Keller - Preaching: communicating faith in an age of skepticism

I NTRODUCTION : T HREE L EVELS OF THE M INISTRY OF THE W OR D

A ustralian theologian Peter Adam argues that what we call preaching, the formal public address to the gathered congregation on a Sunday, is only one form of what the Bible describes as the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:2, 6:4).

On the day of Pentecost Peter cited the words of the prophet Joel, who said that God would pour out his Spirit on all his people, and as a result your sons and daughters will prophesy (Acts 2:17). Gerhard Friedrich, in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, says that there are at least thirty-three Greek words in the New Testament usually translated as preaching or proclaiming. Adam observes that these words describe activities that could not all be public speaking. For example, Acts 8:4 says that all the Christians except the apostles went from place to place proclaiming the Messiah. This cannot mean that every believer was standing up and preaching sermons to audiences. Priscilla and Aquila, for example, explained the Word of Christ to Apollos in their home (Acts 18:26).

We can discern at least three levels of Word ministry in the Bible. Paul calls all believers to let the message of Christ dwell among you richly and to teach and admonish one another with all wisdom (Colossians 3:16). Every Christian should be able to give both teaching (didaskalia, the ordinary word for instruction) and admonition (noutheoa common word for strong, life-changing counsel) that convey to others the teachings of the Bible. This must be done carefully, though informally, in conversations that are usually one on one. That is the most fundamental form of the ministry of the Word. Lets call it level 1.

At the more formal end of the spectrum are sermons: the public preaching and exposition of the Bible to assembled gatherings, which we could call level 3. The book of Acts gives us many examples, mainly drawn from the ministry of Peter and Paul, though also including an address by Stephen that probably summarizes his path-breaking teaching. Acts gives us so many of these public addresses that we could almost say that, from the point of view of Luke (the author), the development of the early Christian church and the development of its preaching were one and the same.

There is, however, a level 2 form of the ministry of the Word between informal, every-Christian conversation and formal sermons. In an overlooked passage the apostle Peter describes the spiritual gift of speaking:

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of Gods grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:1011).

When Peter speaks of spiritual gifts he uses two very general terms. The first is the word for speaking: lalein. In the rest of the New Testament this word can denote simple daily speech between anyone (Matthew 12:36; Ephesians 4:25; James 1:19). It can also refer to a preaching ministry, as with Jesus (Matthew 12:46 and 13:10) or Paul (2 Corinthians 12:19). What is Peter talking about here?

When we map this passage over Pauls gift lists in Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, we see that there is a whole category of Word-ministry gifts that function in ways beside public preaching to the assembled Sunday congregation. It includes personal exhortation or counseling, evangelism, and teaching individuals and groups. Biblical scholar Peter Davids concludes that when Peter writes of the spiritual gift of speaking he is not referring to casual talk among Christians, nor... referring only to the actions of [pastors] or other church officials but rather to Christians with one of these verbal gifts of counseling, instructing, teaching, or evangelizing. In this category of ministry, Christian men and women arent preaching per se; they prepare and present lessons and talks; they lead discussions in which they are presenting the Word of Christ.

Even though Peter is not only talking to public speakers he warns those who present the Word to others in any form to take their task seriously. He adds that when Christians teach the Bible their speech should be as... the very words of God (1 Peter 4:11). Davids notes that the little word as allows a slight distancing between their speaking and Gods words. No Christian should ever claim that his or her teaching is to be treated with the same authority as biblical revelation; nevertheless, Peter makes the powerful, eye-opening claim that Christians who are presenting biblical teaching are not to be simply expressing their own opinion but giving others the very words of God. Just as in public preaching, Christians are to convey the truth as they understand it to be revealed in the Scriptures. And if they explain the meaning of the Bible faithfully, listeners will be able to hear God speaking to them in the exposition. They are listening not merely to an artifact of human ingenuity but, as it were, to the very words of God.

Every Christian needs to understand the message of the Bible well enough to explain and apply it to other Christians and to his neighbors in informal and personal settings (level 1). But there are many ways to do the ministry of the Word at level 2 that take more preparation and presentation skills yet do not consist of delivering sermons (level 3). Level 2 today may include writing, blogging, teaching classes and small groups, mentoring, moderating open discussion forums on issues of faith, and so on.

This book aims to be a resource for all those who communicate their Christian faith in any way, particularly at levels 2 and 3.

The Irreplaceability of Preaching

It is dangerous, then, to fall into the unbiblical belief that the ministry of the Word is simply preaching sermons. As Adam says, that will make preaching carry a load which it cannot bear; that is, the burden of doing all the Bible expects of every form of ministry of the Word. No church should expect that all the life transformation that comes from the Word of God (John 17:17; cf. Colossians 3:1617 and Ephesians 5:1820) comes strictly through preaching. I shouldnt expect to be shaped into Christlikeness even by listening to the best sermons. I also need other Christians around me who are handl[ing] the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) by encouraging me, instructing me, and counseling me. I also need the books of Christian authors whose writings build me up. Nor is it right to expect that those outside the church who need to hear and understand the gospel will be reached only through preaching. I myself found faith not through listening to preaching and speaking but through books. (Is anyone surprised by that?) We must beware of thinking the Sunday sermon can carry all the freight of any churchs ministry of the Word.