“The Foolishness of Preaching”
The Appomattox Court House Presbyterian Church Pulpit
Rev. Cameron S. Smith
The Lord's Day, April 23, 2006
I Corinthians 1:11-13, 21, 25; 3:1-9, 21
"Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls." James 1:21
THE PROBLEM
"For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe…." I am speaking this morning on the foolishness of preaching. Indeed, from casual comments I've heard and overheard from fellow ministers and congregation members over the last ten years - and especially in the wake of our recent week of plenteous Holy Week messages -- you'd think that the only kind of sermons that ever get preached are so-called "longhorn" sermons: A point here; a point there; and a lot of bull in between.
The British Weekly published this provocative letter some time ago:
"It seems ministers feel their sermons are very important and spend a great deal of time preparing them. I have been attending church quite regularly for 30 years and I have probably heard 3,000 of them. To my consternation, I discovered I cannot remember a single sermon. I wonder if a minister's time might be more profitable spent on something else?"
For weeks a storm of editorial responses ensued and finally ended with this letter:
"I have been married for 30 years. During that time I have eaten 32,850 meals--mostly my wife's cooking. Suddenly I have discovered I cannot remember the menu of a single meal. And yet, I have the distinct impression that without them, I would have starved to death long ago."
As I return once more to Scripture, it gently reproves us in saying once more, that "the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men[!]"
I bring this message today as a reminder of the power and grace of God in the foolishness of preaching. This is something that, as church-going people we confess as a matter of course. However, the reality is that we are often prone to tune in only to preachers who preach the way we think preachers are supposed to preach; or preachers who preach on topics and issues that we think are either spiritually edifying or fit for public consumption.
It seems to me that we get so caught up in focusing on our own external demands of preaching that we neglect to "listen for the Word of God." Hebrews 4:12 doesn't speak to preaching, per se, but it does find application in the spoken Word to God's people: "The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." The long and short of it is that God always has something for you, even if you don't find the messenger particularly engaging, charming, entertaining or fascinating.
THE CORINTHIAN PROBLEM
This thought provides a good segue into our text from 1 Corinthians. In the first three chapters of this letter -- of which I selected some excerpts for our reading this morning -- Paul is writing to the Corinthian Church about divisions that have come to his attention. Apparently, these divisions were forming in large measure over personalities in preaching. Note well that the problem isn't false teaching, which is a problem frequently addressed in both Old and New Testaments. There's no pernicious heresy seeping in and driving the faithful away from the truth of the Gospel. No, it's a different kind of animal: It's bickering over which preacher gets the affirming nod. And so, Paul has to spend a sizeable chunk of this pastoral letter dealing with matters of preaching style and preacher persona! The Corinthians were choosing to focus on the messenger and missing what God wanted for them.
The truth is; this was one of many problems facing the Corinthian church. There was sexual immorality within the church, such that Paul could say that it was "of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans[!]" They were bringing lawsuits against one another and thereby tarnishing the name of Christ to an unbelieving world. They were disorganized and chaotic in their worship services. They were abusing the Lord's Table by their drunkenness and selfishness. The more well-to-do members of the congregation were looking down their long spiritual noses at those less wealthy, less cultured brothers and sisters who they considered their inferiors. "Is it any wonder that Greek and Roman authors in the centuries before the rise of Christianity often referred to Corinth as the city of fornication and prostitution! The Greeks had coined the term corinthiazesthai (literally, 'to live a Corinthian life') to describe the city's immorality." [Simon J. Kistemaker, Baker New Testament Commentary, 1 Corinthians]
THE PROBLEM DEFINED & THE PREACHERS
Returning now to the outset of his letter where Paul is addressing seemingly innocent divisions in the church: "It has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, 'I follow Paul,' or 'I follow Apollos,' or 'I follow Cephas…[that is the Aramaic name for the apostle Peter]'"
As a side note, we really have no clue as to the identity of Chloe or "Chloe's people." This is the only place in the Bible where the name appears, and the best we can say here is that Chloe's identity isn't relevant to understanding this passage.
Unbending loyalty given to different preachers within the congregation is causing dissension within this church. One of these preachers is a man by the name of Apollos. Acts 18 describes Apollos: "He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures…And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus….He began to speak boldly in the synagogue….He powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus" (Acts 18:24-26, 28). Apollos was an exciting preacher; never a dull moment, and there was definitely no dozing off during one of his sermons!
The second man is the apostle Peter. There's no evidence that he ever preached in Corinth, but even if he never set foot there, his reputation was certainly well known. From my encounters with Peter in Scripture, I get the impression that he was a passionate preacher, who at the same time, made things simple. He presented the Gospel in a straight-forward, non-academic way; a man of the people. He was after all, a simple fisherman from Galilee.
I get amused when Peter contrasts his own preaching and teaching style with that of the apostle Paul, the third preacher in the mix. "Our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him….[though] there are some things in them that are hard to understand" (2 Peter 3:15-16). Translation: Paul's a tough read, but nevertheless, what he says is important and so it's worth the effort!
