In Richard Baxter’s work The Reformed Pastor he discusses the preachers need to “screw the truth into their minds, and work Christ into their affections.” As I read over that the phrase, “screw the truth into their minds”, Baxter’s unique wording struck me. Notice that he did not say “nail the truth” or “drive the truth”, he said “screw the truth”. I think that is intentional.
Consider the nail. A nail will go into a board with one swift blow. Even a child, with minimal labor, can plunge a nail into a board. Not so, with the screw. The screw often requires a power tool. Screws don’t go in easily; you have to laboriously twist and twist. Putting a screw into a board takes more time and more work.
A nail is easier to go in, but it is also easier to pull out. And this, is why I think Baxter said “screw the truth”. A screw does not come out quite so easy (keep in mind Baxter did not have a local Home Depot with power tools). A screw is harder to get into the board, but it is also more difficult to rip out and far more secure than a nail. Is this not the effect that we want truth to have in the minds of those we preach to?
Therefore, do the hard thing of slow, tedious, twisting and turning through long seasons of biblical teaching.
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Didn’t know what to expect from the title. Good article.
“THE PROMISE OF MY FATHER” . . . come, Holy Spirit, enlighten the hearts of Thy faithful . . .
Come, ‘Spirit of Truth’ . . .
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But they urged Him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So He went in to stay with them.
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And it happened that, while He was with them at table, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.
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With that their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, but He vanished from their sight.
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Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning (within us) while He spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?”
and
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And (behold) I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
(from St. Luke’s Gospel, chapter 24)
That is a great image to use. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, Andrew, I have to say that when I saw the title on the “pending” list, I was a little taken aback.
But (while I’m suspicious that the double-meaning is not entirely accidental), this is a fantastic article and a fantastic title.
You sure didn’t screw this one up, Mike. (Sorry, sometimes the flesh is weak).
ha ha, thanks
Mike, great article. The title threw me for a loop. You’re hip and cool now :).
I thought this was another article about the convention when I saw the title…
Nice article.
ouch
Some 23 years or so ago my library was increasing, and I had to build book cases. With the help of my son and a friend of his we built 10 bookcases, 7′ tall, 4′ wide, uding 1×12 boards and sheets of plywoood. Someone advised me to use sheet rock screws. I did and my bookcases have remained solid to this day. Screwing the truth into a person’s heart and mind is a similar process, one depending upon the critical, insightful, thought-provoking, unique statements and sayings with illustrations that are unusual and to the point, to say the least.
God sometimes must give the illustration a punch by providence. On the first Sunday of January 1974, I preached on the subject, “In Harm’s Way,” borrowing the title from a John Wayne movie. My aim was to point out that we had had a year with no deaths or troubles or tragedies in the church. What gave it force was that whenI came to the church my mother and her family in St. Louis had all been killed the very night of the day in which the church had called my with a 100% call. The week after I returned, a sister of the chairman of the pulpit committee was killed in a fire. And then near the last December of ’72 one of my mother’s brothers in Arkansas died, and I preached his funeral. Having been overwhelmed with grief and loss, I asked the God to give us a year with no deaths, an He did. But I knew it could not continue. Thus on the first Sunday of ’74, I preached on the subject “In Harm’s Way”. That afternoon a elderly man has a stroke and our church clerk who had cancer took a turn for the worse.. That Sunday night one of the members said, “Well, the preacher told us what would be” or something to that effect.
There is a presence and a work on God’s part that give pith and point to our efforts, regardless of how feeble they might be or how sorry they are. While we were all disappointed with reference to the former Muslim whose stories did not ring true, it is a help to the heart to have read in our Baptist State Paper in the pst few weeks about the Moslems who were trained to be terrorists and who were converted due to a definite work of the Lord which indicated His presence and power. It is that work in conjunction with the biblical teachings which carries such a power of conviction and persuasion.