The Strange Work of Preaching

13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. 1Tim. 4:13

The nature of preaching is a peculiar one. Specifically preaching refers to the craft of taking a text of scripture and after spending time in the text through detailed study, then proclaiming the meaning of that ancient text in front of a group of people, specifically a congregation of God’s people. Preaching is strange work. It actually defies simple definitions. There are hundreds of books on the subject of preaching. There are books on how to write sermons, books on the way to preach sermons, and books on the style of sermons that one can use. There are histories of sermons and the preachers who are noted for famous sermons. There is even a whole field of study dedicated to the science of preaching called homiletics. But, with all the studies on it, preaching is still a mystery when you come right down to it. The sermon is a genre that stands alone. I remember as a young preacher, still in seminary, while in a rural church in Mississippi, some old farmer grasping my hand firmly after the service, saying, “Good talk, Brother Todd.” I always took that as telling me that while I made a good honest effort that day, it wasn’t really preaching. Of course, I know now that back then, I was more focused on communicating ideas, like correcting less sophisticated theology in “wise and persuasive words”, rather than in “a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.” (1 Cor. 2:4). It is the gospel of Christ, preached in the power of the Spirit that changes lives, not ideas. This however, does not mean that preaching should not cause people to think. Good preaching engages the intellect. There is a lot of preaching out there that invites people to check their brains at the door. Sermons defy definitions like a talk, a lecture, or a speech. The revivalist, George Whitefield added a dramatic flair to his preaching during the Great Awakening, but drama was not the secret to his success as a preacher, as some secular historians tend to think. He was an instrument of a Sovereign God to bring blessings to others. Sermons are unique to the Gospel created Christian church. Preaching is a craft that calls for careful planning and forethought, but it is not just purely a thing about following the right formulas. Good preaching requires the blessing of God. It requires a call and so at its core, preaching is a gift. The task of congregations, and specifically the leaders or elders are to identify and lay hands on those so gifted (1 Tim.4:14). One does not just wake up one morning and decide to preach. Preaching is an ongoing conversation between God and the preacher, with a church listening in. All three are important for preaching to be the real thing. God comes first, being both the subject and object through the Word proclaimed. We tell God’s story, the redemptive revelation given to us in the inspired record of Holy Scripture. But, God is not a passive object in this activity of preaching. This is a danger to think that we can so stand in the authority of the pulpit and treat God like the object. We should tremble each time we enter the pulpit and open the Bible.

God cannot be tamed; He will not be reduced to three points and human postulation. The Word, we must remember is “living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” Heb. 4:12. This is what defies categories. Somehow, by God’s prerogative, preaching that is faithful to the Word is a spiritually transforming event. Faith comes by hearing the Word, Paul tells us in Romans.

That belief is the key starting point to understanding both the uniqueness and the importance of preaching. Preachers are stewards of the mysteries of the Gospel, not because of any virtue in them, but because of God’s faithfulness to His Word. Within the debates about preaching today, there are two basic extremes people fall into. Typically they reflect the tendencies we find in both liberal and conservative circles. There is one school of thought that believes preaching is primarily story telling. They emphasize the narrative of the gospel story and the parabolic technique of Jesus. There is much truth here. But, stories from the Bible are always rooted in absolute truth. The danger is to assume the power of preaching is on the ability of the preacher to craft an engaging story. The creativity of the preacher becomes the burden of success. The preacher must be a spell-binding orator. On the other end, are those that treat preaching like a giving a lecture. They stress, as well they should, the importance of detailed study of the text. Preaching in this case is reproducing in a scholarly manner the details of this study. They stress the didactic nature of teaching, like the Apostle Paul, they have a case to prove with skill and logic. Here the preacher must be an adept logician and the success of the sermon is found in the precision of the rational airtight case. The sermon needs something of both. A sermon should be engaging like a story meeting our emotive needs as well as didactic, meeting our rational needs. The best preaching should move us and instruct us. The preacher should use as his instruments both passion and thought. But, all of this is just playacting, if God is not at the foundation. One of my professors, a saintly old Australian used to warn us about being a preacher who was merely “clever with the Bible.” There are many pulpits in our day filled with good orators and men who are clever with the Bible, but like the time of the judges their congregations are starving for a word from the Lord. We need men today, who know God and spend time with God and then rise up in the pulpit with a message from God. This and only this is real preaching.