Paul himself recognizes his own limitations: "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom….And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom…." (cf. 1 Cor. 2:1-5). However, some in the church continued to criticize Paul for his boring, academic style: "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account" (2 Cor. 10:10).
And lest I forget, who can forget the story of poor Eutychus? (cf. Acts 20:7-9) Paul got up to speak in church and it says that "he prolonged his speech until midnight." Eutychus, bored out of his mind, fell into a deep sleep sitting on the ledge of an open, third story window. And yet still, "Paul talked still longer." Eutychus finally fell out of the window to his death. Oh, the foolishness of preaching!
The upshot is this: Paul may not have been the most engaging preacher, even by his own admission, but can any of us truly say that he didn't bring a needed Word from the Lord?
There you are; three different men of God; three different styles of preaching; three valid ways of bringing the truth to bear on the Church.
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
I confess that God's ways are beyond my finite understanding. From the beginning He chose human messengers to bear His message to the world. He could have done it himself - much better - but he didn't. He did it with Noah. He did it with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In Egypt, he used Joseph in a position of power and Moses in a position of weakness. Closing out the Old Testament, there was the long line of prophets in Israel. With the coming of Jesus, he used Peter, Paul and the rest of the apostles. And now, he uses ordinary preachers who get up each week to bring the Word of God to bear on the lives of those who gather in the name of Jesus to hear it. And yet that's God's way in the world. Oh, the foolishness of preaching!
My friends, you and I are no different from those Corinthian believers in this matter. We tend to major on the minors, don't we? The preacher's skillful, clever delivery or his disorganized mess; the jokes told or not told; the touching stories and illustrations used or the classroom lecture; the speaker's presence or lack thereof; the energy and passion or the drab monotone. The externals do seem to reign supreme. But, above and beyond, a far more important question to our spiritual well-being as individuals and together as the body of Christ is: Are we making an effort to listen for a Word from God, regardless of the externals? Oh, the foolishness of preaching!
I started to title this sermon, "There's No Such Thing as a Bad Sermon." In my estimation, if a preacher is Christ-centered; has a healthy view of Biblical authority and a passion for holiness in his own life and the lives of his congregation, then there is really no such a thing as a bad sermon, only distracted listeners.
I want you to know that this sermon is also aimed at the one preaching today. You must understand that preachers are the world's most notorious critics of colleagues in ministry. We don't listen to sermons, we critique them. We dissect them; we talk about the way the texts were handled or not handled; the list goes on and on.
One of the hardest things a preacher can do is preach a sermon before his peers. I must tell you preaching classes (i.e. Homiletics Labs) in seminary are brutal. So brutal is that reality, that one of my professors made it mandatory that we say at least one nice thing about a fellow classmate's sermon! Oh, the foolishness of preaching!
A SERIOUS SPIRITUAL ROADBLOCK
These habits that I've been describing in both congregations and those of us who preach are actually hazardous to our spiritual growth. Listen to these sobering words: "But I, brothers [and sisters], could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh."
Now, Paul gets to the diagnosis: "For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not being merely human?"
Paul goes on to use a gardening analogy: Paul was the one who planted the seeds; and Apollos watered the plant; but it was God who gave the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters are on the same team. "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth….So let no one boast in men."
SO WHAT?
I offer these closing thoughts for your consideration. These are the very things I've been preaching to myself this week in light of what Paul teaches us through his Corinthian congregation. I note quickly before I offer these three points, that I consider prayer and the study of the Word to be "self-evident" factors that should be factored in up front. These "suggestions are meaningless and impotent apart from those two foundational disciplines!
First of all, if you expect little; little will surely be gained! We must come to worship with high expectations. Ready to offer our hearts and minds to God; ready to listen for that Word. All too often, this is the last things on our minds. Is it little wonder that most pew dwellers think of church worship as a "chore" to be endured? I can only think of the words from the writer of Hebrews, "How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?" (Heb. 2:3)
Secondly, the Bible is a bottomless book. I don't care how long or how in depth you study God's Word; you are never going to exhaust its riches. I was talking on the phone the other day with a lady who was taking a graduate level course in Old Testament Theology. She has probably heard more than a thousand sermons in her lifetime; and yet she was getting good stuff that she had never before considered. The Word is bottomless! God always has something for YOU on Sunday. Come ready!
Thirdly, God's desire is that through the Holy Spirit, you grow and thrive! A good read of 1 Corinthians 2 gives a good summary of the Spirit's work in your life. I think Paul uses this cogent section of his letter to demonstrate the folly of focusing on the messenger rather than the message. It's a supernatural thing; and because it's a supernatuiral thing, God's doing something special in you when you eagerly hear and desire to obey.
THEREFORE....
The mantra this morning has been the refrain, "Oh, the folly of preaching"; but my friends, in reality, you know it's really not foolishness to those who know the power of God to impart words of life…. "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.' Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Cor. 1:18-25).
May that instruct, nourish and prod your faithful hearing of the Word now, and in the future, as you offer up your life for earnest hearing and determined obedience. Amen
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