When Practice meets preaching

Jonathan Edwards was a principle figure in the development of church during the Puritan era. His academic prowess was kindled as a young person first experiencing the power of God in creation and in his own heart. He later graduated from Yale at 13 years of age and went on the become a prolific writer and pastor of what might be known as New England's only megachurch in New England. While his writings and sermons were centered on the great doctrines of sin, salvation, and God, his own development as a disciplined man of God impacted his sermons and proved valuable to those who listened.

My first blog installment will focus on the sermon as the tool for changed behavior in the pulpit ministry of Jonathan Edwards. 

Part 1-- Why the Sermon

In every age since man's fall from innocence, pastors, patriarchs, and priests have labored to help their constituents grapple with the challenges of daily living and the responsibilities associated with fostering an intimate relationship with God. As Israel took shape as a nation, those entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining that relationship sought to instill the truth of God in their families and nation, and provided opportunities for practice that would keep God in his rightful place. And so, as the faithful scribe preached, the people responded  with self-examination and contrition; as the prophets fasted and prayed, God blessed many of them with wisdom and insight. By the time of Jesus Christ, the sermon had become the tool for the conveying of truth about God, his requirements for fellowship, and the blessings associated with following him. In Jesus the world heard the gospel  of Good news and the disciples were called to a better yoke of intimate fellowship and spiritual maturation. The Gospel was proclaimed, Jesus was crucified, the resurrection opened the graves, and in "not many days" the Church was born. 

With the church now established, its constituency needed training in truth; and therefore, the sermon became the primary tool for conveying the Gospel and drawing in a bounty of new followers. For followers that needed equipping, the Gospel represented their marching orders, the Scriptures became the playbook, and the exercise outlined in the Epistles became the practice that the church needed for the building of spiritual and moral fiber. 

This larger essay will address the role that the sermon played as a tool for sanctification; specifically, its use by pastor and theologian, Jonathan Edwards to promote the exercises (disciplines) that he had come to incorporate into his own life. Disciplines such as meditation, prayer, contemplation, and self-examination had from his teenage days become the standard by which he measured his spiritual health and it is evident that many of these "exercises" made their way into sermon material that spanned a ministry of thirty-five years. This essay will examine the sermon structure that Edwards inherited and eventually modified; specifically the details associated with that structure  that accommodated Edwards' interest in the spiritual exercises; the use of an extensive supplication sections, and finally a paragraph by paragraph  examination of two sermons preached by Edwards over the course of his ministry. 

Stay tuned... 

MJC