May | 31 | Sweet Salbenduft

WORK

Sweet Salbenduft

Song of Solomon 1:3  
Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth;

The ‘latest’ show shenanigan in the Christian world is the poorer spectacle of the ‘Outpouring’. My brief observation is that this is totally man made and as heavenly as a revival meeting being held every other night at 7:30pm if its not raining. Prominent ‘Outpouring’ people say that these events are not of course revivals but rather prayerful and hopeful precursors to a bigger footprint of the ‘Divine touchdown,’ where the spiritual atmosphere is thick and heavy with the glory of the Lord. Hogwash. I have seen this ‘guff’ and despite the hype, it is invariably a mixture of exceptionally poor preaching, bad exegesis and obvious psychological manipulation which always ends up with someone making a fast buck and having their profile and branding raised substantially.

How can we know Christ? By the preaching of His word. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” Romans 10:14-15 

Sent preachers of God’s Word are the means by which the box of the sealed up special fragrance of Jesus is opened up to be so mightily diffused into this stinky world. Yes, sent preachers of God’s Word are the means by which the warm bottle of the liquid compound of all that is Jesus is poured out onto cold and stony hearts. The Word, preachers and the mighty act of proclamation are the keys to the Kingdom of God. If this is the case, then it behooves such preachers, such handlers of the very oracles of God, to know what they are talking about and to be prayed up, practiced out, and thoroughly prophetic in their calling. I see little of this at the moment, but rather, the very poorest of preaching cheered on by menopausal women and middle aged men acting like menopausal women.

The great Baptist preacher John Ryland was so short sighted that he examined a text quite literally as one would put words underneath a microscope. Consequently, his writing were so intricate yet perfect in construction that many of his letters are preserved for posterity. All preachers must get back to an intricate examination of the text, a fuller understanding of what the Lord is saying and then couple it with cultural and contextual application. This is no mean feat and such preparation takes hours, if not days. Without this, the name of Christ is no longer made precious nor is it like ointment poured forth.

It was the German Theologian, Georg Heinrich August Ewald (*B.T.S.O.A.P.) that compounds the words ‘ointment poured forth’ into a German common name, ‘Salbenduft’, meaning: 'fragrant anointing'. Christ’s name then is a sweet and fragrant anointing. Now then, here is the test for the preacher and the meeting. Does the preacher or the meeting cause a stink? Do folks lose their mind and marbles in the fog of deception? Or does the preacher disappear behind the sweet pungent unguent from the preaching that should permeate the mind, the heart, and the will of hearers. I tell you now, once you have sniffed of the latter, you will need a clothes peg to go near the former.

Pray for your preacher. Encourage him in his preparation. Do not disturb him when he is in his study. For you see, not much prayer, too little study and far too much disturbance always produces a stink instead of a Sweet Salbenduft.

Listen:- Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV

Pray: -  Father, once again, send us men who are mighty in the Word. amen and amen.

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