This, says MLJ, is what the preacher should seek all the time.
The preacher knows it’s happening when he feels like a joyful onlooker of his own powerful sermon.
The people know it’s happening and want more of it.
Reflections
First, some critique. The biblical texts he quotes are really not illustrating the same thing as the stories of revival he gives. Those texts talk about what was commonly expected and experienced, whereas time of revival, as he acknowledges, aren’t meant to be permanent. The chapter makes me suspect that MLJ’s love of stories of revival shaped his understanding of the NT rather too much.
However, once we filter out that particular viewpoint, there is much good here that ought to make preachers fling themselves on the Lord. How will any mind be opened to Christ or any will moved towards him by my words alone? They never can be. Praise God that, whether I experience it or not, and however my temperament leads me to express my experiences in preaching, the Spirit remains true now to the preaching of the word he once breathed out.