Many Talk but Few Preach

The theme of preaching is on my mind this slightly snowy morning here in the Queen City. More specifically the idea of what preaching actually is and what it should accomplish, what it is opposed to teaching, how to know when you are hearing actual preaching and so on. I hear the phrase “biblical preaching” a lot. I honestly believe that this now means nothing more than teaching scripture, an absolute neccessity and almost totally non-existant in Pentecostal/Charismatic church settings. But teaching line upon line, precept upon precept is not the same as preaching. If they were one and the same then Paul would not have differentiated between the spiritual gift of teaching and the spiritual gift of preaching, nor would he have maintained that there were teachers in the body as well as preachers. This is like me telling you that I have a Toyota truck in my driveway and a Ford truck in my driveway; two distinct automobiles. I wouldn’t tell you, “I have an ‘86 Toyota pick up and I also have a Toyota pickup made in 1986.” And so we can safely know that Paul wouldn’t have used language to describe two different things unless they were two different things.

I say all that because when the topic of preaching comes up, I most often hear people strongly affirm the need to return (in the church) to true preaching. But what they end up describing is exegetical teaching which tells me that a lot of folks still have no clue what preaching really is. Now I have to say that preaching without any teaching is not preaching and teaching that has no preaching in it is not teaching. The lines, in my opinion, ought to blur a bit between the two. But I think we need to regain an understanding of the function of preaching and know what it is as being disctinct from teaching.

So this morning I looked at the word ‘preach’, even though I already have several times. I’m always blown away by the definition. Look at this definition closely, take a few minutes to chew on this and mull it over in your mind. Everything about this word implies having received something directly from an authority figure and now being employed in the delivery of that specific message. A herald didn’t take upon himself to just run around telling people in the land what the laws where and helping them understand them. There were local governing authorities to do all that. No, the herald would be summoned by a King, given a message and told to proclaim it as he had received it and to speak it in that King’s name so that when this herald is speaking throughout the land it is not the herald that people are hearing, but the one who sent him. To reject this herald is to incur the wrath of the King who sent Him and almost certainly bring about his judgment upon whosoever would scorn his words.

So the most important aspect of this word ‘preach’ has first of all to do with the man speaking. The King has to know him and trust him. This herald is picked and groomed for this very task and may undergo years of training in order to be trusted with this task. He has to know how to communicate not just the letter of the King’s message but it’s spirit, essence, character. If it be a message of encouragement, he has to be able to communicate the word in this fashion. If it be a word of warning, he must speak so as to reveal the seriousness of the King. If it be a call to arms, there has to be a sense of import and need in the very delivery of the word. And this cannot be if the herald himself does not really believe what he’s saying to be all that important. Imagine a call to war that goes like this:
“DUDE, we’re like, totally gonna fight these guys and then we’re gonna be all like, ‘whoa, we won’ and so like just get stoked boys and girls and let’s do it! Woo hoo!!”
Huh?
What is said has to fit the way it is said. You can’t preach a message about the King’s anger with a smirk and a smile. The herald has to allow his demeanor to actually be animated by what he knows to be the King’s own sentiments. Really, he has to be one with the King in heart and mind and purpose or this will never work.

So the first and most important part of a preacher has to do with the means that God Himself undertakes to make such a one into a man who is trusted with such a task. And yet, this man will always say with Paul, “Who is sufficient for these things?” or he’s not worthy to speak. The herald of God has to know that he can do nothing without the Life of God in him doing it through him.

Now look again at this word preach. Do you see the part that talks about speaking with a gravity and authority that is understood as requiring obedience of the one hearing the message spoken? This, to me, blows out of the water so much sissy lah-lah preaching today that amounts to a bunch of nice suggestions that pander to the marginally interested churchian. Where is the heavy word, the weighty word of requirement? When was the last time a man stood and spoke in the Name of the Lord and the word spoken felt like it just disemboweled you and all your categories? When was the last time a word came forth that was so powerful that you didn’t for one second have to question where it came from because of the level of conviction and inner turmoil it produced? And real preaching doesn’t have to always make you squirm, but it should still come with an inherant power, conviction, gravity and authority that can’t be ignored and instantly apprehends the listener and has them knowing they are being addressed by God Himself, though human flesh happens to be the microphone and p.a. system that God employs.

So I hear on the radio and have seen on TV a lot of talking, suggesting, supposing and what not. I also hear great, scholarly and exegetical teaching. But where is the preacher? Where is the man aflame with the fire of God who when he speaks leaves no doubt that you just heard a real prophet? A real prophet never has to tell you that he is one, he just is and need not bother himself with making sure that everyone gives him the respect of being received as a prophet, as many seem to feel the need to do. This in itself is a manifest proof of a total lack of that calling, or else having the call with no understanding of how to behave in it.

Preaching is of uttmost importance because it is a means of salvation according to the apostle Paul in Romans 10:14. This verse is incredible to me. Paul says that the faith that saves and gives Life comes by hearing, and this hearing comes when the message is preached and that this preacher must be sent. So the whole issue of preaching is ultimately tied up in the man himself and wether or not he is even sent for this task. I’ll have to post seperately on what goes into a man before he’s even sent because it’s too rich and full to get into right now. But it’s interesting that this word ‘preach’ implies a herald, a man already prepared for a task of preaching; then it shows that the word implies gravity and authority.
So the process starts with a man chosen by God, groomed by God, dealt with by God and sent by God. The sent man preaches the message as God Himself would speak it. This opens ears so that God is heard addressing the listener. Hearing opens the heart to bring in faith/belief. Faith then brings you to confession/repentance, leading to life (Acts 2:38, 3:19-20, 2 Cor.7:10). So we can see that this business about preaching is of uttmost importance. Life and death hang in the balance. The only thing that can alter one’s eternity is an eternal word from an eternal God spoken by a man who has been burned by eternity’s reality (“Oh God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs!!”).

So I’d like to encourage those who aspire to preach to not think yourselves qualified to do so strictly on the basis of your skills in exegeting. That does not and will never make you a preacher. You need to be willing to live in deserts, have your flesh grated, be resisted, hated, mocked, live a restricted life (“other’s may, you may not”) and speak only when spoken to. And please, stop confusing teaching with preaching. Both are needed but they are not the same. People are coming out of seminaries thinking they are doing one thing when it is not and therefore will always fall short of what a real preacher is and does.

What is a preacher? Study Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, Peter, etc. Study the lives, the strife they endured, the deserts, their diets, their clothing. This may sound odd, but not one detail about a prophet is insignificant. Look at those who opposed them and what their message was in opposition to God’s…

…and pray for God to raise up some real preachers.

mark jr.