What is Preaching?

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what Is Prcl.hi11g?power.That rs ny difnculty Thcre s this mysterious lement nireaching hat makes t well nish mpossibleor ore to speak bouth.Fourteen

'WhatIs Preaching?':t

The subject uotted o me s V/hat s Preaching'and et mesay h rI an consciousfa very ealsense fprivilege o being sked o conrhereand to take somepart in this conference n this all-import.r rrI am alraid that I havebeen rying ro do so muchof what I nowhave o speak bout hat find nyself omewhat earyand ird, otrust that you will bear with m. But quireapan {rom thar,I hnv.always found it extremely difficult to speak on this parriculursubject, ecauset is oneof the manerswhich personallyind qLrirrirnpossibleo tabulate n my mind and o ger nto any order. hrvr'been trugSling ith thisquestior or the ast ortyyears nd do n,'ltbink I am any nearer o a solution han I was at the beginninll.Perhapsam even urrheraway.\?hy is this? fell, to me preachings agreatmysrery; t is onc olthemostmysterio$ hingsofall, and hatis why I finditeludesanykind of analysis. do not know whar your experiences bu,personally, find hat I neverknow what sgoing o happenwbcrr

enterapulpir.I amconstantly eing urprised-sonetimes urprinllin thesense fbeing disappoinred,ut at other imessurprised t rh,amazing race fcod. Sometimes hen go nto apulpir, hinkifl8Iamgoingto preachn a wonderfulway, ris disastrous. thertimcs,when I go with inadequateprepararionbecause have bccrrtravelling, oing oo much,and really eelingthat haveno righr obe n thepulpitat ali,lfind unusualeasend acilityandamaware l'An address ivcn o a student onferencet Wesrmjnste.heologi(rSemirary, biladelphia,n Septenber,e67,woyearsefore is ecturcstbe samcnstitution bichwerepublishedqder he irle Pted.rins i,lPrcd.beaHoader ndStoushton,97r .t2 j 8l

A Charactristicf TruePreachingThere s anotherelementwhichalwavsnakes ne eel hat rhis s animDossibleask, and that is the lementof dread, of terribleregonsibility. do want to emphasizchis ust a irle becausetomeit i oneof themost rnporta.t hings n connection ith thissubiectWhat I mean by that is there s surelvnothing which is Inorebenou',nolh,nts hich grve.om 'n h a rremendnu"en'eolresponsibility,spre:lching. tiink you will agreehatthisaspctotth qustion s very argely orgonenor not realized t thispresenttime. do not know whet vour situation s n this country,bur rheoituationas regardspreachingn GrearBritain,and especiallvnEngland, as become uite chaotic,and verv argelvbcausehiselementof dread and of responsibility as somehowbeen ost'People eem o think rhatpreachings not onlv sirnple ndeasv' utsomethine hich anyone s entitled o do, andable o do almostatwill. Sowchave hechaoric onditionwhermenhavebeen ecentlvconverted, nd the next hing e harabout hem s that thevareoreachine"omewhertNo * | bel ievecrn raceheorisrn f rhr' . rhink har heBrerhrenarenainly rsponsibleor thisde.riorationn the rueview of, andthe '"e senseof.esponsibilitywithespecto' preachingThev,all ofthem,seem o be preachers. havcoften elt that the text that onshould reach n f onewereaddressingcongregation f PlvmourhBrethren.and nobodv else,shouldbe the first verse n the thirdch.rDrerotrhepi ir leol rme' Ml brethrcn.benorrnvmr\rer\-beca,'eoncon'enionrheyal l mmedrrrl)ecomema'rer'harkind of influenceseemso havpercolated hrough the variousdectionsf theChristian hurch n GreatBritain lt is all,l think,partofthe deterioration fthe trueview ofthe Christian hurchand hefunctioning { thechurch, wing,ofcourse, o thedisastrous iSherCriticism nd he iberalandmodernisticelmentshathave ome n'There was such a shortageof true believers, rue evangelicalbelievers,hat herewasa corrspondinghonage f trueevangelicaloreachenr nd hu. any man who wr! evansehcalat regardtdrlmo* auromatical lysbeing ne wh o wa scomperento preach'

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Knotuitlg the TimesBut tbat, think, hasbeena verygreat allacy,and t hasdoneverygreatharm, pafticularly becauset has madepeople orget tLctremendousense fawe,andof responsibilrty,hichshouldatwaysanimat s aswe cngagen thc greatrask fpre:ching.Therc ar many ways in vhich I can illustrate his. Take tbcquestionvhich heaposrle uts n Romans o. Youare amiliarwiththat passagewhere he deals wrth this whoie quesrionof thepropagation f thegospel: \I4,osoever lrallcall upon henameotthe Lord shallbe saved.How thenshall heycatl on hirn n whomtheyhavenot believed? ndhow shall heybelieven him ofwhomthey havenot heard?and how shall hey hearwithout a preacher?andhow shall heypreach, xceptthey esentl,(verses l-r5).Iwas temptcdust o expound hat onestatencnrtoyou.l an norgoing o do so,but I do commendr to you for careful tudy. Howshall heypreach, xcepr hcybe sent?,lfho sezds hem?With us,say, he trouble s that peopleare sending hemselves,ppointingthemselvesaspreachers.urelythisisentirelywrong. inrerpfttthisst3tementn Romans o asneaning hat God sends s,and also hatthe churchsends s. No man has a ri gLt jusr ro get up and startpreaching, r whathemay egard spreaching. hereis hiselementotsending, ndwemust eturn o t. trwill helpus o getboldofthisnotion o{ responsibil ity you havegor o bcsent; ouhavegot to bcsure hatGod sends ou; yotrhavegot to bc sure hat thechurch ssendingyou.\o w I amu el laq ar e hl i ,meonemr y ,e r pan d ay .Bur h,_raboursoand\ol-.ertJingreJe\ceprion' rhi.ro'v.M) Jn\weri\tlrat they areexceptions, nd heexception roves he rule.you donot make a rule out of your xceptions, lthough hat is what ishappeningoday n ourcountry.Therehavebeen imeswhena man

