CHAPTER VI

Preaching and Worship  

THE FACT that little has been said about preaching thus far should not be interpreted to mean that preaching is an unimportant part of worship. I have purposely reserved my comments on preaching for this last chapter, assuming that the most important topic deserves the most prominent position.

Charles Reynolds Brown in his excellent volume The Art of Preaching has stated the case for preaching thus:
"The fate of our Protestant Christianity is in my judgment bound up in large measure with the rise and fall of effective preaching. If you will read your church history, reading between the lines as well as along them, you will find it so. There have been countries where the ministers of worship have been privileged to use the best to be found on the surface of the earth in the stately architecture of their church edifices; they have been able to develop and maintain the most ornate and impressive forms of liturgy ever devised by the minds of men; they have been privileged to use the highest expressions of art, having for their altar pieces those paintings which are masterpieces and for the adornment of the niches in their temples, marble statues so nobly wrought by the sculptor's hand that they all but spoke; they have been able to levy tribute upon the best there is in music rendered by wonderful organs and heavenly choirs for the inspiration of listening congregations. And yet, if there was lacking in all this the living voice of a living man 

speaking in the name and under the power of the living God, there came a steady irresistible decline in the religious life of that land...

"And contrarywise, there have been countries where all the appointments of public worship and the whole quality of the spiritual cultus were as cold and as bare as the typical New England Meeting House, set on a bleak hill, painted white, with green shutters and window panes of clear glass cut eight by ten. Yet in the very face of such aesthetic disadvantage, the religious life of that land rose into power and splendor and steadfast devotion through the vitalizing influence of great preaching."—Pp. 19, 20.

My friends, there is no substitute for preaching! In recent decades the liturgical revival has pushed the preacher to one side in favor of an altar. The sermon has been shortened while the liturgy was being lengthened. In 1961 an Episcopalian rector, Stephen F. Bayne, Jr., published a book entitled Enter With Joy. He felt compelled to take his fellow ministers to task for their neglect of preaching. He said:
"Now I want to say something ... about preaching.... Much of the problem we face in worship in our time is due to the fact that we concentrate too much on worship, and not enough on the communication of the Word of God. . . .

"The communication of the Word of God is the heart of all worship; and any service in which this is not an element is an incomplete service."—P. 46.

With this sentiment we agree, but we may be surprised that it is necessary to express it. It reminds us that the sermon is on the defensive. It has lost the interest of many people who are glad to participate in formal liturgy. If this were not true, it would not be necessary to write a passionate defense of the sermon like that found in an editorial of the April 13, 1962, issue of Christianity Today:

"The sermon is no longer important? Preaching is passé? What could Jesus have possibly meant when he ordered men to preach, and that he would be with them in that task, until the `end of the age'? Think of a world where no sermon had ever been 

 preached. History would need to be altered so much! What if Moses, Amos, Jesus, and Peter had not spoken? Imagine having Paul, Savonarola, Luther, Wesley, Moody and Graham in a convention and saying to them, `Preaching is futile; sermons are outmoded!'

"They changed social structures, shattered tyrannies, set the masses free from slavery and superstition, by preaching. Through the proclamation of the Word they saw millions of faces light up like a million neon signs, faces once without a future in them. They witnessed hearts that had been bound to death rise triumphantly in life as Christ from a tomb. Tell that company that preaching was to be dropped on the refuse heap, to be replaced with only candle-burning, bell-ringing, `indirect' instructions, litanies and vespers? Or with youth centers for recreation, and banquets for the elders? With half a hundred committees, and unspirited `action' parleys?

" `There was a man sent of God!' says the shining Chronicle. And some modern ministers will say, `What good is my 20-minute sermon on Sunday morning? All are bored. Many sleep!' Try telling that to John who came `to bear witness of the Light.' His was a strange dress, a stranger diet; his was a Judean boulder for a pulpit, a sky for a tabernacle, a muddy river for a baptistry. His messages were doubtless more than 20 minutes long. They were disturbing, and may have even sounded `dogmatic.' But somebody listened; everybody wasn't bored, and few slept! But John was sent. He wasn't a definer, he was a proclaimer. He had washed his soul in spiritual tides; through prayer he had confronted God; he had toughened his spirit through discipline. He harbored no thought of surrendering his granite pulpit for an 'all-worship' service. Not even if angels lead the processionals and recessionals! . . . Try telling him that a proper liturgy is more important than the proclaimed living Word of the living God!"

