You Are a Preacher

What was your first experience with preaching? A lot of times our first experience can really color our view of a particular thing, and in this case preaching.

There may be some of you who first encountered preaching from one of those viral videos of a kid preaching. You watched that video both in shock and awe. In shock at how an 8 year old child is allowed to yell at adults the way they did. In awe because there is a cuteness at seeing how kids do impersonations of the things that adults do.

Preaching is also seen every Sunday morning, around the world with charismatic and well thought out minsters, pining over the text in front of them, desperately pleading with their congregation to take these words seriously because it is the Word of God. In this scenario many of us have experienced, this type of preaching changed our lives. It put fuel in the tank to conquer mountains. It is the preaching that rings in our ears for years to come, and for those of us who are students of the craft, this is the preaching we long to capture in our messages.

But like all good things, there is always a shadow side. Whether it is the preaching on the street corner where a man is yelling with a bullhorn and a poster board painted with flames on it screaming at the crowd to “turn or burn.” Or the preacher in the pulpit who is more characterized as a bully than a shepherd. There are good preachers and bad.

But the catch is that they are all preaching. From the child doing the impersonation, to the revivalist leading hundreds in the sinner’s prayer, to the man on the street corner scaring the literal hell out of some people.

Preaching takes many different shapes and forms.

Sometimes it sounds more like a lecture, and other times it comes off more like TEDtalk. Yet preaching is preaching and that is what we are here to discuss.

What is Preaching?

John Piper says: “Preaching is worship, and it belongs in the regular worship life of the church…Preaching is worshipping over the Word of God-the text of Scripture-with explanation and exultation.”¹

Regardless of our different experiences with preaching and preachers. The act of preaching is a high calling. It should not be approached lightly. There should be a reverence and a caution because the act of preaching like Piper says is “worshipping over the Word of God.” We should not worship half heartedly, or ill-prepared. When we come ready to preach the Word of God we should do so by giving our all. Laying our full selves out to be used by God.

Two important aspects come to mind as I reflect on what preaching is:

1. Preaching as Building: James says “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.  For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.“² As we reflect on what preaching is we must understand it as the act of participating in something greater than ourselves. We are active participants in building the Kingdom of God. We know that the way to build the Kingdom requires this act of preaching. Paul says: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” ³ Preaching is the primary way for people to hear the good news of Jesus and respond in obedience by repenting and believing. So if we approach preaching with the understanding of the high calling that it is then we should be cautious with our words. We should be careful to not lead others astray by expounding heretical doctrine. We should be knowingly cautious of how weak and sinful we are and how that might affect us as we do this act. Meaning because of how sinful we know we can be we should approach the act of preaching with such great humility that we do not rely on ourselves but instead fully depend on the Spirit of God and how He is moving us.
2. Preaching as Worship: Piper rightfully places preaching as an act of worship and if it is an act of worship then we should approach it the way we approach worship. Paul says “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” ⁴ If preaching should not be approached lightly then we must bring our full selves into submission to Christ. We are not merely good spiritual thinkers, or motivational coaches, or hype men. We are preachers who are first and foremost worshippers. Jesus did not ask for just our voices but for our whole complete selves. This requires us to do our due diligence in self examination and taking note of: what needs to be sacrificed at the altar? What needs to be laid aside? What is this job requiring of me?

Who is the Preacher?

You may be thinking to yourself as I asked that last question: what is the point in asking such a simple, uncontroversial question? But the reality of our current cultural. moment would prove the opposite. The question of who is the preacher is one that requires a little more nuance.

Not all believers have the same answer to this question. Maybe you have seen for yourself people preaching who you believe should not be preaching. What first comes to mind on a lighter note is the viral videos of children preaching or as I would call it: imitating, to a congregation full of adults. In this example, the child is doing their best to yell, and scream as loud as they can. They often are being overly dramatic to resemble the preaching environment they grew up in and to be fair, I do not want to demonize the motives or belittle what God can possibly do through a child. But I do want to note a quick glance at any one of these videos will tell you this kid is in over their head, and the position they are thrust in is rather dangerous because of our James passage I mentioned earlier.

