The Disciple Making Preacher, Part 2
“Societies become secular not when they dispense with religion altogether, but when they are no longer especially agitated by it.” - Terry Eagleton
“1 in every 4 Americans listen to one sermon podcast a week, the sermon is not dead.” [1]
Preaching will never diminish in its importance. Every time some neo-evangelical, post- Christian, advent-guard professor or sociologist tells us that it is passé, surprise, it pops back up again as the one experience that humans are consistently driven to. I don’t mean bad preaching, even though that survives in thousands of store fronts in urban areas, down country lanes in rural America, and in our greatest cathedrals. It can be bad, but somehow it is glorious and uplifting to those who hear it.
People are drawn to excellent exposition and eloquence. When you see a church, or even lecture hall, filled to capacity, it’s not the fog machine or the music, it is the speaker. Even in a day of easy access to millions of sermons online, people are still showing up. Something is lost when you watch it on a screen tucked up on your couch with a hot chocolate. Something is gained - it is called convenience and comfort. In fact, some churches have dedicated staff to minister to their online congregation. It seems to this observer that the Robert Schuller drive-in church was more of a community than the online one. They include the downloads in their attendance figures. There could ensue at this point a controversy about the claim I have just made. Before that begins, allow me to tell you why I can be dogmatic about my claim that preaching will never diminish in its importance and even in its popularity. It comes from some of the most reassuring and comforting words ever written.
“So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.” 1 Corinthians 1:20-25 NLT {emphasis mine}
Paul speaks here primarily of the message of Christ crucified, and we might add resurrection, that is foolish to the secular, unregenerate, uncalled mind. He also employs the Greek word κηρυγματος, translated preach. It simply means to proclaim, or to announce good news (at least important news). Heralds went from village to village, city to city, crying out from the highest point the important message they had been appointed to proclaim. Therefore, the idea of preaching is to proclaim an important message that is considered Good News. Good News to the nation of Israel in the first century was their Messiah had come. Salvation was both on its way and, in some ways, already among them. It is this function that can take on many forms, that is essential, and that God will see to that it never diminishes until he decides it will no longer be needed. It is desperately needed in our culture, and never more so than among the already Christian population who are its number one recipients. It is greatly needed because it is presently threatened by the transformation of our culture from an expositional word focused society to an image-based society. Preaching has two primary audiences, the first is the not already Christian population that the church is called to evangelize. The second common use is a weekly address to church goers. It is this second application that we now turn our attention.
When a preacher stands before people week after week, what is going on? What does the preacher think? What does he or she believe is the goal? The Scripture at times is explicit about this and other times it is implicit. Explicit example: 1 Corinthians 14:3 (NLT) says, “But one who prophesies, [speaking in a known language and can be both foretelling the future and forth telling] strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them.” {emphasis mine}. Another explicit example is found in Paul’s instructions to Timothy, a young pastor in Ephesus:
“You have been taught that holy scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:14-4:5)
An implicit example can be found in Ephesians 4:11-16 as a complete description of a well taught, properly led congregation:
“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”
What I am afraid of is the process we are going through right now. Exposition with comment and commentary, discussion, and refinement is being largely skipped by the vast majority of preaching. In that sense, the preaching that doesn’t engage the saints in this process is creating ignorant, ill-served disciples. I might say, this is exactly why the Apostles themselves created the Deaconate. To take care of the administration of the church so they could do what? Devote themselves to “spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”(Acts 6:2) - a profound explicit statement largely ignored today. Since teaching includes more than exposition there must be more. The primary evidence or description of that something else, at least in the First Church in Jerusalem, is found in Acts 2:42-47:
“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity — all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”
This had to be a glorious and magnetic time! It combined so much that people are made to love.
Devotion to a cause.
Authentic and powerful leaders.
Life shared together.
Showing love to each other.
A sense of AWE.
And life was good! People wanted to be a part of it - everyday more would join.
The apostles created an environment that insisted on involvement and people saw the results it created. Essentially, this was stated in a modernistic frame when Dietrich Bonhoeffer taught, “Faith is only real in obedience.” We could put it in a both a post-modern frame with a pragmatic twist, “A faith that doesn’t produce discipleship is not faith, it something else and something less.”
If a pastors preaching does not produce disciples, it is a failure.
[1] Barna Group, “Barna Technology Study: Social Networking, Online Entertainment and Church Podcasts, May 26, 2008.
Be sure to listen to The Bonhoeffer Show for a two-part episode on The Disciple Making Preacher starting on Tuesday, March 10, 2020.
Bill and Brandon will get serious about what preaching is and what a disciple making pastor looks like in an age of entertainment.