has been so sure oi hrs calling from God that he has defied heauthorities, nd thercare imeswhenwe havegot to do this; but amanwho doeshathasgot obe verysure ndeed hatcod hascalledhim. The idealand the right \ray is that the call comes o rhemanfrorDGod and t isconfirnedby rhechurch, nd take eave o doubtwhetheranynan hasa right to preach xcepthese wo elements rcpresentn his parricularcase.Bur then,saillmore impoftant andmoresriouss whar we find rhegreataposde aying n r Corinth-ians 2.:l-4: 'I waswith you in weakness,nd n fear,and n rnucLtrembling.And my spech ndmy preaching as not with enticingwords of man'swisdom'. am pafticulariy nterestedn the thircl[z6ol

What Is Prcdchi,lgavelse: l was with you in weaknss, nd in {ear, ard in muchtrembline.'I wani to ask somequestions: {hat do we know abour thistrembling?V/hat do we know about rhis fearl Whv did Paul eelthat?Lo;k at this man, this colossus f a man, this outstandinggenius.He was in weakness,nd n fear,and n much rembling' lwonderwhether manhasa rightto be n apulpitatall andvenoanemptpreaching nless e knowssomething boutthis fear andthis rembling.Here s hegreatest reacher f all and hat s how hefelt. Vhy? Because f the resPonsibilityl aul s standingbetwenGod andmen.He is dealingwith the soulsof menand heir eternaldestiny.He is a guardian,a custodian, stewardof the mvsteriesThere s nothnrg n the universe hat is comparable o this: theresponsibilitysalmosr veruhelmins.And yet think vouwill agreewith me that there s very ittle evidence f this spirit at thepresent

As I say, t has alrnostbecome he rule now thar men ush ntopulpits and appoint themselves s preachers s though there srothing to it. Theydo t soeasily haveoften said,as haveseent,and understood hese hingsover the years, hat there s onlv onethingthat smoredangerorNhanbeingaPreacherandhatisbeingalay preacher.And that is, of course,or this reason, hat thereareterrible emptationso thepreacher, ut therearecertainhings hattend o keephim in order.He is supported y thecongregationrndthar s a good hing n thnt r tends o Put a bit of a brakeuponhim'But the ay preacher ntersbepulpit and h s ndependent,e cansaywhat he ikes,he canspeakwhat he ikes.He is n no danger tbeinedismissed r asked o lave,he s in no dangerof havinghissdp;d reduced.That is what makes his position alarrninglvdaneerou,.utmo'l l ,rv reachener r eal izeh rdanger;hey reperl iap' f r l l men hr mo* confidenr'urd har q hv 'r v th emo\tiange.oos hing hatcaneverhappen o a manis hatheshouldbea

I he I e\tlmon) or l'reacnersIs t not amazinghat people anenter nto pulpitswith confidenceandease ndassurance, ith no troubleat all! Theycando it asanaside. heycanbe unninga business,r bein aprofession,ndasanaside hey can do this thing which, to thesemiserable reachers,

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Knouinp the Timesseemso besodifncult-nothingto itat alllThere sonly one hingtosayabout hen; theyare hedirectantithesis fwhat we 6nd obe rueabout hegreatapostle imself. cangive ou urtherexamplcs ut ofhistory to substantiate hat I am saying.Those of you who arefaniliarwith the ife and he ournalsof thegreatGeorgeWhitefield,oneof thegreatestpreachersfall tims,will rememberhis esitationaboutpreaching . e wasalarmed y t, hewas rightened. reachingwasa remendoushing,and hewent hroughconsiderablegonyofrnindand ofspirit. Hefelt hewasunwonhy, and,surely, nan whodoesnot know sornething bout his sense f unworthiness asnoright to entera pulpit at all. This mightypreacherwas a man wlrohesitatedons andseriously ndhad o be orced.I cangive you anotherexarnple. herewas a man n Wales wohundredyearsago calledHowel Harris; he was a layman,he wasneverordained,and he was one of the exceptionso which I havereferred.Yet this man, asain, was mishtily uscdof God. He wasterrifiedat the thought of preaching. n {act, what he did wassomethinglikethis: avinghad greatexperiencef heSpirirofGodcomingopon him in an overwhelmingashion, e elt that he had aduty o his neighbours, ut thought hat the bestway of dischargingthisduty was ov isit themandtoread o themoutofgodly books.Hestanedvisiting he sick andhe would read rom a book calledTlt?Pla.tice of Piety, which had been published n the seventeenthcentury. t never ccurredo Harris hathehada ightto speak,n facthe elt sure hat hehadnot.But hecould eadout ofthis book,andheread with such unction that people i,ereconvertedwhile he wasreading. nd thenhewenton doing hisuntil hehad inished eadingall the books hat hepossessed,nd still heknewhemusttellpeopleabout their soulsand salvation.So he now felt that he had to saysomething fhisown o hem,but he dea hatheshould epreachingremained oalarmingand so errifying o him thatwhat he did wasthis:hecontinuedo havea book n front ofhim, andappearedo bereading ut of it , when he wasactuallyspeaking is own thoughtslWhatever ou may hink about heethics ftbatprocedure, t showsthesense fdreadhe elt. hesense ffear. the sense f awe.Now this o me s a veryvital andessentialart o{preaching, nd tis becausefthese lementshat find tso di{ficult, ndeed,well nighimpossible o deal with this subject. { only we could transportourselves ack two centu ries nd go down into Philadetphia ndlisten to George Whitefield, we might learn somethingaboutt26zl

