What Happened to Biblical Preaching?
Has it ever occurred to you that “preaching” today is often very different from “preaching” in the Bible? May I mention just five (5) of the major differences: concept, context, content, contour and concern.
Concept. Above all, in the Bible, “preaching” (literally, “heralding”) is associated with “the gospel,” which refers to proclaiming to a non-believing audience, to share the good news that Jesus Christ is everything they need for eternal life in heaven and abundant life on earth. Nothing else is needed for our salvation and sanctification, for God’s forgiveness and righteousness is fully “embodied” in Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 1:30; Col. 2:9f). Hence, the culmination of each “preaching” is to call for a verdict: to repent and believe (trust and obey) Christ. In contrast, today’s “preaching” are usually sermons addressed to believers during worship services. The early Christians hardly had any worship services, and when they met they had “teaching” (didache), not “preaching” (kerygma)!
Context. Secondly, because of this conceptual change, the venue and rationale for preaching has been altered. In the Bible, preaching happened in public places and in rare occasions (often only upon popular request, including during Christ’s short ministry on earth), because such public action was often very risky (not a few suffered being rejected and even being stoned)! In contrast, today’s preaching is usually done in safe private auditoriums and in regular times, for Christian audiences (though the intention is oftentimes to attract non-Christians). In the New Testament (NT) times, the weekly private gatherings were mainly for mutual (dialogic) teaching participated by all believers (not a monologic proclamation, cf. 1 Cor. 14:26, and other “one another” texts) in house-churches.
Relocating Christian teaching and discipling to the pulpit from the home/fellowship has produced poorly taught/discipled believers! Where can Christian doctrines and ethics be best taught? From the pulpit, by a holy man who monopolized the teaching role before a faceless crowd from a safe distance through a microphone? Or in the neighborhood or workplace, by a group of ordinary believers who wrestle with real-issues amidst the pressures of life, family, relationships and/or careers in a relaxed informal atmosphere?
Content. Thirdly, this shift can also be seen in the content of preaching. Christians today think of sermons or homilies as pastoral messages of gifted leaders (read: professional clergy) to encourage and teach the ordinary believers (read: lay-people). In biblical times, “preaching” were evangelistic messages of courageous believers (read: reluctant non-clergy) who were put in awkward positions to expound the good news behind the events for which people needed answers. The OT prophets (from all sorts of professions) often had to explain some strange acts that God told them to do; while the NT apostles were asked to explicate unusual miracles or teachings (cf. Peter and Paul’s “preachings” in Acts).
After all, the content of biblical preaching is the kingdom of God (OT: shalom) or the Lordship of Christ, which covers all of life, and not just one’s spiritual salvation! It called for transformation of lives and nations solely for the glory of God (not of any individual church leader, cf. 1 Cor. 1:18-3:23). Instead, most preaching today “nurture” believers to remain as “spiritual babies” who remain self-centered, longing for more material comforts and more earthly blessings! Most fail to grow into “spiritual giants” who can “deny themselves, take up their crosses” to follow the Son of Man who has no pillow to lay his head on. They hardly learn how to follow Jesus with a servant lifestyle, so as to sacrifice their selves and their possessions for the salvation and welfare of others! As our Lord said, “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 14:33, cf. vv. 25-34; Mk. 10:42-45).
In actual practice, it’s all but natural for preachers to settle for the least common denominator, to speak to the weakest members of the congregation. Hence the larger the crowd, the more difficult to demand more from the audience. And the richer the crowd, the more difficult also because the risk of losing substantial donations to support the big events that draw them in!
Hence, many preachers today seem more like “men-pleasers,” who try to entertain those with “itching ears” who seek self-assurance that “they’re OK” (cf. 2 Tim. 4:3f); these hearers want to gain more “faith” to get more from God, instead of more love to give more for God and His kingdom! Such “prosperity gospel” goes beyond God’s promises that He loves us in spite of whatever appears to the contrary, for we live by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7; Heb. 11: 1-6). All the OT saints did not receive the promise (Heb. 11, esp. v. 39), and all the NT heroes of faith died without “health and wealth,” having given their all, even their lives sacrificially for God and for others!
