MODERN evangelists must realize that every soul sits in a chair draped in black, condemned to die. For the sake of eternal salvation he cannot afford to cloud the issues with verbosity, philosophizing, or exhibitionism.
We live in an age when it would seem the theological questions and answers are set up and controlled by clever experts who, to a large extent, leave unanswered the simple questions people really ask. What must I do to be saved? is answered by the jargon of Buber's personalism saying, All real life is a meeting. It all hinges on the "I-Thou" encounter. Tillich's terms, "ground of being" and "ultimate concern," are used in answer to the common man's serious questions, What is the meaning of life? Does God care for me? The basic difference between the temporal and the spiritual realm, the mortal and the immortal, is hedged about with such verbal sophistry as Cartesian dualism's "extension" and "thought."
Seventh-day Adventists believe that the narrative of Daniel and the Revelation is not continuous, but repeats itself, using different symbols. There is no need to preach that this is Tichonius' sixth rule of prophetic interpretation which he called De recapitulatione. This interesting fact may be stored in the preacher's mind but never reach his lips when preaching to nonseminarians.
Education Which Excludes
The generation to which we preach is largely an educated generation. It is, how ever, an education that excludes the science of salvation. We tend to forget that giants in education are often mere babes in spiritual growth. The profound thoughts of Christ need to be preached with simple speech as He Himself taught them.
The average man stands amazed in the presence of the verbiage concealing Jesus the Nazarene. He has only a vague idea of the meaning of such words as existentialism, immanence, noetic, antinomianism, empiricism, and the like. If the answers we give to men can only be understood by those with an IQ of 150, then we are caught in a religion available only to people who are smart enough to understand it.
Modern man's soul thirsts for simple Christianity. Some Greeks came to Philip and said, "Sir, we would see Jesus" (John 12:21). The same question is current in the aching souls of men today. The simple news of a Spirit-filled evangelist will constantly be, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
Unborn, Stillborn, Reborn
The preacher's primary task is not to preach a social gospel, politics, or science. His task is to preach redemption, righteousness by faith, and regeneration in Christ. Too much preaching today is about living for people who haven't been born yet. Spiritually speaking, pagans are unborn. Christians, having only a knowledge of Christ, are stillborn. A true Christian is reborn. The evangelist's task is to preach Christ until the unborn and the stillborn are reborn. This means more than peddling good advice about living. Primarily, it means revival in the heart of the preacher.
The preparation of the heart is of all the most important. . . . The bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness must shine into the heart of the worker and purify his life, before light from the throne of God can shine through him to those in darkness.1
His life must be reborn and consecrated. In the sanctuary of the Israelites not even a candle snuffer was thought fit to be used unless it was first consecrated.
Being a preacher means saying with Paul, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ" (Rom. 1:16). Those who know the power of a conquering Saviour will not permit themselves to be driven into foxholes of fear. It means lighting an evangelical fire rather than cursing the darkness and condemning the sinner. It means bringing sinners out of the fog and smog of paganism into the brilliant blaze of the resurrection truth.
Confounding Vocabulary
This is not accomplished by filling sermons with a mass of philosophical verbiage. The task of an evangelist is not to impress sinners with his accumulated knowledge. I have heard some preachers philosophize on the Christian life with a vocabulary to confound 95 per cent of the audience. On the other hand, I have heard men who hold double doctorates preach with such simplicity and power that primary school students are pricked in their hearts.
When a man fills his sermon with big words to get a simple idea across, he may not necessarily understand his subject fully, but when a man uses simple words to explain a profound truth he surely understands that truth thoroughly.
God's good news of salvation is not to be darkened by extravagant language. "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple" (Ps. 119:130). Paul's positive denunciation of Athenian philosophy is pointed and simple (see Acts 17:22-31). Luke, Paul's fellow evangelist, and likewise a man of sound scholarship, has written a Gospel that can be understood and loved by children.
