Preaching has been at the heart of my ministry. My call to ministry was very much a call to preach. Like Jeremiah I felt I could do nothing else but preach: “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name’; then within me there is something like burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in and I cannot “ (Jeremiah 20.9). Not surprisingly therefore when I used to be invited to preach at a service of ordination, I often turned to Paul’s charge to Timothy to “proclaim Jesus”:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message, be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince and rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching… Do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. (2 Timothy 4.1-2, 5).
From this charge we discover that preaching in the first instance is proclamation (kerugma), The New Testament word for a preacher is a herald (kerux). When Jesus began his ministry, he came as a herald with good news from God (Mark 1.14 where the verb kerusso is used). Preachers have a message to deliver: it is not their message, but God’s. As the American New Testament scholar, Ben Witherington, has shown:
A herald in a city like Ephesus was a person who announced public auctions and sales, new taxes, the manumission of slaves, the beginning of games, the orders of kings, and the onset of religious ceremonies… He came later to be called the ‘town crier’. His role was simply that of an announcer… The herald was to publicly announce something to people who had yet to hear the news.
According to the NRSV, Timothy was to “proclaim the message”; similarly the GNB says that he was to “preach the message”. Unfortunately the translation adopted by the NIV is a little misleading: for the charge “preach the word” has led some to conclude that Timothy was to preach the Word of God as found in Scripture”. However, although the word used (logos) literally means ‘word’, the reference is not to the Scriptures but the message that preachers proclaim; the good news of Jesus they have to share. The other word frequently used in the New Testament for preaching is ‘to share good news’ (euaggelizo). It is significant that when Paul restates his charge to Timothy, he says “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4.5). The message or good news that preachers have to proclaim is Jesus, crucified and risen.
To reiterate: preachers are messengers. God does not call preachers to be entertainers, who keep their congregations amused with their witty anecdotes; nor does he call them to be political commentators, reflecting on the latest developments in Parliament. Preachers are called to ‘sound out’ the good news.
Secondly, preachers are to “be persistent, whether the time is favourable or unfavourable”. According to the standard New Testament Greek-English lexicon the word translated as ‘persistent’ (aphistemi) has here the meaning of ‘being ready’, ‘being on hand’. If this is so, then Paul is telling Timothy to be always available. In the words of Thomas Oden:
There is no forty-hour week for attesting the truth. It is a work that is fitting for any hour, any day, not merely in a service of worship, but in the marketplace and home, not merely in freedom but in chains, not merely in comfort and security but precisely while facing death.
It is possible that the underlying Greek word also has the connotation of urgency – as the Revised English Bible puts it, “press it home in season and out of season”. There is a difference between announcing the Good News of Jesus and announcing say, that the next train to London will be leaving in five minutes time. The Gospel is a matter of life and death, people’s eternal destiny is at stake.
Thirdly, preachers are to “convince and rebuke”. There is no one approach to Gospel preaching, for people have different needs. It has been often said that the function of the preacher is to disturb the comfortable and to comfort the disturbed. Paul outlines a three-fold approach :
- An appeal to reason. The word ‘convince’ (elengcho) can have the positive connotation of convincing people of the truth as it is in Jesus
- An appeal to conscience. The word ‘rebuke’ incorporates a call to repentance. Those whose lifestyles are clearly contrary to God’s laws, need to be told that God would have them live differently.
- An appeal to the heart. The word ‘encourage’ (parakaleo) is a reminder that in any church there are the lonely and the fearful, who need to know that God is there for them.
Fourthly, preaching includes teaching: “Proclaim the message.. with the utmost patience in teaching”. People need not only to hear the good news, but also to be taught the faith.
After a lifetime of preaching, I still believe that preaching is central to Christian ministry. In the often-quoted words of Peter Forsyth: “With preaching Christianity stands or falls, because it is the declaration of a gospel. Without the faithful proclaiming of Christ in the power of the Spriit, the Church could never have survived”. All the more reason to “proclaim Christ today”.
I always think it must be very challenging to preach the good news in a fresh way, week in, week out, as you and others have done. Perhaps no wonder that some preachers fall into the trap of entertaining. Yet it’s crucial that the message is put across every week (and in between ,as you say) . We desperately need good preachers who will go to the heart of the gospel every time.