“I have discovered this — and I have almost made a pledge and a vow on this subject — if ever I remotely mention anything medical, I notice a new interest at once! You see what I mean. That is human. That is the man. That is personal. And service in the spirit must never be like that. So let the congregation take this to heart. Congregations often spoil preachers; they encourage them to do certain wrong things. If the preacher starts speaking to their flesh they will respond, and they will show an interest which they were not showing in his doctrine, and the temptation to him is to give them more of the flesh, and to talk more and more about himself, and to display himself, and they will like it. They will smile, and they will enjoy it, and they will say, ‘It’s wonderful, and we have had a great time!’ And in the meantime Christ has been forgotten, and the spiritual message has not been emphasized, and has not been stressed. That is not serving God in the spirit. It is almost the exact opposite.”[1]
In my preparation for tomorrow’s message I came across this comment in Lloyd-Jones’ message on Rm 1.9, message # 16 in his first volume on Romans. The whole message is well worth your reading and meditation.
On this subject, the flesh is so prevalent in our lives that we are hardly aware of our own difficulties with it. May God grant discernment and more devotion to the Lord in our personal lives.
Regards
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
[1] D. M. Lloyd-Jones, Romans: The Gospel of God, pp. 211-212.
There’s something in Romans 1:9 that was personally transforming to me when I first studied it out when I preached through Romans.