By Chris Philbeck
I have a confession to make as I write this column: I miss preaching. I’m almost a year into retirement, and I’m enjoying everything about it, but I miss preaching.
What’s been most surprising to me is that I miss the preparation that comes with preaching the most. I’m involved in a daily quiet time and I continue to read and study my Bible, but it’s not the same as digging into the Scriptures to prepare a message, something that became as important to me as the delivery itself.
It wasn’t that way in the beginning of my preaching. But as time went by, I could feel God refining my heart to the point where I began to understand the necessity of study on a whole new level. First, and most obvious, to give substance to the message. Second, to give substance to me. Let me explain that with a quote from H.B. Charles, Jr. “A passion to preach, without a burden to study, is a desire to perform.” That quote should be foundational for every preacher who stands before a congregation each week to deliver a message. This is especially true in the modern church where the weekly programming for the service can become more consumer driven than we might like to admit. The most significant compliment we can hear when preaching isn’t, “What a great message!” It’s, “What a great God!”
Paul gives us a model for preaching in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 that can help with the temptation of performance.
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power (New International Version).
To understand the significance of these words, we must first acknowledge what they are not saying. Paul isn’t rejecting persuasive preaching. If you’re familiar with Paul’s ministry in Acts, you know his sermon before Agrippa in Acts 26 is a remarkable example of persuasive preaching. What Paul is rejecting is the reliance on his ability to persuade through eloquence or wisdom (his own ability). And he was so committed to that approach with the Corinthians that he wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I resolved (determined) to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Paul isn’t arguing against making a message as compelling as possible; he’s simply demonstrating his commitment not to do anything that gets in the way of the gospel or the convicting power of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:4-5).
It’s my belief that there continues to be a place for 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 preaching today. Someone could argue that’s not true because the world is different today. I would counter by saying no matter how different the world is, God is the same. That means the power of the Spirit in preaching is the same.
Not long before I wrote this column, I watched a video clip of a pastor who was preaching a “Christmas at the Movies” series. He portrayed the character John McLain from the movie Die Hard, including lighting up a cigarette on stage, taking a couple of puffs, and saying, “Man! God bless America! Smoking in church! Oh, how good it is!” And while I’m not interested in criticizing other pastors, I can’t help but believe it would take at least some level of reliance on human wisdom or cleverness to lead someone to take a sermon illustration that far. I’m not against an “At the Movies” series in church. I did them in my church and I loved them. I understand the idea of thinking outside the box, hoping to attract people who don’t normally attend–especially during a time of year when unchurched people might be more open to attending. But we must remember this fundamental rule of outreach: What you win them with is what you win them to.
So, I go back to Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 and his resolve not to get in the way of the gospel or the power of the Spirit by overemphasizing himself. Paul knew it was not the wisdom of the world, however it’s demonstrated, that enables someone to fully understand the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and the simplicity of the gospel. And it’s not the wisdom of the world, or at least it shouldn’t be, that leads someone to embrace the gospel. It’s the clear and accurate presentation of Jesus from a humble but passionate heart. That makes me think of the Casting Crowns song, Nobody. I love the words of the chorus: “Cause I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, all about somebody, who saved my soul.”
We need to let God control the message. And we do that by preaching with humility and complete dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit. At the end of the day, the power in preaching doesn’t come from the packaging or presentation. It comes from God.
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