|
About Jesus Steve Sweetman Preaching The Word The word "preach" has taken on a negative meaning these days. You hear people say, "don’t preach at me". Just yesterday while listening to a CBC radio program I heard someone say, "he’s being preachy". We just don’t like people preaching at us. Dr. William Willaman, teacher of Theology at Duke University, (his book entitled Peculiar Speech - Preaching to the Baptized) says, "today’s conservatives sound like yesterday’s liberals". By this he means many Evangelical preachers have moved away from the Apostolic Teaching of the Gospel to a liberal, moral/social gospel. This is an ethical based preaching, telling people how to be good moral citizens. Many sermons are designed to attract the non-Christian, so quotes from John Lennon replace quotes from the Apostle Paul. By making the message relevant to the world, in many cases, the Absolute Truth of the Gospel has been lost. Paul was quite adamant on this point. In Gal.1:8 (NIV) he says, "… if we or an angel from Heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" These are pretty harsh words, yet the Truth of the Gospel is not weak or emaciated, but strong and powerful (Heb 4:12). Paul also says that, "the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach … so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:8 & 17, KJV). Paul is telling us that faith is produced in people when they hear the Word of God preached. Any other kind of preaching cannot produce faith. In this day and age when preaching the Truth of Scripture is being replaced with sharing relative experiences and ideas, we should attempt to state clearly the Biblical Teaching in our preaching. As the Lord's Spirit moves in His church, expect true Biblical preaching to be a part of this restoration.
|