We could go on at length refighting this battle, but it is not necessary. Every one of us is convinced of the importance of preaching as compared with liturgy. We recognize that the proclaiming of the Word is central in the worship service. I hope we catch the vision of a balanced service, where Scripture reading, prayer, music, and preaching blend together in spiritual worship.

Only in isolated cases has Adventist preaching been overbalanced by liturgy. Our worship has tended in the other direction. But I am convinced that we do have a problem pertaining to our preaching. While we have seldom sacrificed preaching to liturgy, we have often, I fear, sacrificed it to the fascination of operating a program. I am concerned about the statements I hear my laymen friends make about their ministers. How often they say things like this:
"He is a hard worker, a good administrator, a good financier—but he isn't much of a preacher."

"He is a good visitor, he is kind, he is good with young people— but he can't preach."

"He is sincere and honest, he gets along well with people, everybody respects him—but he surely puts us to sleep on Sabbath morning."

"He is a scholar, he has good ideas, he has a good mind—but he doesn't know how to put it across."

Sometimes preachers seem to take just a little pride in the fact that they can do many other things better than they can preach. Did they ever stop to think that every congregation may include laymen who can excel the preacher as administrators, financiers, public relations men, scholars, and builders? But there is one place where the preacher ought to be without a peer, and that is in the pulpit.

I know it is easier to be a man of affairs, perpetually going here and there, than it is to do the creative work necessary for really good preaching. A preacher must be adept at all these other phases of his work. But I still maintain that there is no substitute for preaching.

When a preacher walks into a place of business on Monday morning to call on one of his parishioners, does this layman recall immediately an inspiring sermon that this preacher delivered two days before? Or does he remember how he was bored, or how his intelligence was insulted? A preacher's influence as he goes about among his members during the week is affected in part by what he does between eleven and twelve o'clock on Sabbath morning.

When a preacher sits with his church board and deals with matters of administration and church management, do his board members respect him because of his effectiveness in the pulpit? Or do they have to find other reasons to respect him?

When a preacher participates in the social life of the church, is his image enhanced by his effectiveness in the pulpit? Or does he have to compensate for pulpit ineptness by endeavoring to compete
in other areas of activity? Again I insist, there is no substitute for preaching!

Leslie Weatherhead has said:
"One of the things that helps me on those mornings when I am tempted to be slack is to think of this: Here am I in this comfortable study, having been given an allowance which at any rate keeps one free from anxiety and worry, and given that monetary allowance by people who are getting a far smaller wage than I get. One toils in a factory, another is in a mill—they are in small homes and they are all helping me on condition—it is a bargain—that when they come to Church next Sunday, I, who have been set aside and been allowed to climb the heights, shall have something to say to them about the dawn."—Quoted in Bader, The Method and Message of the New Evangelism, p. 28.

Yes, the preacher must have "something to say . . . about the dawn." He is more than a church manager, a master of ceremonies—he is a preacher. Only as he performs this function well can the worship of his people be complete.

The relationship between the sermon and the service of worship is commented on by Dobbins in his book The Church at Worship. He says:
"The sermon is not something apart from the preceding worship activities nor are these activities merely preparatory to the sermon. All the other elements of worship are now caught up and illuminated in worship. The preacher as God's prophet, Christ's interpreter, and the Holy Spirit's instrumentality brings light from the revealed Word for the lives of needy listeners. `Preaching,' said Philips Brooks, `is [communication of] truth through personality.' If it is not worshipful, preaching misses its meaning and purpose.

Preaching is worshipful when it presents to the congregation the will of God, the claims of Christ, the meaning of life, and the challenge to life fulfillment. Sadly, not all preaching is thus God-conscious, Christ-mastered, life-centered.

"Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review, in an editorial entitled `Ministerial Corn,' tells of a conversation with a churchgoing farmer. It was on a Sunday and the talk turned to church-going and to preachers. The farmer had become interested in why so many of his neighbors did not attend church, notwithstanding that many of them listed themselves as church members. `My theory is,' he declared, `that too many ministers can officiate but not preach. The Sunday sermon in too many cases has become little more than an endurance feat for those who have to sit through it.' He had visited most of the churches of the community and had studied the sermons heard. He had noted the `singsong' effects achieved by some of the ministers, which left the impression that so much time and effort went into polishing the soundtrack that there was hardly anything left for the meaning. `You almost feel as though you were expected to judge the spiritual value of a sermon by the tonal vibrations.' He observed the repetitious sentences, the awkward literary construction, the grammatical errors, the trite and outworn arguments—in a word, the `ministerial corn.' The farmer admitted that he found exceptions but in too many cases he was exposed to `a heavy artillery in oratory combined with a blank cartridge in ideas.' Obviously such preaching is not worshipful."—Pp. 65, 66.

