By John D. Duncan
In
Cambridge, England near the bus station stands Emmanuel College. Stone walls
surround the college, but inside is a courtyard manicured like a golf course.
In 1705 William Law entered that college. The fourth of eight children, William
grew up in a Christian home, experienced death because four of his siblings
died, and learned about human nature from his father who worked as a grocer.
I imagine him as a young man walking the streets of Cambridge one Sunday, on
the way to church to hear the preaching of God's Word.
Law
studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and the Scriptures. He became a preacher of the
Gospel in the Anglican Church in 1711. He wrote books which influenced the lives
and preaching of preachers like John Wesley, Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield.
He wrote his most significant work in 1728: A Serious Call to a Devout and
Holy Life.1 The book set forth the importance of God's
call, the holiness of life in Christ, and the virtue of humility as basic to
Christianity. Law's work contributes to the life of a preacher, too. His work
overviews four elements to prepare the preacher's heart for preaching.
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Prepare
to preach in the spirit of devotion.
William
Law calls for the servant of God to 'be everywhere in the spirit of devotion,
with hearts always set towards heaven" (p. 41). Finding a text in preaching
often proves the preacher's most daunting task. In the context of selecting
a Biblical text, the preacher does two important things: possesses a spirit
of devotion to Christ; sets the heart toward heaven. In the spirit of devotion
the preacher seeks God's face.
The
tendency might be to think of earth: financial troubles; family struggles; issues
of grief; news of war; stock market ups and downs; and job lay offs. Law commends
the preacher's preparation by focusing upon God's work and heaven in the Biblical
text.
Purify
the heart and mind before preaching.
Law
preached and formed his theology in a day of moral collapse. He denounced sin
as a destructive force in the heart, in the family, and in society. Forever
the preacher's task calls for denouncing sin and declaring Christ as the liberator
from sin. Where does such preaching begin?
William
Law maintained that the first task of God's servants does not require lexicons,
Greek studies, commentary work in textual analysis for preaching, or an understanding
of human nature for application. The preacher's first task is to look within
the preacher's own heart before preaching. He says the preacher must endeavor
"to subdue, root out of his mind all those passions of pride, envy, and
ambition which religion opposes. . ." (p. 105). Power in preaching comes
long before the act of preaching takes place. It comes in preparation of the
preacher's own heart through confession of sin and a cleansing of the mind.
How often do you prepare your heart for cleansing in preaching's preparation?