what Is Preachins?preaching.We would seea masterpreaching. Then' having listenedto whitefield, if we were ortunate enough,wemight listen to SamuelDavies lso.You people aveneglected amuel avies; etmeput ina word {or him. The greatestpreacheryou hav verproduced n thiscountry was SamuelDavies, the author oI the hymn, 'Great God ofwonders, all thy ways/Are matchlss,godlike, and divine', and themanwho followedJonathan dwards spresident f Princton. isstill obtainable.Here was anotbe r obvious masterpreacher.At that time, or a few years ater, we might have istened ohim likewise. lf we could only sit and listen to thesemen, w mightknow something boutpreaching.You will forgive,perhaps,iust a penonal word in passing. saythat I have beenwrestling with this subiect or forty yearsand moreand havehad wo experiences hich I shallnever oryet. haveafeeling that I have only really preachedwice in my life, and on bothoccasionsI was dreaming. I still remember th awtul feling oIdisappointment, n both occasions,when I found I was onlydreaming. f only I couldpreach ike that in thepulpit when wasawake!Then think I couldclaim hat havepreached,ut alas, hatis hposition.The best, herefore, hat I can do to try to helpyou n this mafter s totalk around ny subject.Icannotanalyset, I am ncapable fdoingthat.Let mestart ike his:preaching,thinkwe will all agree, asbeensadlyneglected, specially uring this century.There has beenadeclinenpreaching. know hat t is rueofyourcountryaswellas four country. f you had visitedLondon a hundredyearsago and,inded, nt il saythebeginning f theFirstWorld War,yourproblemwouldhave eenwhich f hegreatpreacherstooandlisteno.Therweremanyofthem,and heproblemwaswhichofthemo select. uttoday heposition s entirelydifferent.There sno problemat all. Istherernlpreachcrthatyouwantto oandlistento,whoisworthyourwhile o go and isten ol tt is the same nyour country.There s adearth fpreachers. y Because,t seemso me, hewholenotionofpreaching as, omehow r another,slippednto $e background ndpeople o ongerbelieven preaching s heyoncedid.

why Preaching asDeclinedVhat is the causeof this? Well, I can analyse t, I think, fairlyaccurately s egardsGreatBritain, nd believeitmaybepartlytrue

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Kno 'i g tbe Tineshere. n Britain, am sure hat oneof the major actors asbeenhatwe had aprimeministerwhose amewasStanley aldwin.He wasaman who came nto office n rsz... He followedcertainmen of thetypeof Lloyd George,who had been rimeministerduring he FirstWorld War andhad n hisCabinet eople uch s flinstonChurchilland Lord Birkenhead. ll thesemenweregreatspeakers,heyweregreatorators; and StanleyBaldwin was not. He was a vry cleverpoliticianandhe ealizedhat heonly hingaman ike himselfcoulddo was o say orne thingike his:Now I'm not agreatman,I'mnot asreatorator,l'm iustan ordinary,plain,simpleEnglisbman. wassuggestinghat oratory is dangerous nd that i{ a man is a goodspeaker ou cannot rust him. The only man you can trust is thequiet,homelyman,who cannotdeliver greatorationbut who cangiveyou a ittle friendlychat,andyou can rust him.That idea has undoubtedly come into the who le realm ofpreaching. havewatched he development f a distrustofpreach-ing. Youhad a man here nthis country,who think, didgreatharm- S. D. Go rdon.Some fyou olderpeoplewill remenberhis books,and the itles of his books, o me,give he whole case way: QuietTalks on suchand such' Quiet Talks on Prdyer ,Quiet TdlksonPot e/.lt mustalways eaquiettalk,like a riendlychat, oncofthis'greatpulpit oratory', which is dangerous nd not spiritual.Quiettdlks, ilst a. ittle conversation!These actorsyou see,have all

Thencame he errible nventionof rhe adio and he elevisionthey havebeena greatcurse.And they havebeena greatcurse ormany, nany rasons.One s, of course, hatgenrally ou areon atime limit with thse hings,and that is alwaysdestructive f truepreaching, s am going o showyou later on. In addition o that,there s th mpersonal lement. eryoftenthepreachers alone n aroom, which s verybad: he s rot in conractwith his congregation.And thereatevarious echniqrieshatrheytalk somuchabout;therehavebecnseveral ourses n'television echnique'whichmenhaveaftended. cannot magineanythilrgso patheticas hat preachersshould allow themselveso be instructedby these ittle televisionetperts as to how to conduct themselvs, venpufting on thatridiculous milc,and all rhe estofit. Such ourses redestructive lthe whole.onceptand deaofpreaching.lam here o speak he ruthtoyou and mustcriticizehings haveobserved mongyouhere, selsewhere.do not understandhiscustom f apracher oingintol26l l

Wbat Is Prca.hinglpulpit on a Sundaymorning and ooking at the peopleand sayingcood Morning to them.That is theworld; theprecher shouldnotdo that. Thev have ome o listen o theVord of God andhecomesfrom God. There s no need or that kind of thing, and already feel tintrferes ith the essential lement f preaching.Another actorconnected ith the decline fpreachinghas o dowith theplacof reading.As peoplehavebecome etterducated,and havegone n more and more or reading, he whol notion o{preachinghastendedo bedepreciated.he ntelligentman eelshathedoesnot want to be harangued y a man standingn a pulpitj hecan do his readingat home, he canread the samebooks as thepreacher. herelorewhy shouldhe isten o thepreacherlt is mofeintellectualo sitd6wn andreadabook or yourself.I hink thathasdoneverygreatharm ndeed. he deahasbeen hat our Jore{athersdid not read, hey had not got the books,and many o{ them oftencouldnotread, o hyhad odepend ponthisonemanwho seemedto beanauthority.But hemodrngeneration as ebelled gainst llthis,and eading ascome n instead fpreaching.Well, each neofthese oints,oI course, ould be akenup, and onecould show htrernendous ifferencebetween reading even good books andpreaching. here s no comparison etween he two. PreachingsGod's ordained method and way , and reading can never be asubstituteor preaching. here s something eculiaraboutprea&-ing which readingcan everaltainunto.Another actor hathas donegfeatharm o thwholequestion {preachingn our country,and believe lso n yours,hasbeena badanda alse ind ofpopularpreaching.We had aglutofthis especiallyin my orrn counry of Wals .Therewer nenwho rurned reachingintoentertainment, enwho weremuchmore nterestdn thewayin which heysaid hings han n what theysaid,and menwho wereexperts t what n'tnyconsidered .pinions an abomination, amelytheover-use fitlusrations andstories. hewholepoint ofa serm onwas o getaneffecrivellustration Theyknewit would have ts ffectupon hepeople. he notion of thesermon ndofpreaching ecameone of entertainment. nd so you had a falsepopular preaching,with which any ru ly spirirualperson,ndeed ny ntelligent erson,became lmostdisgusted.Again there was a term used which I abominate, be term'pulpiteer'.You had hese reatpulpiteers,heHenryWardBechersnndpeopleike hat,whodid infiniteharrn opreachins. hesewere

