Another year, another opportunity, God willing, to spread the good news of the love of God demonstrated in Jesus Christ His Son. This good news is the foundation, the hope and the joy of our lives. But surely there are others who are being called to God’s glory. Are we motivated for this the greatest work we can do? In this feature series we hope to stimulate some personal thought about our responsibilities as bearers of the pearl of great price, and develop a few practical ideas about preaching to help us move forward. “How shall they hear without a preacher?”
The Apostle Paul makes it clear that the ultimate preacher is God and any others who preach are merely ambassadors on his behalf: “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). This is not a concept we commonly consider. We think of God and Christ as the source of the message rather than as preachers of it. However, when we consider preaching as a Divine function and take ideas from God we tap into a source of information and motivation that we may not previously have explored.8 When we explore for a moment the references to God preaching they are quite significant. Who made the proclamation that we like to call the promise in Eden? Scripture says it was “the Lord God”. When the apostle Paul recorded that the gospel had been earlier preached unto Abraham saying, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”, who was the preacher? We know the answer but in case we may have forgotten Stephen supplies it for us in Acts 7:2, “The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran.” When the promise was made to David, from whom did it come? “The Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house.” So then the three great promises which constitute the backbone of the gospel have come from none other than Yahweh Himself. This simple but compelling evidence makes God the principal preacher.
Extending this thought a little, in a sense all of the Word of God is preaching. All we are doing when we speak is repeating the Word of God. We think of the great passage on preaching from Romans 10 and this bears out the truth of this statement: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The word of God has of itself achieved considerable wonders which bear testimony to the truth of God. The reproof of the apostle Paul of the godless Romans makes this quite clear: “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Rom 1:19,20). Paul says that when the Word of God went forth to create, this was preaching, and those who fail to heed can have no excuse.
The goal of preaching
Now preaching has never been highly regarded by man. The human race generally think preaching a foolish thing and mock at God’s methods, yet still “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor 1:21). Preaching would not have been our way, but it is God’s. The great strength of preaching is that only those who believe are saved. Preaching guarantees that faith, the essential quality required for God, is present in all who respond, and yet at the same time limits the response to only those who have it. When the stated desire is that none should perish (2 Pet 3:9), preaching seems to us to be a strange way to achieve it. However, when we remember that faith is a response to hearing the Word, it all becomes clear. Preaching the Word achieves these two objectives simultaneously: all who respond in faith are saved, and all who do not are condemned. Since faith, the critical ingredient for salvation, is dependent on our response, preaching is a magnificent method to select every one who responds. God cannot be accountable for our lack of response. Even though God has made it clear that He desires us to be saved, He will not compromise His principles to achieve it. Salvation must not be at the expense of faith. The goal then of preaching is faith.
Divine preaching methods
This being the case preaching must be done God’s way. But what is God’s way? What means has the Almighty used?
- The Word of God (eg Psa 19:7–8)
- The effect or product of the Word of God (eg the heavens, Psa 19:1–4)
- The Word of God announced by a messenger (eg Jer 7: 2)
- The Word of God lived by an example (eg Israel, Isa 55: 5).
There are several unmistakable themes here. Preaching is not restricted to any one method but it must be based on the Word of God and have God central to any endeavour. We might ask, if the Word of God alone, or its effect, can preach, why is there a need for living examples and preachers? The answer is simply that the Word of God alone and the evident effect of its working are not very effective preachers. Let us be quite clear on this point though: the failure is entirely ours and not God’s. The power and majesty of God have been displayed in creation since the beginning of our times but men choose not to notice it. The Word of God has been available for thousands of years but men elect to ignore it. Preachers are necessary as the apostle Paul suggested, “How shall they hear without a preacher?” The preacher then brings the message of God (which has always been there) to ears and eyes which would otherwise have missed it. This raises the importance of the preacher to great heights and caused the prophet to exclaim: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” We must remember though, that the preacher exists only for the glory of God and for the promotion of His name and character.
This is the task of the preacher, to highlight the readily available and accessible information about God and His wonderful purpose and to present it in a format that is compelling and interesting for the potential convert. Once that has been successfully achieved, the person who has been brought to God may access the word of God for themselves and they in turn become a messenger to others.
Measuring success
Preaching is never going to be very successful in the terms of what we would normally consider to be success. As our Lord said, “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” We need for a moment to examine our definition of “few”. Is it likely that we may have hidden behind our Lord’s words and used them as an excuse for the poor results of lack-lustre preaching? “Ah”, you say “few is defined as eight out of many in the days of Noah! Surely you don’t accuse Noah of mediocrity in preaching?” Let us remember that from the first when God came to Noah, the ark was only ever intended to be for a finite number. God told him in advance how many it would be: “and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee” (Gen 6:18). So Noah achieved all God expected him to. In Noah’s case the number saved does not represent the reasonable expectations of our preaching. The efforts of the Apostles in their early preaching must also qualify as “few”, yet people responded in hundreds and thousands in just a few weeks.