When preaching is considered as a part of worship, it takes on a new dimension. The preacher is doing more than speaking to the people. He is participating with them in the worship of God. His words are designed to interpret and illuminate the Word of God. As this process goes on, both preacher and people feel a growing love and reverence for the Author of the Word, for Jesus Christ who was Himself the Word made flesh. Worshipful preaching avoids that which is trifling and inappropriate, for it is aware of the presence of God. Worshipful preaching must rise higher than a mere discussion of political or social issues, because the preacher

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 is speaking for God. Worshipful preaching must be Biblical, not in the sense that it will always be a formal exposition of a passage, but in the sense that it is always rooted in the Bible and is always seeking to make the Biblical message clear. Worshipful preaching can never be harsh and vindictive, for such attitudes are foreign to the spirit of the worship of God.

In short, few visions that we can gain will help us more with our preaching than a clear understanding that it is the high point in the worship of God. Jones describes this concept:

"When man comes into spiritual contact with God, that is communion; it is worship. Preaching is spiritual worship of the highest order because by means of it God comes directly to the minds and hearts and consciences of men. Through the preacher he stimulates and challenges all the higher qualities of the soul. Hence preaching is indispensable to mature worship. It is preaching that primarily makes worship mature and keeps it so.... For the perpetuation of evangelical Christianity it is therefore essential that the sermon always be an organic and central part of the worship service. It keeps worship from dissipating into mere feeling." Pp. 260, 261.

It is not without significance that the leading homiletics textbook of the past century, Broadus' On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, includes a final chapter on "Conduct of Public Worship." The author defends this inclusion as follows:

"The close relation between the sermon, both in its preparation and delivery, and the entire service of worship makes it highly appropriate that a treatise on homiletics should end with a consideration of that service."—P. 357.

Broadus reviews the contrasting viewpoints regarding the importance of preaching and declares:
"It needs to be said that the sermon itself is an act of worship and ought to be thought of as an organic part of the service of worship, not something different or as having a greater or less importance than other parts."—Ibid.

He quotes with approval Morgan Phelps Noyes' Yale Lectures on this point:

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" `If the sermon links the worshiper with his Christian heritage in the Bible and the church, if it keeps constantly in touch with "the timely and the timeless," if it lays hold on the worshiper so that as he listens he makes his response not to the preacher but to God whose Word finds the worshiper through the sermon, then legitimately it may be said that the sermon is not distinct from the church's act of worship but is a living part of that worship.' "P. 358.

In the Signs of June 24, 1886, Ellen White made the following statement:
"Much of the public worship consists of praise and prayer, and every follower of Christ should engage in this worship. There is also the preaching service conducted by those whose work it is to instruct the congregation in the Word of God."

This rather casual observation reminds us again of the balance that must be maintained in the services of the church. Praise, prayer, and preaching—all are included. No part of this can be neglected without endangering the integrity of the service, and every function must be performed well. We have asked ourselves the question, "Are we doing our best in matters of music, prayer, and Scripture? Are we organizing our services meaningfully?" With utmost seriousness, let us ask ourselves the question, "Are we doing our best in the pulpit?"

A few years ago in a homiletics class, one of my students gave a report on a nearby church service he had attended. He reported an attractive, well-arranged church building, a good Sabbath School program, good music, a well-arranged church service, a friendly pastor with a good personality, and a horrible sermon! What had happened? Either the pastor had spent all his energy on form and forgotten content, or he may have been unwilling to pay the price that the preparation and delivery of a good sermon cost. Or perhaps he should have been in some profession other than the ministry.

There is a widespread discontent with the quality of Adventist preaching. Laymen who love and respect their ministers confide that they wish they would preach better sermons. Men who travel 

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from church to church and listen to many preachers are concerned about the quality of what they hear. What can we as ministers do to improve this situation?