On an even tougher note though, you may be apart of a tradition where preaching is only reserved for those who are males. In the best version of this complimentarian side of the church they would qualify my statement with saying that the only preachers should be “qualified-males”. But they are men nonetheless.

Some traditions allow women to preach. And some even further than that allow untrained believers, or people openly involved in sin to preach as they wear their colored robes.

But to answer this question biblically I believe we have to define what preaching is not in theological sense but in a practical sense.

So what is preaching?

Preaching is proclaiming the good news of Jesus the Christ.

Preaching has not always looked the way we so often imagine it.

What you may be contemplating as you hear this word preaching thrown around over and over again is the image of a man(or woman) behind a lecturn(or a pulpit) and delivering a message(sermon or lecture) for 30+ minutes in between songs and other forms of worship.

In their book ‘Pagan Christianity’ Frank Viola and George Barna describe modern preaching with these points:

• It is a regular occurrence-delivered faithfully from the pulpit at least once a week.
• It. is delivered by the same person-most typically the pastor or an ordained guest speaker.
• It is delivered to a passive audience-essentially. it is a monologue.
• It is a cultivated form of speech-possessing a specific structure. It typically contains an introduction, three to five points, and a conclusion.⁵

These men go on to contrast this image of preaching today with that of the preaching described in the Bible both Old and New Testaments:

• Active participation and interruptions by the audience were common
• Prophets and priests spoke extemporaneously and out of a present burden, rather than from a set script.
• Old Testament preaching was sporadic, fluid, and open for audience participation.
• It was sporadic
• It was most often dialogical(meaning it included feedback and interruptions from the audience) rather than monological(a one-way discourse).⁶

The point is, how we see preaching done today is a little bit different than how Jesus, the Apostles and the Prophets preached. And adding on that point, preaching was something every follower of the way was called to do.

Jesus says right before his ascension: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”⁷

Preaching is often characterized by someone having authority, and here Jesus commands His followers to go out in His authority and to build this Kingdom by teaching the good news of the way of Jesus.

But what is the good news?

What Are We Preaching?

When we get our first inkling of Jesus preaching(proclaiming) it is with a very specific message. Jesus says: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”⁸

Take note that Jesus when He starts preaching is not delivering a sermon with an altar call, or by asking the audience to slowly lift their hands if they are ready to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Jesus’ message is marked by authority. After the collection of Jesus’ teachings in Matthew commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew comments that after: “Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”⁹

What was so peculiar about Jesus’ message that required this level of authority to be the mark of His preaching?

It is because the message Jesus was proclaiming was about this coming Kingdom. The good news is not simply that Jesus lived the life that we never could, died the death of we should have died and raised three days later to prove He was God. Rather, that is all just a piece of the puzzle but not the entirety of the puzzle. The Good News of Jesus is about this Kingdom that Jesus was ushering in.

This is why the word evangelism means something way more than just merely telling my neighbor about Jesus. Evangelism is the act of members of Christ’ Kingdom going out and making the pronouncement that The Kingdom is near and the people should turn from their old way of living and toward the way of the life of the Kingdom.

The Gospel is about the Kingdom of Jesus.

How do we preach well?(technical side)

We have all heard good and bad preaching. We’ve heard the good where a man gets up and powerfully preaches the text in a way that stirs up in you a desire to go deeper, to change how you live, to fall on your knees in surrender to who Jesus is and what He has called you to.

Likewise we have also heard bad preaching. Preaching that bores the ever-living day lights out of you. Preaching that abuses the text of Scripture. Preaching that adds chaos to your life instead of clarity.

