Called to Preach: Fulfilling the High Calling of Expository Preaching

by Steven J. Lawson

On January 14, 1723, Edwards wrote resolution sixty-three: “On the supposition that there never was to be but one individual in the world at any one time who was properly a complete Christian.”13 He reasoned there must be one person at any one moment in time who is regarded by God to be the greatest Christian alive. This one person most embodies the virtues of the Lord Jesus Christ. With this goal fixed in his gaze, Edwards wrote, “Resolved: I will act just as I would do if I strove with all of my might to be that one who should live in my time.”14 It was by no accident that this nineteen-year-old young man, then serving as an intern pastor on Wall Street in downtown New York, would become America’s greatest pastor, preacher, philosopher, theologian, and author. Edwards had set a course for his life:

Profound concept, being most like Christ on the earth!