Are You A Gospel Maniac?

I introduced a friend to Matt Chandler and his DVD-based study of Philippians and recently I asked him how his Sunday School was liking the study. He said, "He's a little too ... ." "Intense?" I asked. Now there's an understatement. Matt Chandler is a lot of things, but calm, especially while preaching the gospel, is not one of them. After the conversation I thought, "How many preachers have I heard described as "intense"? I could only come up with three: John Piper, Mark Driscoll, and now Matt Chandler. I suppose there are more (would you say CJ Mahaney is intense?), but there are few in comparison to the number of calm, safe preachers. Why is that?


Of course David Eby, in his book Power Preaching for the Church, reminds us that there has been at least one other intense preacher in the history of the church. David Eby says this:

“Have you ever been accused of madness in your preaching? Jesus was (John 10:20), and so were the apostles (2 Corinthians 5:13). Its not unusual for a gospel preacher to be accused of madness…Paul was a gospel maniac [Acts 26:24]. He was captivated by God’s Word. He was a Psalm 1 man of the Book. He was ‘insane’ about Christ and the cross and the resurrection… Preaching today is so often passive, apathetic, impotent, soft, spineless and lame. It lacks fervour, heat and heart. It is passionless. What can turn preaching around? What can restore fire-breathing, white-hot power preaching in our day? The answer is quite simple. Preachers must become gospel maniacs. Preachers must become captivated and re-captivated by the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel. No intoxication for the gospel, no mania for the good news means no fire.” (David Eby, Power Preaching for Church Growth, p48)

Maybe all of us, preachers included, need to get a little more intense for Jesus.

HT: The Unashamed Workman