AP

Dr Graham Miller, friend and mentor of many young ministers in his day, and now in glory, once told a group of us that he never had queues of people lining up at the manse door to seek counselling or ask questions – and he attributed this to the fact that he was answering their questions in his preaching. Those of us who sat under his preaching could testify that it was profoundly simple and simply profound, firmly tied to the passage of Scripture he was expounding in careful detail as he preached serially through a book of the Bible, and that it did indeed do what he claimed it did – answered peoples’ questions along the way and to their satisfaction.

This ties in strongly with Apostle Paul’s enumerating various ministries and joining together ‘pastors and teachers’ in Ephesians 4.11. We who are called to preach are not only ‘pastors’ nor are we only ‘teaching elders’ (to use descriptions of our office which have come into common use in recent times); we are ‘pastors and teachers’. We should therefore make every effort to teach in a pastoral way and pastor in a teaching way.

Asking ourselves questions such as ‘What do our people need to know?’ ‘What questions could crop up in peoples’ minds as a result of today’s sermon?’ ‘What needs could be met as I expound today’s passage of Scripture?’ will at least provide the groundwork for answering the peoples’ questions and solving their problems.

The most important question anyone can ask is that of the Philippian gaoler: ‘What must I do to be saved?’ (Acts 16.30, 31). Our preaching should regularly provoke that question and as regularly provide the answer. While there are several helpful plans of salvation available for us to incorporate and adapt, there is none more helpful and thorough than that given through the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3.14-21, outlining ‘God’s Process of Salvation.’

The most frequent problem people have shared with me over the years has been their burden for their unsaved friends and loved ones. A sensitive incorporation into our preaching of the sovereign power, purpose and wisdom of God together with a challenge to pray for the not-yet-saved will do much to comfort those with such a burden – preferably done in warm-Reformed rather than chosen-frozen mode.

We must always remember though, that we’re not answering our peoples’ questions just to save time. Graham Miller’s manse or office door was always open. His phone was never switched off. He always had time ‘to warn the sinner, cheer the saint’. And he was simply always striving to ‘make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification’. (Romans 14.19)

Giving us an example to follow.

– Bob Thomas