Trinitarian Preaching

"Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;"
Genesis 1:26a

In the last week, I have done a lot of thinking. I have been looking into the power of the Holy Spirit in preaching and I think that is an important piece of the preaching puzzle. But I realize that God is much bigger than just power in preaching. The Holy Spirit is hovering over us, just as He was in the beginning of creation. But let me bring some other things to the forefront of our minds.

The Spirit of God hovers over and empowers and strengthens and enlightens our preaching. But what good would the preaching be without the Word? I find it eternally fascinating to compare John 1 and Genesis 1. Jesus is the Word and all creation came into being through God speaking. Consider that for a moment. Stop and meditate on that for a day. When God speaks, Jesus comes out. Can we say the same for our preaching? Our material in preaching is really like a broken record. Or as Derek Webb has stated, we are like mockingbirds with no new songs to sing. It is Jesus. Jesus yesterday, today, and forever. The power of the Gospel comes alive in the Spirit, but truthfully the power of the Gospel is Jesus. So when we preach, the power and the force in the room might be the Holy Spirit, but the foundation (corner stone) for that power is the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus. What happens in our spirit when we hear preaching matters, but what comes out of the mouth of the preacher matters just as much. And if it's not the Word, then it ain't preaching. (Yes I know that ain't ain't a word.)

But now consider this. Preaching doesn't just end with the Word and the Spirit. God sent Jesus to bring us back to God. His coming wasn't just so that we would fall in love with the man Jesus, but that we would fall in love with the God who was manifested in the man Jesus.

"Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)

That is why I preach. To be an ambassador, a herald if you will. But why preach the Word and why do it in the Spirit? To beg you on behalf of Christ, "be reconciled to God!" God sent the Son to reconcile the world to Himself. He sent the Spirit to teach us and guide us to Him. All of this to the end that we might know Him. If preaching doesn't seek to reconcile you to God, through the work of Christ Jesus and by the power of God's Holy Spirit, then it ain't preaching. So that leaves the question, how trinitarian is our preaching?

From my own personal observations, it seems that preaching has become something of a topical mess. Most preachers use their time to proclaim moral encouragements, logical arguments, or exciting entertainment. But very little of what is today called preaching is seeking to reconcile people to God through Jesus. Sure there is often an invitation offered at the end to invite people to believe. But when the sermon is all about how to be a better you, the Gospel becomes muddled and people have nothing to respond to. Do you want to know if preaching is trinitarian? Look for these things. Is Christ magnified? Is He made much of? Does the preacher want you to hear the cross, hear the Word? Does the preacher seem to be speaking in the power of the Spirit? Does it seem that God is using the words of this mere man to communicate great truths? Are you convicted in your own spirit by God's? And finally, has the whole goal been to be reconciled to God? Have you been influenced to move closer into relationship with God? If these things are happening you might be involved in trinitarian preaching. And may God pull you close to Himself through it.

The Holy Conversation of Preaching

Homily (from which we get our area of study, homiletics) is a word at its most basic definition meaning discourse, dialogue, or conversation. This is what preaching is. It is discourse, dialogue, and conversation. But the question needs to be asked, who is engaged in the conversation?

When we encounter a sermon or preach one, we are so often tempted to think that this is a conversation between the preacher and the audience. That is why preachers have so many tricks up their sleeves. In this understanding of preaching, it is my job as the preacher to engage the audience in the hearing of God's word. So I must be charming or condemning, creative or logical, funny or serious, and so on.

As a listener, I expect to be engaged by this preacher. He is to make me think or laugh or bore me or whatever I might expect him to do with our conversation. And not only is there just one of these listeners, but many. They all bring their various expectations and desires to the conversation. Some are broken inside and need to be lifted up, others are joyful and just want to be encouraged, and even others are confused and need answers. What a complicated mess this conversation has quickly become. How is the preacher to know all the needs of his listeners? And when does the listener get their chance to engage in the dialogue? Maybe by text messaging?

Let me suggest this for our thinking. The conversation of preaching is not two way. There is a third party involved. This is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit acts as comforter, teacher, guide, and power supply for both the preacher and the audience. When the preacher has spent time with the Holy Spirit, the conversation lines will be open from his side. When the audience has been held captive by the work of the Holy Spirit, then they will be ready to hear the power of the Gospel. Consider the implications of that for our preaching. The Holy Spirit is the force in the room when the preaching begins to speak. It is a power that flows and is felt.

