Let the Lion out

I am reading Keller's Preaching: communicating faith in an age of scepticism.  His first chapter is about preaching the Word and he gives the reasons why expository preaching is the best bread and butter diet for a church family as well as a few dangers of expository preaching - 'some expository preaching is 'too cognitive, rationalistic, dry and authoritarian.'

In it he is keen that we remember the power of God's Word.

It is important to know not only in general that the Bible is true but also that in the Bible God's words are identical to his actions.  When he says, 'Let there be light, there is light (Gen 1:3).  When God renames someone, it automatically remakes him (Gen 17:5).  The Bible does not say that God speaks and then proceeds to act, that he names and then proceeds to shape - but that God's speaking and acting are the same thing.  His word is his action, his divine power. P.34

So he asks a very simple question.  'Do we, as communicators of the Bible, truly know that it carries God's own authority and power? If we do, we will be more focused on unfolding its insights than on using it merely to support our own.'

That is nectar for someone who preaches week after week.  Of course I know that, of course I'm convinced of that...but am I?  Really?  Deep down am I in danger of thinking that the word needs a bit of help Sunday by Sunday?  Of course I'm going to think how to communicate it and apply it to the hearers but I must remember that 'The first great task of preaching: to preach God's Word, and let listeners sense its very authority.'

At the end of the chapter he quotes Spurgeon's famous saying.  Spurgeon lived in an age, like our own, where the Bible was being attacked.  Many would set about defending it.  Spurgeon's answer?  Leave it to defend itself!  Speaking of the Bible he says

I do not know if you see that lion - it is very distinctly before my eyes; a number of persons advance to attack him, while a host of us would defend [him]...Pardon me if I offer a quiet suggestion.  Open the door and let the lion out; he will take care of himself.  Why, they are gone!  He no sooner he goes forth in his strength than his assailants flee.  The way to meet infidelity is to spread the Bible.  The answer to every objection against the Bible is the Bible.

So put your effort, your energy into simply preaching it.  Make sure that people are exposed to the Bible in its clearest and most vivid form.  'Then the extraordinary power and authority of the Word will become self-evident - even in the most anti authoritarian settings, among the most sceptical people.'

It's like breathing in fresh air.  I really needed to hear that.