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Knolring the Tinessreatmasters f assembly, ombasticmen who reigned n t he midand late Victorian era. I think they did great harm to the wholeconcept nd notion of truepreaching.Then, just to add another to th is list of factors, here is thesacramentarian ovementwhich hashad ts influence n differentsections fthe church,panicularly heAnglicanchurch n differentcountries round he world. The samenfluence asperrneatedhe{ree hurches,he dea hat hesacramnts thecentral ervice { hechurch, hatitis more rnportant han anythingelse. ow thehistoryof this n the AnglicanCbLrrchn Engl and s reallyvery ascinating.The Anglo-Catholicmovementbegan n the r83os, introducingvestments and new ideas with regard to the sacrament whichapproximated noreand more o Rome.And as all this developed,preaching orrespondingly eclined. o he sermonbecame nly atriviality.Thegreat hingwas he administration f thesacrament.Thevery astelementthatlput nto thiscntegory f th hi ngs hathavedonemuch harm o preachings the whotenotion ofpersonalwork, which believe ou call counselling'. his too hasmilitatedagainst reaching. he deahasbeen hat what s reallyneededs apersonal conversation n which people can put forward theirquestions nd their difficulties ndyouwork it out togerher. erhapspreaching;s rillbelievedo havesome ind ofa tunction,burjust asa generalntroducrionto getpeople o comealongand alk to you;the vital thing is going o be done when you are having a privareconversatioD. his is one of the main resultsof the interest npsychologyand th coming n o{ the psychological lement ntopastoralwork and, ndeed, nto the wholeactivity o{ the ife of thechurch.And as his emphasis n counse lling as ncreased,orre-spondinglyth mphasis npreachinghas eclined,I ould llustratethis again n th case f Waleswhere,of course,we have alwaysbelievedn preaching,more than they everdid in England.Theybelievedn preachingmore n Scotland nd n Vales than hey everdid in England, ut preaching as goneout in both countriesandvery argely ecausc f th semphasis npersonalwork.In Wales hechangewas lmostentirelydue o aprofessorwhobecame rincipalof oneof the collcges lthe Wekh Prsbyte .ian hurch.He himselfcould not prcach, poor fellow; he was supposed o be a greatpsychologist,uthe nevcr ealized isown complex,whichwasclearto sone o{ us.H rcsolved sowr personal roblen by discountingprcachnrg nd emphasizinghevalueofcounsel)ing ndofpersonal|2661

What k P/ea.hittg?work. He wassuchanableandaffableman hatheinfluencedwo orthree nrations fyoung preachers ho did not believe ny ongerin preaching ssuch.And, of course,heywereable o contrastwhatdreyweredoingwith the(alse opularpreaching, ndthe esultwasthat the whole notion of preaching ecame epreciated . ell now,thercare someof thc factors hat have militated againsta tiueunderstanding fprcachingand heplaceolpreaching n the i{e o{the church.

Preaching s Not t ecturi'gI hat, then, s preachingl Let us try and get a little nearer o adelinition.Again canonly do t by givingyou some egatives. haris the difference,or instance, etween reaching nd what I wassaying ust now, namely reading books? What is the essenti aldifference etween hese wo things?Why do we say hat peopleshouldcome o t he churchand that preaching houldgo on in thechurch n preferenceo the readingof booksat hom?what is ourreal eason or saying hat? {4at is this peculiar' hins, f you ike,what s hdifferentia fpraching? ha t marks t off from alltheseotheractivities?Wll, amgoing o try to answer hatqustion. etme askanorherquestion:What s rhedifference tween reachinganddeliveringaecture? think this s most mportant.l think I bavedetectdbe tendency or people o imagine hat givinga lecturesthe sam hing aspreaching,hat becauseou givea lecture rom apulpit it becomes reachins.But it doesnot. I would draw a verygreatdistinctionhere. remembermeetingsomemen during theSecondWorld War, captains n the United StatesArmy, and Iremember earingone of them using an expression hich ratheralarmed ne.He was n a cenainpart of Englandand mixing withsomeof the churcheshere;and he had come o a conclusionwithre\pecro theircondicon.He sard.And rhen dec'dedo predchrhemmy sermon n iustification.'He told me all abouthimselfasapreacherin ayingthat.You see, erewasa manwho deliberatelysa tdown o prepare ecture,asermon n ustification', ndhehadgotanotheroneon sanctification, nd on variousother subjects. o hehadhis errnonon usti6cation'. o me hat manknewnothingatallabout preaching.He had obviously prepared the addressonjustification nd then he found one oI a numberof texs which hecouldhook t on to, but that is not preachiDg. hat is ecturingon

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Knowihg the Timesjustification, ndon these thersubjects.I ay hat s notpreaching.There s a place or lecturing. ecturing s essential. nd theremustbeteachingin hechurch.But all amconcernedo say s rhatitis norpftaching.You maywell come o theconclusionhat havegotsomeodd notion as egards reaching, ut I ampreparedto Lrstifywhatam rying o say.

