A Word About These Sermons
"Where do you get your material for your sermons?" That's a good question. I hope that the lessons and applications of these sermons are anchored in God's word. My goal is to offer a serious consideration to the Biblical texts and present God's word as it comes to us. So you won't find many topical sermons here. I want to yield my presentation to the presentation of the Biblical writer. Relevancy is great. However I want to be relevant to God and His word before I seek to be relevant to the preferences and felt needs of my audience. It's my opinion that in an effort to be relevant, many put the creature at the center of a sermon and the Creator in the background. This is rationally and spiritually backward. Of course it does massage a narcissistic culture and it "works" because we are all very much interested in ourselves. However, this leaves us without a sufficient center of gravity around which our lives should orbit. I have this odd belief. I believe the Bible is primarily about God (cf. Quest #3 of the shorter catechism). I'm aware that that belief may not be marketable in this culture. However, I think God and knowing Him through the gospel and His word is our only hope. God is after our hearts. But the heart cannot turn to what the mind doesn't know about Him ( J. Edwards). So, these sermons are designed to say a lot about God in the hope that the sweet Holy Spirit will take God's word and turn our hearts (what we value, prize, cherish, honor, love, hate, hope in, rejoice in and the things we find sweet to the taste) and pitch our hearts onto God who is the one Rock upon which we can stand safe and secure.
"Are you sermons original?" Rarely. I don't know if I have ever had an original thought. When you read that this is a sermon by Jim Lincoln it should say, "Jim Lincoln and friends." I rely heavily on many teachers who are far more gifted and smarter than I am. I desperately need their grammatical, historical, pastoral and theological skills to get at the meaning of a text. Because of the technical nature of my research I often translate or paraphrase (creatively plagiarize) these teachers and broker their work adapting it to the audience I serve. I have no desire to steal their glory or take credit for their work. I don't always cite my sources in the sermons because I usually tweak them to fit my purposes. However, below is a list of the teachers who have had a substantial part in the content of these sermons.
Augustine, Luther, J. Edwards, John Bunyan, W. Cowper, John Murray, G. Vos, John Owen, S. Ferguson, Graeme Goldsworthy, C. Plantinga, Spurgeon, J. Boice, D.A. Carson, John Piper, Tim Keller, N.T. Wright, Robert Alter, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, Jack Mitchell, John Bronson, Kent Hughes and Doug Moo.
These are my teachers and from them I borrow freely. If you have tasted of the good fruit of their works you will recognize them in these sermons. My regret is the absence of John Calvin. Although his Institutes and his conclusions about soteriology are persuasive to me, I have been negligent to read his commentaries at length as I prepare sermons. I have probably cheated the church by withholding his enormous contributions to the interpretation of the Bible. I also regret that there are not more women included in the list above. I have enjoyed the help of E. Elliot, Dorothy Sayers, Francine Rivers and Elizabeth Goudge but have not taken the time to read more.
Finally, I serve in the communion of the Evangelical Free Church of America with great joy. One of our core values comes to us from Chrysostom and later Augustine: "In Essentials unity. In non-essential Charity. In all things Christ." Although I am persuaded today of the merits of the Calvinistic interpretation over that of the Arminian tradition, in the Free Church we are committed to being charitable in our dogmatism about this hotly contested debate. The rancor and contentiousness with which this discussion is often carried on hurts the witness of our unity. This is an intramural debate among godly, faithful and honorable believers. I will preach my conscience freely in this matter. However, my goal is to be as zealous for being gracious in these things as I am zealous for the truth.
Bound with you by His grace,
Pastor Jim