by Robert Earl Houston
Please pardon this post, but I’m on a short vacation (I’m absolutely worn out) and I brought my briefcase with me, and it hasn’t been opened this week, because I just need a break. Doing the Senior Pastor and Musician thing every Sunday wears you out because not only does your heart have to be open to preach, but you also have to prepare a choir and church for praise. It’s a daunting task and last Sunday, it caught up to me.
Recently, I was in a restaurant in Georgia (last year) and some parishioners from a church in Atlanta were there and I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation (they were pretty loud – smile). And they talked about worship, which made my ears perk up. They talked about “getting our praise on” and how so-and-so ran down the aisle and how so-and-so really “killed the church” singing this morning.
Oddly, there was no mention of the sermon, the text, or even what the preacher preached about.
Now, a year or so later, I hear that conversation ringing in my spirit. What ever happened to Preaching?
Has preaching become passé?
Has preaching become secondary to an emotional experience in worship?
Has preaching become of the gospel become reduced to “oh, whatever?”
Has preaching become that something that occurs between the choir’s last song and the invitation?
I wrestle with this as a pastor, because I take seriously the preparation, prayer, dissection, application and assimilation of the sermons that are preached across the pulpit of First Baptist Church. I’m not really interested in making the word “watered down” or lacking any correct theological application. I prepare for the pulpit like a prize fighter prepares for a fight. I prepare for the preaching moment like a pilot checks his aircraft for takeoff. I prepare for the sermon in such a way that it’s not just edible like ice cream, but it’s filling like steak.
I am afraid that a “me-experience” in church is killing application of the word. I don’t want to be known as a singer who preaches or a musician who preaches or a shouter who preaches – I want to be known as a preacher FIRST AND FOREMOST. I don’t show up “to get my shout on” – I show up to help communicate the truths of the gospel in a spiritual fashion that brings glory to God and not to the preacher.
I’m scared of churches that jump and shout and then walk out on the preached word.
I’m scared of churches that will bend sound doctrine to attract a crowd.
I’m scared of churches that poach those who are not doctrinally settled yet and present the “easy way” out.
Preaching will have some “uh-oh” moments and some “dang….” moments. Some sermons, if you ask most Biblical expositors, will hit the preacher long before the congregation hears it. It’s almost watching a football player after a long-hard fought battle explain to a television crowd what just happened.
Biblical preaching will produce a flock of well-nourished and Bible-based individuals. The goal is growth and not swelling. In the words of a nationally known preacher, “swelling is a sign of church infection.” It also means that the preacher missed the opportunity to preach, in some cases, because more time was devoted to everything else, but the Word.
I refuse to abdicate the responsibility of Biblically sound preaching.
YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME
Filed under: Preaching
