Do you know your spiritual gifts?
One of mine would be exhortation.
I have this irrepressible desire to help others see, “This is the way. Walk in it.”
Every Sunday sermon should have multiple exhortations in it.
We need to be corrected, re-directed and shown the way.
We need to be reminded to quit ignoring what is most important for us.
We need to be kept from playing around with that which would kill us.
I am all over that and, I assume, we all agree.
But we have to take another step.
When it comes to preaching, another ingredient must be added to the mix.
Exhortations always need to be there.
But, then again, any religion can give exhortations.
You would hear them if you went to the mosque.
You can hear them on any of the popular television talk shows.
For my exhortations to be truly Christian they must arise from the gospel.
Exhortations are only one half of it.
Christian preaching must also be marked by exaltations in the gospel.
“This is what God has done” precedes what we are called to do.
“Christ has done it” under girds and informs it all.
I pray that my ministry would be marked by both exhortations and gospel exaltations.
John Bunyan puts this so well in one of his most beloved lines:
“Run, John, run. The law commands
But gives neither feet nor hands.
Better news the gospel brings;
It bids us fly and gives us wings.”