ASermon s not a RunningCommentaryLet me giveyou anothernegative. omepeopleseem o think thatpreachingconsistsof a running commentary on a passage fScripture.Iam notsaying hat this does othave ts egi.imate hceand function . You take a paragraphand you commenton everysingleverse sa kind of runningcommentary. har s notpreaching.Itpasses ssuch eryoften,andespeciallyn theAnglicanChurch nGreat Bdtain, but to me it is quite different rom preaching.Oranotherway fputting t is his:A manmay akea verse ra passage,and he maygiveyou hisexegesis,emay ell you about ts context,hemaygiveyou hemeaning f thewords,hemay divide t andoperit up; but still I say hat is not preaching. knew a man who wasfamous, n your country aswell as ours, as a 'Bible ecturer'.Hecalledhimselfthat, nd twas a co.rct erm.His methodwas o takea paragraph f Scripture, erhaps whole chapter,ofren a wholbook, and he would analyse t for you and giv t to you in itscomponentparts. n a technical ensewhat he did was to giverunning commentary n a sectionor on a book, in the courseofwhich he could add llustrations erennd here.And I think this sinteresting nd irnportant because i s book s were very popular.Theyhad an n lluencenyourcountry,and n ours, n thedirectionofmaking people imasine that that is preaching.Of course, heargumentwashatthismethod smorebiblicnl,butlthinkthrt wasacomplete allacy.Onecandealwith thewordsof Scripture ndnevergetdown to the doctrine.This ecturer everdealtwith doctrine,hewasnot interstedn theologyandheused o sayso.Yet, becausehewas alJalongdealingwith the actual eftr of the Scripture, e wasthought o be more biblical. My idea of beingbiblical s that youbringout the real message,he treasure f the Scriptures. ou maynot be so tied to th literal words all the time, but surely t is themeaning hat mafters ltimately.This s not to say hat we mustnotbe rnrere.tedn the orher \peor qe mut. but I 'ay rharBible12681

What Is Prcachhg?lecturing tops hortofwhere truepreaching egins.Icouldput thewhole of rhat into my introduction and still I have not star tedpteachingwhen hey inish.Let me put it anotherway: Do you draw a distinctionbetweensermonand preaching? do. And I havea feeling hat parr oI thetrouble\rith regard opreachingis hatpeopl o not recognizehat

\vhat is a sermon?What s he difference erwen sermon nd aBible ectureor an expositionof a passag? s I see t, it is that asermon s always whole, an entity,a message.ake hphrasethatis used y heprophetin beOld Testamenr,'thurdenofthe Lord'.The expositionof the Scripture, o me, doesnot become sermonuntilwhatyou havestudied, xegeted,ndexplained,akes he ormot a p ticular messase hich eads o apanicularend.A serm on smore than runnirg comments.r must have orm, it is a compleremessage,nd t leads lways o aparticularend.Letme ry npassi lrgthatlma great dmirerofthe uriransndin a ittle way,perhaps,lhavebeen esponsible{or revivednreresrin them n CratBritain.ButthePuritans anbevervdaneerousromrhe rndpoinrofpre.rrhing.hePunr-rn. ere r manly zucher',nmy opinion, not preachers.n thepulpit they would analyse heirpassage f Scripturcand when che ime had gone hey would say,Well, we will leave t athat for now and we will takc r sp the nexttime. In saying hat, to m, they were srying thar they were notpreaching, ecaushey had not got this orm, this wholeness,hiscompletemessage.6nd t ver y difficult o put this nto words, butthis s, o me, a veryvital point ofdistinctionbetwcen nexpositionof apassagc nd a sermon. hepreparation fa sermons aprocessthat goeson iDside ne'smind and heart and spilir. I do not knowhow it happensat all, but I think I can iilustratewhat I mean.remember ow hutterwas oncemade.You used o take he creamand put it into a churn. t went n ascreambur thenyou turned hehandleor got a horse o work some reatpulley, nd t waschurnedand cburneduntii it cameout as buner.Nothins was added o theingred,(nr(r r i l . bu rwh.rt .rme u' sa. d,f{er;nr romwharha dgone n. It wasno longercream, t wasbuttcr.That s rhenearest,am afraid, that I can get to telling you the differencebetweenexposition, xegesis,ommentary, ndexplanation f the meaningof words and a relmon. The same ngredientsbut a differentend

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KnoLl'ing the TimesNow I mustadd a word ofwarning ai thispoint,I think - I needit myself,no doubt, very much. do not know whetheryou havereada book by a mancalledEdwin Hatch,who wasa dignitary nthe ChurchofEnsland n the astcentury.He deliveredwo coursesof famous ectures the Brmpton Lectures dealingwith tbenatureof rheNew Tcstament hurch,and, unless y memory aikne, around 1888 he delivered he Hibbft Lctursn which hc