The suggestions I am about to make are strictly my own. They are not taken from books, neither have I been prompted to say these things. I speak from a tremendous concern which has grown steadily since I began my internship more than thirty years ago. This concern has become more acute since I have been engaged in the training of young ministers. I believe we can lift Adventist preaching to a higher level of excellence if we will give attention to the following matters:

1. We must decide that there is no substitute for preaching. It is true that the men and the committees who determine our professional destinies are often less acquainted with our preaching than they are with our promotional ability, public relations skills, and managerial talent. Our monthly reports do not indicate the quality of our sermons—only the quantity. We may be successful in many areas, yet be deficient as preachers; but our success in other areas should not make us content to be mediocre preachers. The greatest moments of a preacher's life should come between eleven and twelve o'clock on Sabbath morning; and that hour should reach its climax as he stands behind the pulpit, preaching the Word of God.

2. We should be willing to pay the price of becoming good preachers. What is this price? Long hours of exhausting study, often when we are weary from meeting the many other demands of our work; long hours of writing, rewriting, outlining, memorizing, practicing; an unremitting search for relevant sermon materials while we visit, as we carry on our business affairs, as we read the secular press, as we listen to the radio and watch television; hours of creative thought, during which we try to make the Word of God relevant to the needs of our people; hours of devotion when we seek a personal fellowship with God that will enable us to interpret Him correctly—this is the cost of being a good preacher.

Very few public speakers or authors or journalists are expected 

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to produce the output of significant material that the preacher must produce if he is to really be a preacher. And the preacher must do this under the pressure of many other duties. Let me add parenthetically that a preacher would soon cease to produce good sermons if he did not have any other duties. A minister's visiting and church administration and public contacts keep him in touch with life, and without this experience his sermons would soon lose their relevance. If we are to meet God's demands, we must learn how to order our lives so that we can accomplish with grace and effectiveness all of the duties of a minister of the gospel, including the preparation and delivery of good sermons.

3. We must discover what really good preaching consists of. Some men are fluent. They can talk at the drop of a hat. They can assemble a few texts, illustrations, and quotations, and weave them together into a reasonably pleasing sermon with very little real effort. Their motto, as one homiletician has suggested, seems to be, "If they persecute you in one text, flee to another!" But these sermons, taped and transcribed, would turn out to be insipid, banal repetitions of clichlis and commonplaces. Granted, some people may be helped by such sermons. Personality may cover up a multitude of sins. But discerning people will recognize the vacuity of such presentations. Such preaching has gone a long way to cause the current trend which would substitute liturgy for preaching.

Another common type of preaching restricts itself to moralistic themes, current events, and social problems. These sermons may be interesting and well done; but they are not true preaching. Really good preaching is the exposition of the Word of God for the purpose of revealing the gospel of Christ and bringing men to accept the claims of Christ.

Real preaching is Biblical; it preaches Christ; and it preaches for a decision. Ellen White said, "Preach so that the people can catch hold of big ideas and dig out the precious ore hid in the Scriptures."—Manuscript 7, 1894, quoted in Evangelism, p. 169. This type of preaching must be more than superficial repetition of shopworn ideas. It must reflect a real acquaintance with the Word of God and with its Author. The great British rhetorician 

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homiletician George Campbell, in his Lectures on Systematic Theology and Pulpit Eloquence, put the matter well:

"The word of God itself may be, and often is handled unskilfully. Would the preacher carefully avoid this charge, let him first be sure that he hath himself a distinct meaning to every thing he advanceth, and next examine, whether the expression he intends to use be a clear and adequate enunciation of that meaning. For if it is true, that a speaker is sometimes not understood, because he doth not express his meaning with sufficient clearness, it is also true that sometimes he is not understood, because he hath no meaning to express."—P. 115.

4. We must make our preaching relevant to the needs of our people. As has been often said, many preachers are answering questions that people aren't asking. Preachers may become so wrapped up in theological lore that they miss entirely the needs of the people. They are preaching what interests them rather than what can reach the people. This may be particularly true of young preachers fresh from school. They want to try out their brand-new ideas on an unsuspecting congregation; but their listeners soon turn the dial on to another channel, and the speaker goes on, blissfully unaware that he is not being heard. In addition to his theological training, every young preacher should have a good course in psychology, in sociology, and in persuasion. So that he will know better how to reach them, he should learn how individuals and groups behave.

Some evangelists pitch their tents and speak to a society that existed seventy-five years ago—and they wonder why so few listen. Some pastors wonder why their young people are indifferent, not realizing that their young people have no idea what their pastors are talking about. Making our message relevant does not mean that we change it, or water it down, or emasculate it. It simply means that we communicate it, that we put our thoughts into forms which can be grasped by our listeners.

Broadhurst in his biography of Norman Vincent Peale (He Speaks the Word of God) quotes Dr. Peale as follows:
"'I was imbued with everything that I was hearing in the class-

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