Preaching is
dead
Last week I
attended a church growth conference which again
challenged me to rethink what I believe and how we go
about the Lord’s work. One of the messages that came
from virtually every speaker is that the modern
generation is no longer word oriented, but think
in terms of images, sound bites and video clips and that
the linearity of a three-point sermon and the words on
the Bible pages just do not cut it any more. Preaching
is passé. It had its time from when Guttenberg started
mass-producing Bibles on the printing press until the
Baby Boomers stopped being relevant to the twenty
first-century. These ideas are being repeated like a
mantra by everyone who thinks they know something about
where the church is headed, so it is important that we
give this some thought.
So, did words
really only become fashionable in 1436 only to be
hijacked by the reformers who placed an undue emphasis
on preaching? No! This is not the truth. “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God.” (John 1:1, NKJV). Just last week
I again heard that this Word was not symbols on a piece
of parchment but a Person. Quite correct. The Word is a
Person – Jesus Christ. But why is He not called “the
Light”, “the Experience”, “the Image”, “the Picture” or
“the Video”? Why the WORD? Ever wondered why God used
words to create the world and not images, pictures or
music? Why did God write words on tablets of stone and
why did Jesus come as a preacher and not as a musician
or an artist? Why were Paul, Peter and John preachers
and not dancers, sculptors or multimedia specialists?
And if post-modern
man is no longer interested in words, but wants images
and multimedia shows only, why is it that more
newspapers, magazines and books are being printed than
ever before? For years now we have heard that TV and the
internet will replace newspapers and magazines and
e-books will replace lithographed books, but instead of
there being a decline in printed pages ever faster and
bigger printing presses are spewing out acres of paper
with black letters on them. If multimedia images are so
wonderful why is it that radio is on the upsurge with AM
and FM bands so cluttered that millions have been
invested in various forms of satellite radio?
And as for the
notion that the Baby Boom generation is no longer a
factor, well all the “experts” and attendees at this
futurist conference were over 50 years old with maybe
three percent of them between 35 and 50 and no
“Generation Xers). You see, the problem is that those
who are trying to lead the church into this century are
trying to sell the emperor a set of new-age clothes that
none can see and no one is prepared to call their bluff
(or is it buff?).
From the very
beginning Jesus was manifest as the Word. Millennia
before he came in a physical form which we could handle
and see, He already was THE WORD. He was that before He
became The Son or a man. God created by
speaking the Word. His covenants and promises are in the
form of words. His laws and statutes are words and Jesus
came teaching and doing (Acts 1:1). Yes, we must back
our preaching with our lives and it is probably because
of the absence of a real living testimony supporting the
spoken message that preaching is viewed with skepticism.
That does not negate the fact that the Lord still chose
to save through the preaching of the message of the
cross(1 Corinthians 1:21). The word for preaching in
this verse is kerugma and it very specifically
refers to a proclamation by a herald or public crier.
This is not acting, music, art or multimedia. It is the
speaking forth the words of Life.
"So then faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
(Romans 10:17, NKJV). Notice that faith does not come
through seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling but by
hearing the word of God. Yes, there were times when
prophets illustrated the message through some visual
method. There were also times when God demonstrated His
message through lightning, fire and finally, the Cross.
These demonstrations, however were always and only in
support of the preached message. Oh, but the technology
was not available until recently, you say. Really? If
pictures were so important then why did Jesus not fill
in His parables with graphic details of his subjects?
Why does He not describe exactly what the rich man wore
and how big his house was and how many servants he had.
Why does He not tell us what the rich man and Lazarus
died from and why does he not give us a more graphic
picture of Hades and of Abraham’s bosom? Is God so
lacking in imagination that it had to take a Mel Gibson
to tell the story of what Jesus “actually” suffered?
Surely He could have been a bit more graphic! But God,
in his infinite wisdom, only gives us what we need so we
can get the message. You see, if the
illustrations or medium becomes so powerful, we get
caught up in the pictures and we miss the whole point!
Months after seeing the Passion, 99% of the viewers will
be able to recall some graphic scene from the movie, but
did they get the Message (not Gibson’s – God’s)? The
answer is simply no! You see, the medium has become the
message.
And as for the
idea that preaching is one dimensional and linear –
well, after 36 years of preaching I am still amazed at
how 50 people in the congregation can go away with 50
different messages as God takes the Word and by His
Spirit breaks and applies His Word to each one
individually who will hear His voice. It is not only
since the advent of DVD that the preached message is
regarded as foolishness; it was so in Paul’s day. But it
is foolishness to those who are perishing. To those who
are being saved, they are the very words of life.
I will close with
a quote from the very translation these people love so
much:
"Since the
world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it
came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in
using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all
things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of
salvation." (1 Corinthians 1:21, The Message
Anton Bosch
anton@abcd.co.za
www.abcd.co.za/offi
www.abcd.co.za/plumbline
Tel 818 846 5520
Fax 818 846 4357
3310 West
Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, California
91505-2907
USA