The Assembling of the Church: Just Semantics? (Preach)
I have been thinking a lot about preaching. What it is, who should do it, how it should be done. I have always been a big proponent of preaching. In my opinion, the church has suffered from a lack of preaching and the preaching it got was mediocre and powerless. Men like John Piper and Voddie Baucham in part receive such acclaim because the way they preach is so foreign to so much of Christendom. Not that they are not gifted preachers, they are, but they also are unusual given what passes for preaching from so many pulpits.
Preaching is prominent in the Bible. John the Baptist came preaching. Jesus preached. The apostles preached. Paul preached and exhorted others to do the same. So what does preaching look like for us in the church today?
As I started looking into this, I jotted down some thoughts. See below for some initial thoughts I put in draft form…
“More and more as I listen to sermons, even sermons from men I respect and are considered to be great preachers by the church as a whole, I ask this question: is this primarily preaching or is it a performance? I remember all too well preparing sermons and trying to figure out if something sounded right, or would have the desired impact at the desired time. The most important thing in sermon prep for me always was and remains that it is a faithful exposition of the text at hand, that it didn’t take liberties and that it was theologically sound and fit with the Biblical record as a whole. But I admit freely that presentation was a big part of the prep work. I can talk extemporaneously about Scripture easily enough, but making it sound right and run smoothly within an allotted time? That takes more work.
When we see large scale preaching, one man preaching to a large crowd, is it not always in the context of evangelism? Do we see anything like a Sunday morning worship service sermon to believers anywhere in the New Testament? Anywhere? Taking out the issue of the single pastor who preaches for pay, even in the instance of a non-paid, elder led congregation is there a mandate for a “preach and receive” model where the one man preaches and the congregation passively sits there and receives?”
Then, as often happens to me, I find someone else has already done a post making many of the same points I was thinking of, and did a better job of it. Alan Knox has been running a series on words we use in the church, and whether or not the way we traditionally use those words corresponds to the way they are used in Scripture. One of the best looks at the word “preach”. A couple of snippets from his post….
“However, today, it is common to use the term "preach" in the context of the church. In fact, many believe that the purpose for meeting with the church is to learn from "preaching". To take this further, the "preacher" - that is, the one who preaches - has been turned into a title or position for a specific person within the church. Instead, in Scripture, this term relates to anyone and everyone who proclaims the truth of the gospel of the kingdom of God.”
“When we read the English words "preach" or "preacher" in the Scriptures, we should think about someone who is proclaiming the gospel to unbelievers outside the context of the church. In fact, we should think about our own responsibility to proclaim the gospel. If, instead, we think about some titled position or office in the church which is synonymous with "pastor" or "elder" then we are not understanding the Scriptures the way the original author (and God!) intended for us to understand.”
So Mr. Knox is making the case that preaching is not a task reserved for a particular few but that preaching the Gospel to unbelievers is the responsibility of all. That certainly runs contrary to what we have always been taught in church. Preaching is something that the pastor does. We sit in the pews and listen, he preaches, we shake his hand and go home. There are all manner of preaching conferences designed to teach pastors to preach more effectively. But shouldn’t we all be engaged in preaching the Gospel to unbelievers?
Then consider these words from Dr. Mohler at the commencement of the latest class from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, coming from a very different viewpoint…
The preacher's authority is a delegated authority, but a real authority. We are assigned the task of feeding the flock of God, of teaching the church, of preaching the Word. We do not speak as one who possesses authority, but as one who is called to serve the church by proclaiming, expounding, applying, and declaring the Word of God. We are those who have been called to a task and set apart for mission; as vessels who hold a saving message even as earthen vessels hold water.
Our authority is not our own. We are called to the task of preaching the Bible, in season and out of season. We are rightly to divide the Word of truth, and to teach the infinite riches of the Word of God. There are no certainties without the authority of the Scripture. We have nothing but commas and question marks to offer if we lose confidence in the inerrant and infallible Word of God. There are no thunderbolts where the Word of God is subverted, mistrusted, or ignored.
The crowds were astonished when they heard Jesus, "for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes." Congregations are starving for the astonishment of hearing the preacher teach and preach on the authority of the Word of God. If there is a crisis in preaching, it is a crisis of confidence in the Word. If there is a road to recovery, it will be mapped by a return to biblical preaching.
The contrast couldn’t be greater. In his commencement address, Dr. Mohler is sending these young men out, most of whom (I assume) will go into some sort of vocational ministry. Not even able to see the event, it is nonetheless a stirring picture of a room full of young graduates receiving last words of encouragement and exhortation from one of America’s great leaders in Christendom. These young preacher boys will be called to churches all over the land, and in stark contrast to the pomp and circumstance of commencement, by and large they will inherit local churches full of unbelievers and believers with a perfunctory understanding of the Gospel, doctrine and theology. Do they have a right understanding of preaching?
Dr. Mohler comes at the issue with the full weight of the traditional understanding of the role of preaching. Dr. Mohler is a brilliant scholar and along with being a masterful theologian is incredibly well read and an expert in church history. Mr. Knox approaches the issue from the view of the use of the word “preach” (and other similar words like “proclaim”) as it appears in the Word, with an emphasis on the earliest days of the church in the book of Acts.
Who is correct?
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