Hey Mike,

Great post.  Provocative as usual. 

It was also interesting reading the comments thus far.  Some think what you do at home is critical, others think what you hear in the preaching is critical, and some/most would probably say that the combination of private study and public preaching is the key.

I wouldn't disagree with those who see both private study and public preaching as critical to spiritual growth.  But I think the Bible holds out more.

The issue of private study and hearing public preaching, as currently defined, seem to place great weight on what we do as individuals.  That is, a certain kind of individualism is implicit in the tension between private study and listening to public preaching.  The discussion ends at "what will I do in my life with what I hear?"  If that's the end, then there really isn't much difference between private study and my individual listening to and applying of a sermon.

It seems that what is critical for public preaching is precisely the public nature of the activity.  What we do together.  How we collectively are shaped.  And what we do in our private study lends itself to growth when it is put to public use, not just private use.

The gifted persons in the church are given "to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.  From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Eph. 4:12-16).

The local church, the body of Christ, is central to spiritual maturity and growing up in Christ.  If we are individualistic and privatistic (is that a word?) we will inevitably be less mature than we might otherwise be, and so will our fellow brethren if we don't commit ourselves to building up the entire body.  What we learn in both our private and public study is intended for the benefit of others, the whole.

The real tragedy with this current discussion about "study at home" v. "public preaching" is that they both reveal a woefully low valuation of the local church, the collective Christian life, as essential to spiritual maturity.  It's BOTH private study and public preaching applied in the gathered life of the body, neither done with a self-centered preoccupation with "my maturity."  If all we're doing is teaching people to read their Bibles (which is necessary), if we don't help them to see that studying and hearing the words is a means to building up the entire body, then we shouldn't be surprised that (a) they misunderstand spiritual maturity and are given to self-righteousness and the knowledge that puffs up, (b) they still don't mature as we'd hope, and (c) that others mature slower than we'd like. 

A couple other thoughts:

1.  If a preacher resorts to mocking the people by crying in a high chair, he's probably long abandoned belief in the sufficiency and efficacy of the preached word for producing God's designs (Is. 55:11).

2.  That man should take a vacation.  Get some perspective.  Talk with older godly pastors.  If after all of that, he finds that he really doesn't want to feed God's people, he should leave the ministry.

3.  If it is the preaching of the gospel that intercepts a hell bound sinner and translates him into the kingdom of light, saving his eternal soul, then as preachers we'd better have the kind of soberness and gravitas about our task that the stakes deserve.

4.  Mike, you were very kind in phrasing point 2 as a question.  Surely there is laziness in the pastorate, and we need to repent wherever we discover it in our lives.  This, I think, is a serious problem that pastors don't expose and talk enough about.  Thanks for bringing it to light.

5.  Mike, LOVED your point #4 and concluding sentence.  Thanks for serving us so well, brother.