Storing Up for Winter

This is the second in a series on Lloyd-Jones on Ministerial Reading. In his book, Preaching and Preachers, Martyn Lloyd-Jones counsels ministers on their general reading habits in preparation for the pulpit. His first piece of advice is to read the Bible through systematically and to read it for personal nourishment, not for sermon texts. Having said that, he gives a qualification:

When you are reading your Scriptures in this way…if a verse stands out and hits you and arrests you, do not go on reading. Stop immediately, and listen to it. It is speaking to you, so listen to it and speak to it. Stop reading at once, and work on this statement that has struck you in this way. Go on doing so to the point of making a skeleton of a sermon. This verse or statement has spoken to you, it has suggested a message to you. The danger at that point I had to discover is to say to oneself, “Ah yes, that is good, I will remember that,” and then to go on with the reading. Then you find yourself towards the end of the week without a sermon for the Sunday, without even a text, and you say to yourself, “Now what was that that I was reading the other day: Oh yes, it was this verse in that chapter.” You then turn back to it and find to your dismay that it says nothing at all to you; you cannot recapture the message. That is why I say that whenever anything strikes you you must stop immediately and work out a skeleton of a sermon in your mind. But do not stop even at that: Put it down on paper. (p. 173)

Lloyd-Jones testified to the practice of always keeping a note pad with him whenever he read Scripture and to pull it out immediately whenever anything struck him. According to the two-volume biography by Iain Murray, he once got an idea for a whole series of sermons and worked out the whole series in his note pad. The series was Spiritual Depression, which was later published. Sometimes reviewing individual sermon outlines you’ve accumulated will reveal a common theme. “I remember once that, looking through my pile of skeletons just before leaving for my summer vacation, I happened to notice that there were ten skeletons bearing on the same theme. I there and then arranged them in order and so knew that I had a series of ten consecutive sermons ready for my return” (p. 174).

Why did Lloyd-Jones consider this practice so important? Because he knew that we all have our different “moods and states and conditions” (p. 175). Sometimes we’re dull (for whatever reason) and a text will not crack open for us. Or extra demands are made on our time due to unusual circumstances. Because of our human frailties “a preacher has to be like a squirrel and has to learn how to collect and store matter for the future days of winter. So you not only work out your skeleton, you put it down on paper, because otherwise you will not remember it” (p. 173).

A benefit of this practice that I would like to add is that it helps us to think God’s thoughts after Him. It provokes us to meditation on God and His ways; it assists our own fellowship and spiritual growth. Whenever something in your Scripture reading strikes you, work it out, write it down. You may find yourself trembling in awe of our wonderful Lord and Savior. Blessed is the man to whom this happens often.

May these be the only skeletons we have in our closets, and may our closets (and hearts) be full of them.

Storing Up for Winter