Week 16, Day 3: Preaching Like John the Baptizer
Today’s Reading: Matthew 5:1-6:34
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
There seems to be a move in the religious world today, and even among those in the Lord’s church, to soften the preaching of the gospel message. Just recently, I read a blog post in which the author opined that we need to preach more like Jesus. In the context of his writing, he meant that we need to be more loving, and more soft in delivering the message found in scripture. This mentality seems to be the prevailing thought! However, it does not take into consideration the method and manner in which the first century preachers spoke. It seems that we are moving toward (if we have not already reached the point) of training ourselves to want “professional preachers” who will dress according to our pre-determined dress code and speak softly, no matter the subject under consideration, and who will not offend anyone with anything that he says. Let’s compare that to Matthew’s account of John’s preaching in Matthew chapter 3.
First, in Matthew 3:4, Matthew gives us a description of John. Based on that alone, John would not be allowed to enter into the pulpit of most churches. Even by the day’s standards, John was rough looking. How often today do we let the manner of dress deter us from being willing to listen to the message that is delivered? I am not suggesting that we need to try and purposefully offend with our dress, but to set the standard as being a 3 piece suit with tie is purely devised by man. How many churches wouldn’t think of letting the preacher preach if he were to show up without a tie, or a suit jacket? How many would not let John preach? Perhaps we should reconsider our purely superficial standards for what makes one “qualified” to preach!
Secondly, consider the message presented by John. We sometimes walk around on egg shells for fear that we might offend someone with the message of scripture. However, John started his message with a striking thought. In Matthew 3:7, John called his audience a “brood of vipers.” I am sure he meant that in the most loving way! His message was one designed to warn the people of their impending doom if they did not make the changes that God was demanding of them. He told them not to rely upon their Jewish heritage to save them, for God could raise up children of Abraham from the stones. He told them that they could be cut down and thrown into the fire. His message was not one of comfort, or peace to them. He was harsh and very plain spoken. How many of these types of lessons would a church today be willing to hear before deciding that it was “time for a change”?
Unfortunately, there seems to be a movement among churches to want their ears scratched rather than hearing what is needed. And, there are plenty of preachers who are willing to give the churches just what they want. There is a need for all preachers (myself included) to evaluate ourselves and see if we are indeed preaching like the first century preachers preached. Are we willing to say the hard things, the things that are not accepted so easily? Or are we the type of preachers who dress nicely, speak kindly, and never offend? If that is the case, we will make many soft Christians, who are never taught what is necessary to be pleasing to God. People are offended by the gospel message. In fact, far more are offended than are accepting of it. That was the case in the first century, and it is the case today. If we find something different, then we better check our preaching, and see where we have left the first century gospel! We should want to be preachers like John, and Jesus, and Paul and Peter, and Stephen. Yet every one of those men offended their audiences enough to lose their lives. Would our preaching have done the same thing?