The Divine Sufficiency.
I. Here we have a conception of the Christian ministry what it is in its range, in its demands, in its difficulties, and in its trust upon God. The first work is unquestionably that of a preacher of the gospel. It is one message from heaven, a message of love; it is the message of an offended Father, still full of love to the children who have strayed from Him, and whom He would fain recover to Himself. The minister of the new covenant is God's messenger to teach men this. He is an ambassador bound to speak to the utmost of his ability the message which has been entrusted to him, having nothing to do with any other message but this.
II. If this be a correct view of the function of a minister of the gospel, what a very solemn work this work of preaching is! Men are to be led to believe. So that the idea is this, that the one power by which men are to be saved is preaching. We are so accustomed to the thought, we are so familiar with the remarkable power which in all ages has attended preaching, that it does not seem to us perhaps at first sight to be the marvel that it really is that men should be saved by the "foolishness of preaching." By that God means to save men. It is God's method. And what a responsibility must rest upon the preacher! Is it possible to think that preparation can be too careful, that the consecration of heart and mind can be too complete, that the culture of every faculty which God has given can be too perfect, in order that these faculties may be used to bring the force of the gospel to bear upon men's hearts?
III. It is not only, however, in relation to the work itself that the difficulties of the Christian teacher and pastor occur, but in regard to its results; for those results, however men may forget them and slight them, are of the most serious and momentous character. "To the one we are the savour of death unto death, and to the other the savour of life unto life." How could we hear these solemn responsibilities if it were not that "our sufficiency is of God."
J. Guinness Rogers, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxix., p. 321.