p. 380 | Preach the Word by Editor

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Dec 19, 1878

“Preach the Word.”

By Editor

THIS was the injunction written by the apostle Paul, and he faithfully carried it out in his own ministry. Luke affirmed that he “reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging [proving by citations, see Greenfield], that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is the Christ.” Acts 17:2, 3. The sermon of Stephen, though cut short by the rage of his enemies, is another specimen of preaching the word of God.

We were led to remark not long since that the majority of sermons, so called, are not sermons at all. Many of them are well written and well read essays, on topics political, moral, general, or even religious; but they are not sermons; the writing and reading of them is not preaching. Strike off the texts and they would make good leading editorials for a high-toned secular newspaper. This is as highly as we could possibly recommend them. The following extract is from a notice of a discourse by Dr. Parker of London :

“The sermon was one of a series of Sunday evening discourses, in which he was expounding the book of Nehemiah. The expository style being so much more commonly used in Great Britain than by American preachers, this seemed a peculiarly favorable time to study it at its best. Especially were we glad to hear him in it, as Dr. Parker himself spoke with much enthusiasm of the necessity of feeding the people with ‘great masses of Scripture,’ and with some contempt of the opposite method of taking a mere pinch of Scripture words with which to flavor a very copious dilution of human speculation. Solid gospel meat seemed to him much better than the poor water-gruel some ministers offer, on whose surface a text may float which has no vital connection with it.”

That is an excellent picture of the modern essay style, which is called sermonizing. “A mere pinch of Scripture words with which to flavor a very copious dilution of human speculation.” Dr. Chalmers, in his book entitled The Ministry of the Gospel, thus deals with the modern sermon :

“It is not preaching the gospel to select a phrase of really no moral significance, or the relation of some incidental event, and make this the basis of what we call a sermon. For instance, suppose we take for our text Luke 24:13: ‘And behold two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three-score furlongs.’

“We might begin by a learned discussion on the length of a Jewish furlong; we might compare it with the Roman measures of distance, with the Persian parasang, with the furlong in use among us; and thus determine, with apparent accuracy in miles, rods, and yards, how far Emmaus was from Jerusalem. We might then inquire where this village stood, whether east, west, north, or south from Jerusalem, and inform our audience of all the places now existing which have been taken for this locality, with the reasons which have been adduced in favor of each. If, as might be the case, the preacher himself had visited Jerusalem, he might tell us of the labor he had spent in the personal investigation of this subject; how carefully he had paced the distance between Jerusalem and the various localities which claimed to be the village of Emmaus. He might describe the nature of the soil; the loveliness of a summer morning in Judea; the face of the country; the conversation of his Arab guides, and their incessant call at every turn of the road for additional bucksheesh. Finally, he might return to the point whence he commenced, by confessing that, with all his laborious inquiry, he had been unable to ascertain the locality of Emmaus, and that probably the very foundation of the little village had been erased from the face of the earth.

“He might close by inquiring who the two disciples were to whom reference is made in the text; imagine their feelings as they ascended the hill that gave them a full view of Jerusalem, and their feelings as they descended it, and the wicked city was hidden from their sight. He might commence the service with a solemn prayer that the truth of God might be made effectual to the conversion of sinners and the edification of saints; the music might be performed with artistic skill; all things be done decently and in order, and the audience dismissed with the apostolic benediction; but, I ask, is not all this trifling with the souls of men? It may all be very proper for an antiquarian lecture; but is it the work of an ambassador of God to men dying in sin, and who must soon, with their preacher, stand before the judgment-seat of Christ ?”

We have often been pained to hear those who truly preach the word—who give plain, practical expositions of the Scriptures, announce their discourses as “Bible Lectures,” or as “Lectures on the Bible.” This is only aiding a certain class of ministers to mislead the minds of the people, causing them to consider an essay, a pathetic story, or a few anecdotes, a gospel sermon, and pass the preaching of the word as lecturing merely. There is something in a name, and we should recognize it.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.” Jesus Christ is the centre and substance of all revelation since the fall of man. Expositions of prophecy and vindications of the moral principles of God’s government may all be made practical as gospel subjects by pointing out the relation of Christ to each. The name and person and work of Jesus should be in every discourse.

The truth of God and the Son of God should always be presented together. Any amount of truth, without the presence of Christ, cannot have saving power; it is not the gospel of salvation. Some make a great mistake in going to the other extreme; they dwell continuously upon the name of Jesus, and yet disparage the truth of God which Jesus came to ratify—to make effectual to the conversion of the soul. “To this end was I born,” said he, “and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth.” “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” The word of God is the truth which we should preach. The words of man—human reasonings and speculations and essays—are but chaff.