Fellowship - Lesson 20 - Preaching

Fellowship – Preaching

Lesson 20: Preaching

Introduction

We come now to our final lesson in our course on fellowship. We have chosen to speak about preaching as our last topic as everything that we do as a fellowship involves preaching. By who we are, the things that we do together, the way that we act when apart and together, and in all our activities we are preaching.

Peter Adam defines preaching as “the explanation and application of the word in the assembled congregation of Christ.” God’s Truth is declared by the preacher, and its meaning is brought home to those who listen. Preaching, though, is ultimately divine activity. J. I. Packer says that it is “the event of God Himself bringing to an audience a Bible-based, Christ-related, life-impacting message of instruction and direction through the words of a spokesperson.” If this is preaching, then just how important is it? William Greenhill answers, “Where the Word of God is not expounded, preached and applied to the several conditions of the people, there they perish.”

The Puritan John Flavel, tireless (and fearless) servant of Jesus Christ, insisted that the only preaching which would do him good must be “hissing hot.” He didn’t mean he wanted a noisy or showy man in the pulpit, but one who was utterly committed to showing from the Word who Jesus is and why he is therefore so gloriously all-important. Only that sort of preaching brings light and life.

The Emmaus road gives us a vital principle (Luke 24:25–27, 45): hearts that hear Christ in his Word and are opened to him are burning hearts. Those which hear just the Bible, however interesting or even moving the exposition may be, soon grow cold.

Handling the Word Rightly

So how do we preachers handle the Bible faithfully and accurately so that Jesus is seen in every passage, and everything that we do? After all, many passages of Scripture (and probably most) have no evident reference to Jesus, and the connections we preachers try to make can sound forced and leave our listeners maybe rightly unconvinced. How do we preach Christ from every Scripture so that we are not misinterpreting parts of the Bible, or leaving our hearers in a muddle?

Preachers know that this is a vast area of debate, and different opinions set as hard and as fast as concrete on the subject of preaching Christ from all the Scriptures. My own conviction is that we need to be sensitive to what the text is saying in its context, and then fully alive to the progress of redemptive history in which that text (and context) finds its place.

Take Judges 3, where Ehud slays the Moab king Eglon and thereby frees God’s people from slavery. The preacher will speak of the courage of God’s rescuer, an unlikely outsider called to deliver, and the new chapter of freedom for a rebellious people who follow him. Judges is preoccupied with the themes of God’s grace to rebels through the provision of leaders, weak though those leaders often were. Those leaders, including Ehud, are marked by many sins, including pride, cowardice, unbelief, and lack of wisdom. In their best moments as well as their worst, they make us think of a strong leader, though a seemingly unlikely one, who risked his life—and gave it up at the cross—defeating sin and death, and bringing freedom to repentant and trusting captives.

Is that too easy an example? So, what about the passages that don’t seem to explore the dominant Bible themes of sin and redemption? Where is Jesus, say, in the protracted romance of Jacob and Rachel, or in the portioning of the land to the Israelite tribes under Joshua, or in the terrible personal conflicts of the prophets, or in the tears of the widows of Elijah and Elisha’s day? And how can we speak of Jesus when we read of the temple pillars’ pomegranates?

No text is ever properly handled if people aren’t led into its truth that Jesus is center-stage in God’s drama.

In all these places and ten thousand more, Jesus speaks, and he speaks of himself. He speaks through those frustrated hearts and assigned acres and worship artifacts, and they all lead us to him as we understand that the Bible has one plotline, and that every detail—every one—leads us on in the unfolding of that plot. As Sinclair Ferguson says, “From Genesis 3:15 to the end, the Bible is the story of God the Warrior coming to the aid of His people in order to deliver them from the kingdom of darkness and to establish his reign among, in and through them.” So wherever you see tears, beauty, riches, or worship in the Bible, you are seeing glimpses of the One in whom all these things find their ultimate value and significance.