Contour/Form. Fourthly, the failure to “contextualize” preaching form is another tragedy. If the essence and purpose of “preaching” is to teach Christians, we need to ask: “is monologic proclamation still the right (much less best) method to teach, esp. in our multi-media and post-modern world? Since the time immemorial and even today, educators and psychological scientists affirm that teaching is best done by example – modeling! The best pedagogy happens in the context of intimate transparent relationships, and this can happen best in house-churches – “no hypocrisy allowed” where “confessing sins to one another” (Js. 5:16) and “forgiving one another” (Eph. 4:32, cf. v. 20-32) take place regularly!
With such uncontextualized preaching, no wonder our modern pulpits are devoid of “heavy (weighty) food” (solid teaching!) that move their hearers to do “radical obedience” to God’s word. They can not demand strong verdicts from audiences who want to be put on soft “guilt trips” and entertained by nice, “cool,” great or even “bombastic” messages. Even the best “expository sermons” are just like chocolate milk – pre-digested food for “spiritual babies” who fail to mature and take their own “solid food” (cf. Heb. 5:11-6:2). Sermons, no matter how good, can not produce mature disciples. “Solid food” are only for those “who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (v. 14). “Solid food” belong to those who grapple with the Word on their own and with other fellow-believers in real life contexts from day to day – where else but in cell groups, or better, in house-churches!
Concern/Priority. Yet most tragic about today’s preaching is their wrong priority: seldom is it a call to transformation of individuals and societies as modeled in the life and character of the preacher! The Bible emphasizes the integrity of the preacher, who lives a life filled by the Holy Spirit, as a living example of the messages s/he delivers. Hence more important than the eloquence of the sermon or the charisma of the preacher, what counts most is his/her character and lifestyle. “By their fruit, you will recognize them “refers not to outward successful results, but the inner virtues (please note that fruit is singular in both Mt. 7:16, 20 and Gal. 5:22f).
The biblical model of church leadership is “servant leadership” marked by simple, sharing and sacrificial lifestyle (Ac. 20: 33-35), with a mission that prioritizes the poor (Lk. 4:18f; Gal. 2:10; Mt. 25:31-46). With this biblical standard, many modern “superstar” preachers are found wanting! Our modern “heroes of faith” spend millions of dollars to “build God’s kingdom” actually to “build their own kingdoms”), unlike “saints through the centuries” (like Augustine, Aquinas, Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, Mother Teresa, etc. etc.) who expended their lives to save and build up others (cf. 2 Cor. 4:7-12). How dreary then to recall our Lord’s forecast: “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name…?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Mt. 7:22f).
Conclusion. So, it’s high time for a clear call to revival: to renew our commitment to biblical preaching. Biblical Christianity is not a series of “preaching meetings” in religious buildings, but a community of God’s people reflecting on His word together on how to live and work together for their Lord and His kingdom (read: “discipling one another” in their respective neighborhoods and workplaces) amidst the ups and downs of life. What’s most important is not “Christianity preached,” but “Christianity practiced,” esp. by the preachers and teachers (Js. 3:1-12; cf. 1:19-27)!
Most “veteran believers” today have become good sermon-tasters and even expert preacher-critics from Sunday to Sunday. This may be inevitable in our present paradigm of preaching. What we need is a drastic paradigm shift: to go back to the biblical concept and practice of preaching (and teaching)! Just as in the NT church, let us use the public preaching less, and reserve them for rare occasions when people request us to introduce our God and Lord Jesus. Hence we need to be more creative in coming up with healing and/or social programs that elicit people’s curiosity and inquiry. Let us “be prepared in season and our of season” to “preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:2) – and do it in the right season!
At the same time, let us use our meeting times on Sundays to nurture believers into full maturity in Christ, which should be every Christian’s goal (cf. Col. 1:28f; Eph.4:11-16) – mainly in small groups. Let us teach one another weekly in small groups as the early church did (Heb. 11:24f)! Let us preach and teach – NT house-church style!
