Last week, I saw my first broadway show. It was amazing! I love movies, but Broadway was worth all the extra money. I saw All Shook Up which is a fun time and a great first musical. Although I didn't see The Producers or the Lion King, I still felt the power of the small Palace Theater and the energy of real actors. Maybe this is why some actors love a live performance rather than just a camera. But what really makes me wonder is how much difference it really is. There is something almost magical about a live performance, something viseral that is not there in a movie. It is almost incarnational. I use that word lightly, but there is a sense that the story comes alive more. This is the same reason that I believe in preaching.
Some have asked me why I do not see myself as part of the Emergent movement. It has to do with some the emphases that I have seen. In many ways, the Emergent movement is a recasting of the Contemplative Tradition in the white, middle to upper class world of American Evangelicalism. Anytime the value is placed on contemplation, then arguments and convictions are needless and oppressing. And in this vein, there is a de-emphasis on preaching. I know many, such as Mark Strom and his influential Book (Reframing Paul ), who say that preaching as we know it today was not what the apostles practice. I love this book and it is listed on the side column as one of my most influential books. I still highly recommend and it is the best argument against preaching while also being the best argument against the Contemplative movement. However, my advocacy of preaching is two-fold, ecclesiology and the foolishness of preaching.
Ecclesiology is the study of the church. What is the Church? Who is the Church? What does the Church do? The Church is the historic community of those baptized into the name of the Trinity and built on the foundation of the Prophets and apostles for the nations. It is not just those who have faith in Jesus, it is a new city living in light of a Crucified King. All cities have ordinances and leaders and so too does this city. But there is something more to this city, the Holy Spirit of the Resurrected Christ is present in the Church in a unique way, especially in a worship service. The most glorious callings of humanity are to worship and to serve the God of Creation. In the worship service, these two callings unite to unite us to Christ. In this service, the Church prays, sings, gives, drinks, eats, washes, and listens to God in the name of Christ.
In an article on preaching, Mark Horne writes how in Ephesians 2:17 Paul says that Christ preached to" you who are near". Jesus never left and preached at Ephesus, but Paul and other apostles, prophets, teachers, and pastors did. Also, in Eph 4:21, most translations says that "you have heard about him (Jesus)", but literally, it is "you heard him (Christ)" How do these 1st Century hear Christ? It is through the preaching of the Church. The preaching of the Church is the Word of God because of the nature of the church. The Bible describes the Word of God as 3 things: Christ, the Scriptures, and the Gospel preached. As we hear it, we then properly respond by eating and drinking that Word into our bodies. Word and Sacrament (lit. preaching and mystery)should be held together as the center of the worship service.
But how can you account for heretical and bad preaching then? My answer is time. What endures is the truth and that endurance is always the nature of the Word of God. There were several false prophets who were around during the writing of the New Testament probably writing their own letters, but what endured was the Word of God as we have the Bible today. But getting back to preaching, this also does not necessarily lead to power trips by pastors. Mark Horne concludes his article saying:
"And every single Sunday, Jesus does talk to you. Don’t forget that. While we must all be discerning, because we are talking about Christ
ministering through fallible men, we must still understand that it is
Christ who is so ministering. Christ is preaching peace to us and we
learn Christ not by hearing of him, but by hearing him."
God talking to us is not some mystical voice in our conscience, but the preaching of the Word in which Christ is the mesmerizing force. We must listen to preaching because of the nature of how our God speaks through humans, through prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets of the OT did not dialog except rhetorically , they monologued for the goal of repentance. This is why we preach: to turn our affections, actions, and futures away from evil falsehood to the truth, Christ.
But preaching is also foolish! They are mere words. Have you not heard a little less talk and a lot more action? In our pragmatic country, we are fascinated by what works, what gets results, and what feels right. Preaching in this culture is the epitome of weakness. When a church disciplines all it does is proclaim that someone is outside the church. What good does that do? God does things with words, including creating the heavens and the earth. God's power is made perfect in weakness. He chooses to work through the foolish and weak things of the world to show His wisdom and His power. The weak words of preaching from weak pastors is the power of God. What could be more weak than a man hired by a group of people only to say hard things to them? Where does his paycheck come from? It comes from God. But in the worldly perspective, it is foolishness because the pastor will only say what people want to hear, but in Christ he is over them as they are over him. Because of the resurrection of Christ, I know that life comes out of death and power out of weakness.
Finally, I know that I need preaching. I know that healing does not come from within me, but from without in Christ. I know how depraved I am and how left to myself I would live in a world of self-worshiping fantasy. I need the Word of God to grab my attention. It must confront me with my own sinfulness and comfort me with God's riches of grace giving my a picture of obedience that captures my imagination. With this, I participate every Sunday in the Death, Resurrection, and Kingship of Christ. It is not about a powerful preacher, but a powerful Savior.
