In the early days of the first Christian church we note a very human condition —there was murmuring. This led the apostles to summon a council and appoint deacons, that the apostles themselves might be free for "the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4). It wasn't Peter, however, but the Lord Jesus Himself, "a prophet mighty in deed and word," who became the head of that noble succession of preachers to which every minister belongs (Luke 24:19).
Our Lord never wrote a book, but the people "heard him gladly" (Mark 12:37). He began His great ministry by preaching in the little village synagogues "throughout all Galilee" (chap. 1:39). These were small community meeting places, none of them seating large audiences. Even the smallest village had one, and the larger cities had many, Jerusalem itself having between three and four hundred.
After two such tours, accompanied by His disciples who thus had opportunity to learn His message and methods, the Master sent them out in six small evangelistic companies. They went over the same ground He had covered, and what was the result? When they returned to Jesus for added instruction and counsel, "the people saw them departing . . . and ran afoot thither" so that the Master had an audience of more than five thousand people awaiting Him when He arrived (Mark 6:32-44). Such was the popularity of Jesus as a speaker. But more remarkable still, His popularity remained to the very end, for during the last week of His public ministry the Jewish authorities were unable to stop Him teaching in the Temple courts because "all the people were very attentive to hear him" (Luke 19:48). What a wonderful thing it would be if as ministers of the Word our preaching attracted such increasing crowds of hearers that our enemies couldn't get near us!
What was the secret of Jesus' success as a speaker? Well, most important was His life, His prayers, His surrender, and His anointing. Each of these aspects is well worthy of our personal study, but they all manifested themselves and resulted in certain methods of labor we do well to notice.
The outstanding comment made at the close of Matthew's record of the Sermon on the Mount is that the people were impressed with the "authority" with which He spoke (Matt. 7:29). It was an authority born of the certainty of the things He spoke. To the first Jewish ruler who was impressed by His teachings He said, "We speak that we do know" (John 3:11). The Master Preacher had studied the sacred scrolls, had thought them through in meditation and prayer, and had come to positive convictions. He could speak with a note of authority because He knew, and knew that He knew. Yet He was not a shouting street preacher. "He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street" (Isa. 42:2). Rather, He was an earnest teacher, speaking largely in small synagogue halls and in the porticoes of the Temple courts. So impressed were the officers sent to arrest Him that their only explanation for dereliction of duty was, "Never man spake like this man." How attracted and impressed they must have been to risk a scornful retort from those whose orders they had failed to carry out (John 7:45-48)!
It is worth looking into the record and noticing what it was that Jesus had to say at the Feast of Tabernacles when this occurred. The authority based on personal experience of truth is again evident: "My doctrine is not mine" He said (John 7:16). He further assured them that any man could find out for himself whether His message was from God.
Genuine God-glorifying humility is also apparent. Jesus was much concerned about whether He or anyone else in their public speaking was seeking honor for himself or seeking only the honor of God (John 7:18; 8:49-55; 5:41-44). Doubtless it was this double-sided quality of confidence and humility that was the secret of the "courage" the people recognized in Him. Knowing full well that His life was being sought, they wondered that He should speak so "boldly." This deeply impressed them (John 7:25, 26).
His message rather than His manner had the greatest effect upon the people and the officers. It was both topical and timely. Every day during that last week of the feast the people had watched the solemn ceremony of drawing the water that flows from the Kidron valley to the pool of Siloam, as it was brought with the pageantry and chanting of the Levitical choir to the altar and poured out in memory of the miraculous supply of living water in the thirsty wilderness.
The night before had been an all-night festival in the Court of the Women, which was brilliantly lighted for the occasion. This was in commemoration of the guidance of Israel by the pillar of cloud and fire. But in spite of the meaning and purpose of this religious pageantry and ceremonial, the people had no assurance of divine guidance and no slaking of their spiritual thirst. It was then that the voice of the preacher from Nazareth rang out, offering to the thirsty the "living water." And again the next day He offered the "light of life" to all who would follow Him (John 8:12). His message had met the spiritual needs that the religious services of the priests had only symbolized. It was not merely topical, it was timely—truly appropriate to the occasion. Nor was it trivial, but tremendous in its reach.