dalt with the influenceof Grcck thought upon the Christianchurch. n th attersries f lectures, ell worth readinS, e makesa point which has troubled me considerably.He argues hat thewholenotionof Christianpreaching hangedn the second entury,and his thesis s that the change ook place as a rsult of Grcekinfluence. ou rernember ow in the second enturv he Christianchurchcame ight up against he Greek world and the apologistscamen. Theyhad o do this,ofcourse,but, accordingto he heorvof Edwin Hatch, the Greek influencehad a great effect uponChristianpreaching nd the effectwhich it had, h contends,wasthat the preaching f the aposdes nd of the early churchwas akind of inspiredpropheticutteranc, ut owing to the apologeticinftuence hat cam n and the desire o present he gosPel n amanner hat would not be offensiveo the culturedGreekmind, hcchurchmore and more began o adopt th Greekand, n a sense,the Roman orm of an address. he{orm which hadbeen mptoycdby rhe rerr herori . i rn' l t reecr nrolved prel imin.rryntroduc-tion of the subiect. hen a division of the matter, and finally aconclusion. nd his case s that this becamehe form of the sermonfrom thesecond enturyonwards sa resultof Greekinfluence.I am prepared o agree hat what Hatch says s probably verytrue, but it putsme n a predicament. believentenselyn what hecalls he original dea of preaching.To me that is the importantthing, hemosr mportant hing of all. At the same ime also ee)that the form not only has a legitimateplace,but it is in a senseessentialf you are o convey he messageruly to thepeople Yousee.we arealways n this statoftension.How can have offn andyet avoid becoming lecturer?How can have his form which Ithink the sermonmust havewithout allowing t to degeneratentosome ind of general ddresslWell,with that qualification, makemv assertionhat we must alwavs emmber hat the sermonmustharethi ' formandrhi 'end,rf r rsrrulytofuncr ion.

wttat ls Pfzaabtns!The Sermonand Preaching

We now come to this other distinction' the differencebetwen thsermonandpreaching. This bringsme to the hean of the matter asunde$tandt. Do weknow this distinction? havea feeling hat t isbecause e have orgotten t thatpreaching as allenon evildays.remember earing story,and introduceitbere implytopointmyremarks.Therewas a prachern Great Britain, Dr J D. JonesofBournemouth. He came often to this country. Once he waspreachingn aplace n waleswhenhewasanold man,anda numberof ministersmet with him and put a question hat preachers r sofond o{ puning.They said, Tell us, Dr Jones,who is the gratstpreacheryou have ver heard?' He thought for a while, andresponded,Well, I don't know, I don't know, but l'll tell you this,the geatest preaching I've ever heard was the preaching of JohnHutton.'Now I think that s a verygoodpoint.You see,what hewassayingwas his: he was not saying hat Dr JohnA Hutton, who was one-time editorofour B/itis, Weetll, was hegreatestman he had everheardpreaching; or washe saying hat Dr Hufton'ssermons erethe$eatestsermonshathehadeverheard, utwhat hewassaying-and know exactlywhathe meantbecauseheardDr Hutton-wasthat Hutton'spreaching as hegreatest reachinghathe hadeverheard.This man, Dr Hutton, who was one of my Predecesso$tWestminster hapel,wasan extraordinaryman and ao extraordin-arypreacher.(4ren wasa student, youngdoctor,I usedo goandlisten o him. I listened o him the whole ime he was there,and Icame o thecondusion hat n factheonlypreachedeallywetlabourone out of everysix occasions.What was the matter?Well, r wasthis: he was a man who did not pay sufficintattention o thesermon.He hadgot hispreaching ift andhe endedo rely upon t.At timeshewould ramble, twas difficult o follow him, and t couldbe very bad. There was no {orm about it; but when this sixthoccasion am ou not only orgave im theother ive, ou ustwenthoping hrr r uould happcnrgain. recal l neoccr\ ion hen. u' ta. hew,' Enrhinchi ssermon. e rr.ed rrexrendedanJ' nd thewhole congregationos o its feet. was amo:rg hen. That is atribute o hispreaching.at is this differencelLet ne give you anorhcr llustration.re{erred arlier o SamuelDavies.Sorne f you will rememberhat


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Kfiotaifig the Timesaround 1753 SamuelDaviesand cilbert Tnnntwer snt overfrom this country to Britain to collecr funds for Princeton College,which had been ecentiy tartd , round 746. After avery ong andtediousourney beyarrived n London.The irstquesrion, fcourse,which they asked when they got there was, 'Is Mr Whitefield intown?' And, to their greatdelight, hey were old that he was, andthat hewasdue o preachn theTabernaclehenextmorning,whichwasSunday. o heygot hereearlyand,with rheplace rowdedout,li(hitefeld eventually ame n andpreached. amuel avies ivesanaccounr f rhir qeruict nd rr brrng. oul 6y pre.enr oinr roperfection.He said hat he realized ery quickly hat Mr Whitefeldhad obviouslyhad anextremely usyweek.It wasclear hat he hadnot had time ro preparehis sermon. t was disjointed, llogical,o{tentimes e was ust arnbling- therewasno form there.But, saidDavies, herewas suchunctionupon the preaching, uchan effectwhichhe felt, hat hegladlywould havecrossedhe Atlantic again,many imes, n ordff to be under his remendousnfluence. hat isthedifference, ousee, etween sermon ndpreaching. hatiswhyI think a man s n a verypathetic onditionwho says,l hendecidedto give hemmy serrnon n usti6ca.ion,my sermon n rhis, hat, orthe othr!What a terible misrake hatis.I am reminded f another hing which did not menrion n my lisrof things hat havedonesuch arn to truepreaching, nd hat s hepnblicationof sermons.hagbtetl Yo'r lald:. at this,but I mean tveryseriously.I hink that heprintingof sermonsn rhe ast centurywas one of the most harmlul nfluences pon preaching, speciallyon the sermons f Scottish reachers. nd I will tell you why I saythis. Thesemen of the late nineteenth enturyweregenerally rearliterary men, and when they prepared heir sermons hey werelrequentlypreparinghemwith aneye o possible ublication. n sodoing, hey were, n my vie$, alreadygoing rotallyastray. f youpreparea sermon or publication,you are not goingro be a goodpreacherwhen ou preach hat sermon.Your motive swrong.Yourconcept s wrong. There s all the diflerence n the world betweenthse wo rhings.

