Churches don’t die. God’s voice in them dies![1]
With sociologist Philip Brenner reporting from the University of Michigan that
only 23% of people tell the truth when asked if they go to church coupled with
the fact that 6,000 churches are closing annually one may ask what are the
causes of such epic failure. While relevance certainly is an issue, might we
consider that people are not really hearing the voice of God through the Word
of God by those who have been called to proclaim it?
Define Preaching
With the use of good lexical tools you discover the terms of
scripture that indicate the message and proclaimer of the message. For example
the word “kerysso” is used of the one true “preacher,” Christ. The herald or
modern-day proclaimers are “mouthpieces” used to say what Jesus said. Another
term is “euangelizo” translated “preach’ or “proclaim.” The message of the
Christ is more explicit in this term, while it is implicit in the previous
term. Carefully allowing the scriptures to speak to us without imposing our
personal bias upon the text we would conclude that preaching is less about the
person or the place and more about how God desires the message to be given.
Consider these passages of scripture; Matthew 4:17; 10:7; Mark 3:14; 16:15;
Acts 10:42; 1 Corinthians 9:16; Ephesians 3:8 as supporting evidence that the
message is more prominent than the one proclaiming.
Set Yourself On Fire
If preaching is nothing more than unpacking lexical studies
and biblical accuracies without Spirit unction and urgency, then are we
preaching in a biblical sense? Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones stated; “Preaching is theology coming through a man
who is on fire. A true understanding and experience of the Truth must lead to
this. I say again that a man who can speak about these things dispassionately
has no right whatsoever to be in the pulpit; and should never be allowed to
enter one.”[2]
If we are not heralding the Bible, then we are not
preaching. When preaching becomes nothing more than an attempt to connect with
people versus proclaiming God’s message allowing the Holy Spirit an opportunity
to do His work, we risk becoming boring “bible-babblers.”
Where is the fire
shut up in our bones?
