Article
Bold Preaching
Most veteran pastors can recount some version of the following: ‘I’ve had sermons that I thought were going to rock, and afterwards, nobody said anything. I’ve had others that I thought were stinkers, and someone told me it was the best sermon they ever heard.’
I have had the experience as the moment to preach nears, of feeling excited about presenting certain parts of the sermon, and maybe even imagining how well certain points are going to go over. I have also learned the hard way to see these feelings as warning lights on the dashboard.
I now begin to worry that I am setting myself up to fall flat on my face.
I have also learned the hard way to see these feelings as warning lights on the dashboard.
I have learned in these moments to ask the Lord again for help, reminding him (and myself) that if He does not come through, this whole effort will be a waste of time. Even a disaster. If He does not speak by His Spirit, no one will hear anything worth hearing.
At the top of the list of distinctions for the Great Commission Collective is Bold Preaching. We value “unapologetic exposition and application of the Word of God.” Bold, unapologetic preaching.
If He does not speak by His Spirit, no one will hear anything worth hearing.
But this boldness must come from a posture of dependence. We must be dependant even in our boldness because we simply are not up to it. We’re incapable of this task. The Apostle Paul seemed to emphasize this in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2.
We have a foolish message (1:21). We preach Christ crucified, but this is folly to those who do not believe (1:22-23). And we are foolish preachers (1:27-28). God has chosen those described as weak, low, and despised in the world to convey his word. Even Paul, himself, came with weakness and fear and trembling, not relying on lofty rhetoric (2:1-3). Foolish preachers with a foolish message.
Of course, that is not the end of it. Paul goes on to say that faith does not rest in the ‘wisdom’ of this world, but in the power of God (2:5). We preach a different kind of wisdom, a wisdom from the Lord himself (2:6,7). Paul’s focus is on the crucified Christ (1:23, 2:2). This is foolish to the world, but to those who are called it is the wisdom and power of God. That is something to preach in a bold, unapologetic way.
This is foolish to the world, but to those who are called it is the wisdom and power of God.
David Jackman has trained generations of preachers through the Cornhill Training Course in the UK. I once heard him say that we take the word of God and the Spirit of God to do the work of God among the people of God. That captures it for me. That is a statement of dependence. But also one that allows my boldness to be focused in the right place.