Luther shows the necessity of attending all services of the church. It seems that Martyn-Lloyd Jones has said something similar, and we must heed these words. Since the Spirit is sovereign, the Church does not know at what time He will move in a dramatic way. We need to be available to receive these blessings from the Spirit as His workman, the Minister of the Word, preaches for our blessing and benefit.Since preachers have the office, the name, and the honor of being God’s co-workers, no one ought to think that he is so learned or so holy that he thinks he can miss the most insignificant of sermon.
-Martin Luther
5 comments:
Good point Nathan. Of course there is another dotrine that the RPs taught called "occasional hearing".
I'd be interested to see a post on that.
Hearing occasionally was a play on that. I do not see a post on occasional hearing within the near future. Maybe someday.
Shawn,
What is the RP's "occasional hearing"? You've perked my interest...
(Nate, if you would indulge the question, of course).
I often think this concept is outmoded. First, let me say that I do agree Christians should meet for the edification of the church and the worship of God. That being said, we have an unprecedented volume of commentaries, sermons, and lectures in both written and verbal form. We have the complete scripture in various forms with both greek and hebrew concordances at our disposal. We don't need to attend a sermon to know we have much to learn, and we don't need to attend a sermon in order to engage in learning. In fact, if sermons are one's ONLY source of learning, that person is not taking advantage of the blessings God has given him to his own detriment.
Jeff
I understand that, but///
preaching is the ORDINARY means that God has ordained for his people to grow in grace and knowledge. A quick study using the tools that you mentioned will find that the preaching of the Word is the means by which men are saved and sanctified.
-Droll, email Shawn for this discussion. www.reformedpresbytery.org has some writing on it.
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