True Preaching: TranracrionVhat is hispoint, then,aboutpreaching?Weli, t is rheextraordin'ary situation n which somethin9is ar yeningbetweenhemanwho

What s Prcacbing?is speakingandthe ongregationhat s istening.You know PhillipsBrooks's amousdeEnitionof preaching,Truth mediatedhroughpersonality'.I hink he s right. etherheputthe content nto thatstatementhatlwould putinto it,l do notknow, but there s a sensein whichbe eallyhasputhisnngeron heessentialhing.The wholeman s involved n preachingi Lat is where he difference etweenthesermon nd hepreachingies. t is notmerelywhat hemansays,it i s the way n which hesaysi-this total nvolvement f the man;his body s nvolved, veryparto{him,every aculty s nvolved fitistrue preaching,he wholepersonality f the ndividual; and, at thesame ime,as said, hecongregationsalsomaking ts contribution.Here nre spiritually nindedpeople, hey have comepreparedandtheyareunder he nlluence f theSpirit,andso hesewothings arcblended ogether. here s a unity between reacher ndhearers nd.here s a uansaction ackwards nd orwards.That. to me. s truepreaching. nd that swhereyou see heessential ifference etweenlistening o preachingn a churchand isteni ng o a sefinonon thetelevjsionor on rhe radio. You cannot isten o true preaching ndetachment ndyou mustneverbe n a positionwhereyou can urnit off. What I am trying ro say s that there s an elemnt f control,there s an element f compulsionnpreaching,andpeoplewho aretherearegrippedand 6xed. mainrain hat if that s not happen ing,you havenot got ruepreaching. hat s why readingmustnever easubstitute or preaching.You canput rhe book down, or you canarguewi.h it. When here s truepreaching ou cannotdo that,youaregripped,ou are akenup, you aremastered. nd I argue hat hisis anessential nd a vital partof preaching.

Hindrances to PreachingWhat are he hings hathinderpreachingl I am sorry hat hnv otto rushnowb'ecause ytime hasgone.)There recertain hings hatarea verygreathindranceo iraching.One sprofessionalism.hisis a curse o thework of a ministr.Why do youprcachon Sunday?Why will you preach extSundayl s tsim ply becauseouhavebeenannouncedo do soi I haveoftngone nto thepulpit or that eason,so have you. You have gone nto the pulpit because ou wereexpectedo do so,becausetis yourjob.In a sensehat s rigtrt,but nanothersnst is very errible o do itmerely becauseou havegotto do it and t is a part o{ your routine.That militatesagainst rue


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Knowing the Timespreaching. man shouldalwaysgo nto thepulpit with a sense frornance, sense f opportunity, and a sens f the tremendousresponsibility. hereshouldbe an eagernessbout t. Professional

Another thing that militatesagainstpreachingreliance on his preparation. All I am saying can be serioudymisunderstood. fcourse,a manwho does otprepares a ool, yetthemanwho relieson ispreparationsperhaps neven reaterool.He has written his sermon,be s prepared;he hasgot everything.Poor ellow,hehasgot nothing!Butwedo that,don'twe?You thinkyou are finishedand ready for Sundaysimply because ou havepreparcd hesermon. hatis notpreaching.Then here s the dangerof being ed astray n the form of yourpreparation this iterary notion which I havealreadydenounced,this wish o be iteraryor learned nd o havemassesf quotations.lrer:rernber lady ournalistwririns aboutprachersn Englandandpraisingaparticularministerbecause,he aid,'healways hares isreadingwith us'.That s abominable, tterlyabominable, ut t hascome n, asyou know. We want to be consideredearned nd well-readmen.We had a man n Britain,a popularpreache r ho wrote abook ent;'tledThe Craft of Sermon Co'1stru. on. To me the idea of'craft' in sermonpreparation s prostitution. Craft is what theprostituteuses: hedeckshersel{ p, shepaintsherself, hemakesherself ttractiven order o attractpople. utyou would not marrysomebodyike hat. No, we believen ove,and he attraction f loveis not mertricious.Certainly, bcr are elements f organizationwhich are bound to come into our prparation,bur it is givingprominenceo any deaofcraftthatl object o . You see, his man owhosebook I referwasa grcatexprtat sermon llustrarion. his showhedid t: hecarrieda ittle notebookinhis pocketandwheneverhe hearda goodstory,out carne he book and he wrote t down. Hwas alw3yscolleting. hen, as he tells us n tbe book, be wouldclassify hestoricsaccording o subject .So,by this means,whenhcwanted o illustrate particularpointhewould ook up therclevantsedion, pull out the drawer, and there werc his storiesand hisillustrations.To me, that is uttrly reprehnsible. call that sheerprostitution.Preachers ho readotherpeople's errnonsor iilustrationsandstories rnot fit to enterpulpits.Lermeput it in ano.herway.Thcrewasa bishop n BritaincalledHensleyHnson.He was the Bishopof Dff ham and he wrore arl27a)

What ls Preacbiflgaautobiography, hich was entitledRetospect of an Unimportant1,2. (But the unimportant ife takes hree voluns!) I rememberreading n one of these olunes of how he was asked o preachasermon n somegreatoccasion. e tellsus how for t hreeweeks ewaspreparinghat sermon. o me,you see, hat manknew nothingaboutpreaching. e delivered reatorations,andhe coulddo that,but it was not preaching. hree l,e?&s! ontrast hat with White-field,prcachingn this country dayafter day, ve, six timesa day,with almostno time orpreparation, ndyetwhatpreaching t is hewhole notion of preachingwhich hasgoneastray oday. If a manreads manuscriptn thepulpit it is destructive f truepreaching.query even the righmessof writ ing a sermon out in tull andcommittingit to memory.'I onceused o do that.I stoppeddoingtbecause felt hat I was oo mechanical,lwashaving o concentratetoo much on remembering.t was a sort of recit al, t was not truepreaching. hatl am trying osayis this, hat her s anelementnpreachingwhich lways eavesoose nds; here s something bou rpreaching hichyou cannotpreparej otrprepare our sermon utas regards reaching ou prepare ourself.That is the distinction.You prepare ourself or thepreaching. ou musthaveyoursermonbut evenwhenyou havegot it, if you havenot prepared ourself,fthis otherelements notthere, t will avnilyou nothing.

