Historically, the Church proclaimed because it was given a message to proclaim. It was not about politics or even exclusively about works of mercy but the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that this redemptive work has accomplished. It was less about the need of the great unity and equality of all before the merciful act of Christ in suffering and dying for our sins than the vocation of those whom He has redeemed and the eternal future He has prepared for those who love Him. It was not about the freedom of the individual but about the new obedience that is a reflection of this new life lived not in pursuit of self but Christ. It was not about the indulgence of self but about sacrifice, taking up the cross and following Christ. It was not about our opinions but the submission of thought and mind and will to voice of Christ revealed in His Word. It was not about creating a better world in this moment but about living faithfully the today He has given us so that we may found worthy of eternity. It was not about pleasure or self-fulfillment or happiness but about life and death.
The reality is that we seem intent upon listening for something new as if the Spirit will contradict what He has revealed in Christ or betray what the Scriptures have said. The mood of the present is to focus on the horizontal, on what people are thinking and saying instead of what God has said once for all eternity. So long as this prevails, preaching will be in trouble and preachers will mount the pulpit embarrassed or uncertain of the very things that are our life together and our mandate to the world. No one will be converted by a listening Church but the Lord has promised that hearing comes by the Word preached and taught. That is our future and our only future.
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It is certainly true enough that a society intent on superficiality and living for pleasure will not sit very long and listen to a much needed sermon, yet a good sermon will be used of God to draw a few souls to Christ. When Jesus preached to thousands, how many were there simply because of curiosity to hear this obscure miracle worker speak? How many just wanted to be part of a group experience, witnessing a newsworthy event they would then gossip about while drawing water from their village wells? People love something new, a celebrity, a non conformist, a new trend, anything to chat about over a glass of wine in a place where time and change seems to move slowly. So they gather together, being social creatures, to discuss the latest thing. When a crowd of people are exposed to the word of God as natural humans, they sometimes draw very little from the experience. Why? Because the soil of their minds and hearts remains hard, and only by God’s calling and grace can they be cultivated and the soil prepared. That is why the Bible declares many remain unsaved. Jesus said, “This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.” John 6:29 NKJV. Belief in Christ is not about numbers, and preaching is still the instrument the Lord ordained to draw the lost. We remember in Mark 16, as the Lord is about to ascend, His departing words to His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned….” There are stories of missionaries who went away to hostile and distant foreign lands, preached the word, and waited many years before even one soul came to faith. When pastors reach a point where they wrongly think their efforts are futile, that no one is listening, they might mediate on God’s words in Luke 18, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray, and not lose heart.” Soli Deo Gloria
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