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哥林多前书：2:1-5: 1弟兄们，从前我到你们那里去，并没有用高言大智对你们宣传神的奥秘。2因为我曾定了主意，在你们中间不知道别的，只知道耶稣基督并他钉十字架。3我在你们那里，又软弱，又惧怕，又甚战兢。4我说的话、讲的道，不是用智慧委婉的言语，乃是用圣灵和大能的明证，5叫你们的信不在乎人的智慧，只在乎神的大能。
保罗的话让我想起蒂姆·凯勒在他关于讲道的书中所说的话。他说牧师不应该刻意追求伟大的讲道，而应仅仅追求一个好的讲道。他解释说，作为牧师，我们应该尽我们最大的努力，用一种有趣的方式来呈现神的话语，使会众能很容易理解上帝让他们了解的内容。但我们不应该试图追求一场伟大的布道，因为那展示的只是我们自己，我们的陈述方式，我们的口才，等等。相反，我们应该相信，一场伟大的布道只能藉着圣灵在会众的心中动工才能实现。
每个牧师都有这样的经历。在某个周日，不知什么原因，我可能讲了一篇还过得去的布道，甚至算不上那么好。聚会结束后，我几乎不好意思跟人们打招呼，因为我知道我在讲坛上的表现的确不太好。在互相问候的时候，有个人却对我说：“牧师，这是我听过你讲的最好的布道。今天早上我真的需要听到这个。”这让我更加感到尴尬。
但我知道他们为什么会这样说。因为那天早晨是圣灵在他们心里做了一场伟大的讲道，是圣灵给了他们恰好所需要听到的东西。当我知道圣灵是通过神的话语而不是通过我讲道的质量来工作时，这是一种安慰。现在我常常坐在下面听别人讲道，我亲身体会到了这句话的真实性。每个周日从教会回家的时候我都有所收获。圣灵在我心里动了工。我的信心之所以能维持，靠的不是人的智慧，而是上帝的大能。
祷告：神啊，整部圣经都是在你的启示之下，为了教导我们而写的。求你使我们能听道、读经、记录、学习、消化你的话语，藉着你话语的坚固的勉励，使我们可以拥抱并紧紧抓住对永生的祝福和盼望。这些是你藉着救主耶稣基督赐给我们的，他与你和圣灵同是一位上帝，活着一同掌权，从今时到永远。阿们。
1 Corinthians 2: As for me, brothers, when I came to you, I did not come with superior speech or wisdom in order to proclaim to you the testimony of God. 2 For I had no intention of knowing anything among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness, in fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not marked by persuasive words of human wisdom, but by a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. (EHV)
Paul’s words remind me of something that Tim Keller said in his book on preaching. He said that a pastor should not try to preach a great sermon, but only a good sermon. He explained that as pastors, we ought to do our best to present God’s Word in an interesting way, in a way that people can easily understand what God wants them to know. But we should not try to preach a great sermon, because then it will be all about us, our presentation, our oratorical skills, etc. Rather, we should be convinced that a great sermon can only be preached in the heart of God’s people by the working of the Holy Spirit.
Every pastor has experienced this. On a given Sunday, I may have preached a sermon that was just o.k. Maybe even not that good, for whatever the reason. I was almost embarrassed to greet people after church, because I knew that I hadn’t really done that well in the pulpit. In the greeting line, someone would say, “Pastor, that’s the best sermon I’ve ever heard you preach. I really needed to hear that this morning.” And all I could do was be embarrassed.
Well, I know why they said that. It was because the Holy Spirit preached a great sermon in their heart that morning and gave them the exact thing they needed to hear. It’s a comfort to know that the Holy Spirit works through the Word and not through the quality of my preaching. As someone who now sits in the pew more often than not, I experience the truth of these words personally. Every Sunday I come home with something. The Holy Spirit has worked in my heart. My faith depends and is sustained, not on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
Prayer: God of inspiration, you caused all holy scriptures to be written for our instruction. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.