Two things to consider. One, as preachers, are we speaking in the Spirit? Have we opened ourselves up to the power of the Holy Spirit wherever that may lead us? I'm willing to bet that if we did this, we would enter the pulpit with a sense of the "numinous." The awe-inspiring greatness of God. We would find ourselves amazed at what God can do with a sinner like us. Secondly, as an audience, are we listening in the Spirit? Are we prepared to hear the words of God spoken to us? If you feel that power is missing from the preaching in your church, don't immediately blame the preacher. What if he's tapped into the Spirit and you're not? Community is not God, but God is communal. You are involved in this sermon just as much as the preacher by the power of the Holy Spirit. Examine yourself for power outages in your own life.

Wherever preaching lacks power to transform lives, I am almost certain that at least one member of the conversation is not tapped into the Holy Spirit. If only our churches would reconnect with the power of God's Spirit and allow Him to draw us in to Himself, what amazing conversations we might have!

The Lightning and The Thunder

A man came on one occasion to the great George Whitefield and asked if he might print his sermons. Whitefield gave this reply; he said, 'Well, I have no inherent objection, if you like, but you will never be able to put on the printed page the lightning and the thunder.' That is the distinction - the sermon, and the 'lightning and the thunder'. (Preaching and Preachers by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones p 58)

Lloyd-Jones offers the suggestion that there is a difference between a sermon and preaching. And as Mr. Whitefield put it, that difference is "thunder and lightning". I believe, from a Biblical perspective, what they are getting at is the difference between dunamis and excousia. These are both greek words meaning power or authority. But here is the difference.

Every time the preacher gets up to proclaim the word of God, he should be dripping with spiritual authority (power). But should it be with excousia or with dunamis? The answer is both. Excousia has to do with the power or authority that a king has, or at least an ambassador of the king has. The preacher has this kind of authority if and only if they have crafted their sermon based on the word of God. This kind of authority is evident in someone who has taken time to make sure they are speaking the very words of God. They are an ambassador, a herald for the king. They sound the trumpet proclaiming that the kingdom of God has invaded the kingdoms of earth. This power (authority) is vital. But it is not the thunder and lightning.

Now dunamis. That's the power. Dunamis is where we get our english word dynamite. It is explosive, the power to change things. That's thunder and lightning. Dunamis is the element in preaching that just can't be explained. It's when you say to someone, "you just had to be there." Dunamis is what so many preachers want, but so many are missing. So how do we get the dynamite power of God? By believing it is real. Do you really believe God can raise the dead? Do you really believe He can heal illnesses? Do you really believe He can cure addictions? Do you really believe that He can save sinners destined for wrath? I don't ask if you know these things. I ask if you believe them. Because if a preacher believes them, he will have thunder and lightning.

"Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind." (Revelation 4:5-6)

What if that was in our preaching?

Unction

Over the next few months I will be devoting my space on this blog to writing ideas that come to me concerning my thesis. My thesis, in its current format, states that the influence of a preacher during the sermon over an audience is directly related to the preacher's spiritual authority which is cultivated by their spiritual formation. A shorter way of saying it is that a preacher will only be able to move people as far as they themselves have been moved by God's Holy Spirit.

In my studying on these subjects, I have discovered this really interesting word. Unction. We don't use it much today, if ever. Older english translations used this word rather than anointing in the New Testament texts, (like I John 2:20.) The dictionary defines this word literally as a religious anointing with oil. However, it is the figurative use of this word that particularly caught my eye. The oxford english dictionary defines it figuratively as, "a spiritual influence acting upon a person." What do preachers lack today? They lack unction.

I have heard many well crafted sermons, I may have even spoken one or two. I have read books upon books about the construction of a sermon. I have observed congregations listen to many sermons week after week. What amazes is me is the amount of devotion given to the actual sermon and yet people can sit there unmoved by the ponderings of the preachers. Or they can laugh at jokes and be enamoured with stories, but at the end of the day they have not been transformed into the glory of God. How does this happen? No unction!

Unction comes when preachers have been silent for long periods of time before God. Unction comes when we have been obedient in the secret things. Unction comes when we have loved our wives well, raised our children properly, confessed our sins truthfully, repented of our lies, and prayed for the power of God to move in our lives. Unction, unlike writing a sermon, can not be conjured up. Unction is supplied from on High. Unction is what causes a tiny little flame like the preacher to spark the hearts of the body of Christ to be exposed to the true Light. Unction makes God really, really BIG and the preacher really, really small.

Oh lord give me unction. Give us all this unction, this anointing. Move our preachers to spend less time crafting clever ideas and more time seeking out your power. Help us to be the kind of men that Paul describes in I Thessalonians 1:5, "for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake." Give us the holy anointing that we might preach in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction!