PREACHING is a means ordained of God whereby God and man come together in communion and communication. As the believer listens to the Word of God in proclamation, he accepts it as the Word of God which is at work in him (1 Thess. 2:13). The solemnity and beauty of this truth must ever be with us as we go about our task of preaching the Word.
It is in this context, the communion between God and man, that man is instructed in the way and will of God. Preaching instructs and informs man with respect to the life that he should live what he should be, what he should do, and how he should do it. Notice again Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 2:
For you remember our labor and toil, brethren; we worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you, while we preached to you the gospel of God. . . . For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory (verses 9-12, R.S.V.).
Preaching therefore must involve the proclamation of truth or truths having to do with faith and morals.
But what truths! Does the preacher proclaim what he thinks is true? No, he preaches what God says is true. How does he know what God says does God reveal it to him? Yes, God's Spirit prompts him and illuminates his mind, since in the act of proclamation the Word of God is present. But the preacher is not a prophet possessing the gift of prophecy. Like all of God's people in every generation he must look to the prophet for a word from the Lord.
It is at this point that the Bible becomes indispensable to preaching so indispensable, in fact, that we can say, A sermon that is not an exposition of a Bible truth is not a sermon!
When we preach, we pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We trust that He will move upon us, upon our minds and hearts. We trust that He will speak through us so that we will speak God's Word not our own. And yet, we must ever keep in mind a statement found in the introduction to The Great Controversy, page vii:
The Spirit was not given nor can it ever be bestowed to supersede the Bible; for the Scriptures explicitly state that the word of God is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested.
The preacher stands in the pulpit as God's spokesman. Upon him rests the responsibility of proclaiming the Word of God, by which men will be ushered into the presence of God introduced personally to their Lord and Saviour. Upon him rests the responsibility of teaching the Word of God instructing men in the principles of faith and the practice of obedience. He is called upon to communicate the great truths that God has revealed to man through His holy prophets. To do all this acceptably he must be prepared for his work.
First, he must have such a knowledge of the Bible that he can communicate the truths it reveals to those who do not have such knowledge. He must understand clearly what God has said and is saying in His Word. If the preacher does not understand, how will his hearers understand? This, of course, presupposes that the they can be understood rationally as well as experientially by the mind as well as by the heart.
Second, he must know how to communicate the truths revealed. He is not simply to open his mouth and "let the Spirit take over." An emotional experience engendered in this way may be very "meaningful" to some hearers, but it can hardly be called preaching in the sense that Paul uses the word in 1 Thessalonians 2. When the content of preaching is the authoritative Word of God, we are informed of how we may "lead a life worthy of God." The communication of the Word therefore, must have a clarity and coherence that will enlighten the mind and lead the hearers into an exercise of the will.
It is because the proclamation of the Word speaks to the intellect as well as to the heart that we are concerned for the how of preaching. How are we to preach so that the truths of God's Word are proclaimed with power unto salvation?
Let us begin to answer this question by focusing upon two qualities that ought to be found in every sermon, (1) clarity and (2) coherence.
When one exclaims, "Oh, now I see what you mean," he means that what was unclear has now become clear. When one says with some show of perplexity, "I don't follow you," he means that what he has heard doesn't "hang together," it is an affront to the powers of reason, it is not coherent.
In recent years, with the emphasis on personal relationship in encounter theology, and ecstatic experience in the charismatic movement, clarity and coherence in preaching have been sorely neglected, if not entirely cast out.
In considering the how of preaching we shall give attention to those principles and practices that make for clarity and co truths of Scripture are such that coherence.
