After 10 years as a pastor of two churches (1 and 9), I have not gotten over
the weirdness of preaching. Think about it-in no other form of life, except
periodic, "on-going education" forums in the work place, do adults have to
sit in a chair among a group of people and listen to a 30-40 minute
monologue. The vast majority of people have not had to do so since leaving
high school or college. In workplace or charity organization meetings today,
text messaging, Facebooking, tweeting, and email is constant throughout the
meeting. In no other environment are adults asked to sit still with their
bible in their lap, and likely a pen and piece of paper, and learn through
monologue for 30-40 minutes. It's a fascinating phenomenon. God's Word talks
about how weird it is; God calls it "the foolishness of preaching".
Because people are unaccustomed to it, they generally find it difficult. The
lack of practice produces lack of self discipline. Ten or fifteen minutes
into a sermon people are struggling to keep up mentally because they aren't
accustomed to following the learning continuum from start to finish, over
30-40 minutes, without a break: awareness to understanding to acceptance to action.
Yet, God's plan is for Himself to be revealed to us in Jesus Christ who is
revealed us in the Scriptures which is taught to us by a pastor delivering a
monologue. And the pastor is a man hand picked by Him based on criteria we
do not know (thus keeping the preacher humble). The worshippers have
mysteriously picked the man whom they will trust to teach them God's Word
based on reasons neither they nor their pastor fully understand-God made it
happen. After the 40 minute monologue has ended, the worshipper has nothing
tangible to show for their time and yet days later they voluntarily return
to do it all over again. During those days, the pastor spent 15-20 hours
meeting with God, studying, researching, praying, learning, writing, honing,
practicing his next sermon, knowing all the while when he delivers it he
will be doing so to people who are used to getting almost all their
information via multimedia. Nothing about the preaching phenomenon makes
sense. It truly is foolishness to the human way of thinking.
Yet, this is God's plan. Thus the preacher must believe that despite the
archaic feel to preaching, God supernaturally uses it to communicate Himself
to His people. Thus, he must believe his hours of preparation in the face of
indescribable spiritual warfare is worthwhile and discipline himself to do
it. The people must believe that despite the archaic feel to preaching, God
supernaturally uses it to communicate Himself to them. Thus, they must
believe the time spent listening to a sermon is worthwhile and must
therefore discipline themselves to do so. Listening to a sermon is a
spiritual discipline that must be intentionally developed.
Preaching is weird, but it's God's plan and thus it's a beautiful
phenomenon. We can't understand it. We can't explain how it works. It is a
supernatural work of God and I love it.
the weirdness of preaching. Think about it-in no other form of life, except
periodic, "on-going education" forums in the work place, do adults have to
sit in a chair among a group of people and listen to a 30-40 minute
monologue. The vast majority of people have not had to do so since leaving
high school or college. In workplace or charity organization meetings today,
text messaging, Facebooking, tweeting, and email is constant throughout the
meeting. In no other environment are adults asked to sit still with their
bible in their lap, and likely a pen and piece of paper, and learn through
monologue for 30-40 minutes. It's a fascinating phenomenon. God's Word talks
about how weird it is; God calls it "the foolishness of preaching".
Because people are unaccustomed to it, they generally find it difficult. The
lack of practice produces lack of self discipline. Ten or fifteen minutes
into a sermon people are struggling to keep up mentally because they aren't
accustomed to following the learning continuum from start to finish, over
30-40 minutes, without a break: awareness to understanding to acceptance to action.
Yet, God's plan is for Himself to be revealed to us in Jesus Christ who is
revealed us in the Scriptures which is taught to us by a pastor delivering a
monologue. And the pastor is a man hand picked by Him based on criteria we
do not know (thus keeping the preacher humble). The worshippers have
mysteriously picked the man whom they will trust to teach them God's Word
based on reasons neither they nor their pastor fully understand-God made it
happen. After the 40 minute monologue has ended, the worshipper has nothing
tangible to show for their time and yet days later they voluntarily return
to do it all over again. During those days, the pastor spent 15-20 hours
meeting with God, studying, researching, praying, learning, writing, honing,
practicing his next sermon, knowing all the while when he delivers it he
will be doing so to people who are used to getting almost all their
information via multimedia. Nothing about the preaching phenomenon makes
sense. It truly is foolishness to the human way of thinking.
Yet, this is God's plan. Thus the preacher must believe that despite the
archaic feel to preaching, God supernaturally uses it to communicate Himself
to His people. Thus, he must believe his hours of preparation in the face of
indescribable spiritual warfare is worthwhile and discipline himself to do
it. The people must believe that despite the archaic feel to preaching, God
supernaturally uses it to communicate Himself to them. Thus, they must
believe the time spent listening to a sermon is worthwhile and must
therefore discipline themselves to do so. Listening to a sermon is a
spiritual discipline that must be intentionally developed.
Preaching is weird, but it's God's plan and thus it's a beautiful
phenomenon. We can't understand it. We can't explain how it works. It is a
supernatural work of God and I love it.
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