Speaking of topics, it is worth noting that Jesus did not choose His topics from those currently discussed by the rabbis. Nor did He treat His topics as they did. There were many topics they continually brought before the people, and by deduction upon deduction they made the Scripture the source for their hairsplitting teachings. Jesus did not use their popular subjects. He had new, fresh subjects to bring to their attention. And how differently He used the Scripture in presenting them! Instead of trying to move on from Scripture to increasingly precise deductions, He reversed the process, and sought always to go back to its deep meaning and the original purpose of God expressed by it. When the Pharisees criticized Him for associating with sinners, and denounced His disciples for breaking the Sabbath to satisfy their hunger, He quoted the principle from Scripture expressing the divine preference for mercy rather than sacrifice, and called upon them to consider its meaning and application (Matt. 9:10-13). Later, when the Pharisees brought to Him the question of marriage and divorce, He did not take up their minute and argumentative explanations but pointed back to the second chapter of Genesis and God's original purpose in marriage "at the beginning." Thus He put emphasis on the main issues in the problem (Matt. 19:2-9).
As to the Master's literary style, the Sermon on the Mount indicates clearly that He prepared His presentations thoroughly. While His speech was delivered extemporaneously, nevertheless, in its phrasing it reveals painstaking preparation. This is evident both from the poetic couplets of the Beatitudes and from the abundance of well-chosen metaphors that characterize the Sermon. The carefully turned phrases in the form of Hebrew poetry indicate His careful study even of words. The condensed illustrations about "salt" and "candlesticks," "pearls" and "lilies," "birds" and "raiment," indicate long reflection. He said things in such a way that they would be long remembered, remaining in the memory and recurring to the mind again and again. In fact, one who compares the incidental remarks of the Master on various occasions during the two years following this address will be struck by the many times He repeated His teachings in these scintillating forms.
Yet His words were always simple. His ideas were erected as buildings, which reached high into the heavens, but the word-bricks He used were small and easy to grasp. Paul the elaborator may have used more technical terms, but Jesus the originator used short, simple, nontechnical terms. True, Paul did not speak of reconciliation and justification and sanctification with the theological preciseness of the modern scholar, but the Lord Jesus did not even use the words. Yet He stirred men, arresting their attention and challenging their thinking so that there came into existence upon earth a new way of life and new lines of theological thought.
And how was it that He was so successful in challenging men to think? Could it not be that He made much use of questions? His questions stuck in the mind. The evangelists report them in the Gospels: questions to the disciples, questions to the multitudes, questions to His enemies. Assertions and exclamations we punctuate with a mark that looks somewhat like a club. But a question mark is more like a hook, and may well symbolize the effect of a well-placed question. It hooks the attention. It draws out the mind. It calls for consideration. It stirs thought.
And Jesus not only stirred thought, He followed it up. So often He answered the unspoken thought of His hearers. It is not important that He could read men's thoughts as we cannot. What is important is that He wanted to read them, and did read them. He watched the faces of His hearers to recognize whether they were accepting or rejecting His words, whether they understood or lacked comprehension. Then He modified His presentation to encourage their faith, destroy their doubt, and meet the need of their inmost hearts.
Here is the ideal preacher at work, loving men, trusting God. Loving men more than He loved Himself, trusting God utterly. How did men recognize that He loved them? By His manner of speaking and by the adaptation of His message to their needs. How did they recognize that His acquaintance with God and confidence in Him was the supreme factor in His life? By His power and positiveness, His certainty and confidence, the quiet earnestness with which He spoke. They knew He was every whit of what He preached, the very embodiment of His message. Indeed, He was the Word of God in human flesh. He was the ideal Minister of the Word.
To this ideal we are called. He is waiting for us to follow Him in His life, in His prayers, in His surrender, and in His anointing, that we may follow Him also in His manner and method, and so take a worthy place in the succession of "the ministry of the word.
