Next week, we will finally finish the last class of our course on preaching. Soon you will, as budding preachers, be put in the platform. And you will be preaching your very first sermon.
I have been thinking about this.
I have been reminded that the word "sermon" comes from a word which has the Latin root meaning, "to thrust" or "to stab." Preaching has been referred to as stepping on the dragon’s head. It would seem in the light of the root word “sermon” that we need to do more than stepping on that head. As we step on the dragon’s head, we also need take a stab at the human heart to bring about conviction.
The fact that preaching is on the wane may perhaps be seen in the way we set up our church, It used to be that the congregation centered its attention on the elders' table, from which the Bible would be proclaimed, often by more than one elder. When increasingly only a single preacher was called on to preach, the pulpit was raised and usually placed in the center. With such an arrangement, the focus is still placed on the centrality of preaching.
But what we now mostly see in many churches today, is a divided chancel, with a pulpit on one side, a lectern on the other. This may well be giving a subtle message that preaching is now a secondary or even minor role.
And yet we must never forget that preaching is a God-commissioned task that carries with it great authority. The preacher does not stand behind the pulpit to share his point of view. He is declaring what God says. The word homiletics comes from two Greek words, namely
homo, meaning “the same” and
lego meaning “to say”. Preaching is nothing more and nothing less than “saying the same things that God says”
As Bernard Manning defines it, "Preaching is the manifestation of the Incarnate Word (Jesus Christ), from the written Word (the Bible), by the spoken word (of the preacher)." In the light of this, preaching is an authoritative declaration of the mind and desire of God. True preaching is unique in that it has God's authority behind it. It may be that anyone can give a religious address or give his opinions on religious or spiritual topics. But it is only the one who expounds and explains God's message, who has any real authority. Real preaching will say, "God says..." While there may be a place for some personal take in terms of a particular interpretation of an obscure and uncertain text or an application of a particular teaching, preaching's primary effort ought to focus on retelling what God clearly tells in His Word.
Remembering this, as you preach your very first sermon, preach not only with passion and excellence but preach with the authority entrusted upon you.
# posted by Andrew @ 7:15 PM