God in PreachingLt me come, hen, inally to what I woutd call someof the vitalelementsn the preaching. he first is our realizationof what ishappening hat we are sent of God, that we are heraldsof thisgloriousgoodnews, hat we havegot authority. f we havenot gotauthorirywe cannotpreach.We musthaveassurance, emusthaveabsolute uthoriw. Aboveall, we mustbe awareof our tremendousresponsibility-'the rivilege f what we aredoing, he esponsibilityofwhat we aredoing.We arespeakingrom God o men.You know the story about RobertMurray M'Cheyne. t is saidrhat even as he enteredhis pulpit in Dundee,during the time ofrevival here,people egan o weepbIore ehad opened ismouth.There was somethingabout his face,and n the conviction which hishearerspossessedhat he had corne rom God; he was already'lt is not $ writins'in full' assuchwhichDr Lloyd'Joness here riticitns.CI. bu.hins a . hea.hets,pp.zr 5-6.

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Kt'1ouitlg the Timespreachingbe{orehe openedhis mouth. A man sent rom God isaware o{ this burden. He trenbles because { the momentousconsequences!he ssues,hatdepend pon whathe does.It is this senseof the word fron God - this great idea o{'prophesying'- which bringsus a linle nearer, erhaps, o under-standing reaching. o not misunderstandme;amnot sayingthatmanhasa revelationrom God n thesense freceiving ome ruth;Iam not saying hat.Butto me,whena man s ruly preaching, ehasbeen iven he message. hat hehashimself cquired s he esultofhis studyofthe Scripture nd his understanding f a passage,his stakenup and tbecomes propheticutterance. e sspeakingin heSpirit,'iD demonstration f the Spirie nd of power' (r Cor. :z:a).think this is an absolutely ital e lementn truc preaching.A mancannotpreachn cold blood.lt isimpossible. e canutter a sermonrhe can read or recite an essay, e cangivea Bible ecture,but hecannotpreach n cold blood. A preachct s taken up; he s in th isrealrnofthe Spirit and God sgiving a rnessagehrough his man othe people. t is not an inspired utterance n the sense hat theScriphrresare, but in another sense,t is nn inspired utterancebecausehe Spirit s giving t and using t. Thus a vital element npreaching s a relianceupon the Holy Spirit. Another element sfreedom- we mustbe ree.That swhy I say herearegenerallyooseendsabout preaching.A sermonwhich is perfect n its form, itsdiction, and n everytb ing lse, s one hat militatesagainst reaching. You knowhowthe apostlePaul n his writinsssuddenlyorgets,as t were,what hehad setout to say.Sometimes e nterruptshisown thoughti he doesnot complete is own sentncesndhe neverends hem. How do we explain hese reaks, heseanacolutha, sthey call them? 7ell, this s the freedorn f the Spirit.Paul s rakenup; he mentions he nameof the Lord andoff hegoes o somegreatapostrophe. henhe may ormaynotcome back o his argument.Allthis,l say, sa veryvital andessentialart of preaching.t isnotonly manpreaching, shesays o theThessaloniansn r Thessalonr-ans2:r 3: You istened, e says o them,andyou realizdt was notmerely he word of man but it was ndeedwhat it actually s, theVord of Cod. This s his preachins, nd his shouldbe rue of ourpreaching. o hepreachers a manwho spossessed,ndhe s awateofthis.I do not hesitateo make hisassertion.would say hat onlybegin o know something boutpreaching n thoseoccasions hen,as twere,l am ookingon.I am speaking, utl am eallya spectator!12761

\vbdt ls Prcd.hing?and am amazed t what is happening. am listening, am ookingon in utter astonishment,or I am not doing t. lt is truepreachingwhen am conscioushat I am beingusd;n 3 sense,I m asmuchaspectatoras rhe people who are listening o me. There is tl isconsciousnesshar t is outsideme andyet am nvolved n it; I ammerelythe nstrument nd hevehicle ndthechannel f all his.Andso one has his abandon, his {reedom; nd houghtsare givenandexpressionsregiven,deas rgiven, he mag inations nspired ndinflamed, nd one s ust aware hat cod is possessingne'swholepersonality ndusingevery inlelaculty thatHehas evergivenusatthbeginning. owthat is asnearas candescribewbatismeantbypreaching. nd we are awareof truepreachingonly when we areaware n this way, so hat we can say,Yet not I; I ampreaching, ernot l, but I am beingusedof God: I am being akenup, I am beingemployed, ndGod s usingevenme o speak o thesepeople.I m anambassadoror Christ, am a sentone, am aware of this greatresponsibility but t is all right,I am enabledo do t becausef Hisgace and hepower harHeis gracious nough o giveme.

\fell, brethren, trustyou will forgive hesemy rambling emarks.Vhat canyou do but somethingik this whenyou aregiven uchatitle, Vhat Is Preaching'?May God so sendHis Spi rit upon us that we shallagain eallyknowwhat preachings,experiencetourselvs ndha! t in others.Do not forget how our hearingo( others estsus. I never ire ofreferring o that greatoccasionwhen Whitefield irst preached tNoithampton n Massachusettsor JonathanEdwards. think it isoneolthe mosrgl orious bings hatI haveeverrcad.Therewas hisgenius,Jonathandwards,isteningowhitefield who wasnotin thesame phere, fcourse, .om thestandpoint f gnius nd ability.Butashewas isteningto i(hitefield,Edwards'face, aysWhitefield,w:sshiningand tears were streamingdown his face. Edwards wasrecognizinghis authentic,authoritativenote, his true preaching.\Thitefield was n the Spidt, Edwards was n the Spirit, and the twowereblended ogether. he whole congregation nd preacherwereone n the hand of God. That is praching.May God enableus toDractise t and to exoerience t.

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What is Preaching?

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