Don’t Move the Fence

I apologize for my unannounced weeklong hiatus. I was able to go to the For the Church Conference in Kansas City. Since being a pastor comes before being a blogger, the blog had to take a back seat. But I think we can get back on a regular schedule now.

Speaking of For the Church, they recently posted an article I wrote for them. Here’s the intro, click through for the full article:

G.K. Chesterton once said:

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.

In other words, it isn’t wise to go about moving fences unless you realize why that fence was there in the first place.

I was reminded of this quote the other day while doing sermon preparation. The last sermon I preached stopped at Mark 3:6 and, as is my custom, I knew I’d pick up in Mark 3:7. But I was not sure how far I should go. What was the appropriate textual unit? I wondered if I should stop somewhere around verse 22 before I picked up that section on blasphemy of the Spirit. But then verses 31-35 seemed to just hang there. These were obviously connected with 3:20-21, so maybe I should preach from Mark 3:7-35.

Then I had a brilliant idea. I’d skip verses 22-30 and pick that section up next week and do a whole new sermon centered upon blasphemy of the Spirit. It was a great idea, until I remembered the Chesterton quote. I had to admit I really hadn’t wrestled with why Mark put verses 22-30 where he did. And so, if I was going to “move the fence” and skip those verses I figured I had better do a little more digging.

Keep reading…

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