From a Tim Keller sermon on 'the first shall be last':
There was once a young seminary graduate eager to preach his first sermon. He ascended the pulpit steps, sure his great learning would amaze the simple lay folk. Halfway through the sermon he realized he was making a hash of it. First the congregation lost what he was saying, then he lost what he was saying. At the end he climbed down from the pulpit crestfallen. An old Christian woman met him at the end and said "If you'd have gone up the way you came down, you'd have come down the way you went up."
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nice story. you've gotta love older and wiser christians. what worries me is that the lad graduated from seminary and had never preached before :o
Hi Rich,
welcome to the comments.
I'm just this minute preparing for a sermon on Titus 1:5-9. 'Arrogance' (lit. 'self-pleasing') is a bar from eldership just as much as inability to give sound instruction. This being the case I guess we conclude that the lad was underprepared not overprepared for preaching!
That's really helpful. It can be so easy to go up to preach thinking like that. Great reminder!