On the other hand, very often a lack of scholarship will tempt a preacher into using words not fully understood by him self. Not only philosophical and theological but also scientific vocabulary is misused. Unfortunately, some have felt that by reading one or two books or magazine articles on evolution or archeology, they can then preach authoritatively on these subjects. They use the technical vocabulary of science, committing many a faux pas.
Good News or Common Rumor?
I once heard a preacher mention in his discourse (among other errors in elementaries) the "fossilized skeletons of the pre-Cambrian strata." Any textbook on the subject would have told him that according to the commonly accepted classification there are no fossils below the Cambrian stratum, although remains of simple forms of life have in recent years been discovered. Even high school students shudder. After evangelistic meetings I have heard them laughing at the preacher for this very reason. When linked with the gospel message, gross misuse of vocabulary and ignorant misstatements make the good news seem no more than common rumor.
Luke the evangelist says, "It seeming good and desirable to me, [I have determined] also after having searched out diligently and followed all things closely and traced accurately the course from the highest to the minutest detail from the very first, to write an orderly account for you" (Luke 1:3, Amplified Bible).* Preaching the gospel is just as sacred a calling as Luke's task of writing the Gospel. There fore, sermon material should likewise be orderly and accurate in both factual con tent and choice of words in order to be acceptable to all.
Christ, when speaking to the intelligentsia of His day, spoke pure truth that was not redundant, verbose, or filled with philosophical uncertainty. Christ aimed primarily at their conscience, not their intellect. His sermon material was intelligent and accurate but His vocabulary was striking for its simplicity.
"Those who will study the manner of Christ's teaching, and educate themselves to follow His way will attract and hold large numbers now, as Christ held the people in His day." 2
Jesus found access to minds by the pathway of their most familiar associations. He disturbed as little as possible their accustomed train of thought. . . . He introduced old truths in a new and precious light.3
Platitudes and mere words do not constitute a true message. When Ahimaaz, despite Joab's advice, ran from the battle field to King David, he brought a platitude of his own devising. "All is well," he said, and then drew up his own philosophical summary of the battle situation: "Blessed be the Lord thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king" (2 Sam. 18:28). His message failed to answer the burning question in David's heart. David wanted to know if his son Absalom was still alive. To the question, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" Ahimaaz could only express uncertainty. The second messenger, alone ordained by Joab to bear the tidings, brought the certain news of Absalom's death.
Panic Spasms
The tendency to run ahead without a real message is still practiced today. Preachers, daring to deceive people into thinking they have a message from God, preach peaceful platitudes, personal philosophies, and uncertain surmisings on sacred subjects. Questions of vital concern are left unanswered in the mind of modern man. Eternal truths are clouded in verbosity. Prayer becomes a panic spasm squeezed into a remnant of time just be fore divine service. Agonization is replaced by organization. Spirit-filled sermons are replaced by moralizing essays, and "Christ" is a dropout for sermon material.
In contrast, when Philippos (literally, "lover of horses") became a lover of souls and went to evangelize the Samaritans he made Christ the center of his sermons. "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. . . . When they believed Philip's preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized" (Acts 8:5-12). Later, to the Ethiopian eunuch he explained the Christcentered prophecy of Isaiah 53.
Christ should be at the climax of all prophetical preaching, the center of all ethical preaching, and the crux of all expository preaching.
No discourse should ever be preached without presenting Christ and Him crucified as the foundation of the gospel.4
Preach the Word so that it will be easy to comprehend. Bring the people right to Jesus Christ, in whom their hopes of eternal life are centered.5
William Temple said, "We can give the world Christ. We cannot give it more, and we dare not give it less." 6
Ambassadors for Christ are to save souls by the uplifted Christ. They are to stand as Aaron stood, between the dead and the living, to stop the plague of sin. They are to preach the divine passwords "repent" and "believe." Let the preacher first be certain he is called to run with a message. Let him reject idle myths and vain philosophizing. Let him refrain from verbosity, proud exhibitionism, and semischolarship. Instead, let him preach a Christ-centered message of sound scholarship and simple words.
* The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1965 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission of the Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506.
