Cynicism and Preaching

Preaching has been coming into question over the past decade (more or less) with arguments like the shorter attention spans of the hearers, the inauthenticity of pretentious pastors, its inability to actually change lives, and various and sundry other arguments.

Proponents of preaching, cite biblical references, historical precedent, and start screaming louder and louder to drown out opposition. Yet they fail to seriously take into consideration the charges brought against them. (I am talking here of people I have heard defending preaching, such as John MacArthur and his cronies, and even Mark Driscoll).

I am a little tougher sell, though. I have blogged before about the danger of overusing the lecture format in church, and how it can be abused. This time, I want to try to sell preaching, but with different philosophical foundations behind its use and function.

First and foremost, let's face it, the gospel must presented orally at some point. Actions, pictures, songs, and attitudes are the backup singers: insufficient on their own, but when paired with the melody line, it creates a fuller, more beautiful experience and expression of the original idea.

The main problem I see to preaching is how to communicate truth to a society that is completely overrun with iconoclasm, sarcasm, cynicism, and skepticism, much like a medieval city overrun by rats and lice. How can one break through the wall of skepticism without demolishing the building?

I have a few solutions that are both difficult to describe and master, but must, I believe, be present.

To begin, as I learned in preaching class, the purpose of a sermon is NEVER knowledge. The purpose of every sermon is to connect people to the God of the universe, to lead them to the bridge between time and eternity, the God-man, Jesus. Confronted with the presence of God, people will then see who they are and be drawn to repent and motivated to do good and spurn evil.

This kind of preaching can only be achieved through prayer, because it is the power of the Holy Spirit, working in the hearts and minds and lives of the hearers. So preachers must pray, pray, pray.

Next, as a result of enlightenment philosophies of the past several hundred years, preaching has been replaced with cold, lifeless, abstract propositions, and has seen fit to leave behind the active, living, concrete metaphors and vivid word pictures. When you actually examine scripture, it is almost entirely made up of metaphor, story, song, and parable. Very little of the Bible is abstract or purely propositional in nature.

Certainly, propositions are made/implied by these vehicles of communication, but what service is done by taking the concrete and making it abstract and theoretical?

So we are to let the Bible speak on its own terms, and use parables and metaphor and figures of speech to engage the imagination of the hearer. And finally, we MUST know our audiences and take their objections seriously. We must listen to the questions they are asking, the concerns that they are raising, and reply humbly and sincerely.

The last point is my biggest disappointment in most preaching. The message has nothing to do with me, because none of my questions are raised and dealt with. Naturally, the preacher cannot deal with every objection possible, but the objections must be contemporary and should be real, not just the whim and imagination of what the preacher thinks an objector might sound.

Paul is the best example of raising objections to his own points. Books like Romans and Corinthians are brilliant examples of answering logical objections with real solutions. In writing, it's known as the "hypothetical interlocutor," but who cares! Put the people's real questions in your mouth. And preach Jesus.

I'll deal more with propositions in my next blog. This topic just ran away with me! Hooah!