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.