Let this sink in, and let it shape your Bible reading and your preaching. No text is ever properly handled if people aren’t led into its truth that Jesus is center-stage in God’s drama. We must therefore read Scripture expecting to see him, his unfolding victory, and his tender grace on all its pages.

Comfort Hearts with Truth

When we preach, it is to those who are mostly weary, tempted, and weak in faith. We teach them, but we aim to do more than that. We aim to see their hearts comforted by the truth we teach them. Therefore we prepare, pray over, and then declare the truth as it is found in Jesus in order to call our hearers to give themselves to Jesus with renewed hope. The preacher breaks the bread in such a way that the Ecclesia feeds on Christ from every Scripture.

John Newton wrote to a friend to encourage him in his Christian walk. Of Jesus Christ he said, “To view him by faith, as living, dying, reigning, interceding and governing for us, will furnish us with such views, prospects, motives, and encouragements, as will enable us to endure any cross, to overcome all opposition, to withstand temptation, and to run in the way of his commandments with an enlarged heart.”

This is what we are doing in our preaching. Preaching knows no greater goal, and allows no lesser one.

End of course

We have come to the end of our course; at this point we wish to draw your attention to the fact that in every chapter we have seen ways in which we can preach:

- Section 1: What is the Christadelphian community

• Introduction - What is a church? - We are a separate different people, not like those around us (2 Corinthians 6:17) – people will see the difference in us – this is a form of preaching

• The CoOperative – We work together to benefit the whole of our community (1 Corinthians 3:9) – this is a form of preaching

• A Jewish community – Our Jewishness makes us distinctive; “we are Abrahams seed and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:29) as such we will be sought out (Zechariah 8:23) – this is a form of preaching.

• The basis of unity – We are united as one people, leading us to live in peace (Psalm 133:1) – people seek peace (Isaiah 48:22) – this is a form of preaching

• Acting as servants – Quite contrary to the world we seek the benefit of the whole over personal benefits (Phillippians 2:4) treating others as more important than self (Matthew 23:11) – this attitude is a form of preaching.

- Section 2: Working together

• Charity – Our kindness to others, whether they deserve our kindness or not mimics the merciful grace of our Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:45-48) – our grace is a form of preaching

• Decision making – We base our decisions upon the wisdom contained in Gods Word, this makes us as wise as Solomon (2 Chronicles 9:1) – the fame of our wisdom is a form of preaching

• Dispute resolution – People come to us to resolve their disputes, sometimes our halls are used as courtrooms (1 Corinthians 6:3) – our justice is a form of preaching

• Colonialism – The colonial way of preaching from a pulpit is not the Biblical way to preach – all our activities are a form of preaching not forcing people to sit on uncomfortable pews attending a Church (Matthew 15:2-3) – we do not follow such antiquated practices in our preaching.

• Changing Ecclesia – All our Ecclesias are one Ecclesia. The Ecclesia are a congregation of people, not a Church building (1 Corinthians 3:16-17) – the people preach, not the building.

- Section 3: The table of the Lord

• The emblems – our disappearing off to the Meeting Place each week at a specific time in our “Sunday best” will get noticed by those around us. They will see our loyalty to obeying our Lords command and they will ask about our faith (1 Peter 3:15) to which we will have a ready answer – this is a form of preaching.

• Fellowship with God – if we have fellowship with God, then we will be blessed according to the promise made to Abraham (Genesis 12:3); others will want this blessing – this is a form of preaching

• Dealing with isolation – others will see that we are cheerful despite our isolation. They will see us disappearing to meet with other Brothers and Sisters. There is strength in our small numbers (Judges 7) – This is a form of preaching

• Knowing your members – we are a closely knit community, knowing and caring for one another, helping each other on that narrow path that leads to life (Matthew 7:14) – who would not want to be a part of that – this is a form of preaching

• Who owns that hall? - Our halls are at the center of community life, not just Ecclesial life. The whole community will go to our hall for education, for healing, for judgment (Matthew 9:35; Mark 13:9) – Here they will hear about the Word of God - this is a form of preaching.

