We had a guest preacher at church on Sunday and in the evening he preached from Psalm 23.  It was a good sermon, he took us through the passage and clearly explained the meaning of the text.  He helped us to understand the psalm in the context of it’s author and at the end he drew us to see that ultimately David is talking about Jesus.

But I got bored (which also says something about me) and, having read through Colossians a little bit in preparation for June I couldn’t help but come away thinking that, since ALL of Psalm 23 is about Jesus, that the whole sermon should have been about Jesus too.

I wished that the preacher had shown me how Jesus had been a shepherd, how he had led people to living water, how he had fed them with manna that would never run out.  I wished he had been along the right path before me so that I might know the way to take.  I wished that he had shown me Jesus triumphant over evil so that I might not fear it and how he always guides and rebukes his disciples in a way that is for their best.

Partly I’m left questioning how much of my working I need to show when I preach.  Do I need to show any of it?  What happens if I only show people how to study the passage for themselves?  How to read through a passage and understand it.  Mostly, I’m left wondering how on earth I’m going to teach a bunch of young people Colossians faithfully and not bore them, but leave them in absolute wonder of Jesus, the Saviour, who is Supreme.

And the answer is that I’m not going to.  It’ll be the Holy Spirit that does.  So I suppose I’d better get on my knees.