There was a television commercial...oh maybe forty years ago....where an Abraham Lincoln character was applying for a job in an employment office. The man doing the hiring....looks at Lincoln....while reading his resume....and frowns....saying something like this...."Ah....Lincoln....What about college?" Lincoln responds in that he did a lot of reading....mostly on his own....whereas the man says...."Look....Lincoln...you're not going anywhere without that sheepskin,"
I had to smile to myself. I was rereading a recent post and saw a glaring spelling mistake. I make a lot of them....as you may know....this because I am putting out so many posts. So I corrected the spelling. Why am I even mentioning this. Well it's because I've been listening to quite a few of A. W. Tozer's sermons in the past week.....and reading some of his most well-known books.....and in his sermons....it seems that he often makes a little error in his speech....just picking the wrong word....and then he corrects himself....but this is not why I am writing this post.
John Piper....or R. C. Sproul....or Horton or MacArthur...might speak a long sentence on a doctrinal issue.....and I have to concentrate and pay attention to every single word. Tozer could give the same thought in a very simple and much shorter sentence. His words might not display theological education or eloquence as the others might....but they are every bit as powerful.
God is not a..."respecter of persons"....not only as pertaining to Jews and gentiles....but to the educated and uneducated.....and the rich and the poor. Charles Spurgeon once said of Dwight L. Moody....whom he greatly respected....that he was only man he knew who could pronounce the word.....Mes-o-po-ta-mia....in two syllables. Spurgeon himself was converted on a wintery Lord's Day morning....stopping in a church along the way because he could not reach his home church in the snow....by the preaching of a simple elder/fill-in preacher who did his limited best to preach God's Word.
So what I'm doing this week with Tozer....is reminding myself....that in amongst all of these other great minds....God does not give one ounce of preference to the more educated. We in the church need to hear this today. Most likely your pastor speaks well....and has a large vocabulary....his grammar being perfect....and his dress impeccable. He most likely has a seminary degree....and may even be fluent in Greek and Hebrew. John Piper is probably this man....but this in itself means absolutely nothing as to his being one of the called of God to preach.
The day is most likely coming....this as I perceive it anyway.....and very soon....when amidst the turmoil all around us....and the confusion....and we being so weary....that we will prefer the more simple preaching of our Lord and Savior....and His precious promises....no longer concerned about whether the preacher's diction satisfies the critic....but whether the words reach our heart.
I don't mean to imply here that A. W. Tozer was some simple country preacher.....uneducated.....for he wasn't. Spurgeon was criticized in the London papers as a country bumpkin. No....I'm trying to address more....our own minds in this self-exalting age....where we tend to be easy prey to a cool and collected and confident voice....from a handsome face.....Tucker Carlson or Joel Osteen come to mind....and ignore or even look down upon a preacher who may not come from....'down on the farm'....but speaks as if he is addressing simple folk....for the power of God is not in the elucidation....helpful as that may be....but in the truth contained within....for it is God's Holy Spirit who opens the eyes and the ears.
Addendum: this for an example….the post above this post….Tozer might have simplified all those words by saying….’do not let the comforts of this life lull you to sleep….making you forget that we are in a war….with many battles…..and responsibilities to our fellow man.’