- Section 4: Our activities

• Fraternal gatherings – our community gatherings are a form of preaching

• Ecclesial schools – our schools are a form of preaching

• Speaking away – where-ever we travel, what-ever we do we will always speak as the oracles of God (1 Peter 4:11); the Word of God will always be upon our lips (Job 33:3) – this is a form of preaching.

• Fundraising – whilst raising funds for an Ecclesial event we will come into contact with many people; certainly we will tell them why we are doing what we are. If there is free food around then countless will be attracted (Matthew 14:21) – this is a form of preaching

Preaching

As can be seen from above, all our work involves some form of preaching. From time to time however we will be involved in specialized activities to proclaim the gospel.

• Bible lecture

  Every Sunday Evening my Ecclesia proclaim the gospel with a speaker outlining what the Bible has to say about a specific first principles Bible topic. The topic is advertised locally and the general public are invited in to hear the gospel preached. The whole Ecclesia attends and from time to time one of our interested friends comes to listen. Many have come into the Truth by hearing the gospel proclamation talks.

• First principles discussion

  There are many places where people “mill around” with nothing to do. They may be waiting in a hospital queue (they might even be hospitalized); they may be waiting for a train to arrive. These types of people are often bored and have nothing better to do. Why not go down, stand yourself on a soap-box and start a discussion going about a Bible topic.

• Debate

  Debates are not for the fainthearted and you really have to know your topic extremely well. Ask a local Priest or Pastor to debate with you over a topic like “the Devil”; invite an audience – it is amazing how many will attend.

• Online video

  Places like YouTube are a fantastic place to put a preaching video. Many of us now have mobile phones that allow us to upload video easily.

• Newspaper advert

  Newspapers normally charge a small fee for this.

• Poster display

  Before postering an entire city with photocopied Bible talk invites, make sure that the local authorities are happy with you doing that.

• Billing

  Everyone enjoys getting a letter; especially if that letter is a personal invite by a neighbour that is placed directly into their hands.

• Seminar

  Seminars are similar to classroom teaching. There are plenty of modern CBM Seminar courses available.

• Mail-drop

  Everyone likes something for free. Go along to your local post office. For a small fee they will allow you to put a small letter into every mailbox. A simple message along the lines of… “SMS this number for a free Bible correspondence course delivered to your mailbox” - last time I did this in a village – we had over 500 respond to just 1,000 letters. The whole mail-drop cost us less than 5,000/- and resulted in baptisms.

• Out-reach

  Joining with other Brothers and Sisters in a predetermined location to preach together is a great way to spend a week or two.

Final Words

I have written this series of articles upon fellowship because I see much that is wrong, not just with the fellowship in Tanzania and greater Africa, but also with the fellowship and preaching of the global North. It might seem that I have now written exhaustively upon this topic; but I realize that I have only just skimmed to surface. Our fellowship is special, we are unlike any other group in the world. The Christadelphian community is not a church like any of the other churches that are around it. It is unique in its structure, and unique in its make up. A Christadelphian Ecclesia does not have a hyrarchy of Bishops, Deacons, Pastors, Linkmen, Fathers, Popes, Teachers, Rabbi, Kohan or Priests (in the church sense of those terms; Matthew 23:7-8); no member is more important than any other - “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28), and Christ is seen as the head (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12).

Fellowship is central to this Jewish way of life. It is fellowship that binds Christadelphians together and what makes them into the body of Christ (Eph. 4:12). Each part of the Brotherhood working separately yet guided centrally by the Word of God (Psalm 119:105), in perfect unity (Romans 12:4-5) based on Bible principles that are commonly believed and commonly accepted as the guiding force in our lives (Jer. 10:23) leading us to salvation (2 Timothy 3:15-17).

It is my hope and my prayer that this course will not be seen as a misanthropic condemnation of our current state; but may it invigorate our community to “be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as [we] know that [our] labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58).