I attended a series of studies by Bro Matthew Blewett on the prophecy of Haggai a couple of years ago and he challenged the audience with some points about preaching which I have borrowed in the next couple of paragraphs. We need to think about how large the community of believers might be. Expressed as a percentage of the whole, currently we are something like 0.00001% of the world’s population (60,000 in 6 billion). This could be considered miniscule rather than few. When Israel, the people of God, were described as few they represented about 0.1% of estimates of the known world’s population (Deut 7:7). If we were to take a similar percentage of today’s population there would be about six million believers worldwide; still comparatively few but many, many more than at present! We may not hide behind our Lord’s words and use them as an excuse for inactivity. It is possible that we might with increased endeavour achieve much more than we have to date. Perhaps we limit ourselves by thinking that more is not possible?
Exposing excuses
This brings us to other excuses that might be used. Here is a sample of the more common ones with a brief rebuttal in parenthesis after each:
“Cast not your pearls before swine” (so let’s not preach at all??)
“The message is unpopular” (it has never, ever been anything else!)
“We must work with our own first” (but not at the expense of others!)
“There is not enough money” (look at our houses, cars, halls etc!)
They are all excuses and none of them are reasons with any merit at all. There is a final one that deserves further mention: “God gives the increase.” Dare we suggest that it is God’s fault that our preaching is not successful? Let us look at the context of the misquote (1 Cor 3:6), and see what the apostle Paul was saying. The glory of the preaching was God’s. Paul may have laboured to sow the seed and Apollos laboured to water it, but they did not take the credit for the wonderful yield. That belonged to God alone. The analogy of farming was used by Paul to explain the result of preaching. Despite all the hard work put in by the farmer, the germination, growth and fruiting are all quite miraculous and out of his hands. However if he didn’t sow enough or water enough it is evident what the result must be. It is a monstrous twist of Scripture to suggest that we can sow sparingly and water miserly and believe that the poor crop is God’s fault. Do we thereby suggest then that God doesn’t want converts? The lack of enthusiasm and any blame must rest with us and not God. It is quite incredible the lengths to which we can go, even contorting Scripture to justify our inactivity in preaching. If we applied that same level of creative enterprise to our gospel proclamation what might the response be?8 While we are thinking about farming, let us for a moment ponder the lessons from the parables of the sower and the tares.
- The sower would have done soil preparation before commencing, but do we?
- The sower broadcast the seed not knowing where it would fall but obviously would have endeavoured to land most of it where he had ploughed previously.
- The sower sowed only good seed. He did not plant seedlings, or sow weeds.
- There is an expectation that not all would bring forth fruit for 75% of soil types are unfruitful.
- There was a real expectation of a crop, but do we believe a bountiful harvest is possible?
Our primary duty
Preaching must not be considered optional. Jesus commanded it. He did not say, “Go ye into all the world and”… build Ecclesial Halls, Heritage Colleges, Hebron campsites or Bethsalem homes or any other things that might so adequately suit our needs. Let us not be mistaken here; all those things are not bad things and may serve a wonderful purpose, but Jesus said go and preach! Why is it then that we find time and money for so many other projects and the preaching languishes? Let us take great care that our Lord does not see our performance as matching that of the one talent servant. One further point on Jesus’ command. He did not say, “get them to come to you”, he said, “Go ye…”. It might seem a little change of emphasis but it can make a big difference.
Let us now consider the subject from a rather more positive angle. Preaching was always intended to be a joy. If Jesus was right when he said “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”, then it must be that if we love God and His Word that it will come out, naturally and freely to all who would hear. Our bountiful response to the salvation of God is to naturally proclaim it to others. The Apostle Paul continues that theme and simply says, “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak” (2 Cor 4:13). Preaching is a natural and free expression of the gospel of God within us. Ignoring for a moment our fears which impede us, it is reasonable to conclude that preaching is somewhat proportional to faith.
A variety of baits
Yet even when our preaching is vigorous, it may not be as successful as we would wish. The Lord sent Peter out with a message to fish for men. Now Peter was a fisherman and he is recorded in Scripture as using at least three different means to catch fish (Mark 1:16; Luke 5:5; Matt 17:27). Peter would have known that no one method was appropriate for every type of fish. Even on one spectacular occasion the method was suitable and the activity vigorous but they were fishing from the wrong side of the boat! Overlooking the miraculous nature of this event for a moment, it highlights the point that we can sometimes struggle all night (Gentile darkness?), getting nowhere and something as simple as using the other side of the boat, which might not otherwise have occurred to us, could make a difference. It is reasonable to assume that Jesus intended Peter to put a variety of methods in place to catch men and it is the same for us.
Are we principally using one method? When we gather ourselves to preach, have we become stuck in a rut, a routine that isn’t working that well? Do we restrict our preaching to fewer methods than we might? The apostle Paul did not; he said, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” I think it likely that we are intended to take the examples and principles of the diversity of preaching in Bible times and adapt them for 21st century use.
There are many lessons to ponder which will be developed in subsequent articles but let us conclude with a quote from Brother Alfred Norris written during WW2 when being a Christadelphian was unpopular, let alone preaching: “God has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. That ministry is restricted to no group among us, to no prescribed method. It is restricted to no time of day nor day of the week. Its message is restricted, certainly, to that which is revealed: ‘I have received of the Lord that which I delivered unto you,’ said Paul, and unless the preacher fulfils that condition he does not truly preach. Its object is restricted, too, to glorifying God in bringing men and women by His power to His salvation. But these are restrictions which impose no limit to our learning and set no bounds to our enterprise” (Preaching the Word 1944).