[This is the second in a series on preaching stimulated by John Stott’s book Between Two Worlds. It was prepared originally for the Bradenton Herald and appeared there on May 9, 2009.]
A preacher has an intriguing job. Weekly, at least, he stands in front of a group of people and tells them what to do and think. Who else (besides third world dictators) gets to do that?
And who else gets to do that with such immediate feedback? The feedback is, however, coded: “Good sermon” may mean no more than, “I agree.” “Interesting” translates as “You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?”
But DO we expect others to believe or agree with what preachers say? Why should preachers have any more inherent authority than, say, Rush Limbaugh?
The answer depends largely on the individual preacher, what he says, and how. But clearly if the authority of the preacher resides solely in him, then his words occupy no unique space and can be embraced or discounted according to the whims of the listener.
Perhaps the preacher derives his authority from the church in whose pulpit he stands. For a church to set a man apart implies that the body is granting to that man some authority to speak in its name. Is that sufficient? Should we accept and believe what the preacher says because of the eminence of the church behind him?
Yes, to some degree. It is better to hear from a man who has the approbation of others. But is the church that which gives the preacher’s words their ultimate authority? No.
What makes the preacher unique is that he is not, if he is doing what he is supposed to do, rehearsing his own clever ideas to impress a consenting audience. He is, rather, seeking to represent and explain the Bible.
I remember once standing before a group of Kenyan pastors who had come to hear me speak. Me. Not Billy Graham. Not John Stott. Me. My thought then was that I had nothing to say to these fine men. Nothing. Only if what I said accurately reflected Biblical truth would my words have any significance for these men. It is the Bible that gives the preacher authority.
But even to see this is not to have climbed the ladder far enough. The Bible is a book. A good book. A culturally influential book. But the preacher’s authority is grounded in this book only if we understand that this book’s author has authority. The preacher has authority because what he preaches arises from a book whose author is God himself.
To think this way has huge implications for the humility of the preacher. It has implications as well for those who hear sermons. The authority of the message resides in God. When we hear a message whose roots are in Scripture, we are not hearing a mere man speaking mere words. We are, in a very real sense, listening to God speak to us.
If I believed that, I would, as a preacher, be very careful about what I say. And if I believed that, I would, as a listener, be very excited about getting to a church on Sunday!