A few weeks ago, I found myself reading comments on a Facebook thread that I am connected to. As I read the varied posts, the moderator of the community posed a question to the group that caused me to pause and ponder the possibilities of an answer.
The query that ignited my intellect was this: “Preachers, why don’t we preach what Jesus preached?”
As I read the question, I felt my heart drop a little. I found myself embarrassed by the truth at the center of the interrogative. While the statement did not shock me, the notion that there are brothers and sisters who have been called to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ that have forsaken their Divine assignment bothered me. I wasn’t bothered because I was unaware of the issue nor was I was bothered because of how the issue came into question. In full disclosure, I was bothered because the query (rightfully) forced me to deal with the uncomfortable truth of the matter.
Reading the question felt like hearing my favorite family member had an addiction problem that the whole family knew about but no one ever talked about seriously. If the emotions behind my example are true, then I shuddered at the possibility of my colleagues and I being ecclesiastical enablers while our partners in ministry labor with the illness of an impotent gospel.
“…Why don’t we preach what Jesus preached?”
The short and stinging answer is because many of our present-day pulpiteers have adopted more attractive alternatives to the Gospel. From prosperity gospel to pop psychology, there are other, more popular, sources of sermon content. But perhaps, there is more to this troubling trend than just a choice to capitulate to the convenient. Perhaps asking this question not only prompts us to challenge those who preach but to also challenge the culture of the churches those preachers preach in. Might it be the case that many of our houses of faith are more concerned with the benefits of relevance than they are with the burden of revelation? And this fascination with fetishes narrows the space for that woman or man of God to preach what Jesus preached. The contemporary sanctuary space can pressures many a preacher to spend more time in the performative and less time in the prophetic.
Preachers also may be disinclined to preach what Jesus preached because of the implications of that type of preaching. Preaching messages of universal love, uncompromising critique of empire, care for those in need, forgiveness (and the like) are not the type of messages that typically get you public acclaim or affirmation. That type of preaching is not often retweeted, googled, YouTubed or requested for annual revivals. That type of preaching will instead leave the preacher to deal with criticism, complaint
Now, by no means am I offering an excuse for why preachers aren’t preaching what Jesus is most pleased with. Nor do these factors remove the preacher from their accountability to preach the Gospel (the call is to preach the Gospel “in season and out of season”). But, perhaps identifying the viruses that create the sickness of paralyzed preaching can help us to cure it and convict us back into preaching what Jesus preached.
Packed out places of worship with muted ministers at the front of them can no longer be the standard by which successful ministry is measured. Reinstalling Jesus’ teachings into our messages will only happen when we reinforce how important they are. If what we preach makes our congregations shout while simultaneously making Christ cry, if we name drop Jesus once a week without attempting to say what Jesus felt was important enough to say, then we have emptied our preaching (our pulpits) of their power.
When we preach what Jesus preached, voice is given to those who have had their voices stolen by their situations, the undesirable are given dignity, believers are built into the disciples God desires for us all to be, a nation is forced to look at herself for what she is (whether she wants to or not) and an empire is dismantled and rebuilt with God’s righteousness at the foundation.
The power in a pulpit is directly connected to the message that is preached from it. Our Redeemer ought be worth repeating and too many place higher value on the sermons of other men than they do the sermons of their Savior.
May pastors, preachers & parishioners alike be wary of preaching with no Jesus in it. May the Holy Spirit steer us away from preaching that devalues Jesus. Lord, keep us from powerless pulpits.
