John Stott On Feeding The Sheep

Quoting John Stott:

We who are called to be Christian preachers today should do all we can to help the congregation to grow out of dependence on borrowed slogans and ill-considered clichés, and instead to develop their powers of

John Stott

intellectual and moral criticism, that is, their ability to distinguish between truth and error, good and evil. Of course, we should encourage an attitude of humble submission to Scripture, but at the same time make it clear that we claim no infallibility for our interpretation of Scripture. We should urge our hearers to ‘test’ and ‘evaluate’ our teaching. We should welcome questions, not resent them. We should not want people to be moonstruck by our preaching, to hang spellbound on our words, and to soak them up like sponges. To desire such an uncritical dependence on us is to deserve the fierce denunciation of Jesus for wanting to be called ‘rabbi’ by men. (Matt 23:7, 8) By contrast, the people of Berea are commended as ‘noble’ . . . because they combined enthusiastic receptivity with critical listening. . . . (Acts 17:11)

This kind of open but questioning mind is implicit even in the ‘pastoral’ metaphor. . . . The way in which the shepherd feeds [the sheep] is significant. In reality, he does not feed them at all (except perhaps in the case of a sick lamb which he may take up in his arms and bottle-feed); instead he leads them to good grazing pasture where they feed themselves. (Between Two Worlds: The Art of Preaching in the Twentieth Century, (Eerdmans, 1982) p. 177)

The Christian And The Mind

There are Christians who make little of man’s intellectual powers, but Biblical Christianity actually does not view the intellect as negative. It actually teaches the value of the intellect. Who can deny the great value in having a brain; even more – the ability to use it rightly? According to Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “The Bible tells us that the highest gift that God has given to men and women in the realm of gifts – I am not talking about the soul and spirit but actual gifts – the highest of all the gifts is mind, reason, and understanding.”

There is this one wonderful fact about being human: We can think about and analyze ourselves. This is why the Christian teacher or preacher must do more than move someone’s emotions. A good teacher or preacher must be able to reason with people. God has given us minds to use. If people are to stay out of trouble in this world, they must be taught how to correctly use their minds.

What is wrong with many “so-called” intellectuals today is that they often put their final confidence in the mind. They become proud. They actually begin to worship the mind. They believe nothing else is needed beyond the mind by human beings. It is good to be wise, but when you are wise in your own eyes, you are headed for trouble.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:21-23)

We see in the above verses that when a man does not acknowledge the Giver of his intellectual ability, that his thinking can actually become futile. There is always the danger of allowing your thinking to make you a fool. The problem is man’s desire to become god. Pride of intellect is a sin. We begin to glory in ourselves. However, a Christian should seek to improve his intellect and even become an “intellectual” to the “Glory of God”. It would be a shame to waste this wonderful blessing of the mind which God has given to us. We must not forget, however, the Source of this blessing.