Sadly in many of our church environments today there are not many resources to help develop good preachers. Instead what too often happens is a person becomes a Christian, they are then asked to share their testimony with no instruction on how to craft their life story and how to avoid pitfalls like only speaking about how bad you were and not talking about the work Christ has done since your conversion. After delivering this testimony that was more shocking than supplemental, we throw this new convert into the deep end by giving them opportunities to formally preach. More often than not this does not include assigning them a text, taking them through some type of training course beforehand. Instead all that happens is this person who has never seriously been taught or has never really studied the Bible, randomly chooses a topic, finds random Scripture from google to back up whatever it is they are seeking out and then get up to preach in front of a crowd of people. And what I mean by preaching is more so “winging it” because in my experience 9.9 out of 10 times we encourage people in the church to “go where the Spirit leads you in the moment” instead of teaching them how to find the Spirit while your prepping throughout the week ahead so that in the moment there is no temptation to rely on your “natural” gifts(our lack thereof).

With saying all of that there’s a few principles I want to share with you that can apply to preaching of all sorts.

1. Remove Yourself: Preaching is not about you. It’s not about how good or bad you are. It is not about you sharing your own opinions or philosophies that have proved to be true in your own life. Preaching is about building the Kingdom of God. You will be tempted to keep yourself front and center. Ruthlessly abandon that inclination. Continuously point yourself back to the main objective that being: to build the Kingdom of Jesus not of you.
2. Know What You Are Saying: You know the worst thing a mechanic could do? Wing-it. You would not dare take your broken down vehicle to a mechanic who has the reputation of “just replacing parts as they feel they should.” Rather you want a mechanic who knows the mechanics of a vehicle. Who knows the sound of an engine so well that they can easily pinpoint whether something is wrong or not. Likewise, the worst thing a preacher could do is wing it. You are not dealing with a fairy tale or your favorite fiction book. You are dealing with the Holy Word of God. There should be preparation in knowing what you are about to communicate. On a practical level for me this looks like writing outlines and rough drafts and final drafts. Being overly prepared is always better than being under prepared and having to rely on yourself. And if you use the excuse “but I Just want God to lead me.” Then you should really back up and regroup on how you prepare, because if your preparation is not worship then neither is your delivery. There is a danger in preparation that is separated from worship and devotion. There is also an equal danger in delivering a message separated from worship and devotion. So come prepared.
3. Know your voice: Tim Keller has talked before about the two dangers in preaching.¹⁰ There is the one person who is so dull that they show no excitement about the text. They reserve all emotions communicating to people that God does not work through our emotions. This person when preaching will bore the congregation. On the other end of the spectrum though is the person who is yelling constantly. Everything is excitement. Everything is loud. Keller characterizes this type of preaching by saying it is like living next to a railroad station where engines are moving all the time. The sound is your background noise and it is so loud for so long that overtime, you are not even phased by it. God has uniquely wired our voices and the better you are at knowing your voice, the better you can be at knowing how to communicate in an effective way the truth of the Gospel. It is not a sin to want to communicate to your best ability. It is not a sin to want to grow in your skill of communication. If anything, your desire to grow and develop this skill is a sign of how high you hold the Word of God. It shows that you do not want your voice to take away from the goodness of the message of Jesus.
4. Have a plan: In our conversations or in the pulpit, we are taking people somewhere with our words. Where are you taking people? My overarching goal is to when I preach to our Youth is always the same. The goal is for them to follow Jesus together for the long haul. It is a real danger to get behind the pulpit and just point people in a random direction. Jesus was constantly leading people over the course of three years of following Him somewhere. Ultimately it was to the cross. And then it was to the resurrection and then finally to union with the Father. Does your preaching lead people to die to themselves, raise to newness of life and into a closer union with the Father? If not, reframe your approach to speaking to others. Let this always be the ultimate aim.

1. John Piper from his book ‘The Supremacy of God in Preaching’ ↩︎
2. James 3:1-2 ESV ↩︎
3. Romans 10:14 ESV ↩︎
4. Romans 12:1-2 ESV ↩︎
5. Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna ↩︎
6. Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna ↩︎
7. Matthew 28:18-20 ESV ↩︎
8. Matthew 4:17 ESV ↩︎
9. Matthew 7:28-29 ESV ↩︎
10. Tim Keller on ‘Preaching to the Heart’ from The Gospel Coalition ↩︎